Category: Rebreather

Building a Sidewinder / Gemini rebreather clone

macado

I suppose I should start this post off with a bit of a disclaimer. Rebreathers are dangerous and can kill you without proper training, discipline and understanding. Don’t build or modify a rebreather unless you have a proper understanding of all the concepts behind everything you’re doing, even then things can still go wrong. Always know your ppO2. If you’re not sure or something doesnt feel right then there is no harm in bailing out. Plenty of really smart (and unquestionably stupid) people have died because they thought they knew…

Diving the Carl D. Bradley: Trip Report July 2024

macado

In July 2024 after diving some wrecks in the 230-240ft range out of Harrisville, MI (I should really write a trip report for that too..) in Lake Huron I was lucky enough to be able to get some dives on the Carl D. Bradley with some good friends. The Carl D. Bradley is one of the deeper wrecks in Lake Michigan. She sits in approximately 360-370ft (~112m) at the stern and about 340-350ft (~106m) at the bow. There are obviously deeper wrecks in the Great Lakes such as the Edmund…

Gunilda and Judge Hart: Trip Report (Sept 2024)

macado

Just returning from a 2400 mile road trip to Rossport, Ontario. I haven’t written that many trip reports this year although I’ve certainly done a lot of dive trips. 🙂 Although I’ve done a lot of diving in the Great Lakes I really think Lake Superior is my favorite lake, in particular the Gunilda and the Judge Heart wrecks. I really love seeing shipwrecks without zebra and quagga mussels. I cannot get enough of these shipwrecks although it is really honestly hard to pick a favorite. The wrecks in Isle…

Trip Report: SS Manasoo Weekend (August 3-5th)

macado

I’ve had a very busy diving summer and unfortunately have not updated this blog that much. I’ll try to backfill a couple trip reports from this year in the Great Lakes. We had an awesome weekend up in Owen Sound, Ontario diving the SS. Manasoo and J.H Jones. I never get tired of diving the Manasoo. It has become one of my favorite wrecks in Lake Huron. The pilot house and engine room are both fantastic for photos, as is the 1927 Chevy in the cargo hold. It’s an awesome…

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: 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…

Building The Under $50 O2 Cell Checker

macado

I have been interested in building an O2 Cell Checker for a while now, not only to test if my rebreather cells are current limited but also to check the linearity of them. That is when I remembered seeing an older thread on RebreatherWorld.com aptly named “The Under $50 Cell Checker”  A bunch of people on that thread had some really cool designs. I merely copied what other people were doing and can’t take any credit for this idea. So the question is can you build a cell checker for…

Trip Report: 5 days of Cave Diving in Florida

macado

Florida Cave Diving for Thanksgiving I was starting to get the travel itch again so I figured an impromptu trip to cave country in Florida was on the agenda.  I guess it really wasn’t impromptu; a couple of my friends were driving down and it was really a question of if I could find a cheap flight and rental car. Luckily I was able to find a flight on JetBlue on Thanksgiving for under $300 from Boston to Jacksonville.  My friends Matt and Lea offered to mule down my rebreather…

Thompson’s Point Shore Dive in Lake Champlain

macado
Thompson's Point Lake Champlain

We decided to do something a little different this weekend.  Myself, Matt, Lea and Tom went up to Lake Champlain for some planned exploratory shore diving.  We also figured we would hit some of the restaurants and breweries in Burlington. Thompson’s Point There is an area in Lake Champlain called Thompson’s Point which is rumored to have some very cool topography (vertical wall) underwater.  It’s an area that is also one of the deepest points of the lake. We had no real ambitious plans to go “super” deep but we carried…