One Month until we start Diving Lake Michigan!!!

The Best Wrecks in the Mid-West are lying just under Lake Michigan’s surface and waiting to be explored. There are beginner’s wrecks in just 15 feet of water, and more advanced and challenging wrecks lying in water over 100 feet deep. You can get over 70 feet of visibility in the right conditions, and the cool fresh water keep these historic wrecks preserved in incredible condition.

Scuba Emporium and Windy City Diving have joined together again to offer twelve great day trips to the best wreck in our area. We’ll be checking out wrecks such as:

Thomas Hume The schooner Thomas Hume, which was operating in the busy lumber industry hauling lumber from Muskegon to Chicago, went missing with six men aboard during a squall on Lake Michigan on May 21, 1891.

Buccaneer Chicago’s newest dive site is ready. Built in 1925 as an Ice Breaker, the M/V Buccaneer is resting upright on the bottom of Lake Michigan, 10 miles off Chicago in 70FFW. Straits of Mackinac Intentionally sunk in 2003, this 204′ car ferry offers something for every diver. Sitting upright in 82 feet of water with her main deck just over 45′ down, the “Straits” has become Chicago’s premier dive site. Wells Burt Sitting in only 40 feet of water, this three masted schooner was built in 1873. Though she sank in 1883, she is considered by many to be one of the best shipwrecks in Illinois waters. St. Mary This 120’ wooden schooner sits in 105 feet of water. Although the wreck has collapsed on itself all the pieces are there including the ship’s wheel, anchors and more. Rotarian A 147’ side-wheel paddle steamer that was intentionally sunk in 1937. Today she sits in 85 feet of water. Illinois & Holly Barge At the time of her sinking in 1907, the Illinois was the largest hydraulic dredge on the Lake. Today she rests in 35 feet of water near another dive site, the Holly Barge, Chicago’s first intentional shipwreck. Wings of Wind Built in 1855 this 130’ wooden schooner sank as a result of a collision in 1866. In salvaging her cargo of coal the stern section of this wreck was destroyed. Resting in 40 feet of water, today you can dive her 65’ bow section with bowsprit and windlass. Many excellent photo opportunities exist. Tacoma Sunk in 1929 this 72’ wooden tug sits upright on the bottom in 35 feet of water. The large propeller offers great photos Material Service Barge This 239’ self-loading barge was built in 1929. Her unique design allowed her to navigate under the bridges of Chicago without them being raised. She sank during a storm in 1936. Today she sits upright in 30 feet of water. So come by the store and sign up while we still have room. …and here is GREAT article to check out about Diving into Adventure in the Windy City from the Dive News Network

One of the most legendary Golden-Era Pirates was Henry Morgan, and his most famous battle was his siege of Panama City. At the time Panama City was the second largest city in the Western Hemisphere.

Now historians think they have found six cannons off Captain Morgan’s flagship Satisfaction. Satisfaction sunk in 1671 after being run head-on into Lajas reef five days after Morgan burned Panama City to the ground.

By the time the pirate ships arrived, Panama City had already fallen to Captain Morgan’s advance team, which he sent over land. Still, the pirate armada was still a welcome site as they pulled into the mouth of the Rio Chagres; that is until the Satisfaction, and three other ships, ran up onto the shallow water reef Lajas. Much like the sinking off the ships, the burning of Panama City was a careless accident. However, when you burn the second largest city to the ground oops doesn’t seem to cut it, and a year later Captain Morgan was arrested in Jamaica and sent back to England to be tried for piracy.

Henry Morgan’s life reads like a Hollywood script, and just as no Hollywood hero’s life could end at the end of a noose, neither did Captain Morgan. This man born on a farm in Wales, shanghaied and sold into indentured servitude in Barbados, released years later penniless he turned to piracy. He excelled, and quickly became the most successful of the Golden Era Pirate Captains. At his trial he was treated as a romantic hero, and when England’s relations with Spain soured again Henry Morgan was sent back to Jamaica as Lieutenant Governor.

While this is not one of the Pirate ships that sank with chests overflowing treasure, fueling dreams of instant wealth. The Satisfaction’s cannons provide a tangible connection to a romanticized history that fuels the equally valuable dreams of the Golden Age of Piracy, and all the stories that make up the cultural history of paradise.

  
Click here to read more about Captain Morgan’s campaign against Panama City

Click here to read more about the discovery and raising of Satisfaction’s Cannons

Instructor Development Course (Orland Park, IL)

Go PRO —Scuba Diving Careers

Love Your Job
      Your Lifestyle
            and Your Freedom

Get a life worth living:
   Become a PADI Professional

You’ll do things others only dream of. Whether you work in a local dive shop at a dive resort or on a live-aboard dive boat, the adventure of a lifetime is yours for the taking. Imagine a job where you actually look forward to work in the morning. Sailing into incredible sunsets could be the rule, not the exception, especially if you work in a tropical dive destination. The commute to work could be as easy as a ten-minute boat ride and work becomes an adventure in itself.

If you are up for the challenge…you are in luck!

This month Scuba Emporium is starting an IDC. The Instructor Development Course (IDC) combines the Assistant Instructor (AI) class and Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) class into one comprehensive course that will prepare you to take the Instructor Exam (IE) with PADI…and start your Diving Career.

