Milwaukee dive report

[jasondbaker]

FULL TRIP REPORT

We had a great time this weekend diving shipwrecks in Lake Michigan. Lonnie Kunze and I drove from Minneapolis to Milwaukee on Saturday morning. We arrived in Milwaukee around noontime and we immediately headed to the docks. We boarded a scuba diving charter named the "Len-der". The Len-der has been in operation for over 25 years. The captain, Jerry Guyer, is an experienced chater captain and scuba diver. He owns the Pirate's Cove scuba shop in Milwaukee.

We were a little concerned about the weather headed into the weekend. A storm front had pushed through the area earlier in the week leaving high winds in its trail. We left the dock with 10-15mph winds from the northwest. The Len-der is an old fishing boat and it is slow. The boat speed really wasn't a problem because most of the wrecks were only a few miles offshore. The first shipwreck we headed to was the "Milwaukee". The Milwaukee was an old railroad car ferry that was carrying railcars when she went down in 1929. I believe that all of her crew members perished. It took about 45 minutes to reach the shipwreck. We encountered 1-3 ft swells on the way out. While the swells were not huge they did add an extra challenge to the dives. Once we arrived at the shipwreck we tied up to a bouy. All of the wrecks in the area have bouys marking the wreck site. Usually there is one bouy tied at the bow and one at the stern of the wreck.

The boat only had three divers on Saturday so we felt like we were on a private charter. It was really nice having all the extra space to gear up. We donned our gear -- drysuits, backplates, tanks, cannister lights -- and entered the water. The water was a chilly 43 degrees at the surface and 41deg at depth. Thankfully we had the gear and experience to handle these conditions. The surface swells were really knocking us around so we quickly headed to the decent line at the bow of the boat. We decended over 90 feet to greet the wreck. She was a large vessel -- hundreds of feet in length. The deck was beat up with rail cars strewn everywhere under the decking. Some of the rail cars still held their original contents. We located the pilot house at around 110 feet. The visibility was around 35-40ft at the pilot house which is good for Lake Michigan diving. The visibility will improve substantially into the fall and winter. We did not see much marine life during any of our dives. After exploring the vessel for about 40 minutes we surfaced.

Jerry runs a nice charter operation. He maintains a steady tempo -- he gets you in and out of the water without the "pushyness" that you sometimes get with warm water charters. He has a gas heater in the cabin of the boat which really feels nice after a cold water dive.

During the surface interval we made for another shipwreck called the "Prins Willem V" (a.k.a. "The Willy"). The Willy is probably the most popular shipwreck in Lake Michigan. She was a sea-going freighter that sunk in 1954 when she collided with the tug Sinclair Houston. It took us almost 45 minutes to reach the wreck. We donned our gear and entered the chilly water once again.

The Willy is a beautiful wreck. She lies almost even-keel on the bottom -- basically on her starboard side. She is very intact. We swam along the body of the vessel at around 80 feet. We entered her holds and explored the remains of her cargo. The holds were enormous. It was like swimming in large caverns. The huge holds, blue glow of the surrounding water, and our piercing dive lights made this a very spooky scene. We made our way to the pilot house and crew quarters at the stern of the ship. The house was about three stories high. We penetrated a doorway at the stern of the ship and made our way through the vessel. Wreck penetration can be very dangerous if the conditions are poor and you are an inexperienced diver. We exited the pilot house near the top of the wreck. We found a railing that ran along the top of the pilot house. The railing had four plaques attached to it representing each of the divers that have died on this wreck. Most of the divers were diving solo and the reasons for their deather (other than drowning) are unknown. I believe that one diver was found entangled in the wreck. Diving is a very safe sport. But it is amazing to see how people flirt with fate.

After we surfaced we boarded the Len-der and headed back to port. We left all of our gear aboard the boat overnight because we were coming back early in the morning for more diving. We drove over to my sister's apartment and met up with her fiance for dinner. We had dinner at Saz's. I had a fantastic full rack of ribs. We crashed at my sister's apartment for the night.

Early Sunday morning we set off for the docks again to board the Len-der. The charter boat had 12 divers on the morning trip. It was definitely more crowded. We set off for the Willy to make our first dive of the day. Even though the wind laid down a bit (5-10mph) we still encountered significant swells -- probably bigger than the previous day. Two of the divers became seasick on the way to the wreck. They never got in the water the whole day. A couple more divers would sit out the second dive due to the cold water conditions. They were diving in wetsuits.

We tied off at the Willy and entered the water. Lonnie and I were the first divers in the water and usually the first to board the boat. This was really nice because we enjoyed better diving conditions. We followed a dive plan that was very similar to the previous day. Towards the end of our dive we penetrated the top level of the pilot house through a doorway. The inside of the pilot house was really cool. Since the ship was laying on its side all of the room were at an angle. It was really strange to be weightless floating in a room that was tilted at a sharp angle. All of your senses regarding what is up, down, left, and right are wrong. If you silt out a room (kick up the silt creating a thick cloud) you can really get into trouble. We did not dare to penetrate the wreck any further without having a proper guideline in place. We surfaced and boarded the charter boat.

After waiting for the other divers to climb back on board we headed out to the last wreck of our diving weekend -- the "Dredge 906". The Dredge really isn't a ship. It was a large floating platform with a huge crane on it. I believe it sunk in the mid 50's. It landed upside down on the bottom -- supported by some of the crane equipment. It felt like diving under a tabletop with legs. We penetrated underneath the wreckage and found a couple rooms. We did not enter the rooms because they were fairly silted up. We also swam along the body of the wreck and explored pieces of the huge crane and scoop. It was a very nice dive. At the end of the dive we ascended along the decent line and we hung onto the line for our decompression stop at 20 feet. This was a mistake. The line was really whipping around due to the large swells and the rocking boat. I felt like a flag on a flagpole during a hurricane. I let go of the line and just hovered for the remainder of the stop. We finally surfaced and climbed back on board the Len-der.

Diving in Milwaukee is very scenic -- not just below the water but above the water. As you jump into the water you can see the Milwaukee skyline in the background. Milwaukee provides outstanding opportunites for wreck diving.

After arriving at port we packed up our gear, paid the captain, and started our 5 1/2 hour journey back to the Twin Cities. Great people, great food, and great diving.

** Note: Special thanks to Jerry and Jon for making our trip to Milwaukee so enjoyable!

[FreediveWI]

I just want to add that the conditions on the Milwaukee were fantastic, on the bottom. Vis was an easy 30'+and you could almost see the wreck from the pilot house.

The Willy had some pretty good vis too and It sure looked like Jason and Lonnie were having a good time swimming through all of the cabins and cargo holds.

The surface conditions weren't that great, especially for freediving, and I ended up "feeding the fish" for the first time in many years.

Sunday afternoon was nice over by the Coast Guard station for openwater checkout dives. I saw some nice brown trout and a very colorful freshwater sponge that I had never seen in Lake Michigan before.

Jon

[LKunze]

Yeah, I did that after the first dive on Sunday as well. Fortunately I didn't eat much in the morning before the dives so it wasn't so bad.

[dfreeman]

Sounds like some great diving guys. Underwater conditions sound great. I have got to find a time to dive these wrecks.

On the surface, not so good. But it is important to give something back to mother nature.

Doug