Surfaced!

You don't need to see it, but there was a less-than-spectacular backBlip since you may have visited last.

Two hours before the dive boat was to depart, and we still don't have a go/no-go for the charter. I was able to get off of work a bit early, just enough time to ride home, but doppler radar showed a rainstorm heading my way. Fortunately I was able to get 20 mins of mostly rain-free riding in, before the ker-drenching rain started up for the last 15 mins. After quickly drying off and changing at home, I got confirmation that the dive was a-go. We made tracks and while we were getting our air filled before departing, the skies cleared up.

On the boat, the Len-Der, we made the short journey to outside Milwaukee's breakwaters to the site of the Bond, a wooden boat wreck that had been dynamited years back to make way for breakwater construction. The water was cool to me (warm to experienced Lake Michigan divers), and due to an unexpected slipping of the anchor 1/4 of our time underwater was spent waiting for our dive master to retrieve a buoy to mark the wreck for the dive boat, but aside from that, it was a nice time.

This was not our first boat dive, but it was our first in Lake Michigan. Actually, our first dive at all in Lake Michigan. Visibility wasn't too bad, considering, and we were able to see some small fish hanging out on the zebra mussel-encrusted wreckage.

We were getting pretty cold, so we left the group and headed for the surface together. Surfacing, the sun was low in the sky, and the Denis Sullivan, a beautiful (and the world's only) re-creation of a 19th century three-masted Great Lakes schooner, was sailing against the Milwaukee Skyline.

My only regret was we had to get to bed right away after getting home, since we had to go to work the next morning. At least it's going to be Friday! Have a great weekend, Blippers!