February 25: This Saturday I attended “Our World Underwater” which is a Chicago Dive and Travel Expo complete with Seminars, Workshops, Film Festival, Travel, and Exhibits. It was held at the Donald Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont Illinois. http://ourworldunderwater.com/chicago/
February 19: On this Sunday we returned to dive the remains of the wooden steam ship and the fishing tug that had been left, one on top of the other, to rot on the rivers bottom. As noted these wrecks had not been dove for over +30 years and in that time the embankment had been modified and the shore line clamshelled which for all practical purposes totally destroyed the ships.
This trip was by boat in the hopes that side scanning the area would reveal additional parts along the shore line and out to the middle of the river. Today the visibility was 6″ to 18″ at best and the current, especially when trying to get back into the boat was “ripping”.
February 16: Red Tail P-51C Tuskegee Airmen – Took these pictures of its first test flight after paint job at Flying Colors Aviation at the SW Regional Airport, Benton, MI. For information on the aircraft go to: http://www.redtail.org/rise-red-tail/p-51c-mustang-tuskegee-airmen/
February 13: Today was a Blue Sky Day with very smooth air when flying over water but turned a little bumpy over land. Depending on where you are, beach line erosion is not a laughing matter as shown on these photos.
Feb 11: Brisk day at Silver Beach today, Saint Joseph, Michigan. There was just enough wind to generate some waves, drag along kites, and mild enough for kids to be out chasing skyrats (gulls).
Today was my first wreck dive of February 2017. With no ice and no one local available to dive, Kevin Ailes was happy to came down to check out this shallow water wreck site. One of the reasons for diving this part of the river at this time of year is the absence of boat traffic that would impede diving.
The last time I dove this site was over 30 years ago and had been interested in seeing the changes over that period of time. Back in the day the water entry points were all natural with shallow slopes and the two ships were on top of each other. The bottom ship was a wooden steam ship and the top one was an old fishing tug that had the superstructure cut away. Thirty years ago the feature point of the wreckage was the tugs’ diesel engine with all its associated components. My how time changes everything!
The shore line has been dug out and filled in concrete blocks making it very steep. It appears that a clam shell bucket was used to clean out or deepen the shoreline cutout during this time and a most of the wreckage removed.
What was left consists of junk iron and wood with lots of snag and puncture hazards. There was also a significant current as you moved away from the shoreline into the main body of the river that we were not prepared to investigate this dive.
Air temperature was 27°F, wind speed was 11 mph and wind chill factor temp was ~11° F. Water about 34/35°F. It did not take long for your gear to freeze up on the surface. Still it was a good dive. 🙂
February 1 was a very cool day to be out doors but provided me the opportunity to have a little bit of hands on work helping repair the local airport wind sock. The lED lights were not functioning which made the wind sock more than a little challenging to see, especially in at night.
Is there anyone else out there who dislikes any and all “News titles” that are deliberately provocative and not truthful? Doing my best not to ever click on them.
January 21, 2017. This was a great weekend for classroom work if you were not able to get out diving. Several Muddies attended three PADI & DAN specialty classes at Wolfs’ Marine in Benton Harbor. Primary instructor for today’s classes was Dave Tonneman (Benthic Adventures)
The three classes were:
1) DAN Basic Life Support: CPR and First Aid
2) DAN Emergency Oxygen for Scuba Diving Injuries
3) PADI Enriched Air /Nitrox
