Sunday's Dive Attempt - The Centennial Dive On The Regina

100 years after she sank, an intrepid bunch of divers headed to the Regina to dive her on Sunday, the day she sank 100 years ago.

The forecast promised 20 knot winds from the west with waves up to 5-7 feet building to a gale later.
The plan was to take Dave's boat, a 37 footer powerboat out.

Unfortunately even as we planned to hit the water around 11, time kept slipping.

First, the boat wasn't fully packed with his stuff when I arrived at his place at 8 am. Mike was already there and Phil would meet us at Lexington. Then he still needed to shave, and then pack some other gear onto the boat, get the boat trailer hooked up to the truck and finally we were off at 9:20 rather than 8:30 or so.

Then once on the road, Dave realized he had forgot his SD cards for his Go Pro cameras (yes, plural) so we needed to stop at Best Buy and pick some up. We also bought some hats as it was getting cold and stopped for a quick bite on the way.

Then we finally got to Lexington, loaded Phls gear on board, changed into our drysuits and finally departed the dock at about 1:20 or so.

As we headed out we saw this laker in the distance:

The Regina was about 4 miles away from Lexington and the wind was picking up and had started to shift from the West to the West Northwest.

This meant the waves were starting to build.

By the time we reached the area where the Regina went down, we were encountering the occasional 15-foot wave, and the winds were out of the north, which was not good.

It took a considerable amount of time maneuvering to find the wreck and as the buoys had been pulled. It was not easy to spot the mooring rope floating in the water. All the while, waves are building up and we're having an interesting time trying to get to the mooring line. We're now getting pounded with pretty regular 7-10 foot waves and many 15 footers.

Here's a quick movie from one of the Go Pros he had mounted on the boat showing one of the smaller waves:

I actually had the mooring line in my hand after getting it with a boat hook, had passed it forward to Dave, who then dropped it as we got slammed by a wave. On the upside this probably was a good thing as whoever would have tried to go forward to the bow to tie it off would likely have been thrown overboard by the waves.

By now the winds were from the North and the radio was blurting out a small craft advisory and gale warning.

We were about to try to come around for another attempt to grab the mooring line when the loudest alarm in the world starts shrieking.

"Oh, not good", remarks Dave.

"What does that alarm mean?" I ask.

"It means there's water above the safe level in the bilge, we're taking it on faster than we can pump it out, and we're sinking", he says.

"Oh, not good." remarks I. "Where are the life jackets located on this boat again?"

So we inspect the bilge and yep, with all the waves there's a considerable amount of water above the line, so we decide to beat a hasty retreat for shore rather than adding a new wreck to Lake Huron's bottom. We made it back safely and then had the fun of getting the boat back on the trailer, heading home unloading the boat etc.

It was a solid attempt, hampered somewhat by poor prior preparation, but the Regina remained unvisited on her centennial.

A quick word of thanks to Tam for the linking to this story and the resultant Tamalanche!  Thank you all for visiting and I hope the rest of the blog is also of interest.

The May 16 2010 Kick-Off Dive

Now that the computer is pretty much restored, I can finally download the pics and recall the finest Great Lakes dive I've had so far.

May 16, the sun was out, and Lake Huron was unusually calm as we left Port Sanilac on Captain Gary Venet's boat, the Sylvia Anne.  All on board were DIR divers, all from the same dive group so both the weather and the company promised to make it a very nice dive indeed.

The Lake remained blissfully clam throughout the dives, and the water clarity was absolutely fantastic.   Most times, I can never take a picture due to all the particulate in the water.  This time the photos came out pretty nicely.

We dove the North Star and the Regina, two wrecks that I've already dove, but each dive lets you see some other part of these huge ships.


First we dove the North Star - In 96 feet of water, this wreck, sunk when it was rammed by her sister ship the Northern Queen, is broken with the bow detached from the rest of the vessel.

I hit a max depth of 89 feet as I didn't try to hug the bottom but instead took in the wreck from above and along the deck.

