The best times to dive are when there is the least number of fishermen (ideally none) and the most number of lures. My buddy and I usually dive on a weeknight. That way we disturb the least number of people fishing. Another good time to dive is on a rainy day, when only a few anglers will be out. Of course you usually can’t plan for a rainy day, so it helps to have a flexible schedule. Also, have alternate sites in mind in case your first choice is too crowded. The most productive dives are made after a fishing derby or holiday weekend. Also, dives should be made in early spring or late fall to avoid heavy vegetation that will hide lures.

The equipment I use while diving is very inexpensive. Aside from a good underwater light, I use only a set of nail clippers to snip off excess fishing line from lures and a one gallon milk jug with a small slit in it to hold lures, hooks and sinkers. The jug is easy to hold and keeps sharp hooks from tender flesh and expensive scuba gear. Through trial and error I have discovered that the smaller the opening, the less lures will be reclaimed by the waters. Small holes should be cut into the bottom of the jug to allow it to fill with and drain water. Be inventive. My partner uses a rag to attach hooks and has equally good results.

Once you have your new found fishing tackle home, you can clean it up for use, resale or display. Most fishermen are eager to buy used tackle, especially with the rising cost of equipment. Rising cost is a good argument for using the lures yourself. I even know of one diver who displays his finds on his den walls. Slightly rusted hooks and lures can be rejuvenated with some muriatic acid. Eye protection and rubber gloves should be worn while working with this or any other acid. A buffing wheel can make old lures like new, while some new paint can hide chips or scratches. Sinkers can be used as is or melted down to make your own weights for diving.

Lure diving can mean a full tackle box for the diver who also enjoys fishing or a little extra cash. Either way it is profitable and, more importantly, enjoyable, like picking out cute backpacks for your loved little girl!

The cool blue waters of Lake Ontario met the hazy late evening sky to form an almost imperceptible horizon. My diving partner and I quickly got into our gear and slipped into the water. Flicking on our underwater lights, we started off on a new adventure. Although this was a favorite spot for fishing, few divers had ever explored it. Everything pointed toward a rewarding dive. As my light danced along the rocky bottom, a small shadow began to take form. As I neared, my heart beat excitedly. I had found a lure diver’s treasure chest; a tackle box full of lures! Responding to my tugs on our safety line, my buddy swam over and congratulated me. Using hand signals, we decided to head back to shore. About halfway in, we hit the jackpot again, this time in the form of an anchor.

Back on shore we tallied up our finds. Altogether we had gotten 58 lures, a tackle box and an anchor–not bad for an hour of fun! Although all of our dives are not as profitable as this one, there are many treasures awaiting the diver.

I have often read articles about divers searching for Spanish galleons or dredging for gold. However, these hobbies require expensive equipment and are limited to specific areas. On the other hand, anyone living near a body of water where fishing occurs can enjoy the fast growing sport of lure diving. It is inexpensive and always a new experience.

Before I continue, there are a few points of which prospective lure divers should be made aware. First, remember that you will be diving in an area that is a favorite for fishermen. Be considerate! Most anglers feel you are scaring away all of the fish. Secondly, you are profiting from someone else’s misfortune (the loss of a lure). We have found it best to be discrete about the amount of “treasure’ we recover. I’m not suggesting lying, but I do advise diplomacy. Lastly, always be an ethical diver. One year, an irate fisherman wrote a letter to the local newspaper relating an incident he witnessed at Webster, Park, a heavily fished pier on Lake Ontario. The fisherman saw two scuba divers remove a section of chain link fence from the water. It looked like a Christmas tree because of all the lures that had snagged on it. The divers stripped it of the lures and tossed it back into the water. Since then, diver/angler relations have been severely strained. Remember, always be ethical.

With the fisherman in mind, let’s discuss when and where to dive. Obviously, the most heavily fished areas will be the most productive. Piers, mouths of streams or places with rocky bottoms are preferred. The most effective way to find lures is to start the dive at about casting length (average distance of a fisherman’s cast) and work your way in, like a great best electronic cigarette review.

