Lake Michigan Conditions

[Lake Michijim]

I was out with the Deep Six (www.deepsixscuba.com) last weekend. We dove the Byron and Advance Saturday. Lake Michigan was glass flat. Surface temps were low 50's, bottom temps we're like 41. On the Byron (135 fow) viz was 60-80 feet a little less on the Advance.
Sunday we dove the Island City and had Simular conditions and then we headed south to the Carferry Milwaukee. Down towards the Milwaukee the lake kicked up a little, but not bad. The viz was not as good either. Still decent though at around 30-40.
It's shaping up to be a great year on Lake Michigan. The viz is much better this year. Cold is the nature of the beast and I can deal with that. As long as it stays liquid, I'm good to go.LOL

Jim

[caburrid]

Originally Posted by Lake Michijim

I was out with the Deep Six (www.deepsixscuba.com) last weekend. We dove the Byron and Advance Saturday. Lake Michigan was glass flat. Surface temps were low 50's, bottom temps we're like 41. On the Byron (135 fow) viz was 60-80 feet a little less on the Advance.
Sunday we dove the Island City and had Simular conditions and then we headed south to the Carferry Milwaukee. Down towards the Milwaukee the lake kicked up a little, but not bad. The viz was not as good either. Still decent though at around 30-40.
It's shaping up to be a great year on Lake Michigan. The viz is much better this year. Cold is the nature of the beast and I can deal with that. As long as it stays liquid, I'm good to go.LOL

Jim

Gosh, those temps sure seem cold. Looks like I am going to have to pitch in for a dry suit for these dives. What do you attribute the great visibility to this year?

[skdvr]

Originally Posted by caburrid

What do you attribute the great visibility to this year?

Zebra Muscles....

Phil

[Lake Michijim]

Originally Posted by caburrid

Gosh, those temps sure seem cold. Looks like I am going to have to pitch in for a dry suit for these dives. What do you attribute the great visibility to this year?

I think not being hit by excessive spring rains helped a lot. When Milwaukee dumps a few billion gallons of sewage in the lake it really messes things up.
I also think that the zebra mussel cycle has turned. I hear it's about 7 years. I think last year was a die off year for them because the year previous was really good for viz, high zebra count. last year after out stripping their food supply, the zebras died off in droves. Now they are making their come back and the water is clearer for it.
If you dive lake Michigan a lot, a dry suit really is a must have. As far as I'm concerned a wet suit is good from Mid Judy to Mid September. As i dive pretty much year around, a dry suit is a must have.

Jim

[skdvr]

Originally Posted by Lake Michijim

As far as I'm concerned a wet suit is good from Mid Judy to Mid September. As i dive pretty much year around, a dry suit is a must have.

Jim

I would have to agree... I have only been there once (Milwaukee) last year in July and the viz was great but the water temp were around 45* - 48* top to bottom. There were two guys on our charter (Len-Der) that were in wetsuits. For each of the dives they were the last ones in and the first ones out. If you really want to enjoy the diving in Lake Michigan a drysuit is the way to go.

Hopefully I can make it back up there this summer...

Phil

[Jack Hammer]

Originally Posted by skdvr

I would have to agree... I have only been there once (Milwaukee) last year in July and the viz was great but the water temp were around 45* - 48* top to bottom. There were two guys on our charter (Len-Der) that were in wetsuits. For each of the dives they were the last ones in and the first ones out. If you really want to enjoy the diving in Lake Michigan a drysuit is the way to go.

Hopefully I can make it back up there this summer...

Phil

We dove the car ferry off the Len-Der in early May. Water was 38* at depth and 41* on the surface. One of the divers in our group did it in a wetsuit. I don't know how, even with a drysuit and lots of insulation I could still feel the cold. I had neoprene gloves on, trying to hold the ladder to get back on the boat after a 65 min dive was 'interesting.' (I ponied up for dry gloves after that )

Jack

[BuzzF117]

Originally Posted by skdvr

Zebra Muscles....

Phil

and we haven't had a real hot summer yet covering the full length of the lake so the algae is at a minimum im guessing the northern parts of Lake Michigan are even better if you can stand the cold...

