I was never a decent swimmer until I started snorkling. Somewhere along the
line, I learned the proper way of how to tread water. (the long-term
survival method as taught in the Coast Guard). Between the two I'm pretty
good in the water, but Wayne is right about clearing a mask. After all
these years, I still can't clear a mask without a small bit of panic.
I grew up around the Great Lakes. Diving takes on a bit different format
there because of temperature stratification, fresh-water, and limited
visibility. It gets dark in a real hurry. It gets very cold, very quickly
too. It can be 70 degrees (F) at the surface, but 55 degrees before you get
to the 5m depth. Of course, Lake Superior is dry-suit diving no matter
what. THAT is cold water. But there are some great wrecks to dive on and
you don't have to travel very far to get to them. On Isle Royale, there are
two major wrecks less than 50m from shore.
Oh, one popular diving occupation around the Great Lakes is diving in the
rivers and harbor/lakes looking for lumber. Back in the lumbering days,
they used to float the logs downstream to the mills. Tens of thousands of
logs would disappear below the surface, typically being forced down into the
mucky bottoms where they'd get stuck. 150 years later, these logs have high
value and are sought after.
Here in Iowa, diving isn't very popular. The coral reefs are in bad shape.
AG
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