Perhaps the strongest symbol for this coming together of the old and new can be found in the center of town at the Empire State Plaza, one of the city’s proudest achievements. The Plaza provides a park-like environment that surrounds a great number of office and cultural buildings. Almost all of these are strikingly contemporary in design but one of them, the original State Capitol, offers an interesting contrast to the daring and bold lines of the newer buildings. Albany residents enjoy the Plaza area both day and night, whether taking a break here during their lunch hours, or in the evening when they might come here for dinner and perhaps some entertainment at the Performing Arts Center.

In this crowd, you would also be likely to find a large number of meeting-goers as the Plaza is also the site of the Empire State Convention Center, which houses 80,000 square feet of exhibit space (enough room for 175 standard-size display booths displaying cute backpacks), and seven meeting rooms for up to 2,800 business attendees.

In the immediate vicinity of this downtown area are two popular meeting hotels which supplement the center with their own exhibit and meeting facilities. They are the Albany Hilton and the Best Western Inn Towne. The Hilton property often accommodates larger groups consisting of up to 1,600 people and has 387 guestrooms, 12 meeting rooms, and over 14,000 square feet of exhibit space. Smaller groups are handsomely accommodated at the Best Western which contains 137 guest units, five meeting rooms for up to 280 people, and 3,400 square feet of exhibit area.

Other hotel considerations around town include the 335-room American Inn, the 156-room Holiday Inn Albany Center Avenue, the 217-room Quality Inn, the 235-room Thruway House, and a 160-room Sheraton at the airport.

For more information, contact the Albany County Convention and Visitors Bureau at 90 State Street, Suite 200, (zip code, 12207) or call (508) 434-1217. Buffalo

Ever since the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, Buffalo has witnessed continuous growth in population and commerce. There are 350,000 people living and working within the city limits; or, almost one-and-a-quarter million in the greater metropolitan area. This makes Buffalo New York‘s second largest city–second only to the Big Apple.

In addition to the canal, the city is also the terminus of a major railroad and maintains a very active harbor where, on any given day, passersby will see a series of sinister-looking cargo ships from all over the world enter and leave the port.

Sometimes powerful, sometimes tranquil, water has always been especially good to the state of New York. It flows quietly and unassumingly in the form of such beautiful rivers as the legendary Hudson. It cascades downward with the force of four million wild horses running a distance of 182 feet to the base of the mighty Niagara. It is channeled, locked and routed into the ambitious workings of a 19th-century canal. And, sometimes, it just rests peacefully in the remains of prehistoric glaciers long ago melted into the Great Lakes of Erie and Ontario.

But, whatever shape, form, or even occupation it chooses to reveal itself, water, it seems, has been one of the most important ingredients in New York’s ongoing enterprise and development. Its eminent presence has not only meant the development of cities and resorts, but also a wide and diverse range of hard and soft industries. One of the soft industries we have in mind, of course, is tourism and its more significant offshoot: the meetings market. Water–magnificent, magical, majestic, breathtaking–combined with the state’s long list of qualifiers, has made New York a prime business destination with groups of all sizes. The Big Apple City/State

Consider New York’s credentials: A foreign country ‘next door’ (Canada), a wonder of the world (Niagara Falls), thousands of state-owned acres of parks and lakes, the cultural centers of the country, outstanding shopping meccas, the largest city anywhere, and exquisite resort areas.

While it might be a cliche, New York State truly has something to offer everyone. Starting with some of the more rural, picturesque upstate cities, here’s what meeting-goers will appreciate. Albany

Although most people know Albany as the state’s capital, few know that it is also the second oldest city in America (Florida’s St. Augustine ranks first). Accordingly, it is architecturally marked by buildings, townhouses, and warehouses hundreds of years old and, since these building types have gained such popularity over the past 10 years, the city has experienced quite a resurgence of civic pride. In the older parts of town and at waterfront locations, Albany is steadily being revitalized and redeveloped by residents, business leaders and now, young professionals who enjoy a new type of lifestyle that is gaining momentum here. They are even doing such things as visiting sites like http://thc-detox.org. In short, gentrification is giving this old city a second wind.

