Ann Arbor #5
The day began as planned meeting at the South Haven public boat ramp at 9:00 am. The weather was terrific and promised to be great for a morning of diving on Lake Michigan.
After preparing and securing gear, we splashed the boats and made our way out of the Black River and into Lake Michigan. While the marine forecast indicated 0-1′, we actually had 1′-3′ on the ride out. Not as comfortable, but when the destination holds a dive it was all good!
The marker buoy was easy to find, as long as you followed Bob anyway. With the boats secured to the buoy, we all prepared to dive.
Dropping into the water was a cool relief as the air was already well into the 80′s. Darrin and Jim entered the water, followed a few minutes later by Bob, Paul and Kirk. Following the buoy line, we dropped through the thermocline and sediment layer, onto the stern of the Ann Arbor 5. Almost completely covered in zebra mussels, she is quite a sight with her stern reaching up from the bottom and the screws and rudder suspended mid-water. Visibility was approx 50′-60′ feet as you could see from one side to the other, and to the bottom from the stern. Water temp at depth was in the mid 40′s.
The uppermost parts can be explored without exceeding recreational depths of about 130′, while the remainder is in the technical realm at a max depth of about 170′. The sloping deck can draw you in to following it without realizing just how quickly you have descended beyond your planned depth.
A very interesting and fun dive, sure to be visited again.
