Saturday July 3rd we had a full boat and headed to the Mack and Wells. The Lake was flat, air temp was warm not hot and we on the Mac in less than an hour. I explained to our group of mostly wetsuit divers that they will get a little chilled but that the thermocline had been running at 45ft so if they were cold to get above the thermocline and they could still enjoy the wreck. Not one of them took my advise. They were so impressed with the Mack that they “grinned & beared it” and explored Chicago’s best wreck. Who could blame them, they had +50 foot of viz and 48F water. Earlier in June we had schooling perch and alewives but nothing that day. So once we got everyone on board, we motored over to the Wells Burt. Along the way we noshed on pineapple, talked about the Mack and how the Wells was going to be warmer. 30 minutes after leaving the Mack we were tied into the mooring on the Wells. The divers got ready and hit the Lake which was 67F at the surface. When they came up they said there was no thermocline here and viz was “rail-to-rail” (38FT). Excellent. This was 3 of the groups first dives on Lake Michigan and they had a great time. We had a gentle ride back to Burnham as we had zero seas.
Sunday July 4th, again we had a boat load of divers and beautiful weather and we were headed to Chicago’s newest wreck, the Buccaneer. The Lake was <1FT seas and the skies were sunny. It was one of those days where you say to yourself, “I love my job”. We had a light breeze, <5kts, out of the southeast and we were over the Bucc in a little over 30 minutes. In the permit to sink her, we stated that we wouldn’t put a mooring on her as she is in between two shipping lanes, so divemaster Andy suited up and hit the 70F water with our mooring a short time later we were tied into the wreck. Andy reported 62F water which I questioned suspiciously. Anyhow our divers suited up and punched out a 35 minute dive on the Bucc. Everyone loves the mirrors in the center of the ship, I am so glad we left them in place and that they didn’t break during her reefing. Oh, by the way, Andy’s temp was off as he wasn’t at depth long enough to adapt. When he got back after his “second” dive he reported 48F water and around 30-35FT of viz. The divers next requested the Material Service Barge for dive #2. As it was July 4th and you get a lot of inexperienced boaters out on holidays and said NO, even though I love the MSB. As it is only 1/3rd of mile away from the main entrance to Calumet Harbor and can be a high traffic area, I generally only go there early in the day or during the week. Next step, Tacoma. Laying just 2 miles north of the MSB is the tug Tacoma and I find her to be a very pretty little wreck. The viz is generally way better than the MSB and traffic is way way less. The divers enjoyed their 35FT viz and 65F water. We cruised in everyone went on to enjoy their holiday.
