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***jasondbaker*** · 08-30-2009, 02:32 PM,

I dove the Thomas Wilson shipwreck in Duluth harbor this past Friday along with several members of mnscuba. We went out on the Superior Wreckreation charter with Captain Jay Hanson. I highly recommend Jay's charter service. Visibility was very good on the wreck -- 15-20ft. Water temp was a balmy 50 degF at depth.

Here are the underwater pics:

grumpie · 08-30-2009, 04:06 PM,

What great pictures, I have never dove the wilson and now i know what i miss. Thank you.
Not so grumpie........

SCUBA Dog · 08-30-2009, 05:52 PM,

I have yet to dive the Wilson. Thanks for sharing your photos.

08-30-2009, 08:08 PM,

Great pictures...Thanks for sharing them with us!

Mr.Pitbull · 08-30-2009, 10:12 PM,

Very nice Jason, looks like it was an awesome dive. How was the boat traffic around you?

jleech · (This post was last modified: 09-08-2009, 09:28 PM by jleech.)

Since Jason posted these pics, a group of us put a hurried trip out to the Wilson also on Superior Wreckreation last Sat. We didn't have quite as nice visibility as Jason and his group did, but I understand the 10-15ft we had was still very good for the Wilson.

We basically split up into 2 groups. John Janzen took about 90 min of video on the wreck, with Dan Grinols tagging along. Ozzie and I did penetrations into the wreck wherever we could squeeze into, and Pat Olson tagged along joining both groups during the dive.

We had a freighter pass nearby during the dive. VERY loud, especially when you are used to no bubble noise! I half expected to see a prop nearby...

I posted some pictures in a gallery.

Here's the URL:

Thanks Jason for letting us know the conditions were good!

Mr.Pitbull · 09-08-2009, 10:02 PM,

Great pics Jeff. Nice to see Ozzie actually using that 25watt bubble maker light. Looks kind of like a Light Saber in the photo.

***jasondbaker*** · 09-09-2009, 10:03 AM,

That's a pretty cool wreck isn't it? We lucked out with better than average viz the day we were out. Thanks for sharing pics of some of the deeper areas of the wreck. It's tough to get decent pics on the wilson. We were warned in advance about prop noise from passing freighters. But I don't recall hearing any.

john j · (This post was last modified: 09-09-2009, 04:07 PM by john j.)

I had a good time on the Wilson last weekend and I'm glad Ozzie invited me on the trip. I had only been on the Wilson once before that, many years ago and I didn't see very much. This time, visibility was much better and I did a lot of penetration and got to see quite a bit of stuff. The engine and boiler rooms are quite nice actually. I even managed to find the bow without getting lost. The lake was flat and it was a nice day other than the fog, which was thick. At the surface, we could hear freighters passing very close, but could not see them. Underwater, there was quite a lot of ship noise and I could even hear an occasional fog horn blowing while I was under water. That sure got my attention. I began thinking that if a freighter drafts 30 feet and I'm at 50 feet, that's not much room to spare.

I'd like to go back again. When the visibility is decent, this is a nice dive. Not very deep, so you can spend a lot of time on it. Looking up toward the surface, the water was very green. Looked like we were on Mars or something.

As Jeff said, I got a lot of video, which I am editing in my spare time and I will post a clip on youtube eventually. When I do, I will post a link on MNSCUBA.

I would also like to say thanks to Jason for posting about the good visibility on the Wilson. That's why I decided to go.