June 2009 Dive Charter

[brettbyers]

Julie, Tony, and I are working on a Midwestdive get-together for next year. We are planning to charter two boats for June 27th and 28th of 2009. The Saturday charter will be with CaptnDale and the "Enterprise," leaving out of Waukegan. The Sunday dive will be with Greg Such and the "Little Alexandria," leaving out of Kanosha or Milwaukee. Both boats hold six divers and depending on how many people sign-up there maybe afternoon charters as well. Tony is in charge of helping out-of-towners find hotel accommodations and Julie is in charge of the Saturday night activities. I will be handling the charter reservations. I know this is a long way off but we wanted to let as many people attend as possible. The three of us are still working on this so give us a liitle more time to iron out all the kinks. As things progress we will be updating this thread. Start marking your calendars now.

[Captain Caveman]

John C. and I would be up for a dive Sunday with Greg.

[ppo2_diver]

Count me in for both days. You bringing the helium?

[nauifins73]

That sounds like a great weekend BUT that is the grandson's birthday weekend.

Thanks for putting this together though.

[MgicTwnger]

Oh yeah, I'm in.

[DeepDiverBob]

Any chance of thinking about reversing those days? I would rather have a shorter drive back on Sunday to St. Louis from Wakeegan that Milwaukee. Just a thought.

[MgicTwnger]

Any chance of thinking about reversing those days? I would rather have a shorter drive back on Sunday to St. Louis from Wakeegan that Milwaukee. Just a thought.
Good idea!

[brettbyers]

Any chance of thinking about reversing those days? I would rather have a shorter drive back on Sunday to St. Louis from Wakeegan that Milwaukee. Just a thought.
I don't see a problem with that but let's wait a while to see if there are opinions the other way before we switch the dates.

[DeepDiverBob]

I don't see a problem with that but let's wait a while to see if there are opinions the other way before we switch the dates.


No problem...it was just a rogue idea that I had.

[b1gcountry]

I would be interested too. I'm in STL, so I think Waukegan on Sunday works well.

Tom

[brettbyers]

We had another meeting last Friday night to discuss our event. We will be keeping the dive dates as previously planned. The tentative cost for the charters is $100.00 per person. There will be a $60.00 deposit to hold your spot with the remainder due by May 30th. After May 30th there will be no refund if you cancel. If you want a morning spot sign up early. Call or PM Tony for hotel accommodations. Julie has checked out some restaurants, but we are waiting to make any reservations until we know where most people will be staying so the Saturday night activities will be close by. We are still discussing what wrecks we will be diving on. If you have any questions feel free to call. 630.651.0190

[scububa]

I saw a mention of He. What are the expected dive profiles? Will they likely be trimix dives? Will they be tech dives with deco allowed?

[brettbyers]

All dives will be at recreational depths so everyone can make the dives. We are planning to do two dive sites per trip if possible with the deepest being the Milwaukee Car Ferry at 130ft. If you want to use HE or make short deco dives and are qualified to do so, I think that would mostly be OK.

[JGordon]

I'm in. Definitely for one day, two if I can. Any suggestions for airfills? I know Greg can fill, can Captain Dale?

[MgicTwnger]

Dale can't fill, but can get you rentals.

[brettbyers]

With the start of the New Year, please reserve your spot now for this get-together before it is all filled-up. Give me a call or email.
630.651.0190 brettbyers@brettsscubadiving.com

[b1gcountry]

Is that $100 for both days??? That would be awesome.

Tom

[Captain Caveman]

ok John and I are set for Sun AM and me for Sat AM

[MgicTwnger]

I'm in for all day Sat.

[Captain Caveman]

Who's onfor Sat am?

[brettbyers]

I have some more news for everyone that has been inquiring. Saturday's dive with Capt. Dale out of Waukegan we will be on the St. Mary and the Lady Elgin. The St. Mary is at a max depth of 110ft. and the Lady Elgin sits at 55ft. Sunday's dive with Greg out of Kenosha we will be doing a two tank dive on the Wisconsin. The Wisconsin depths are from 90 to 130ft. All charters will be $100 per outing, not for the day or the weekend. Spots are starting to fill up so reserve your spot today.

[brettbyers]

Just to let everyone know there are a few spots left open at this time. Saturday, June 27th AM-- 3 spots. PM-- 1 spot. Sunday, June 28th AM-- 3 spots. PM-- 4 spots. Please get you spot now before we open it up to the general public. We will have a fun time!!!

[scububa]

Brett,
It took a couple of days but my money is on the way to you. (You may have received by now.) As this is my first GL foray, can you give me some specifics? I am not familar with the various marinas, etc. in either Kenosha or Waukegan.

Saturday a.m.
departure point (address or GPS #)
load up time
tank space allocation

Saturday p.m.
departure point (address or GPS #)
load up time
tank space allocation

Sunday a.m.
departure point (address or GPS #)
load up time
tank space allocation

[brettbyers]

Looking forward to meeting a couple of people I haven't met yet and looking forward to seeing old friends. Still have two spots open for Saturday AM.

[MgicTwnger]

Oh yeah! And so far the weather gods are smiling.

[scububa]

We are looking forward to it.

[do it easy]

Thanks to everyone for a good time and to Brett for organizing the whole shin-dig.

