nitroxbabe
August 24th, 2005, 02:56 PM
Straits trip report!
Well - I'll try to keep this brief. We'll see how that goes...
So - hubby & I drove up to the Straits on Friday. Heck of a long drive from good ol' NW Illinois. Arrived in the evening, checked into our cheap hotel, had a very nice Great Lakes whitefish dinner at the Galley restaurant on the water.
Hotel notes: we stayed at the Huron, which is about a block away from the dock. The price was right, the owners exceptionally nice and helpful, and the place is kept up well (but it is an older place!). Only complaint - the beds were a bit hard and we kept getting tangled up in the loose mattress pad all night. Oh well. Next time, I'll spring for a few more bucks and get a fancier hotel.
Saturday AM - we awake to a rainy day. No lightning though, which means we're not going to let it ruin our day.
We head over to Java Joe's for caffeine & food - fun place, good lattes, you should go there.
Boat time - the rain begins to subside, the sun comes out, everything is perfect. Thank you Steve for the groovy weather dance!
The Recdiver is a very comfy boat - good sized, well equipped, and Larry & Larry are really good guys. We did the Eber Ward and the Sandusky - the EW is a very cool wooden wreck with many tantalizing open hatches. I'd definately like to spend more time there. We swam through the whole 2nd deck, looking longingly at the hatches leading to the next lower level, and circuited the outside of the wreck. Very nice!
The Sandusky is also a wooden wreck that was sunk in 1856. The condition is pretty impressive for such an old wreck, deadeyes and (simulated) figurehead still in place. Dove it once, enjoyed the dive , but wouldn't feel the need to dive it again.
A side note: one of the divers on the boat seems to have taken a minor DCS hit. He surfaced and began having back pain and tingling/burning sensations. O2 seemed to almost immediately relieve the symptoms. He remained on O2 all the way back to the dock and refused a chamber ride, saying he felt just fine. We ran into them that evening and he still seemed OK - hope that continued! He said he stayed within his no-deco limits (barely) but had been sick and dehydrated for a couple of days.
Saturday PM - spotted a Thai/Chinese restaurant on the main drag. Oh boy! It smelled absolutely wonderful in there. However, after being seated and then completely ignored for over 10 minutes, we got up and left. It didn't look like too many other people were receiving exactly stellar service in there, either.
Next stop: the Marina aka Yacht Club. The waiter actually brought us food! Amazing. Great view of the water, good food.
Sunday AM - the groovy weather dance fails. It's complete crap out - high winds, grey skies, heaving water - we're officially blown out. Bummer. We were supposed to do the Young & Cedarville.
So we ended up with a mere tease of the obviously very cool wrecks up in the Straits. I am unsatisfied, and probably won't be able to get back up there until next year. :( Dang it...
Well - I'll try to keep this brief. We'll see how that goes...
So - hubby & I drove up to the Straits on Friday. Heck of a long drive from good ol' NW Illinois. Arrived in the evening, checked into our cheap hotel, had a very nice Great Lakes whitefish dinner at the Galley restaurant on the water.
Hotel notes: we stayed at the Huron, which is about a block away from the dock. The price was right, the owners exceptionally nice and helpful, and the place is kept up well (but it is an older place!). Only complaint - the beds were a bit hard and we kept getting tangled up in the loose mattress pad all night. Oh well. Next time, I'll spring for a few more bucks and get a fancier hotel.
Saturday AM - we awake to a rainy day. No lightning though, which means we're not going to let it ruin our day.
We head over to Java Joe's for caffeine & food - fun place, good lattes, you should go there.
Boat time - the rain begins to subside, the sun comes out, everything is perfect. Thank you Steve for the groovy weather dance!
The Recdiver is a very comfy boat - good sized, well equipped, and Larry & Larry are really good guys. We did the Eber Ward and the Sandusky - the EW is a very cool wooden wreck with many tantalizing open hatches. I'd definately like to spend more time there. We swam through the whole 2nd deck, looking longingly at the hatches leading to the next lower level, and circuited the outside of the wreck. Very nice!
The Sandusky is also a wooden wreck that was sunk in 1856. The condition is pretty impressive for such an old wreck, deadeyes and (simulated) figurehead still in place. Dove it once, enjoyed the dive , but wouldn't feel the need to dive it again.
A side note: one of the divers on the boat seems to have taken a minor DCS hit. He surfaced and began having back pain and tingling/burning sensations. O2 seemed to almost immediately relieve the symptoms. He remained on O2 all the way back to the dock and refused a chamber ride, saying he felt just fine. We ran into them that evening and he still seemed OK - hope that continued! He said he stayed within his no-deco limits (barely) but had been sick and dehydrated for a couple of days.
Saturday PM - spotted a Thai/Chinese restaurant on the main drag. Oh boy! It smelled absolutely wonderful in there. However, after being seated and then completely ignored for over 10 minutes, we got up and left. It didn't look like too many other people were receiving exactly stellar service in there, either.
Next stop: the Marina aka Yacht Club. The waiter actually brought us food! Amazing. Great view of the water, good food.
Sunday AM - the groovy weather dance fails. It's complete crap out - high winds, grey skies, heaving water - we're officially blown out. Bummer. We were supposed to do the Young & Cedarville.
So we ended up with a mere tease of the obviously very cool wrecks up in the Straits. I am unsatisfied, and probably won't be able to get back up there until next year. :( Dang it...