Here's Keith looking at one of the Boilers:

 Here's some more shots of the North Star:

Then after a surface interval we headed to the Regina.  The Regina sank in the Great Storm of 1913 and wasn't discovered until the late 80s.  One of the best wrecks to Dive in the Great Lakes in recreational limits at 80 feet, especially if you're penetration trained, which I'm not, but its in the works.

The most outstanding exterior feature of the Regina is her huge Prop:

That's me with the prop and rudder in the background.

The funnel, broken off and lying beside the ship is also impressive, big enough to swim through and still stained with soot from her last voyage, almost a hundred years ago:

We left the Regina in an organized fashion, with the lake so calm no one needed to hold the upline during the ascent.

Great dives, then all of us went to Reichy's place for an excellent cook out with buffalo and elk burgers and copious amount of beer - Molson Canadian in honor of the CSL Regina and Great Lakes Brewery's Edmund Fitzgerald Porter for the North Star.  A great way to end an excellent dive trip.

Dive Weekend 2009- Dives 3 and 4

On Sunday we slept in somewhat, no thanks to the noisy neighbors at the campsite. between the drunken louts at night in the RV section of the campsite that could be heard over the hill that separated them from the tents, and the yelling moms and kids in the tent area, sleep was hard to come by.

So we got up, packed camp and headed to Port Sanilac. We had a brunch at Uri's restaurant at the Port Sanilac Marina (first time eating there and the brunch buffet is not to be missed!)

Then we dove the Regina and the Eliza Strong

The Canadian Shipping Lines Regina, a 250 foot long freighter sank in the Great Storm of 1913, taking all her crew with her.



The Regina which I had dove twice before but I was about to be in for a new experience. On both prior dives we had gone down on the stern, and this time we were heading down on the bow, which I had not yet seen.

The Regina is upside down on the bottom as shown in this picture:


Here's a picture i took of the R from her name on the bow, still visible after all these years (I would have photographed the entire name, but a certain dive buddy took off at that point....):

There were lots of artifacts to be seen on the bow, including this old green glass bottle:
Now remember kids don't drink and dive!

The bow of the Regina was a nice dive. I even managed to get LK to start regularly monitoring his pressure gauge. One quick note - having 1800 PSI remaining does not mean keep on swimming away from the upline towards the stern of the ship, it means hang around as you're going to turn the dive at 1500 psi and head back towards the upline, not wait until you have to make a mad dash for the upline, and certainly not leaving your buddy behind to follow the blooming trail of silt you leave in your wake. Ah, some dive buddies.

During the surface interval we were able to see a modern Lake Freighter pass by:


We then dove on the Eliza Strong, the first time i had ever dove this wreck.

The Eliza Strong was a 205' wood steamer, sunk in 25 ft of water in 1904. The wreck burned to the waterline, was dynamited as a hazard to navigation and is a nice relaxing dive. We had a bottom time of 54 minutes cruising along the hull and around it looking at the wreckage that was everywhere. The conditions for the dive could not have been any better - excellent visibility, low amounts of particulate in the water and warm temperatures (for the Great Lakes anyways).

Here's how the Strong looked in better days:


Now:





a view of the side of the hull:


Amy and LK on the wreck:


While she sails no more, a number of fish have made the hull their home:


The Strong was a great dive!

Labor Day Weekend Saturday - Wreck Dives

On Saturday we awoke at 4:30 and piled in the car and were on the road by 5.

After stopping at an open diner in a small town on the way for a filling breakfast we drove into port Sanilac and the marina nice an early .

Once again we went with Rec and Tec Dive Charters - simply the best.

We first dove the North Star. A steel steamship that was 300' long. It was built in 1888 in Cleveland, OH. The ship is in two pieces but lies in an upright position. The pilot house is intact. The wreck is located about 5.5 miles SE of Port Sanilac and 10 miles NE of Lexington. The ship sank in 1908, after a collision with its sister ship the Northern Queen.

Visibility was bad, about 10 feet or so for this dive and my camera does not yet have external strobes so the pictures did not come out well at all.

Lagniappe's Keeper had a little issue and we had to break the dive off early and get back to the boat. A nice wreck and I hope to return again when there is better visibility to truly appreciate its enormity.

After a surface interval we went to the Regina. I had first dove the Regina earlier in the year.