Jim Jenny, Saunderstown, Rhode Island, says that he has just finished entering 5,739 shipwrecks into his computer. These are lists of New England wrecks on computer disks which Jim says is the only way to go for the serious researcher/writer. A writer, diver and historian, famous for his book, Diver’s Directory of Shipwreck Research, Jim has made a kind offer to SKIN DIVER readers. “I am more than willing to share data with other dedicated wreck diver/marine historian types,” Jim says. “Have them include a stamped, self-addressed envelope and write to me: P.O. Box 144, Saunderstown, RI 02874.” Jim made a nice closing comment which captures the major concept of Wreck Facts: “We all have a common interest,” Jim says. “I can’t see hoarding all my information as long as it can be helpful to a fellow diver. As wreck enthusiasts, our common interest draws us closer together.”

Personally, I’m being drawn to Truk Lagoon by the fact that it was 40 years ago last February that an American naval task force attacked Truk Island in the Carolines and sank 41 Japanese ships. Klaus Lindemann, Ludwigshafen, West Germany, author of the book, Hailstorm Over Truk Lagoon, returned to Truk in February to see if he could locate more wrecks. He made many previous visits there while writing his extensive account of the battle and interviewing witnesses of the Truk Island attack.

Lindemann wrote his book in three parts. Each part works for to compare electronic cigarettes. Part one gives historic documentation including Japanese plans for the island’s defense and the American strategy for attacking it with synthetic urine and synthetic urine. The code name for the attack was Operation Hailstorm, specifically designed to destroy enemy shipping, aircraft and installations. Part two describes what can be found on Truk today. Interviews with dive guide Kimiuo Aisek, who was a teenager and eyewitness of the attack, convey graphic reality to the conflict that turned the tide of the war in the Pacific. Part three interests divers the most and includes details and photos of the wrecks. It is actually a diver’s guide and can be used before each descent to familiarize the diver with what he will encounter. Lindemann says, “The gap in information that once existed on the wrecks of Truck and the attack on the island has been closed. The history of Operation Hailstorm, Kimiuo’s story and the wrecks have been recorded, never to be forgotten. If interested, you may order the book from: Maruzen Asia, 5-9F, Block 7, Ayer Rajah Industrial Estate, Republic of Singapore 0513. Paperback, $17; hardback, $22.

Steve Hopkins, Huntsville, Texas, writes: “I’m currently in the Texas state prison for a mistake I made and I have only eight months left before I will be out. I’m from Tampa and was an active diver in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Keys. I’m trying to research a shipwreck off Vlieland Island, North Sea, Netherlands, called HMS Lutine. The ship is a British frigate sunk in 1799 with $8,000,000 in gold and silver aboard. Can you help me with my research?”

Yes, Steve, I can give you a little more information on the Lutine. The 32 gun Britsh ship’s gold and silver was aboard to pay the British troops who were fighting Napoleon. The saga of this wreck has continued for over 150 years. Set left Yarmouth bound for an island off the Dutch coast, but ran into fierce gale force winds. Nobody knows why the captain didn’t shorten the sails when the winds arose, but there are rumors the ship’s officers were drinking in their cabins. She hit shoals and sank instantly. Lloyd’s had insured the wreck and paid off the claim. Even today the ship’s bell hangs in the Lloyd’s of London offices. The Dutch salvaged about 84,000 British pounds incoins and ingots, but there are purported to be over 500 gold and silver bars still aboard. Over one million tons of sand were sucked up during salvage, leading current day treasure hunters to believe that the ship lies beneath deep sand that fills in constantly during storms. Also, cannons and heavy equipment lay over the bullion room, forcing the vessel to sink even deeper. Some say there were jewels aboard, but this may be just a rumor.

