Wednesday Night July 7th. Looked like it was going to be a good day even though the weatherman called for scattered showers. I thought we would be fine. I met our divers at 5PM for a 2-tank dive and fireworks cruise. We were again headed to the Buccaneer and then maybe the Wings of Wind and then they could have beer and enjoy the fireworks. We again had SE winds and this time 1 foot seas as I headed out of Burnham. As we headed East, the skies ahead of us were clear but behind us the clouds were building, and I wished I had taken my gortex raingear. A short time later we were over the wreck and divemaster Quinn jumped in with our mooring. Less than 2 minutes later he is at the surface and we are tying in which proved a shade difficult as the wind had picked up to 8kts and seas were a solid 1ft. After a couple of attempts we are tied in and everything is looking good. Then even before the divers hit the water, the wind changes to the northwest and the boat swings around, but not all the way because there still are waves and currents coming from the southeast so the boat is sitting cockeyed and the tag line wrapped itself around the boat. While the divers are down it begins raining, not bad, but I did leave my raingear in the car. The skyline of Chicago disappeared in a wall of clouds and rain. When the divers said where are we going for dive #2, I suggested that the sky indicated that we should stay on the Bucc. After a little grumbling and observing lightening near shore we realized we made the right call. After dive 2 we motored in slowly and caught a great fireworks show. The weather over Chicago had cleared and the Lake was great. When we got back to the harbor we learned that the rain was so bad near shore that the Rush concert was canceled, once again confirming it was the right call to stay off shore. When I put the boat away my dingy had 4” of water in it that made for a nice ride back to the dock.
Jul 142010
