Boat Diving Door Co. Area

[Bubbles]

Going to be boat diving Sturgeon Bay /Door County area on Saturday and would like to dive moored wrecks.  Besides The O'Connor what else is there in the southern Door area?  Or wrecks that are not to deep seeing as how I do not have hundreds of feet of anchor rope.    Has anyone dove the W. L. Brown or the Erie L. Hackley?  How do do you go about securing your boat when the water depth is 80 plus feet without a mooring? ???
         THANKS in advance for any help.
                                                  Dan...

[Tamara Thomsen]

The Ocean Wave and Daniel Lyons   both in southern Door have mooring buoys.  Let me know if you need numbers.

Tami

[moneysavr]

Hey Dan how was the diving?
Sat was a bit bumpy
But Sunday= was Sweet! We  Ran up to Chambers Island for a day of fun in the sun & water,

OK
For Bay dives as the waters warm the bay  turns dark,green and yuck!with poor vis and water that eats light and lots of divers just don't dive the deep Bay side wrecks like the Brown or Hackley,
no moorings on these sites and you need to work to hook into them, and most no#s in books or charts are not even close as by some noted authors ,
The Hackley is broken up as she was kind of raised till she crashed  back to the bottom by the same guys who did raise the one Bay side wreck the Clark, The Brown is cool as she had her steam engine removed by hard hat divers years back and re used in a ship so there is a major hole aft were the exploded the supports to remove her  engine area!

Hooking in you need as a rule of thumb three times the scope out as water is deep in  fair weather we use 2/3's but bad weather your boat rides better with more line  out,
we first mark the wreck with GOOD No#s hit the target with a locater and beware some times as waters warm themo Cline's can give poor or bad reads on under powered units,
after a hit on a sonar we drop a marker on the hit over the mark  a float with a weight with line for the depth of the wreck site but not much more, then on some sites we drag into the site with a wreck hook a hook like item with four legs to grab in, but be warned  the state frowns on this type of maneuver as you can damage the sites, a nother way is to use a good navy anchor and lay out scope up wind and  back in and dive down you drop line marker -this works on calm days and days you just cant hook in! A wreck in mind is like the Byron off Cedar Grove way small and if you do not know how she lays dive your drop marker!
hope you had a great weekend, next is said to be the same as I plan to dive a few sites on the lake side off Door County 
dive safe,
Brad

[DiveCaptDean]

Hey Brad-
Just curious:
Did you teach your boys how to start and drive the boat.....as well as how to operate your gps unit?.......just incase your boat is pulled from the wreck.....or by chance do you dive with a teather line attached to your boat....

just curious
Deano

[moneysavr]

Capt. Dean.
My oldest 16 yro Aaron is Cert not only thru a authorized CG trainee course he's
got my training course ,and I ain't easy!!ask him or any one thats been on my boats.

They have a chart of the area we are in ,know the name of the site,and location no#s,know how to start the boat,clear the lines,read the live no#s on the GPS,run the radios,
see and look out for divers on the lines,know dive times as they are all part of the dive plan =top men! pick up drifted divers and safely proceed back into a dive site after divers have surfaced,they both know how to call a dive
due to failing weather, or any other emergency they find
necessary
with the engine and
tank bang,
some dives we drop two lines/hooks
on unknown moorings even some of the state ones!! last year a few links on the engine chain of the O'Connor  were not to my specs-=worn links
and my 8 YO Skipper's my boat just dot tell the CG better than half the weekend warrior's out there!

Oh just in case the old man has the big one they know how to pop a aspirin or two down my gullet and pop the O-2 kit on me LOL,

Hey lots of times with my one dive pals
my boats empty top side like many other divers I personally know have done this and do it,but with all proper precautions and what will be will be but I gave it my best.
Brad

[Bubbles]

Hi Gang!
       Diving was great on Saturday!  The farther North we went the flatter the water seemed to get.  We started with the Ocean Wave and moved on to the O'Connor, saw the Dive Diva there on the stern mooring.  So Kathy if your looking that was the vessel Priorities on the bow hook in the afternoon. 
       A very special THANK YOU to Tamara Thomsen for the suggestions!   So what's next? 
  Thanks to all,
                 Dan... ;D

[DiveCaptDean]

Brad-
If what you say is true..and i have no reason to doubt you...then cudos to you and your young crew.  I would bet there are charter captains out there that could find good use for younguns like that...I was very impressed until the last phrase........BUT..if you are willing to risk a swim home..then " PARTY On WAYNE".." WAYNES WORLD, PARTY TIME EXCELLENT"......I hope you keep the boys on the boat much more often than not..

[moneysavr]

Bubbles Glad you had some great times!We spent our day  up on Chambers Island wow bath tub water and fair vis, but top side the gals on the mega yachts were a welcome site,

tragic was a accident were a jet ski hit a cigarate boat in the canal Saturday after noon as my youngest was fishing for mega perch and brought in his first northern 30"++
the young man from Sturgeon Bayl walked past me moment's prior to this accident,

Capt Dean,
Yes I know the rules and know the solo divers take a major bash,  as in the past I  did dives solo with just the boys top side and to see them looking down on me on the hang I realized if some thing would go wrong even with all my back ups they could do nothing to help me, I do not condone this type of diving and do not support breaking rules of leaving a vessel UN manned top side for any reason !why leave a perfectly floating vessel??for any time but well you know its done!!you got me!


Hey thats why I am allways looking for qualified divers to join me on dives

each week a new site,just last week we had Richrad From Oklahoma diving his Meg,after
that set up I am glad I dive open circut as I fell a sleep after he was getting done !but no bubbles Cool!
Be safe all don't do as I do just have fun,and be safe!

Brad

[captkathy]

Hey Dan,
I was going to post and see who it might have been   I tried calling you on 09 and 16 to invite you to join us on the stern buoy, I have no problem sharing!  My divers were doing their surface interval so we could've rearranged.  Did your topside person see the Stealth Bomber or Swans?  Don't hesitate to call (VHF or cell) for tie ups, recommendations or reports.

We had a "chunky" ride starting out Saturday, but by the time we reached Waverly Shoal we'd gotten out of it.  Flattened out real nice!  Sunday was so calm I'm still scraping bay flies off my arch!  Though it did start to kick on the way home.

We went to the E.R. Williams and Poverty Island wreck that next day (Sunday) and had great vis, at least 35' on Williams, and between 48 and 51 degrees.  (Depends on whose computer you believe)

Definitely getting the itch!  The Diva needs to do some diving herself!
Kathy

[Chris H]

We saw the Stealth in Sturgeon Bay, but no swans ;D