I got a chance to head to Milwaukee last weekend for some diving on a couple of wrecks just outside the breakwater.  The trip was put together by Ken Kremer from Seatasea Watersports in Cedar Rapids.  There is a great group of folks that seems to show up for this trip year after year! We dove the Prince Willem V and the Milwaukee Car Ferry from the Len-Der.  I had dove the Willie last year, but the Car Ferry was a new wreck for me.

The Willie is probably the most popular wreck dive out of Milwaukee.  She lies at depths of 55-90 ft. on her starboard side.  She went down after being rammed by a barge, which punched a huge hole in her side.  This wreck went down without any loss of life, but has claimed five divers over the years.  We saw various memorial plaques for those divers mounted on the wreck.  The water temperature was a balmy 60°F all the way to the bottom.  As a result, the visibility was not as good as last year, when the water temps were about 45°F.  Dive buddy was Jen Van Der Zee.  We did two dives on this wreck, and spent a fair amount of time around the pilot house amidships, doing some moderate penetration.  Unlike Lake Superior, all the wrecks near Milwaukee are completely covered in Zebra Mussels.  I wonder how many mussels (about 1/2" in size) it takes to completely cover a 200+ ft. wreck?

Sunday we did two dives on the Milwaukee Car Ferry, a 340 ft rail car and vehicle ferry running from Milwaukee to Grand Haven, MI.  This was a very interesting new wreck for me. She went down in a storm due (apparently - there were no survivors to tell the tale) to a breach of the sea gate on her stern and lies in 90-120 ft. of water.  The sea gate was bent crazily - perhaps from a train car or two coming loose in the storm?  The pilot house had come off of the wreck and was lying off to the side.  A permanent line lead from the main wreck to the pilot house, and I followed it out.  The pilot house (sans roof) was nestled on the bottom with debris scattered all around.  We did one dive on the stern and a second on the bow.  Vis was much better on the stern, as we were the first divers down.  Temps were about 60°F to a thermocline at 100 ft. and then dropped to a chilly 47°F below that.

Overall, 4 great dives with my buddy Jen!