Michigan UnderWater Divers Club

A beautiful day to be in the water anywhere. The temperature was warm enought that there were swimmers in the lake today and flushing the wet suit to stay cool was necessary.  That says its summer and certainly  time to be diving.

Conditions were similar to Wednesdays dive, 8′ to 10′ visibility, managable weeds, and no “bumping” carp today. And yes, there were ladies in the water swimming near the fire lane, ski boats buzzing around, and ponton boats doing the circuit.

Another nice day to dive – Wish you could have been their too!

O-yea, check out the keepers for today

Setting up the boat

Ken & Mac got  out on Lake Michigan on Tuesday to obtain firm GPS numbers and scans of the two water intake crids located off Jean Klock beach.  The are at 36′ and 40′ and are good 20 minute dives each.   Surface water temperature was ~57F.

The remaining afternoon was passed doing grids  looking for the PV-2 Neptune bomber that was dumped offshore in 1950 and trying to get firm numbers on a old wreck off the North pier.

It was a nice way to spend the day and we even got a little sun burn

Kirk W and Bob S dove lake 16 today.

It was a chilly 43 at the bottom which made the upper thermocline a wonderful 54 degrees! This was especially welcome due to the leak in my left glove, my index finger kept getting colder and colder.

 Visibility was at least 25-30 feet and it was very bright at 80 ft. The new LED lights work great, 25 watts is a lot of light!

Paw Paw Lake was a  little windy with moderate wave action. The water is warming up (at least 55F) , weed growth getting dense in the shallows until you hit 10’ on the incline.

Visibility  today averaged  3 to 4 feet, found a good number of live clams, bumped up against one very large carp (startled us both!) , misc smaller fish. Some treasures but nothing nice enough to take home. 

The sun was out and it was a great day to dive and even saw two die hard swimmers playing off the Forrest Beach pier.

Great dive on the Rockaway today.

We had 8 ft vis, 15feet with a good light! Temperature was 48 degress F at 65 ft and 54 degrees topside.

Three divers with a little rain and 1-3 ft waves. Good way to start the weekend! Already looking for next weeks dive, how about Mac’s wreck….?

Great dive today at Diamond Lake on the South Bend wreck. 

Visibility was around 10 ft, water temp was 51F, and the dive bell was interesting too.

 Five (5) divers in the boat made a full load but it’s was only a short trip from the launch to the wreck. Thankfully Kirk had the gps numbers The new boat ladder was a success too!

The activity day included hands-on crafts and demonstrations related to the museum’s new shipwreck exhibit.

Participants received a sailors hat, made their own message in a bottle, crafted a light -up model of the Saint Joseph Lighthouse, had sail boat races, met divers who explore shipwrecks and had the opportunity to try on dive equipment and handle all sorts of dive related gear.

The Muddies had over 120 kids pass thru their various stations. The most popular station was dressing in dive gear and having their photo’s taken.

 This was a fun day for all, especially the bigger kids, the Muddies themselves  

New Diver

Public Pier @ Shorelane & Pier Streets off Forrest Beach Road.

Todays dive was finished just before the heavy rain and tornado like winds roared thur the Coloma & Watervliet area.  Prior to that,  the lake surface was calm, visibility averaging 5 feet, low weeds, water temperature in the very low 40′s, but surface air temperature at 62F.

Stayed  shallow for most of the dive, came across some dead clams, miscellaneous bottles & cans, two concrete anchors, and a large turtle (bigger than a pie pan) who was very docile.  No keepers to talk about, just the obligatory golf balls and a nice cold cream jar. Hoping for better luck next time.

With the expected warm temperatures this week, the plan is to get out there again for more grubbing this week.  Come on out – Your invited