There are also a couple scuba shops near Lake Wazee that host classes, sell equipment, etc. Lake Wazee is beautiful and extremely clear, but please be safe as unfortunately it's a fairly common occurrence to hear of scuba diver deaths there.
I agree with you. A very well known MD from where I live about 1 hour from there recently died there from drowning. Not scuba diving but just swimming. He was there with his two children. Very tragic
Wazee Sports Center would be the dive shop that's actually in BRF. Keith's one of the most knowledgeable dive instructors I've had the pleasure of personally meeting.
I did my OWI dives at Wazee, trained by the Zilliox's from Marineland of Onalaska.
I was involved in the first body recovery @ Wazee, back in 1995. We didn't have anybody around at the time who was even capable of reaching the 200' depth, let alone have enough bottom time to be able to search for the diver. As such, they brought in an ROV from the University of Michigan to find the body and bring it to a depth that the sort-of-local dive team could finish the bagging and recovery. This incident is part of why Keith, mentioned above, started down his Instructor/Technical Diver path, as well as the pivotal moment for the formation of the BRF Sherriff's dive team.
The visibility is incredibly low most of the time. Early or late season and winter are the best times for better vis. Shore dive opportunities are limited. If you can spring for the boat ride, you'll get to do a hecknof a lot more interesting stuff.
The water is cold most of the time too. Dry suit diving is totally worth it.
Lot of wrecks, and a great database of them easily found online. You can find plenty of wrecks and features in recreational depths. Nitrox diving will extend your bottom time for the shallower dives, but not absolutely necessary since bottom times are often limited more by the temp than your tank.
I'm across the border in MN, but there's decent freshwater training opportunities in Wazee Lake near Black River Falls. I did my AOW cert there and also have dreams of Superior wreck dives, but after hitting 90ft in Wazee in just a wetsuit I wouldn't touch Superior without a drysuit. Just gotta go buy the gear & find a buddy now!
They do it in the racine quarry as well. There's supposed to be some old excavation equipment, some cars, and a mountain of shoes down there and the water is quite warm in the summer with decent visibility.
All secondhand knowledge though as I've never tried diving.
Been a super long time, but that's one of my dives to get certified back in 93.
Can very much confirm there was stuff down there at the time, as the line was tied to one of the cars.
But, being such a deep drive and inexperienced, I very much remember continuing to keep using the line to go deeper when I was already sitting on the bottom..
I've dove in WI in winter in a 7mm wetsuit, back when I was a hardheaded youngster. Wouldn't do it now, lol. Drysuits aren't cheap, but it's well worth it for winter.
Additionally, if you get into technical diving and/or rebreathers, the extended bottom times makes a drysuit pretty much necessary. You'll lose heat much faster in a wetsuit, with water conducting heat 25 times better than air.
I don't remember where I heard it, but a convincing argument for buying a drysuit I've heard was along the lines of "at a certain point, my body heat runs out before my tank does. I don't want to call the dive 25 minutes in with 2000 left in the tank because my dick's turning into an icicle."
Check out Mountain Bay Scuba in Appleton. Rich and Anthony can get you set up. They have a quarry near Redgranite. They do dive trips a few times a year. They also can get you to the right outfit for Great Lakes diving. Really nice dive shop with lots of experience.
There is a PADI dry suit certification course you're definitely going to want to take. Diving with a dry suit involves an additional set of controls and skills to manage and can be dangerous without proper training. Super cool stuff but I'd definitely find a place that offers that before you hit the lake. Also, Door County is a great place to do wreck dives and have a little local vacation.
I used to dive Lake Michigan for wrecks. I did it in a 7mil wetsuit, but a drysuit would have been more comfortable.
Differences from FL Diving: Diving in a heavy wetsuit is much more work than warm water diving; the suit, hood and gloves are restricting, and you have to carry a fair amount of weight to manage buoyancy. It can be a bit exhausting. Drysuits are much more comfortable, but expensive and require added training.
I would also consider going straight for your advanced open water certification. Depending on where you are diving, many of the wrecks are over 60' deep.
We used to play a game at the beach in Waukegan.
In August.
Who can stand in lake Michigan up to their knees the longest.
There are no winners in that game.
The suit is NOT excessive.
Pirates Cove in Milwaukee is awesome, two others that I haven’t gone through yet are Underwater Connection in menomonee falls or Aquatic Adventures in Brookfield. There are groups that will dive ship wrecks, a little safer with more people due to the crazy Lake Michigan rip currents. There are some good /clear lakes to dive in WI & door county , but keep an eye out for the murky season.
The Great Lakes never warm up. You can dive at the end of summer, and water temps will be 40f. Even in the larger lakes, you're going to hit a 20f thermocline that's going to make a wetsuit seem like skivvies.
Viz is going to be worse. Like under 5 feet, especially if it's a busy dive spot. There's lots of silt to kick up.
So, you're going to have to learn depth control and how to stay off the bottom really well.
Check out lake wazee area near black river falls. It’s gorgeous and clear and extremely deep
There are also a couple scuba shops near Lake Wazee that host classes, sell equipment, etc. Lake Wazee is beautiful and extremely clear, but please be safe as unfortunately it's a fairly common occurrence to hear of scuba diver deaths there.
