Category: Boat Diving

Trip Report: Awesome Diving in Presque Isle, Michigan (Lake Huron)

macado

It’s been a few years but I have finally gotten back up to Presque Isle, MI in Lake Huron. It’s been far too long! I realize that I just went on-and-on about how Isle Royale is some of the best diving in the Great Lakes but honestly so is Presque Isle. I would say Presque Isle diving in Lake Huron is just as good as Isle Royale diving, some may even like it better. I still like seeing the mussel-less shipwrecks in Lake Superior but Presque Isle is pretty extraordinary…

Trip Report: Diving Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior

macado

I wanted to get back to writing more trip reports or just about diving in general so I figured I would start with Isle Royale in Lake Superior. This was my 4th diving trip to Isle Royale. I first went in 2021, twice in 2022 and finally just finished up my most recent trip there the end of August 2023. I’m by no means an expert on the wrecks or the location but I honestly feel it is some of the best wreck diving in the Great Lakes. I could…

Trip Report: Wreck of Patriot with Gauntlet (Stellwagen Bank)

macado

My gear is barely dry and rinsed from two weeks of Great Lakes diving but I had almost forgot that Annie and I were scheduled for a Gauntlet charter this Sunday on the wreck of F/V Patriot which sits in about 105′ of water in NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Massachusetts. If I can be completely honest the F/V Patriot is kind of a small and uninteresting shipwreck. By that I mean it’s not a historical, very large or unique wreck. It is a 60′ modern…

Trip Report: Roy A. Jodrey on Dec 11-12

macado

I decided to get one last trip on the wreck of the Roy A. Jodrey before the end of the season. “End of the season” is of course a bit of a misnomer. There is still plenty of diving to be done in the St Lawrence river in the winter but most charter boats are out of the water by mid-December and the ice starts to become an issue by February. If you get really desperate you can shore dive at the Islander or Bonnie Castle but you may have…

U853 with Canned Air Dive Charters

macado

It just so happens that Tom let me know that Red from Giant Stride Dive Shop was putting together one last U853 charter of the season.  I jumped on it since it was Capt Wayne’s last charter of season before he pulls his boat out and I haven’t been on the U853 at all this year. I awoke at 4am to do the drive from Boston to Wakefield, RI for a 6:15am load time.  It was me, Tom, Sang, Brie, and a couple guys from Virginia Beach that drove down.  Red…

Trip Report: Wreck of the Baleen with Daybreaker

macado
Wreck of Baleen

I crewed on both the morning and afternoon charters this Saturday for Matt.  On the morning charter we went to Halfway Rock and Southeast Breakers with a group from East Coast Divers. On the afternoon charter we made it out to the wreck of the Baleen. In the morning we had a bit of an incoming swell but otherwise topside conditions were great. Divers reported approximately 10-20ft of visibility. They said it varied depending on depth.  We spotted harbor seals on the surface and a whale off in the distance.…

Trip Report: F/V Patriot Wreck with Cape Ann Charters (Daybreaker)

macado
F/V Patriot

Quick Trip Report We managed to sneak out and get two great dives in this morning on the F/V Patriot in Stellwagen Bank.   East Coast Divers had booked a full charter and we had great group of divers on-board the Daybreaker. Managing to get out to Stellwagen Bank in the fall is always a risk especially in October but nevertheless we had good conditions on the way out.  Flat calm seas and very little swell. Unfortunately things picked up a bit (as the marine forecast predicted) in the afternoon as…

Trip Report: St. Lawrence River with Blue Foot Diving

macado

EDIT: This blog post is about a month after the trip. I finally got around to posting a trip report so it’s missing a bunch of details. I decided to head up to the St. Lawrence River for a long weekend of “warm” fresh water diving with a group of friends.    For those who aren’t in the know, diving in the St Lawrence River is often called the “Caribbean of the North.”  The warm top layer of water from Lake Ontario feeds into the St Lawrence River Seaway, combined…

BFW, Poling, Halfway Rock and Newcomb Ledge

macado

Blown out weekends = quarry/mine I haven’t really been posting too much on here since the past 3 weekends has had me out of salt water action and up in the quarry/mine working on the Esperanza Mapping Project. Prior to that we had an excellent long weekend of diving up in the St. Lawrence River. I spent Friday and Saturday up in Vermont giving my gear another good fresh water rinse. Clearly my gear desperately needed some salt water immersion and Sunday finally came through on that. Sunday Funday We had…

Great Lakes Diving: A week of diving in Presque Isle & Whitefish Point

macado
SS Comet

I wanted to do a quick recap of my Great Lakes diving trip to Presque Isle (Lake Huron) and Whitefish Point (Lake Superior).  This was my 2nd time diving up in this area. I went last year in July for the first time with my friend Shawn and was blown away by the diving up here.  This year we planned to do 4 days in Presque Isle, MI (Lake Huron) and 3 days in Whitefish Point (Lake Superior). What can I say? First of all, it was truly awesome diving with…