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05-12-2003, 07:58 AM,

This weekend I got to dive the E.R. Williams and the Jennibell (Jenny Bell) in Lake Michigan.

The E.R. Williams is one of my favorite wrecks and the visibility at this time of year was phenomenal. It was pretty foggy in the morning when we left the dock, but by the time our GPS/radar were telling us we were close to the wreck things were clearing up nicely for us. We found the buoy for the wreck pretty quickly, which was really nice, and tied up to it. We geared up and dropped into the water. Temps were 37 to 39 on the surface and about 41 on the wreck itself. Visibility was excellent - for those that have dove the E.R. before, you could just about see the wreck from the end of the mast. We spent about 15 minutes total on the wreck - we stayed up a little off of the wreck to get better bottom time.

Next, we moved to the other side of the peninsual due to a pending gale. We decided to try diving the Jennibell as we had heard there was good visibility on the bay which is a rarity. We found the wreck on the depthfinder and eventually we found the yellow rope that is tied to the wreck. There is no buoy on the wreck but there is a floating rope that marks the wreck. The first pair went over into the water and down the wreck and we followed a few minutes afterwards. At about 60' or so the water was very dark, very green and pretty much no viz. We met the other two on the way down the line. At about 80' or so we decided not to fight the viz and the current and we headed back up the line. The other pair said the wreck was neat but I'm just not into diving in pea soup and neither is my dive partner.

Overall, not a bad weeekend at all. Saturday the temps were nice and it was very sunny - luckily we didn't get the bad weather that we were supposed to get!

Vtach · (This post was last modified: 05-13-2003, 02:32 PM by Vtach.)

Hey Jason, ya goober, did ya forget my name or what? ;D
From now on I will be known as "one half of the first pair". Can anyone translate that into a cool Native American name for me? : Smile

Todd "one half of the first pair" Janquart
or
Todd "one half of the other pair" Janquart

05-13-2003, 02:50 PM,

Sorry! ;D

Yeah, I was diving with Todd and Steve - they were the first pair, and me and my girlfriend Tina were the second pair!

***jasondbaker*** · 05-13-2003, 06:57 PM,

Were you guys aboard a charter? What port did you leave from?

05-13-2003, 07:21 PM,

We went with a friend who owns his own boat, just big enough for four divers. It was very nice. We stayed at The Shoreline Resort in Gills Rock/Ellison Bay.

It's a very, very early run! There was hardly anyone on the lake which made it very nice as no one had been on the wrecks yet that year.

TitletownDiver · 05-14-2003, 09:12 AM,

Hey omnicron-

Did you guys go dive that old rambler off the dock by the shoreline? Its pretty crusted over but still a fun dive.

05-14-2003, 09:20 AM,

No, we didn't. I've heard a lot about the things that are off the dock at the Shoreline and I really want to dive it one of these days. The way our day went, there really wasn't a lot of time left for us to do any shore dives. I was hoping to get one in but it didn't happen.

TitletownDiver · 05-15-2003, 08:55 AM,

Its not a bad dive..you enter on the far right of the dock and then go south. Make sure you get permission from the shop and check the ferry schedule. To dive the car you'll be right underneath where the car ferry travels!

05-15-2003, 08:59 AM,

Hopefully I'll make it up there again sometime this year...who knows =/

I know I definitely want to dive the upside down barge that is near the Williams so maybe I'll make it there again sometime.

**Chris H** · 05-15-2003, 10:30 AM,

Dostal,
I think you have your wrecks confused. The Dredge 906 lies upside down near the Prins Willem V (AKA Willy) off of Milwaukee, not the ER Williams. You shouldn't have gone to the bar at Ghost Ships! Wink