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Joined on
2/9/2006
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Is diving shipwrecks on Lake Michigan only appropriate for highly skilled divers or can a novice enjoy this activity. I know Dale Bennett participates often on this website, but it seems he is guiding more technically orientated dives. Can anybody recommend any other operators near Chicago? Can anybody recommend any dive sites appropriate to a diver with less than 30 dives?
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Joined on
5/11/2008
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Toucan Dive in Lake Villa has dive charters going out every other weekend throughout the dive season. Usually, every other charter is either Beginner Wreck or Advanced Wreck. You can find the calendar at toucandive.com on the events page for more info!
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Joined on
3/31/2006
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Lizzie,
I am sorry to see that you think we only have dives for very experienced and technical divers. Perhaps I have not been doing my job very well in getting the word out about all the various kinds of diving we have available. In fact, most of the wrecks we dive are appropriate for relatively new divers. Many of our dives can and are visited by new divers, fresh from their Open Water courses. We have had some divers do their Open water training dives from Enterprise.
One of our more popular wrecks is Lady Elgin. The wreck of Lady Elgin is not only a very interesting historic shipwreck but it is a perfect wreck for the newer diver. There is nothing to penetrate or to get entangled on. There are some interesting artifacts and aquatic life to see. The depth is just over 50 feet, which makes it deep enough to make buoyancy easy to control but still shallow enough that decompression limits are not a concern.
Another popular wreck is Seabird. Seabird, a side wheeled steamer, sank in 1867 as a result of a fire. Only three of the 100 persons on board were saved. She now rests in 28 feet of water where she makes a perfect wreck for the new diver to visit. The massive boiler and the twisted walking beam engine are interesting to investigate. The port paddle wheel still has about half of its paddles intact. It is so big that one can swim through it. There are several pieces of iron cooking pots that were part of the cargo which divers frequently move around the wreck.
Last year a 39 foot fishing boat sank in a late May storm just a couple of miles away from Waukegan harbor. We now take divers to visit Fin Seeker where she rests in 60 feet of water.
I hope you will come out and dive with us to see these wrecks yourself.
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Joined on
2/9/2006
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Thanks for your info! It is really appreciated. This site is great for finding out reliable information about diving. I am going to partcipate in the forums more often. I also guess I will be doing some wreck diving this summer.
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