Michigan UnderWater Divers Club

After a surface interval of almost 2 hours and a short boat ride, we all dropped back into Lake Michigan to visit The Barge & Crane. Visibility while good, was not as nice as the previous dive on the AA5 and temps still in the mid-40′s.

The depth here is about 128′ with a fine sediment layer on the bottom. The wreck is an overturned barge with a crane mounted to the deck that keeps the barge propped up at an angle. This allows a bit of a swim through while exploring what was the deck of the barge. Recently discovered, its easy to wonder how and why this equipment ended up here.

After a bit of exploration, all five of the divers made their way back to the anchor line for the ascent back to the surface.

We were happy to see that during the dives, the lake conditions had settled quite a bit and allowed for a very nice boat ride back to South Haven

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.

Five Members of the MUD Club dove on Elinee Bay, Paw Paw Lake Saturday. When Josh K and I arrived at 10:00AM Mac, Kirk, and Darrin had already arrived and were prepping gear. Access was from the fire lane at the bend of Paw Paw Lake road that leads right down to the water.

The weather was great for a spring time dive as the sky was clear with a light breeze and an air temp of 54f.

We reviewed our individual dive plans just prior to entry and then it was dive time! Elinee bay is rather shallow but has been the site where some good grubbing finds have been recovered in the past.

Josh and I spent most of our time in the middle of the bay where average depth was 22-24′ with a few spots at 28′. Visibility was approximately 5′ and the water temp was 46f. We only saw a small fish or two, but came across many holes and tracks where we could see that someone decided to vacate before we arrived to see them.

After drying off and packing up our SCUBA gear, we all met at the local Bar & Grille at the top of the fire lane on Paw Paw Lake road for some post dive food and stories.

For those that missed a great write-up in the South Bend Tribune about the MUD club, here is the link…

http://southbendtribune.com/article/20091205/NEWS01/912050351