It was Jim's first time in the Great Lakes, and unfortunately, we were blown out on Sunday morning because of winds.

I took some pictures, but they didn't turn out as well because of the low vis and lack of skill.

[MgicTwnger]

Yeah, thanks Brett! Saturday was a great trip with friends, old and new.

[Captain Caveman]

Sunday's weather was so nice but that stupid wind. :-(

[scububa]

Had a pretty good time. Really enjoyed meeting new folks and getting in the lake, finally. The whole family went and we camped. Only Kristin and I dove.

Yes, It was mine and Kristin's first GL trip. She only did one dive as the water was too much for her in the wetsuit/hooded vest. I did two dives in the morning and two in the afternoon.

First dive on St. Mary at 100' with Kristin. The vis was pretty good (I'd say 35', others talked 50', so maybe it's my eyes ;-). Kirstin's favorite part was diving off the Chicago skyline.

Second dive was with Jeff and Ken on Lady Elgin Boilers. I had met Jeff at Roubidoux but didn't really get to know him much. This trip was an opportunity for us to have some good discussions and it turns out we have some professional background in common. Also, this was my first opportunity to meet Ken. I have posted and emailed with him a lot and I know he and Bob are a 'thing' ;-) Frank was the boat hand and was a lot of fun to talk with and hang around. And, it was my first time meeting Captn Dale. He was pretty patient with all my rookie GL questions.

That afternoon Tony and Brett were on board with another couple. Ken and I went back out. Julie and (I forgot name) were diving wetsuits and did both dives. We dove the same sites, but on the Elgin we did the decking, anchor and rock-chain. Ken sat out the second dive, so I splashed with Tony and Brett. I am always encouraged and renew the challenge/desire when I get in the water with such good divers. It helps to see what is possible and to watch the execution for a good model of things to copy.

The low side of the trip was diving the same sites coupled with long boat rides, but it was my first time in Lake MI so it was all a little new to me. The logistics of getting air fills was surprising. It looks like you have to do a bunch of running around to get fills combined with diving all day and trying to match up with shop hours and traffic. I guess it's all something you iron out with local experience. Between Waukegan and Kenosha, I was surprised at how few dive operations there are. Of course, I was looking forward to Sunday, but the wind dropped that, but we still had a great day on shore.

The high side of the trip was the weather and hanging around Kenosha. We camped at Bong State Rec area and it was fairly convienent to Kenosha. Very convienent to Burlington. We ate in both places. When I say we camped, we pitched tents and slept there and did a little walking and sight seeing and a campfire. No cooking this trip. The weather was great for sleeping. We really liked Kenosha and the people. We ate at the Daily Grind, the BoatHouse and Lighthouse Bistro. The folks at the Lighthouse (Doug especially) were wonderful. We ate "in the yard" as the sun went down. Over the couple of days we covered the town pretty well. Very pretty. Kristin ran the water front trail and of course they all went outlet mall shopping (down the road) while I dove Saturday afternoon.

In Burlington we ate at Charcoal Grill and Daily Brew.

[b1gcountry]

I think the way most people handle logistics re tank fills is to bring all the tanks you will need for the day/wekeend.

Tom

[brettbyers]

A very enjoyable weekend. Weather was great and the company even better. It was nice to meet you Ken and good to see everyone else. The couple on the Saturday afternoon dive was Julie(juls64) and her husband Steve. I read about another charter that went out Sunday morning and they had very rough seas coming back in, when I was talking to Jim at the Kenosha marina Sunday morning it looked nice out on the water at that time. Saturday after the dive a group of us went out to dinner at La Casa Bonita. We enjoyed a couple of drinks with dinner and had some good conversation about the days activities. Maybe we can do it all again next year.

[scububa]

I read about another charter that went out Sunday morning and they had very rough seas coming back in, when I was talking to Jim at the Kenosha marina Sunday morning it looked nice out on the water at that time.

After we left the marina, we were looking around while Kristin went for her run. We came across a group over at the Yacht Club and Lighthouse parking lot from Milwaukee waiting on a boat. (Obvious standing around with dive shirts, looking out to sea...) Anyway, I relayed the info you gave, Brett, and they said, well that might explain their boat not being there. They were a bit ticked about no communcation on their side.

We hung around all day and the wind never backed down until pretty late. It built up worse in the afternoon. The water always looked okay as far as I could see, but that wasn't very far. The only boats I saw were close to shore, none coming or going out, per se.

[juls64]

It was great diving on Saturday. Good weather and great company. Nice meeting Jim and seeing everyone else.

Yes, we should do it again.

[JGordon]

I would agree with the comments made here about what a great trip Brett, Tony, and Julie put together. Thank you for your efforts.

It was great to meet Jim, Kristen and family, as well as seeing Ken again. The diving was great on Saturday. The waves were running 3 to 4, but Saturday's unit of measure was inches. The visibility was OK and the morning skies were overcast enough that we didn't fry on the surface. It was a great day on the big lake.

I was sorry to hear that Jim didn't make it to the Wisconsin. I was trying hard to recruit him into the ranks of Great Lakes wreck divers and was sure a dive on the Wisconsin would do the trick. Next year.


Thanks everyone for coming out. Let's do it again next year!

Jeff