Isle Royale 10-13 Aug 2007

[Roger Southwick]

Three of us from the Rochester area just returned from a tech trip at Isle Royale with Ken Merryman.  We had a couple very nice dives on the Kamloops, Congdon stern, and Chisholm engine.  Most 20-foot deco stops were in 61F water, which was awesome.  Sunday's morning dive was scrapped due to 5-6' waves but by afternoon it calmed down.

Monday was perfect.  We dived the Chisholm during calm, sunny conditions, so I brought the camera along for some ambient-light photos.  On previous recreational trips we had been limited to 10-12 minutes on the wreck; this time we had over 40min!

John Martin and John Preston check out the stern:






We had enough time to inspect some hull sections that we hadn't seen before:









Unbelievably calm water over the Chisholm:




It wouldn't be Isle Royale without a beautiful sunset:




You can see more pictures in .

[LKunze]

Great pics as always Roger!

[Shooter]

Excellent pics. thanks for posting. 8).

On my first trip to Isle royal, I also had very limited bottom time.  On this last trip.  After completing stage decompression and advance nitrox training, doing decompression dives and having all that extra gas was very relaxing.  It allowed me to enjoy the dive a lot more.  Having that extra time to explore is almost enough for me to make the jump into re-breathers.

[Roger Southwick]

Thanks guys!


You're definitely right about extra gas & relaxation.  Those past recreational dives were stressful and rushed.  This one was very calm.  The perfect surface conditions helped too.

Moving to rebreathers would be especially nice for reducing the .


By the way, today is the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the Kamloops!  (Source: Shipwrecks of Isle Royale National Park: the Archaeological Survey, D. Lenihan, 1994, p. 115)