Door County,Wisc trip report

[moneysavr]

Just a quick trip report as we just got back from a great weekend or diving/fishing Door county Wisconsin,
Saturday A.M. a SB'r Michael met me at our northern getaway on Little Sturgeon from there we trailered my dive boat to a Sturgeon Bay launch closer to the sites we planed to dive,Lake was FLAT with temps in the 70's and mild breeze as the first dive was to be the "Ocean Wave" a small Scow schooner that sank off Whitefish bay with her load of stone. Our GPS gave us a 10 mile run north from launch.
As we arrived at the location we found no mooring buoy as this site was set with a mooring late last year by the State,well the sonar was cranked on to zoom the bottom and she was found marker dropped and we set our 20 # Navy anchor, we geared up and hit the water,as we got to depth at approximate 110' FSW to the bottom,Michael seemed to have a issue or was running a drill with his reg as he was switching back and forth to his octo as I got to him and was to pass my extra air he gave me a OK,the gave me a stop as his eyes were wide as he called the dive and ran the anchor line up,I chased him out of the water as he was going to hang with only a minute on the dive and a possibly bad 1st or second stage,as his fins pulled out of the water I dropped back down to remove the anchor after a quick tour of the wreck.
The wreck is mostly flat as her back was broken violently a she hit the bottom with a load of stone in her hold,her bow is a fine point and her aft cabin normally not found on most wrecks due to they are made of soft woods and blow off during the sinking's, Vis was 50'-60' and bottom temps 41 deg,with a thermo of 60 is at the SS NICE!

Well as I got back on the boat Mike had his kit packed and looked bummed as he only got to see her bow as his Dive Rite reg started to breathe hard at 70FSW but Octo did not,I came up with a plan to run to the Frank O'Connor and switch his computer and octo to a extra cold water stage reg I had on board,this done and a nice SI trip 18 miles north we were on the Frank O'Connor and tied off on the south Mooring area of the massive engines,We hit the water and on the way down ran into hundred or so of Walleye from 4"-14" all in the Thermo cline area and top of the steam engine!
This is such a great dive one of my first Great lake sites years back and I still love this wreck! The 2- two stories high scotch boilers, the massive Prop& Rudder,The engine and controls,Temps were in the mid 40's and vis was 45' and tons of fish were to be seen,we did a swim across the the main section and then I gave Mike a tour of the prop and ruder and then we toured the engine and hit top side.

Today I spent fishing and diving several pier cribs and a un named wreck in Little Sturgeon,this massive wreck just north of our place lays in 15'FSW and runs several hundred feet out into the bay as I dove her the boys fished and had a heck of a time fighting the Small Mouth Bass! This wreck I will shoot some video of, is said to be able to do as a shore dive I will check that out and can furnish GPS #for those with a boat,I found 2 bell anchors and the bass were protective on there nests,this area has lots more anchors and I will return! "The boys" my top men had a blast fishing and now know wrecks are fishing hot spots and I have no problem with top men now!
Well now to plan next weekend!
Dive safe,
Brad