Lake Michigan diving

[FreediveWI]

Greg,

You'll find Lake Michigan to have weak, or no, current most of the time. We get big waves out there, but not normally a whole lot of current. The waves all depend upon the wind direction and strength.

NOW, having said that I will tell you that we had a week or two of current out there last summer that rivaled anything that I have ever dove in while down in Cozumel or West Palm Beach! :o
It was crazy trying to freedive in it because the blades of my fins kept getting bent in half by the current flying past my decent line. Once I broke through the thermocline, at about 60', it calmed down. It was really wild on the surface and I might have ended up swimming for a couple of people. ;D Let me restate that while this is possible, it is not common.

When the current is that strong we put a "granny line" in the water for the divers to use. A "granny line" is a line that goes from the stern of the boat, where the divers jump in, all the way up to the mooring line and is tied off at a depth of 20'-30'. This allows you to jump right in and get underwater as fast as possible. It also gives you a rope to pull yourslef along to get to the mooring. Any diver can pull against a current with a lot less effort than swimming. This gets you to the wreck quickly and not out of breath. The use these lines a lot out on the west coast along with trail lines that can be hundreds of feet long.

IF you are new to Lake Michigan, you might want to try out one of the many shore dives along the lake. If that sounds like too much work you could book yourself on one of the Monday night, beginner's night, charters on the LenDer.

The dives go to all of the wrecks in less than 40' of water and they are usually limited to smaller groups so that you won't feel too rushed to get in. Also, they are less money than the regualr dive charters because the shallower wrecks are in closer to shore. this has proven to be an excellent way for many new divers to get thir feet wet adn progress into some really top notch divers in a slow, and comfortable, manner.

Hope that helps.

Jon