Well, Yesterday was a VERY long day. The plan was to wake up at 4:45am, get a quick shower and then have the car pack and ready to roll by 5:30am. Normally this wouldn't be such a feat, however I am on a college schedule (up 'til 2am almost every night). So 4:45am rolls around and I wake up from the 3 hours of sleep that I managed to steal from the night. I got through the shower, got changed and went to brush my teeth. I ran into Kyle in the bathroom. He was on the phone with Captain Hollis from Blue Heaven Scuba, the charter operator that we had booked for the day's dives. Kyle gave me a very grim look, and asked me if I through we should proceed even though it would likely be raining. "What the hell" I replied in a sarcastic manner. And with that our fate for a very long day of scuba was sealed.
As 5:30 rolled around, it became apparent that we were missing one person who had signed up for the charter. So at that point we began playing phone tag and managed to finally rouse him. He showed up about an hour later. So we set off to Port Sanilac, 60 minutes late with a 80% chance of rain.
Two hours later, at 8:30am, we arived in Port Sanilac to find our boat and captain waiting. They quickly introduced theirselfs and explained that they wanted to delay the charter for about an hour in attempt to allow the very heavy fot to lift. They recommended a local restaurant, so we went and ate a quick breakfast there.
Before we knew it, 10am rolled around and the holding pattern finally broke. We were instructed to have all gear ready to go and the boat would depart in 15 minutes. It was amazing how quickly the pace went from bored, to a fervor. And with that we were on our way... again.
So we arrived at the first dive site, above the water the fog was allowing less than 1/5 mile visibility, which is great when you are diving in a shipping Chanel. We arrived at the site of the Regina. With waves at about 2 feet, fog, and very brisk water (about 50 degrees at surface). Getting in was a harrowing task for the new divers. They all donned their rigs and made it off the boat and around to the mooring. I had the pleasure of diving with another experienced diver on the first dive. While Kyle drew the short straw, and got the inexperienced/newer diver. We followed another group, which was lead by the Dive Master from Blue Heaven Scuba Sunny. Sunny is a PADI certified instructor and was an excellent dive leader. He made sure to write out names and point out features for all of the interesting sites on the wreck including the Smokestack, The Engine Room, The Hole, The Screws, ect... We made it all the way back to the screws and took a look. before proceeding back to the front. Apparently the current was very slow, which is abnormal. Several of our wetsuit divers were understandably cold after this dive as the water was 38 degrees (avg of our 3 computers readings).
Our second dive was on a group of sailboats. This dive represented a chance for kyle to moore up to a wreck from the anchor line. He did fine mooring to them, however the one big issue was the boats were nearly 200ft apart from each other. So, he spooled out my entire reel to connect them for the new divers. This was great, until I had to come back to retrieve the rec reel. It was a good dive, just involved lots of setup and cleanup.
After the second dive, the first charter was marked as complete. We rolled back into the docks and found the second group waiting with complete gear rigs ready to roll. We quickly switched tanks and some occupants and set off on the second charter. I found it amazing how drastically the visibility had changed from earlier in the morning. It seemed like a normal sunny day outside no signs of any fog, and the sun was nice and warming on my back.
So the second dive set out for the Regina again, now that I had done it once I had the oportunity to dive with a newer diver, and gave kyle a chance to see the entire wreck (that he missed due to some buddy issues). So, my buddy and I got underwater and made it all the way to the hole. At this point I signaled to him for the air sign and he responded with 1600. Our dive plan included a 1500 turn back point, and the next nearest thing to see was another minute or two of swimming down the wreck. So, I signaled to turn back and to my surprise my buddy tried to disagree. I signaled again, and he shook his head "NO". I thought for a second, "dear god I hope I dont have to go stress and rescue on his ass, I dont have enough air for this shit." and then it came to me! I flashed to him "I have 1500, we need to go back." Immediately he responded to this with the okay we need to go back signal. We made it up the line and back into the boat with out any more difficulties. I think this was a flash of genius, deflecting the low pressure/limiting factor on myself gave me the ability to call the dive with no pressure on him.
We got to the last dive of the day, the Sport. At a depth of 50' the sport was turned on its side. I buddied with the same person again and we managed to sweep the deck and all the way around the deck on both sides. The tug was 57' long and was on its side. You could look in several places, but they looked silty as if you were to penetrate or even brush the whole area would be covered in dust.
We wrapped up the last dives and started sealing up gear. On the boat ride in, the fog came back up and it began to downpour. The boat had plenty of dry/cabin room for all 6 divers and the two crew. Overall I really enjoyed these dives. I thought the crew was quite fun and very helpful, From helping with fins to helping with wrist and neck seals on drysuits they were absolutely willing and ready to help at all steps. They made the process fun and informative for new divers and truly represent how a dive charter should operate. I hope to book a future charter out of the same company to reach some of the deeper wrecks such as the North Star, and the Mary Alice.
