Michigan UnderWater Divers Club

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Members of the Michigan Underwater Divers Club today announced the find of an 80’ long wooden schooner in 72’ of water between St. Joseph and New Buffalo. The wreck is mostly covered in sand but there are a number of dead eyes visible along with an iron stock anchor and the windlass. We are calling it “Mac’s Wreck” since we have not been able to identify the ship yet. Hopefull, next year we will find that one piece of infomation that will solve this mystery wreck.

Release of new shipwreck information and video at the South Haven Maritime Museum today and covered by ABC57 and Fox 28 (WSJM) .

Scuba Obsessed Interview with Jim S.

http://www.scubaobsessed.com/archives/2245

ABC 57 Video and Coverage

http://www.abc57.com/home/top-stories/Historic-shipwreck-found-off-Berrien-County-coast–134568768.html

FOX 57 Video and Coverage

http://www.fox28.com/story/16131595/scuba-divers-urge-public-to-help-identify-19th-century-shipwreck

You can keep up to date on new information related to this shipwreck at the following link. http://mudclub.scubaobsessed.com/archives/category/shipwreck-2/macs-wreck

2011 Turkey Dive Participants - St. Joseph River, Benton Harbor, MIAlmost got everyone before they changed

 Inspite of it being a gray, overcast, and very windy afternoon we had a great dive. The air temperature was in the 50′s which was very comfortable and the water was in the low 40′s.  It was agreed that everyone would have perferred more than the 6 inches of visibility that we had near the surface.   Once you did get  down and your eyes adapted, the visibility improved  but it varied on who you were,  where you were at and IF you took a light.  The current varied on the depth and the area you were grubbing in, but it was sufficient to create an interesting drag on your dive flag wherever you were.   Though some were hunting brail, treasures were located and retreived.

A BIG thanks to all those who came out to support  the divers and provide valuable shore support, special Thanks to our wives & husbands, who tolerate & support  us in our diving  adventures. 

Jim Scholz will be speaking at the Michigan Maritime Museum on Sunday, November 27 from 2-4. He will give an overview of SCUBA diving, talk about wreck diving and be sharing information on the new wreck located south of St. Joe, MI.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/248913398497414/ – Event Published in Facebook

http://www.michiganmaritimemuseum.org/ - Michigan Maritime Museum located in South Haven Michigan

Scouting the entry points for the Turkey dive 2011-11-13

A bit of a cloudy and windy day but had plenty of parking spots and no fishermen along the river this afternoon. The air temperature was about 60F and the wind chill, even on wet hands,  was not bad.

This was a good entry point, steep slope and got to about 20 feet real quick. This was definately take a light with you dive. Current was not too bad but it would suck to be you down stream of another diver.  Water temp was not bad, feet got a little chilly toward the dives end. Visibility  from 1 to 3 feet depending on what you were doing and where you were at. 

No major finds but did locate what looks to be some type of tank, two seperate hose assembles snagged thru and under concrete.  Looked for the torch heads but if there attached, they are under the concrete slabs.  There were various bottles, one keeper, and lots of fishing line with hooks and sinkers.  Not bad on the snag hazards if you go slow.  

Long lake was todays dive. Visibility was around 15 ft and 46F water temperature.

Kirk, Jim K. and Darrin ventured up to Lake 16 to check out the water. They lucked into a nice day with the surface water temp in the 50′s and the water temp at 80′ was 39 degrees. Vis at the platform was around 20′ and at depth was 5-8′ most of the time. A few select spot vis got down to 3′. This was Jim’s first dive with his new dry suit gloves and they appeared to function as hoped.