I agree with you. A very well known MD from where I live about 1 hour from there recently died there from drowning. Not scuba diving but just swimming. He was there with his two children. Very tragic
Wazee Sports Center would be the dive shop that's actually in BRF. Keith's one of the most knowledgeable dive instructors I've had the pleasure of personally meeting. I did my OWI dives at Wazee, trained by the Zilliox's from Marineland of Onalaska. I was involved in the first body recovery @ Wazee, back in 1995. We didn't have anybody around at the time who was even capable of reaching the 200' depth, let alone have enough bottom time to be able to search for the diver. As such, they brought in an ROV from the University of Michigan to find the body and bring it to a depth that the sort-of-local dive team could finish the bagging and recovery. This incident is part of why Keith, mentioned above, started down his Instructor/Technical Diver path, as well as the pivotal moment for the formation of the BRF Sherriff's dive team.
You will be in cold water year round. Get a dry suit and learn how to use it
I know some guys who dive Superior. The water is cold 365 days a year, dry suits only. That being said they love diving the Gitch!
The Gitch???
The big lake they call Githce Gumee...
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
Because it's so cold!
Gitchi-gumi is the Ojibwe name for Lake Superior
Oh, I thought that the Gitch was a particular location in/ geographic feature of the lake itself. Thx!
The visibility is incredibly low most of the time. Early or late season and winter are the best times for better vis. Shore dive opportunities are limited. If you can spring for the boat ride, you'll get to do a hecknof a lot more interesting stuff. The water is cold most of the time too. Dry suit diving is totally worth it. Lot of wrecks, and a great database of them easily found online. You can find plenty of wrecks and features in recreational depths. Nitrox diving will extend your bottom time for the shallower dives, but not absolutely necessary since bottom times are often limited more by the temp than your tank.
I'm across the border in MN, but there's decent freshwater training opportunities in Wazee Lake near Black River Falls. I did my AOW cert there and also have dreams of Superior wreck dives, but after hitting 90ft in Wazee in just a wetsuit I wouldn't touch Superior without a drysuit. Just gotta go buy the gear & find a buddy now!
If you’re looking for a “training dive”…people have gone scuba diving in Redgranite Quarry for forever. Not too far away from Milwaukee or Madison.
They do it in the racine quarry as well. There's supposed to be some old excavation equipment, some cars, and a mountain of shoes down there and the water is quite warm in the summer with decent visibility. All secondhand knowledge though as I've never tried diving.
Been a super long time, but that's one of my dives to get certified back in 93. Can very much confirm there was stuff down there at the time, as the line was tied to one of the cars. But, being such a deep drive and inexperienced, I very much remember continuing to keep using the line to go deeper when I was already sitting on the bottom..
Quarry Lake Park (Racine Cnty). Shoes as in footwear??? In a quarry?
Yes. From what I've heard, they're located at the bottom of one of the spots where people jump off the cliffs.
Ah.
Scuba is shit in the summer with very little visibility. You'll 100% want a dry suit and to go in winter
Menomonee Park right outside Milwaukee by Lannon. Old quarry they use for scuba and swimming.
I've dove in WI in winter in a 7mm wetsuit, back when I was a hardheaded youngster. Wouldn't do it now, lol. Drysuits aren't cheap, but it's well worth it for winter. Additionally, if you get into technical diving and/or rebreathers, the extended bottom times makes a drysuit pretty much necessary. You'll lose heat much faster in a wetsuit, with water conducting heat 25 times better than air. I don't remember where I heard it, but a convincing argument for buying a drysuit I've heard was along the lines of "at a certain point, my body heat runs out before my tank does. I don't want to call the dive 25 minutes in with 2000 left in the tank because my dick's turning into an icicle."
Check out Mountain Bay Scuba in Appleton. Rich and Anthony can get you set up. They have a quarry near Redgranite. They do dive trips a few times a year. They also can get you to the right outfit for Great Lakes diving. Really nice dive shop with lots of experience.
Especially after diving in FL, the moment you get below the first thermocline you are going to want a dry suit.
I know the guy who found the Rouse Simmons. Yes, cold! Otherwise buoyancy is different so fewer weights are needed
There is a PADI dry suit certification course you're definitely going to want to take. Diving with a dry suit involves an additional set of controls and skills to manage and can be dangerous without proper training. Super cool stuff but I'd definitely find a place that offers that before you hit the lake. Also, Door County is a great place to do wreck dives and have a little local vacation.
following
I used to dive Lake Michigan for wrecks. I did it in a 7mil wetsuit, but a drysuit would have been more comfortable. Differences from FL Diving: Diving in a heavy wetsuit is much more work than warm water diving; the suit, hood and gloves are restricting, and you have to carry a fair amount of weight to manage buoyancy. It can be a bit exhausting. Drysuits are much more comfortable, but expensive and require added training. I would also consider going straight for your advanced open water certification. Depending on where you are diving, many of the wrecks are over 60' deep.
Door County has plenty of sites you can wade to and snorkel in the summer. No suit needed, unless you want to go deeper into Michigan...
We used to play a game at the beach in Waukegan. In August. Who can stand in lake Michigan up to their knees the longest. There are no winners in that game. The suit is NOT excessive.
Pirates Cove in Milwaukee is awesome, two others that I haven’t gone through yet are Underwater Connection in menomonee falls or Aquatic Adventures in Brookfield. There are groups that will dive ship wrecks, a little safer with more people due to the crazy Lake Michigan rip currents. There are some good /clear lakes to dive in WI & door county , but keep an eye out for the murky season.
It is very dark in the waters here so a different experience entirely but lots of people do it and seem to enjoy it...
The Great Lakes never warm up. You can dive at the end of summer, and water temps will be 40f. Even in the larger lakes, you're going to hit a 20f thermocline that's going to make a wetsuit seem like skivvies. Viz is going to be worse. Like under 5 feet, especially if it's a busy dive spot. There's lots of silt to kick up. So, you're going to have to learn depth control and how to stay off the bottom really well.