Today was a blue sky day with very moderate sea’s so a few Muddies and I went to dive the wreck of the schooner “Havana” and then do a little bottom searching on the way back in to shore. We had some old “targets” (potential wrecks or underwater structure) that we wanted to see if they could be relocated. The picture’s give you a little look at what we see leaving the DNR docks in Benton Harbor to the entry to Lake Michigan.
We had a second boat that came out behind us that was going to spend more time searching of additional bottom targets. As the seas picked up at the end of the day it became too bouncy to get decent results on our bottom scanners and we all went in.
The Havana is called a sand wreck or rubble wreck because she is shallow, about 50 feet, and has been down for over a 100 years. Being shallow storms and currents have taken a toil on her. Depending on the season and shifting sands, portions of the wreck become uncovered or recovered. Being shallow, wave action and currents do have an unpredictable effect on visibility and temperature at depth.
It is an excellent wreck dive for the less experienced and newer diver.
Havana Buoy – Placed by the SW Michigan Underwater Preserve in 2019. The Havana sank October 1887 with a lost of 3 of the 7 crew. She was carrying 800 tons of ore (yep- sank like a stone)
