Dive 192 - Return to the Wexford

A friend and fellow diver, Dave, offered to take us on his boat on Sunday to go dive the Wexford.

As the Wexford is my favorite wreck, and I hadn't been to it in years, how could I refuse?

So I picked up James at 0620 on Sunday (The 0 stands for oh my gosh its early) and we drove to Grand Bend, Ontario to meet David, His dive buddy Michele and his cousin. The start was most auspicious, traffic was light I was one of two cars at the Canadian border that morning and we made it to Grand Bend in great time by 8:30 and the weather promised to be most cooperative - sunny and with waves of only 2-4 feet.

View from the Grand Bend Marina

We were early so we had time to have breakfast at the Back'n Time Classic Diner which was awesome.  A Great Canadian breakfast of two eggs, ample slices of some of the best pea-meal (back) bacon ever, home fries and toast along with bottomless cups of coffee set us in a great mood for the day and put an end to any chance of being hungry.  If you visit Grand Bend, you must go there for breakfast.


One of the current challenges in diving the Wexford is that charters from the US won't go to it anymore as you now have to dock the boat at a Canadian port first and clear customs, go back to the dive site and then go home which is a hassle, so an offer to go was pretty awesome.

Dave's boat is however more of a super speedboat than a dedicated dive boat, which was to have some consequences later.

The Boat - Can you tell what's missing by looking at this picture?

So we loaded some gear on the boat and changed into our drysuits as Dave got the boat in the water at the dock.  We then loaded our doubles be carefully hopping from the dock onto the boat and placed them in the back.

With 4 divers and Dave's cousin to act as the boat tender it was kinda crowded with tanks and gear.  Dave had us depart Grand Bend in style  with all of us standing in the front of the boat to counter the weight of the tanks in the back we made it to the wreck site in 6 minutes going about 60 mph!

We then tied into the wreck buoy on the stern of the Wexford and prepared to dive. Maneuvering in the boat to prepare to dive and get the doubles on was a bit difficult.  The set of doubles weigh about 135 pounds and having to get the gear on, stand on a seat and then step up to the side of the boat took some coordination.  James and I then did backwards rolls off the side to get in the water.  Dave and Michele, both in singles, got geared up after us and went in off the stern. The dive then began at 11:45 am.

James and I then kicked over to the down line to the wreck and at 10 feet did a modified valve drill to make sure we could reach our valves and a modified S-drill to make sure our longhoses weren't obstructed, and then we descended to the Wexford.

The S.S. Wexford prior to the Great Storm of 1913

 The Wexford, which sank in the great Storm of 1913 and wasn't discovered until 2000 is one of the finest wrecks at recreational depths in the Great Lakes.  The only ship discovered that sank from the storm of 1913 that lies upright, she's a delight to visit.  The visibility was decent even with some interesting current moving particulate around and many small lake perch swam around her zebra mussel encrusted hull.

An entry into the cargo holds, seen from above on the descent to the wreck

James above the entry to the cargo hold

Intact porthole on the Wexford seen from the inside of the ship, staring out into Lake Huron

Into the cargo hold

A School of Lake Perch

Above another cargo hold

In the second hold

Leaving the wreck of the Wexford

An excellent dive indeed, but a new task loomed ahead.....getting back on the boat.

The answer to the question posed below the picture of what's missing from Dave's boat above is: a ladder!

Getting back on was to prove to be more than half the fun.

We each took turns getting up, with James going first. Holding onto the bar pictured at the stern, we passed up our cameras and removed our fins and handed them up.

Then with one foot on an engine, a hand on the bar and another hand on the cleat to the right, we had to pull ourselves up and then scramble up the rear deck before we fell back into the water.

Did I mention we did this with about 135 pounds of unwieldy tanks strapped to our backs with the waves rocking the boat up and down and lifting the stern up and out of the water and then threatening to roll us back in?

Darn good thing I had been doing some pushups recently, or Dave would have had to tow me back to Grand Bend.

Then once up on the platform at the stern, the tanks squished us onto the back, making it difficult to crawl off the swim platform, we then had to turn sideways and pull ourselves up so we could get into the boat itself. With a great deal of exertion, we made it.

In this case, getting back was truly more than half the fun.

We then headed back to Grand Bend at a rocking 60mph with a bit more wave action for some bumps on the way (on occasion, both feet left the deck of the boat) and then we drove home tired and with aching muscles but happy after a visit to the finest recreational level wreck in the Great Lakes.

The Dive Details
Dive time: 44 minutes
Max Depth: 79 feet
Average depth: 55 feet
Water Temperature: 66
Gas mix: Nitrox 32
Gas used: 1800 psi

Any time you can dive the Wexford it is a great dive.

But, next time I do it from Dave's boat, we're either all chipping in and buying him a ladder or I'm doing it in a single with an H Valve.

Birthday Scuba Trip - back to the Wexford

For my 35th Birthday, yesterday, August 9th, my lovely, thoughtful, and wonderful wife put me on a dive boat run by Rec & Tec Dive Charters and sent me off to dive the Wexford.

The jury is still out on whether she was deciding if the life insurance payout exceeded my expected future income, but nonetheless both Lagniappe's Keeper, up here visiting from his home in Harper's Ferry and I hit the road at 6 am headed for Port Sanilac.

