Lake Huron, Day 4
Storm clouds threatened as we headed out to sea lake on the morning of my fourth day in Michigan, so we quickly adjusted our destination; instead of diving the Price, the first dive of the day would be the Regina. Both ships were large freighters that sank during a fierce storm in 1913; the Regina (250′ long) settled upside-down in 77′ of water. Though the lake surface was smooth as glass when we arrived at our mooring on the bow, we found a decent current moving towards the stern when we hit bottom. Unfortunately, Pat’s regulator started free-flowing from the primary stage as soon as we hit the upturned keel, but after getting her back to the surface I was able to complete the dive with the Stayers’ good friend Deb Dudeck; despite not having dove the Regina in a number of years, she proved to be quite the capable guide, helping me find crates of cargo, portholes, and the ship’s name, still legible on the bow. We had intended our second dive to be on the stern of the ship, but the buoy was missing and the current too strong for us to free-descend; instead, we headed back to the Sport to get some more footage (this time, with the proper weights!) Tomorrow–weather permitting–we’ll dive one of the most intact wrecks in Lake Huron, the Mary Alice B. (discovered by none other than Jim and Pat Stayer!)