The IDC is traditionally an seven-day course, but here at Scuba Emporium we also have a three-weekend version.

The Three-weekend IDC starts this month: March 25th, 26th, 27th; continues April 16th and 17th; and concludes May 19th and 20th.  

Our Seven-Day IDCs are: May 14th – 20th, June 23th - 29th, and October 1st  - 7th.

For more information check out our web site,
Call us at (708) 226-1614,
or email us at sales@scubaemporium.com.

Already done one of our many IDCs...
...help the new-guys decide and write about your experiences in the comments box.

Lionfish, the Beautiful Outlaw

Another great presentation at Our World-Underwater’s Film Festival, and probably the most entertaining, was Lionfish, the Beautiful Outlaw by Paul Carter Deaton. Talk about a timely film. Lionfish Hysteria has been running rampid, and the documentary attempts to examine whether the hysteria is justified. From the opening scene you know you’re in for something different. The interviews ground the film in quality insight, while the pacing and humor entertain as well as educate. I think my personal-favorite scene in the film is the final live performance of Lionfish, Lionfish: Kill, Kill, Kill. Check it out.

Paul Cater Deaton is an award-winning Writer, Producer, Director and Cinematographer, based in the Virgin Islands and Batavia, Illinois. Shooting on six continents over three decades, Paul has earned numerous industry accolades. 

His underwater camera skills were honed in oceans and seas all over the world. Paul specializes in production relative to SCUBA diving and adventure travel, and is a highly sought-after Underwater Camera Operator. He is a SCUBA Instructor and expert Rescue Diver, certified in Nitrox and Rebreathers, and has thousands of hours of underwater camera experience. Paul is a popular speaker and emcee, making appearances from coast to coast to coast. He is also lead singer for The Wetsuits, the world's only All Underwater Photographers Band!

Ernie Brooks at Our World-Underwater

Last weekend in Chicago was a wild one, with Our World-Under sending waves through the West Side. One of my favorite presentations of the weekend was at the Film Festival Saturday night. Ernie Brooks gave a sideshow of images from his new book Silver Seas: a Retrospective. Ernie Brooks’ Black and White photos use silver-gray, black, and white tones to expose the light streaming through his images, silhouettes his subjects, and transform the textures found in abundance in Ernie’s underwater world.

Ambassador to the Marine Environment Photographer, Adventurer, Diver and Educator Ernest H. Brooks II was born to be a photographer. His Portuguese ancestry, rich in men-of-the-sea, virtually insured the ocean environment would play an important role in his life. As the son of Ernest H. Brooks, founder of the internationally-renowned Brooks Institute of Photography, Mr. Brooks was destined to follow in his father's footsteps for part of his life's journey before forging his own path.

Mr. Brooks has been a trailblazer in the development of underwater photographic equipment and technique, and has witnessed great industry advances. And though he has harnessed and implemented much of that new technology, at a time when a plethora of color underwater photographs illustrate magazines and glossy brochures, he, perhaps surprisingly, favors black and white. "I don't think that blue, an inherent color of the ocean, really adds to many photographs, especially of mammals - and I like the quality of black and white. Also, I get the personal satisfaction of working with black and white in being able to control the development and printing." The ocean and underwater photography are among his main interests. In the pursuit of dramatic marine images, he has descended into the fascinating waters beneath the polar icecaps as well as into the depths of almost every ocean on Earth.

Akona's Success is in the Bag!!!

I can't wait for you to see this new bag from Akona.

It's a Regulator Bag when your packing,

  ...and when you get to your destination it expands into a full sized dive mesh Bag! 

It's made of strong a 420 nylon outer shell, and nylon reinforced mesh. The Regulator bag is well padded, and the mesh bag gives you a whopping 4872 cubic inches of room to haul your gear out to the beach, or onto the boat. Stop by Scuba Emporium to see, feel, zip, and unzip the new Akona Collapsible Mesh/Regulator Bag; or check it out on our webpage.

Thriving 'Middle Light' Reefs Found in Puerto Rico

Lately news about our sea always seems to be about its decline, so it was very exciting to come across a story about a healthy - thriving reef on the NOAA website.

In La Parguera, Puerto Rico scientist found a 12-mile wide Mesophotic (or Middle-Light) Reef. Mesophotic reefs are reefs that grow at the deepest level that light-dependent coral reefs can survive. The Le Parguera reef starts at around 100 feet and is still showing growth as deep as 330 feet.

Little has been known about these Middle-Light reefs, because the technology for scientists to explore at those depths had been so limited. Now however, as the techniques and equipment used in tech diving becomes more available and user friendly for everyone, these reef are beginning to be explored. Check out the beauty of these reefs.

Credit: H. Ruíz

What is really exciting is how groupers, reef sharks, and snappers still thrive on these beautiful reefs. These fish, which were once so common on shallower reefs, can restore the depleted fish stocks once the heath of the shallower reefs, are restored.

So lets get involved and work together to protect these Mesophotic Reefs, as we work to rescue our more popular Shallow Reefs. Check out Project AWARE’s website.  Sign up for one of Scuba Emporium’s ecologically centered diving specialties; like Coral Reef Conservation and Project AWARE. And most importantly keep diving, exploring, and sharing what’s under the surface with your friends and family; so we can continue to remember everything there is to protect, above and below the surface, of this beautiful blue world.