This time we had company on the wreck -


Quite a few other dive boats came by to dive the wreck and after our surface interval we headed on down.

The visibility was considerably worse than it was back in May, again about 10-20 feet or so. There was also a nice current flowing from the stern towards the bow so getting back to the boat anchored on the stern (by the rudder for you non-nautical types out there) after the dive took a bit of work.

The dive however was worth it.

Here's Lagniappe's Keeper by the wondefully huge propellor and rudder of the ship.


Here he is right above the rudder -


A porthole by the stern -


We also checked out the huge smokestack lying beside the ship and peeered into the great crack in the ship's hull.

Here I am hanging out -


After making our way kicking back to the stern thought the very visible current (particles in the water were really flying by, sadly opposite to the direction we wanted to go) we did our nice slow ascent and returned on board without incident. A great way to end the day.

Simply an excellent couple of wreck dives,Rec and Tec has never disappointed yet. On the charter we met some very nice divers from the Ford Sea Lancers Dive Club that had the other 8 of ten spots on this trip. A good bunch of divers to be in the water alongside with.

Then the long trip back to my house for a festive BBQ with the family and folks.

Dives 78 and 79 - Wrecks of Lake Huron

For the Kickoff dives of the 2008 Wreck Diving Season, I along with Jerry and Rob drove up to Port Sanilac on Friday night. We stayed at a motel and after realizing that nothing in Port Sanilac was open, drove to Lexington for breakfast.

Returning to Port Sanilac, we went to the Marina and met Captain Venet of Rec Tec Dive Charters.

We loaded out equipment on board and after a while more divers started showing up, with James, Terry and Chad coming in last but at least before the boat left the dock.
The water was nice and clam, with the sun shining as we arrived at our first dive site.

The first dive was on the Mary Alice B., a steel tugboat built in 1931 that sank in 1975, and not found until 1992.


The dive was cut short as Rob wasn't feeling well, so we aborted the dive. Unfortunately, Lake Huron decided to play some tricks. When we surfaced, instead of calm we faced 5 foot waves that were rocking the boat nicely and making getting back on a challenge. The swells continued for most of our surface interval, so Captain kept the boat moving, and once it calmed down we prepared to enter the water, which was still somewhat choppy, for our second dive.

The second Dive was on the famous CSL Regina:

The Regina was one of the lost ships of the Great Storm of 1913. Like the Wexford, the Regina was lost with all hands in the storm, and Regina was not discovered until 1986. As there were no survivors, no one knew the exact location of the wreck. The greater mystery was that bodies of sailors from the Charles S. Price, another ship lost in the storm, washed onshore wearing Regina lifejackets and vice versa. This mystery has never been fully solved -- Did the Price ram into the Regina, accounting for the hole in the side of the Regina? Did looters accidentally switch vests after plundering the bodies of the sailors? The mystery heightens the excitement of diving this interesting wreck.

The Regina rests on the bottom upside down, with its huge propeller and rudder intact, which is an awesome sight. A debris field surrounds the ship, including her zebra-museel encrusted smokestack, with soot still visible inside.

Here's a drawing of how she looks on the bottom:


Here's a picture of the prop with a diver alongside to give you an impression of its size:


The Regina is an awesome dive. I'm not yet cave/wreck certified so I didn't try going inside, nor did Jerry. Instead we watched James, Terry and Chad, who are certified, run a line and go in. We watched them through the portholes as they explored the interior. James took a video of both the Mary Alice B and Regina dives and once he's finished I'll link to it. I am going to buy a case for my digital camera, as my team mates forgot theirs, so no original pictures in this post -- but the next wreck will have some.

Jerry and I descended onto the wreck and examined the Prop, rudder, smokestack, and looked through the portholes, and then Murphy decided to show up. Jerry's drysuit, and my drysuit started flooding. Mine wasn't very bad as the thinsulate insulation garment kept me warm even as I was getting wet, but Jerry had on fleece that once wet in the 45 degree water got him cold quite quickly, so we had to thumb the dive.

Because both dives on these wrecks were incomplete, I'll simply have to go back again, as if I needed an excuse to visit these cool wrecks once more.