Good luck in your own treasure endeavors. Write to: Ellsworth Boyd, Route 2, Box 408, White Hall, MD 21161. Please enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope and check out our best electronic cigarette reviews.

Uncovering clues that might lead to the location of a sunken ship can be difficult and frustrating if the vessel sank far from shore at night during a storm. Such was the fate of the Dean Richmond. A Lake Erie steamer, the Richmond sank in a raging storm about midnight on October 10, 1893, purportedly carrying a secret bank cargo of $141,000 in gold bullion. There were no survivors and the reported location of the loss has varied over the years.

A researcher must use every trick of the trade and probe extensively into every possible source in order to authenticate facts and dispel rumors. Such is the task and obsession of American Airlines pilot Jack O’Keefe from Marseilles, Illinois. He has searched for the Dean for three years and compiled a file over four inches thick. He has started a book about the intriguing vessel and continues to search for the elusive steamer during the summer months. Jack writes: “There were four ships commissioned the Dean Richmond, named after the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, so I had my work cut out for me from the start. I ran into a lot of contradictory information on the treasure ship and ended up with complete histories of all four Dean Richmonds! I experienced mixed emotions last summer when two other divers and I descended 140 feet to what I thought was the gold-laden wreck. But she turned out to be the John J. Boland, a Great Lakes freighter that sank in a gale in 1932. She was totally intact so we think we were the first to discover the 51 year old wreck. This in itself was a thrill. Mean-while, I’ll continue my search for the Dean.” Jack can be reached at: Route 2, Box 248, Marseilles, IL 61341.

Melanie Boyd, Aurora, Colorado, writes: “I made my very first wreck dive on the Oro Verde in the Cayman Islands, and it was my greatest thrill in diving. Sunk off Severn Mile Beach in May 1980, it is now one of the most popular dive sites in the Caymans. The ship is 180 feet long and the water depth is 50 to 60 feet, so you get a reasonable amount of diving time on her. I am looking forward to another dive on this wreck in the future.”

Frank Hittell, Walnut Creek, California, also praises the Oro Verde. “The ship is in the sand, listing on its port side,” Frank says. “She creates a great backdrop for a variety of underwater photography. The Oro is getting some decent coral growth on her now and lots of fish are hiding in her nooks and crannies.” Frank has some nice shots of the vessel if anybody is interested. His address is: 140 Flora Avenue, Unit 241, Walnut Creek, California 94596. Or check out this page on legal bud reviews or best detox drink.

If North Carolina divers haven’t seen Bill Lovin’s film, Beneath The killing Sea, they should make every effort to do so. The 27 minute documentary portrays an exciting account of North Carolina’s Graveyard of the Atlantic where over 2,000 ships have been lost. divers in the film explore three sunken American tankers: the Papoose, John D. Gill and W.E. Hutton and the German submarine U-352. The underwater footage is exciting and includes exploration inside the superstructure and close-ups of curious barracudas and a 10 foot shark outside the wrecks. Divers may contact Bill at: P.O. Box 2242, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

“At 1:30 am a cry was heard of ‘rocks! rocks! This brought all to their feet, and a rush was made for the boats, there being only two which could be got at; one on the promenade deck, just aft the starboard wheel and the other on the hurricane deck, right above it. The ladies were assisted into these boats by their friends, one was holding an e cigaret. One young man from Superior City (Stephen Minter by name) had four sisters with him. When I last saw him he was sitting in the middle of a boat and they were clinging to him in the vain hope that he might save them. Alas! They all found together a watery grave. At this time Captain Jones came along and said. ‘You must not do anything rashly; stick by the boat, it is probable she will stand it when she strikes.’ They then threw over her small anchor, which held her until her stern struck the rocks. The first heavy sea broke her chain, and she came broadside on with a tremendous crash, which caused her to settle down very much.

