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LKunze · 07-26-2006, 01:15 PM,

I had a chance to dive the Wilson yesterday out of Duluth diving off the Superior Wreckreation charter boat. We had six divers on board and at least four of us were mnscuba.com members. MAKA, Dan G, Tim, and myself. The boat trip was nice. The crew was friendly and informative and fun to chat with. It was a pretty short cruise out to the wreck from port. We had pretty decent viz we were told for what the Wilson typically has (15 feet in places). The waves were a little choppy when we got out there but it calmed down a little for the second dive. The water was pretty warm. It was above 70 degrees on the surface and it cooled to about 46 to 48 degrees at depth (60 feet) which wasn't bad at all. I really enjoyed this wreck. It has some nice swim throughs and had schools of small fish (forgot what kind) swimming on it as well. We saw a large eelpout on the deck that was bigger than the length of my outstretched arm. We did two dives and each dive was about 45 minutes long and we were able to cover the whole wreck on a single dive. All in all it was a fun time and I'd recommend anyone that hasn't had the chance to dive the Wilson to give it a try. It's different from the Madeira and Hesper that many of us have had the chance to dive several times. I definately plan to get back on the Superior Wreckreation again to try some of the other wrecks outside of Duluth.

MAXFACTOR · (This post was last modified: 07-26-2006, 08:54 PM by MAXFACTOR.)

Any pictures Lonnie?Â Â I dove the Wilson last Nov.Â

IÂ Didn't see anything.Â Vis. was about 1 foot at best.Â Two of our buddy groups (of which I was in 1 of them)Â Â accidentally penetrated it as the vis. was so bad. I think we went in through one of the tears in the starboard side of the boat. That was a bit testy on the brain, when you see your bubbles going backwards along the ceiling not knowing that you actually entered, and then retracing the route with virtually zero visibility. Glad to see some lighter darkness when I exited the hull.

Apparently because of the warm water and the late cold water coming in......... the cold water was turning everything up fromÂ the bottom.Â I would like to see it this Summer.

Maxfactor

LKunze · 07-26-2006, 04:03 PM,

No, I didn't bring my camera as I figured the viz would be lower and my camera is just a simple point and shoot Sony. I don't have any strobes and the built in flash sucks. I only shoot pictures with no flash and to a max depth of 60 feet if viz is good. It was a fairly dark wreck so if I took any pictures they would have been duds.

flyboy65 · 07-26-2006, 09:36 PM,

I think now is the time to dive this wreck. Lake Superior has been so calm, and so unbelievably warm the last few weeks. I've been on the Madeira, Hesper, and Ely so far, and been diving wet for all of them. This weather can't hold out much longer, before the lake gets stirred up again. I've read about the Wilson, and am anxious to get out and see her.

Diving up here doesn't get much better!

Maka · 07-31-2007, 08:05 PM,

A few of us dove the Wilson today off papa Jay's boat, Had a great time and did two dives. We had about 15+ in most spots.

I hope all went well with your new baby today Jay!

cold_H2O_diver · 08-01-2007, 10:39 PM,

I have a couple of photos I posted here:

I've been on this wreck a lot (there's a spot on the bench of the Wreckreation worn to the shape of my buttocks), but mostly for play and less so for picture taking. Bringing my camera more often now - but as LK implied, getting good images on the Wilson is a crap shoot. Hoping to add more to the web site as I collect them.

15' visibility is about average - though I've also had occasions where I practically had to bump my forehead into the side of the hull to find the wreck. Late summer is usually when visibility is getting decent. For a few years I've been trying to come up with a hypothesis on what drops the visibility on this wreck, sometimes even late in a dry summer when, theoretically, lack of outflow from the St. Louis should provide better visibility.

Prevailing theory: Warm, calm weather makes for higher water temperature at the end of the lake around the wreck site. Any St. Louis River flow, being approximately the same temperature, mixes easily with the lake water - stirring things up and lowering vis. If the weather is cooler and the prevailing winds bring cooler lake water into the end of the lake, the comparatively warmer St. Louis River water essentially rides up over the denser cooler water, improving visibility. I've seen occasions in (cooler) years past where the upper 30' have questionable visibility, but down on the wreck things clear up quite a bit.

Obviously, this is anecdotal evidence at best. In the end, the visibility on the Wilson is extremely hard to predict. I guess I'll just have to continue my research... Alas... if I must...

DiveCaptDean · 08-02-2007, 08:12 AM,

What kind of time has it historically taken for the soft silt to settle after a laker runs past her. This must affect viz..but how much?

eric myers · 08-02-2007, 09:23 PM,

We were passed by the Canadian Enterprise, a lake freighter, by about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile and suprisingly to me it did not effect the visibility. Apparently, the route it took was deeper than the wreck location. So in a sense the churned siltly lake bottom would have to have "climbed a hill" to reach the wreck location and stir the bottom. I think the trick is being out there before a freighter has had the opportunity to navigate straight over it. That is where an experienced Captain comes into play. I had a great time on both my dives on the Wilson. She is certainly a very unique vessel. If you haven't seen her yet, add it to your list because you owe it to yourself!