Great Lakes: Dive Trips

Our first Lust4Rust “We Got Wood” Great Lakes destination is Diving out of Presque Isle on Lake Huron. This destination has been carefully chosen to showcase some of the best wooden sailing boats in the Great Lakes at intermediate depths (round the 45-55m range) Of course there are thousands of shallower (and deeper) wrecks but these wrecks are the most intact and prestine wrecks in this area. We will also be doing our first few days diving some of the shallower wrecks as a build up

What training and experience do I need?

The majority of the wrecks are in the 50-60m range. Because of the more adverse conditions entry level trimix (normoxic) would be a pre requisite for this sort of diving for both open circuit and Closed Circuit diving. If you have any questions about this please contact us.

Skill assessment and check out dive

Diving the Great Lakes really does demand more in a diver. The largest consideration is appropriatly dressing for the cold water and being comfortable in the use of this additional gear. Drysuits, thick undergarments, dry gloves and thick hoods is just handling cold water. Normal water temeratures on the bottom  deeper than 15m drops to 3ºC (373ºF).

Preparing Yourself For Diving The Great Lakes

One of the biggest things to be aware of when diving the Great Lakes is the water temperature and adequately preparing yourself.
Water temperature on the bottom is 3ºC rising to 10ºC at 10 meters then up to 16ºC at 6m. What you wear for exposure protection will be the difference between a fantastic trip or  an average experience. Also getting some time in the water beforehand getting used to all this new gear is essential to your enjoyment.

Drysuits and Undergarments

Drysuits are mandatory for such a trip. There is no way you will be able to function in a wetsuit. What you wear underneath your drysuit suit is also critical. An example of what people are wearing is a Fourth Element Xerotherm top and bottoms as a base layer with Fourth Element Halo 3D. Thick arctic socks. Having a heated vest will have advantage but not essential. 7mm FE hood. And Kubi drygloves with double Marino lined gloves. This configuration I found worked the best for me. You will definitely need to wear dry gloves. Your hands will simply not be able to sustain this temperature for long periods of time.

With all this said, the experience of diving these stunning, pristine 150 year old wooden wrecks will take your breath away.

What sort of Runtimes and number of dives will we expect?

A normal days diving will entail two dives, with an appropriate surface intervel inbetween, Dive depths are between (on average) 45-55m (147 – 180 foot) so runtimes will normally stretch to 2 hours each dive. This will be a 40-45min bottom time.

What are the logistics of this trip?

The easiest airport to fly into would be Detroit. From there Presque Isle is about a 4.5 hour drive. You will need to hire a car and travel north to Presque Isle.

All food and accommodation is covered in the costs ( this is only at the Fireside Inn. If you choose to eat out or elsewhere then there will be additional costs)