Straits of Mackinac, Shipwreck Preserve
Do you have the curiosity to see some of the great shipwrecks within the Great Lakes? The Straits of Mackinac is a beautiful place both above and below the water.
Weather in the Mackinac area in late September is normally a flip of the coin, except that coin is again flipped into the air several times throughout the day. For us 11 divers on this weekend’s trip, we can say that we beat the house odds.
We all met for dinner at B.C. Pizza in St. Ignace on Friday night. It was great pizza for a pretty reasonable price. One look behind the counter, though, and you’ll be shocked at home many pizzas this place can put out in an hours time! The weather was great to eat outside on their deck while we discussed the details of the next two days. Half of the group would dive the morning trip each day, while the other half would dive the afternoon trip. The group was a great mix of experience levels, ranging from our two Divemasters, a recent AOW cert, two new Divemaster students, and other ranges of experiences.
Each group did the same dives. The first day consisted of Dolphin and the Fred McBrier. The Dolphin is a wooden schooner at sank in 1869, but was only recently discovered. The Fred McBrier is also a wooden ship, but a bulk cargo carrier that sank in 1890.
The second day consisted of two dives on the Cedarville; one from the stern and the other from the bow. The Cedarville is the largest shipwreck in recreational depths in The Great Lakes. At 604’ in length, she lies just east of the Mackinac Bridge in 110’ of water.
Our host, Dan Friedhoff, is the son of one of the 25 survivors the day of the wreck. He runs St. Ignace Scuba by providing dive charters in the Straits of Mackinac Shipwreck Preserve on his dive boat INTREPID. He also serves as the secretary on the Board of Directors for the Preserve.
The Great Lakes is full of shipwrecks and the Straits surely earns its place on any list of places to dive them. Check out the photos below. If you’d like to see wrecks like these, we plan on doing another trip next year in September 2025.