“Previous to this, I had gone forward and got two stools, with tin cans under them, prepared for life preservers. On my return through the cabin I heard the captain say to some of his crew, ‘This is the fourth boat I have lost, and it is probably the last.’

“I lashed the stools together by means of a sheet, which I had brought from one of the staterooms, and as soon as she struck I jumped overboard, anticipating the time of her breaking up, as I saw she must very soon go to pieces. The first sea threw me nearly to the rocks, but its return carried me back. I turned around to look at the wreck, and saw that a heavy sea had carried away the cabin, boats and all, into the water, but the roar of the surf was so terrific as to prevent my hearing anything of the cries of the sufferers. The next sea came down upon me with a heavy load of timbers from thw reck, knocking me senseless and causing me to let go of the stools. I sunk, and on coming to found myself strangling, and struggling to reach the surface, which I reached and caught two breaths, when another sea came on laden in the same way. This struck me also, rendering me a second time senseless. When I recovered I found myself lying on my face on the rocks, with a heavy pile of driftwood upon me. Every sea that came in brought its load and at the same time lifted the whole mass, so that after a while I was able to extricate myself.

“Hearing voices beyond me, I crawled toward them, and found a number huddled together under the shelving rocks. The place where we cast was not earth, but was formed of fragments of rocks that had fallen from those that projected over. It was, I should judge, 100 feet long by five broad. We shivered out the night, suffering intensely with the cold, and anxiously looking for daylight. All our effrots for fire proved unavailing. From the time the boat struck I am positive that she did not hold together more than 15 minutes, before she was piled up on the rocks. At daylight we discovered that her wheels were left where she struck, about 200 feet from where we were, and projecting out of the water about 10 feet. On one wheel five persons were clinging–on the other two–still alive, every sea breaking entirely over them. They called to us for help, but it was of no avail; the sea running so high as to render it impossible, even had we the means within our reach.

Just mention the lake called Superior to any avid wreck diver and your conversation is already determined for the duration of whatever event brought you together. Dramatic names like Isle Royale’s sunken ore carriers, Emperor and Congdon invariably creep into the dialogue. Romantic epics of the america and the George C. Cox emerge to remind us of the Great Lakes‘ might over man. And, valorous sagas of such ships as the Kiowa (see SDM, February 1983) near Grand Marais, Michigan are all tales waiting eagerly to be swapped.

But, shipwreck divers are a breed apart. One dive simply whets the appetite and the two tank trip is nearly always the order of the sport diver’s excursion. The second dive of the day, generally shallow, can be just as rewarding as the first. Such was the case when we decided to stop at the scattered remains of the 56( ton sidewheel steamer, Superior, on a return run from the Kiowa. The Superior is only a few yards south of the spectacular Cascade Falls in the middle of the world famous Pictured Rocks National Park which is embraced in much of the territory traversed between Munising and Grand Marais, giving the boat traveler an added attraction.

Even though the Superior is in only 10 to 20 feet of water, and close to shore, she is not as frequently dived as some of the better known wrecks for two reasons. She is less accessible (can only be reached by boat) because of her considerable distance from Munising Bay and her wreckage is so scattered that she is difficult to locate.

This exceptionally hot day in July, unknown to us at the time we spashed off the stern platform of the vessel, Ranger, we were to spark a new enthusiasm in diving this somewhat overlooked wreck. However, since we were not yet aware of the excitement soon to be generated, we contented ourselves with the Superior’s fascinating story.