We traveled through scattered rain showers and arrived at 8:30 am with plenty of time to load our dive gear on the boat before it left at 9. There were only six divers on this trip, plus the good captain and crewlady / divemaster, and off we went on a three hour tour.

Luckily for us, the weather did not start getting rough and the tiny ship made its way to the dive site off of Goderich, Ontario without incident.

After the dive briefing we geared up and got ready to dive.

The weather was perfect with a calm Lake Huron with excellent visibility of about 20 feet, and off we went down the down line to the bow of the wreck. Out of the gloom, the bow of the Wexford was suddenly visible.

Impressively, the plate I described on my blog Wexford dive report back last year was still on the wreck, a tribute to the good ethical practices of those who've dived the wreck all this time.

This year I could tell my diving skills had much improved. Between taking the GUE Fundamentals class and practicing weekly at Union Lake I was in much better form this dive. I was much more able to relax and enjoy exploring the wreck and I saw much more than I had last year as I wasn't so tunnel visioned, was more comfortable in my drysuit rather than last years wetsuit and had much better buoyancy control so I could keep out of the silt to preserve the visibility.

I saw a lot more artifacts, including a meat grinder, plates and plate fragments and the huge boilers of the ship, in addition to dropping below the bow to get an idea of the scale of the ship with its anchors and hitting about 80 feet maximum depth. After about 22 minutes it was time to ascend and up we went with proper safety stops at 40 feet and 20 feet.

After a surface interval, we dove the stern and I again saw much more than before and had much better situational awareness. Lagniappe's Keeper and I explored the stern thoroughly and saw a neat side area with 4 portholes with the glass intact to look outside the ship from within, as well as some valves and other interesting parts. We briefly explored every level of the ship before ascending.

The Wexford is simply one of the nicest wrecks out there in Lake Huron and in fantastic condition. Lagniappe's Keeper, in his first week of diving after his accident did wonderfully on the Wexford after our practice runs at Portage Quarry and Spring Mill Pond -- the man has guts enough for two men and as my wife says, he's got 9 lives but he's already used up 8.

A Great and successful pair of dives, and after our return we headed home at that evening my dive club came to an excellent birthday party at my house and much fun, as well as many a Myers Rum and Coke was had.

A most wonderful and memorable way to commemorate hitting 35.

How I spent Labor Day: Diving the S.S. Wexford

For my birthday, my wife gave me a fine present: a Wreck Dive Trip. This was no small present, not only was there a cost, but for me to be out of the house with a newborn afoot and a toddler under foot was quite a loving sacrifice on her part.

So thorough my local dive shop Sea The World Scuba, I signed up for many a wreck dive, only to see them cancelled for lack of participation. Finally on Labor Day one was going to go! I immediately signed up.

This was my first Great Lakes Dive, and my first boat dive. The charter was with Rec & Tec Dive Charters, Inc, and it departed from Port Sanilac at 8 am to proceed to the wreck of the SS Wexford.

I made the trip up to Port Sanilac starting at 5:30 am and arrived at 7:30 and found the Sylvia Anne, Rec & Tec's vessel. I then filled out the waiver and started loading my gear, and the 10 divers and crew then departed the shore.

The SS Wexford, built in sank in the Great Storm of 1913 and was discovered in 2000. It is located off of grand Bend in Ontario, on the Canadian side of Lake Huron. The ship is 250 feet long. The wreck lies upright, the only wreck from the storm of 1913 that does so. All 22 of her crew were lost with her. The ship lies in 78 feet of water, on a north/south orientation. For the story of her discovery and excellent photos and images see: The Wexford

For a first wreck dive, it was absolute heaven. While the water at 46 degrees was a touch cool for a wetsuit (I had the only wetsuit on the charter, everyone else dove dry), the visibility was fantastic.

In addition to my dive buddy, the divemaster from the crew kept a close eye on me as I was the newbie on board, which certainly added to the safety factor and was quite comforting. Everyone was very helpful to me as the new guy from showing me how to stow the gear to other necessary things.

The first dive began with a giant stride off the bow and into the cold water of Lake Huron. Of course, it wouldn't go perfectly and my mask was slightly dislodged and I got a face-full of cold lake water as a welcome. 46 degree water in the face caused quite a double take, but I warmed up quite quickly. With the mask issue cleared up and united with my dive buddy and the Divemaster, we went down the mooring line towards the stern. This first dive was on the stern of the ship and we saw some sight glasses used to peer into the boilers, and many other artifacts strewn about. The upper deck has multiple holes in it for easy penetration, and for safe exiting. After about 22 minutes I was back on board after a safety stop at 20 feet.

The second dive, after a one hour surface interval was at the bow. We approached down a cable to the bow and proceeded amidships. It was there my dive buddy and I found a white china plate, mostly buried in silt. The plate on the back read "Royal Ironware Sheffield England". Given the ship was built in England in 1883, this could have even been an original plate. There was no date on the plate sadly so its not possible to tell when the earliest time when it could have come to the ship. We left the plate where it was found for other divers to inspect in the future, and given the good ethics of the divers who visit this wreck, I expect it will still be there on my next visit.

The dives were simply incredible, and the weather cooperated magnificently, with calm seas and a warm sun. It was a fantastic first wreck diving experience, and I certainly plan to dive the Wexford again. Rec & Tec runs a fantastic charter, if you are in the area I highly recommend them.