Things to do / Travel Guide
Scuba diving the shores of Lake Michigan can be like going on a scavenger hunt. Besides the scores of salmon and trout in all their variations, Lake Michigan is well known for its abundance of shipwrecks. Rivalries, leading to wrecklessness, between merchants and fishermen on the Lake can account for some of the disasters. The area has moreover been famous for its volatile white squalls, to which many a ship's sinking has been attributed as well. It may have been a nautical disaster for some ships passing through Lake Michigan, but it's a scuba divers playground. Visibility can be up to 60 feet, but is usually around 30 feet. The cooler the water, the better the visibility.
Diving around Chicago
There are charter boats available at both Oak Street Beach and Evanston Beach, and renting equipment is generally procured through the charter boat companies.
At Oak Street Beach in downtown Chicago, you can explore a multitude of shipwrecks on Lake Michigan. Most wrecks that occurred in the early part of the 20th Century have been destroyed by the local government for being navigational hazards for other nautical vehicles. However there are a few left worth exploring, most easily reachable by charter boats:
- The Sebastopol was a steamer that went down during a gale in 1856.
- The David Dows was a cargo five-masted schooner that sank in 1892.
- The famed passenger liner, the Iowa, became stuck in ice and sank in 1915.
- The Tacoma was a wooden steam powered tug boat that sank in 1929.
Evanston Beach, north of downtown Chicago, is home to the wreck of the George Morley. This wood hull freighter sank 1892 off the Chicago coast of Lake Michigan. This spot is better found by a chartered boat but if you're feeling adventurous, check with the Evanston Beach office for directions. This dive is great for beginners, as the waters are shallow enough that advanced certification is not necessary.
For another adventure, check out the treasures on the sandy bottom of Lake Michigan. The odds are good that you can find goodies like coins and jewelry; they are great to look at and touch, but you cannot keep them. Illinois State Law prohibits divers from keeping the loot they find from wreckages, in order to preserve the wreck sites.
Diving around Southern Wisconsin
Avid local divers like the dive off Kenosha, Wisconsin, grave of the S.S. Wisconsin. In 1929, this vessel went belly-up during a particularly violent storm. Dive ground time is limited for this site because of its depth of 130 feet, but it's worth it. Advanced certification is necessary, as these dives are for those with experience in deep and cold waters.
Five miles off the Milwaukee Harbor lies the Prins Willem, a.k.a. “the Willy,” which sank in 1954. Farther north, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, are the wrecks of the Hetty Taylor and the Selah Chamberlain. The Hetty Taylor was one of the many ships engulfed by a white squall on her way from Sheboygan to Escanaba, Michigan. The Selah Chamberlain, on the other hand, fell victim to a collision on the lake with the John Pridgeon Junior steamer boat. Advanced certification is needed for both of these sites because the depths are over 70 feet.
Inland, you can dive at Devils Lake, south of Wisconsin Dells. At a maximum depth of 45 feet, you can explore massive boulders and fallen trees, and there is a multitude of fish as well.
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