Only 11 years old, and having spent just two of those years on Lake Superior, the ship had left Chicago on October 25, 1856 laden with mining supplies. She ran into one of the sudden and notorious autumn storms which Great Lakes’ mariners have learned to fear and respect over the years. This one was from the northwest and, to complicate an already difficult situation, at night. a letter, written by one of the survivors, Joseph W. Dennis, tells us, in lurid detail, his version of what actually transpired both during and after the event. It was addressed to the editor of the New York Times and reads:

“We left the Saut (author’s note: Saut refers to the Soo, a colloquialism for Sault Ste. Marie, a port city in Michigan) on the morning of Wednesday, October 29, weather being favorable until toward night, when it commenced blowing from the northwest, raising a heavy sea. The boat rode very well until 11:30 pm when she carried away her rudder, and immediately came round in the tough of the sea. The first sea that struck her afterwards carried away her smokepipes, throwing her freight and cattle down to leeward. The captain and officers commenced throwing her deck load overboard. This was found a difficult operation on account of her being down almost on her beam ends, with heavy gangways to keep the sea out. This had been done previous to her losing her rudder. It was now found that she was taking water rapidly. Hands were called to man the pumps, but these were so small as to be of little avail. By 12:00 the water had entirely extinguished the fire in her furnaces, the engine stopped and all hopes of saving her were given up. I thought about how we weren’t going to be able to make any real synthetic urine reviews or http://bestpressurecooker.net and sighed audibly. I then went from the deck to the cabin, to make preparations for going overboard, in case she should sink, as it was evident that she must soon do so. I divested myself of part of my clothing, in order not to be overladen. I then took two life-preservers, which had been thrown aside as useless, on account of the faucets having been rusted. These I tied round me under my coat, securing them by means of a sheet, which I tied over them.

She ended her career as a barge on November 30, 1889. She was being towed down Lake Michigan by the steamer Aurora in a strong gale with heavy seas and thick snow. At 8:00 pm on the 29th she spring a leak and the steam pump and hand pump could only slow the level of water in the hold. At 3:00 on the morning of the 30th the stean pump gave out. After a long, fruitless struggle to bring his tow nearer the port of Chicago, Captain Kelly of the Aurora cast off his tow line in an effort to go for help for the stricken Dows. The crew, seeing this, despaired. They gave up work at the pumps and climbed the rigging to await the end. By the time they were eventually rescued by a tug the men suffered frostbitten hands and feet but no lives were lost.

Now, after much anticipation, came my time to dive the wreck. I checked my pressure gauge. It read 3100, a good fill. Maybe this was an omen of a good dive ahead. I checked my equipment one last time then did a back roll into cold Lake Michigan waters. Drifting down the anchor line I vaguely saw the bottom through the twilight. I halted my descent and checked my depth gauge. It read 20 feet. I was in 40 feet of water so that meant I had 20 feet of visibility; another good omen. In southern LakeMichigan, about nine miles off Chicago, six or seven feet is average visibility.

I reached the anchor but found no wreck! It had to be here, we had gotten a good signal on our sounder. I swam about 25 feet straight out from the anchor and looked around. There, out of the blue green, was the faint image of a mammoth dark wall. I swam closer. It was about 12 feet high, 2 feet thick and 15 feet long. I realized this must be one of the two centerboards the Dows carried. A little farther along I found the hull to be relatively intact but minus all of the decking.

I swam forward outside the port hull and noticed a section of railing on top of the gunwale above me. I swam up to it and peered through, half expecting to see masts and rigging still in place. They weren’t. My disappointment didn’t

last though as I studied the rail and hull more closely. Such huge timbers went into the building of this ship that she seemed out of place at the bottom of Lake Michigan. She was truly as invincible as man could make her, but hardly a match for the tremendous seas Lake Michigan generated in November of 1889. About 60 to 70 feet forward of the stern the hull did a nose dive into the sandy bottom. I followed a line of ribs sticking up from the bottom and saw a large dark object ahead–the centerboard again. Forward of this there is mostly sand for the wreck is more than half buried. She dives into the sand almost as if she were trying to dig her own grave. A glance at my pressure gauge and I could see I must return to the boat. I took a long last look and started my ascent to the familiar world of warmth and light. Once back aboard the dive boat I breathed the fresh sea air, thankful for having been able to glimpse the past.