Wisconsin camping 7-10-11

[DetectorGuy]

This might not be 'local diving' but next week I am going camping with the family in Northern Wisconsin, and I'm bringing 10 tanks. We are going to be at Owen Lake for 2 days and I will probably do a tank or 2 there. Then we will go up to bayfield/ Apostle Islands area for a few days and hoplefully blow a few tanks there. Maybe the 32 ford truck and the sea caves... Then we are going to Amnicon falls for a day and back to Namekogon Lake for a couple days. If there are any "must dives" in any of these areas please let me know. I will be limited to shoredives probably so it might be just banging around the jetties and such. As far as the campgrounds near Bayfield/Redcliff/Little Sand Bay area, I have not reserved anything in that area so info on what campgrounds are not that good... Let me know. Thanks,
John

[arcFlash]

The truck in Bayfield is a 10 minute dive. There should be a yellow poly line leading to a feeder line to the truck.

The old pier behind the fish market (left of the beach - no diving) is worth the most time and it's mostly a lot of boards but you should be able to find artifacts.

Fin McCool is a barge and worth a look if you can get to it and bring a flag and stay out of the channel to the harbor, it's within feet. search for the old post, I had some details about it. You could do the Fin and the Truck on one tank, truck first. Then re-rack for the old pier.

I don't think you can get to any cave from shore. The only ones I've see are from the ice out of the park in the Northwest and we walked a few miles on the ice before getting to anything resembling a cave. The cliff blocks any shore entry for miles. The north tip by Raspberry is private reservation and vis is very poor from the river. Just west at Little Sand bay has a parking lot and a nice beach but it too is off limits or at least the locals think it is and chase you away. I've swam a long way in Little Sand bay and it is, all sand and the rocks are only interesting above the water. If you know of an entrance please post it.

The best place may be Big Bay park on Madeline island but I've only been there during winter. Nice trails for winter snow shoeing but the beach could be a real nice time during the summer. I think the park fees are high but we did have a good time tromping around the snow and ice. There is nothing else on the island to see.

[Dive4fun]

I agree the Mcool is a nice dive and worth seeing. You will need a flag as it is very close to one of the boat channels. It is only a few yards off shore and in about 30-40 feet. You only need to do a surface swim of about 50 yards! I did a charter twice in Bayfield and both times this was the coldest dive of the two days. You wouldn't think that would be the case but the boat captain confirmed it is always that way. Have a good time!!

[DetectorGuy]

Thanks for the info. I am bringing the dry suit and the HID light. The Amnicon Falls area has a covered bridge over the river there. I would like to sweep the metal detector under it to see what might be there, but I don't know what Wisconsin thinks of using metal detectors in their state parks. Some of the pools below the waterfalls there might be kind of neat to dive, if the vis is not too bad. Has anyone ever charged a Diverite canister battery using a generator? We will be staying at some municipal campgrounds that have power but half the time we will be running on generator and batteries.

[DetectorGuy]

I was looking in the Buffalo Bay area and there are supposed to be 3 shallow wrecks there. Here is a link showing one called the Fedora 1 mile North of Redcliff in an aerial photo.



I think this next link is to an aerial photo of the Finn McCool. Is this it just South of town near the mouth of the harbor?



This next link is to an aerial photo of something rectangular but I don't know what it is. It is just South of Bayfield centered on the photo.

[DetectorGuy]

I did some more research on what that Rectangle shape is South of Bayfield. I found another site that claims it is a submerged dock crib.

Here is a link to the site. I have been overlaying the coordinates from different websites on my GPS to figure out where to go.


Here is another neat link:

[arcFlash]

There are 2 wrecks very close to shore or at shore but you can not shore dive them. Private land and marina. I've kayaked over them and they are cool snorkels but not divers. If you can work out a rental of a dingy you could easily row out and snorkel the site. The one in red cliff has a lot of iron bits left (link). I would think you could find a sailor that would lone or rent you a dingy for an hour or two.


This is the at shore wreck but I don't know the marina very they may turn you away.

PS, diving wrecks requires a permit so you may want to talk to the park service to avoid any misunderstanding. I have no idea if it's a fee or just registration like the Madeira.

[DetectorGuy]

We got back a couple hours ago from a week of camping and diving. I only got to dive in four different lakes but It was very relaxing. First dive was in Lake Owen. The viz there was about 15' and it was the cleanest lake I have ever seen. I only found 2 beer cans on the bottom while I was diving. Lots of logs on the bottom and a few lures hanging on them. The next Lake was Bass Lake and the viz there was only about 10'. I took lots of video of fish on these two lakes. I chased a snapping turtle for a bit and played tag with a couple large bass. I thought I found an anchor in Bass Lake but it turned out to be a window sash weight  :o . Then I went diving in Superior at Bayfield behind the Bodin's Fish Market. That was cool to see all the debris but it was a little spooky hearing the big boats overhead. I took a bunch of video there too. The last place I dove was Lake Namekogon. The viz was only about 2' here and the water was stained like coffee. I found a 6'x6'x6' log fish Crib there and plucked a dozen lures off it.

The first picture is of the window sash weight and some lures from Bass Lake
The second photo is of me coming out of Lake Superior.
The third Photo is of me giving this little boy his ball back ( he dropped it off the pier while I was right below him and I thought it was a lure at first)
The fourth photo is of the Niagra. It was a pretty neat ship that was in Pennsylvania seven days earlier.

Here is a link to the video I took in Superior by the Bodin's Fish Market: 

I will post more videos later...

[DetectorGuy]

So I went back to work today and the guys decorated my office while I was gone... They built a lake behind my desk about 8' long by 4' wide and 30" deep from lumber and roofing membrane. They put sand in the bottom and a folding chair in the middle. They put in 150 fake gold coins, four sunken toy boats, a sunken toy plane, 8 live (for a while anyway) sucker minnows, 24 live leaches, a toy treasure chest, and a couple toy scuba divers. They backed the water truck up to the window and filled it up level with the top of my desk. They used city water and I think the chlorine treatment killed the suckers right away. They bought 4 bags of licorice and stuck the pieces in the suspended ceiling grid to simulate a thatch roof I guess. Its good to get away but it sucks coming back! The water weighed 3300 pounds so they pulled the skirting on the job trailer and added some shoring under the new "Lake Oliver"

[Terry]

                          and I thought my guys could spend the day screwing around, they did a good job John, but the licorice, as a "thatched roof"??? thats really pushing the evevelope on the imagination, better ask them if thats what they meant, maybe red sky at night,,,,or something like that