[Byte Me]

Originally Posted by Jack Hammer

We dove the car ferry off the Len-Der in early May. Water was 38* at depth and 41* on the surface. One of the divers in our group did it in a wetsuit. I don't know how, even with a drysuit and lots of insulation I could still feel the cold. I had neoprene gloves on, trying to hold the ladder to get back on the boat after a 65 min dive was 'interesting.' (I ponied up for dry gloves after that )

Jack

Our last trip out was to the Carferry Milwaukee and the guy I buddied up with was in a 7MM farmer john and lobster gloves. With about 6 min of no deco time left I looked at him and could see him shivering! It was low 42F water temp. Before I got my fusion I was chilly at Bonne Terre in 55 degree water in a 7mm farmer john!! NO WAY I'm jumping into lake Michigan in one of those!!

[Jack Hammer]

Originally Posted by BuzzF117

and we haven't had a real hot summer yet covering the full length of the lake so the algae is at a minimum im guessing the northern parts of Lake Michigan are even better if you can stand the cold...

It's hard to say about the algae at this point. I was out last month and there wasn't a lot of algae but what was there was easily dislodged and stirred up, something I noticed thanks to one of the divers finning just about everything in site. We went from 40' of vis on dive 1 to 6' on dive 2. Monday I was at the same site, there was more algae but it wasn't kicked off as easily. Thankfully vis was quite nice througout the dive.

Jack

[Formerly 45yroldNewbie]

BTW Jim also coordinates the Harbor Cleanup to coincide with Project AWARE. This year he says we will get a bigger section of Burnham Harbor to dive and scavenge. In the past people have found bicycles, rings, wallets, UN-opened bottles of Dom Champaign, an old gas pump head with the analog numbers on dials, and of course the usual crap boaters throw-drop-heave overboard. Lots of fun with lots of locals and includes free food and beverage. I'll post more on that as it gets closer. Now the latest from the lake:

Dear Great Lake Divers:

I have to again thank the weather gods, as we had another great weekend on the Lake. Windy City ran three charters this past weekend and 18 divers were forced to brave the 0.5 foot seas. Weatherwise the weekend was simply perfect. The weathermen were wrong again but in a good way! (no 3FT seas as predicted earlier in the week and no rain)

Surface temps everywhere we went, even out on the Mack, were running 66F. At depth the Mack was 49F on Saturday and 46F on Sunday, with a definite thermocline at 25ffw. The Wells was running 58F and viz at both sites was around 40FT.

On Saturday morning we left the harbor to sunny skies and flat seas. The run out to the mack was smooth and easy and we were on site in 50 minutes. The divers punched out two dives on the mack. During both dives the divers were surrounded by schools of alewives as the dove the wreck. On the way back to the harbor we stopped by the Wings of Wind to redeploy the mooring buoy. I just love our new Hummingbird side-scan. On our first pass over the site, I was able to picture the wreck, see the bow and drop our marker buoy. On our second pass, we deployed our divers and the mooring buoy. The divers descended on the temporary marker and landed 6FT from the bow! My thanks to Myron and Nate from Elmer’s for their help, well more Myron than Nate.

Sunday was a double charter day so we departed Burnham a little earlier than normal at 0730. Again the seas were flat and it was partly cloudy. We were again on site at the Mack in 50 minutes. We had a couple of new divers doing their first Lake Michigan wreck dives and boy did they have fun. First dive the Straits of Mackinac. As we were the first dive boat there they had lots of alewives and perch to see and great viz. From there we headed to the Wells. On arriving at the Wells we were not the first “dive boat” there. I use the quotes because I wouldn’t have known they were diving as they had no flags displayed. After trying them on the radio with no results I used the hailer to get their attention. They didn’t have any divers down so we again used the Hummingbird to spot the bow of the wreck and then deployed our anchor about 10Ft away. Isn’t technology great! The wetsuit divers appreciated the warmer waters of Chicago’s best wooden wreck and had a great time. The second charter on Sunday followed the same course of Mack and Wells and they too had great dives.

If you are interested in diving the wrecks of Chicago is have a few openings over the next 2 weekends.
This Saturday July 18th I have 2 spots available, wrecks sites to be voted on.
Sunday morning July 19th is booked up but Sunday afternoon is open.
The following week Saturday July 25th is full.
Sunday July 26th I have 2 spots open in the morning and 2 spots open in the afternoon.

Remember we are out diving each weekend and if you can’t get out diving but you still want to get involved we still need volunteers to help clean the Buccaneer. If you’re interested in helping contact me.

C’ya on the Lake,
Jim Gentile