New to wiscuba gps cordinates needed!!!

[LowGear]

8) New to this forum.  I am a new bubble junkie!  Just getting into diving in the area around Burlington and Kenosha.  I received my OW cert in Nov. Also did my classroom for AOW,and Nitrox.  Just have to do my advanced dives with Diver Dan's to get my cards. I am getting my boat geared up for the big pond and would greatly appreciate any and all gps cordnates!  I have a 19' bayliner trophy center console and have been out there a few miles fishing. But now being an addicted I don't think I'll be touching my fishing gear in a while.
I have just over 20 dives and went down to 108' in mexico and plan on hitting everywhere around here soon. I have my own gear suited for ice and just  received my drysuit and getting that cert soon as I can get in the water with an instructer.
  I would appreciate any and all ideas on gearing up the boat,finding buddies to dive with such as clubs,or even other web sites, and any usefull links for gps cordinates or simular  dive related sites.
  I have a garmin street pilot that gives me my GPS within5'-10'. Will that be sufficiant in locating some of the wrecks out there or is a depth finder or graph better suited without having to buy a side scan quite yet?  Is there a reasonably priced unit out there if GPS alone isn't sufficiant.
  Plz let me know!
thnx, Loren aka: LowGear

[Omicron]

A lot of the frequently dove wreck are already buoyed, so any GPS will get you close enough to the buoy to find the wreck.

The author Chris Kohl has an excellent book called The Great Lakes Diving Guide.  Use that as a reference to find out what you want to dive.  However - don't rely solely on the coordinates in his book.  Back them up by asking someone else/researching somewhere else to confirm his numbers.

A depth finder will help you get to wrecks that aren't buoyed.  Any ol' one will work (believe me...we've found wrecks on some pretty simple depth finders).

I'm sure lots of other people will chime in as well.

[scubert]

Equipment wise, get a pony bottle or doubles for a redundant air source, and a lift bag in case you get separated from your surface support.  A big orange balloon is easier to see than a little head out in the waves.

I second Omicron's recommendation of Kohl's book, but as the russians used to say "Trust, then verify".  Some of his #s are NOT good.

The best (and annually updated) local reference is "Jerry's Shipwreck Charts" put together by Jerry Guyer, who runs Pirates Cove Dive Shop in Milwaukee.  He's been diving and running charters to many of these wrecks for years, and is one of the most productive shipwreck hunters in the area.  I think he found roughly 9 that he has released the coordinates for in the last year.

Pirates Cove is on 11th and Oklahoma in Milwaukee and the ph#414.482.1430.  BTW: I have no affiliation with the shop, the man just deserves his props.

A few other quick words about being new to diving the Great Lakes,

Start shallow (>60-70').  Conditions on the bottom here are a LOT different than in the caribbean, 100' here feels like about 200' elsewhere. 

If you can, dive with a more experienced buddy.  It helps.

Don't take ANYTHING off the wrecks.  It's against the law.

Don't go INSIDE the wrecks.  Any overhead environment can KILL the unprepared diver.  Most wrecks have lots of silt that if kicked up can obliterate vision.  The most dived wreck off Milwaukee, "Prinz Willem V" took no lives when she sank, but has killed several divers in the past few decades.

If you haven't yet, I always recommend the books "Deep Descent" and "The Last Dive".  They are great reminders that you should be careful, and always dive your plan.

Also, have fun.  Wreck diving in the Great Lakes is about as good as it gets.  We've got a little of almost everything, and a LOT of some things.
You can easily spend your whole dive career out there and never see half of what is out there 

[fishchaser]

Lowgear....nice meeting you on Friday night.  My dive to the Lumberman went great (my first Lake Michigan wreck).  I'll shoot you that email we talked about.

p.s.  All the info here is really good.
p.p.s.  I trolled for 2 hours after diving and got skunked.    I guess I didn't expect much from 10am-noon....too late.

[dfreeman]

Find a group of divers with expereince to help you along.  Diving in the north and the great lakes is a bit more of a challenge than the Caribbean.  You can learn a lot from expereince people and make better equipment purchases.

They willl also help you find ships easier.

Good luck with your diving.

Doug