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Segments
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a summary of each area. |
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Segment
9 - The Great Lakes, Minnesota, Iowa - July 25 -August 4 |
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France Park, Indiana
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30) Indiana - France Park:
Waiting for Linda, I met Jeff, a diver with an artificial leg. Actually, just the bones are artificial from the lower calf to the upper thigh. The doctors did such a great job, the steel bones and joints under his flesh are impossible to detect. He walks normally, and recently took up scuba diving. I marveled at his medical miracle, and the courageous spirit he displays.
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Dan, my minister-dive buddy in North Carolina shows up at Gilboa
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31) Ohio - Gilboa Quarry:
Twink Miller runs the on-site dive shop and air station. She discovered diving when the lure of two missing diamond rings in a lake became too much to resist. She dived and dived, but never found the rings. Instead, she discovered her favorite activity.
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The Straits of Makinac group
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32) Michigan - The Straits of Mackinac:
Returning to port, I questioned why there wasn’t a single dive shop in the popular resort of Mackinac. It's seasonal, but so is ninety percent of the East Coast where dive shops abound. Clearly, this area offers some of the best wreck diving in the nation.
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33) Minnesota - Crosby Mines:
Driving through towns named Iron Mountain, Iron River, and Ironwood, I began to recognize a certain theme. The next dive would be in an iron mine, but it was still hundreds of miles farther along this vast American iron belt. The iron theme was broken briefly near Duluth when I entered wild rice country. After the iron mine, I’d be in corn country. America is like a huge general store spread out over the entire continent. Every state and region offers its own specialty. On this journey, I hoped to find they all offered scuba diving.
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Dave at Okoboji
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34) Iowa - Lake Okoboji:
The water’s surface rarely indicates what lies beneath, and once again this became a recurring metaphor. On the surface, the notion of diving states like Iowa appeared dismal, but the truth was quite different. The kind of surprise I found at Lake Okoboji became my sustenance for the long solo drives. Preconceptions were being broken, one by one. And the truth was surfacing.
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Diving Lake Michigan off Wisconsin
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35) Wisconsin - The Prins Willem:
Curiously, I couldn’t find any printed books or information about the wreck in local dive shops. The Prins Willem V is one of the top wrecks in the nation, yet few realize it exists. Many might consider that a good thing, but I think it’s a shame. This wreck could provide memories few responsible divers would ever forget.
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