Wisconsin Puddle Jumpers

This was our first dive trip outside of the Caribbean, and what made it even extra special was that it was our honeymoon! 💖  How did we decide to visit Madeira? After all, it is not what I would call a typical diving destination. Eric was searching for less expensive locales on Google Flights and Madeira popped up as a reasonable option. My friend Emma had also visited Madeira on her honeymoon and gave great reviews. After doing some research ourselves on the diving possibilities, it was decided: Madeira here we come! We left Chicago on Sunday and arrived in Madeira on Monday around noon after a short layover in Lisbon. We dove for four days, alternating between diving in Funchal and P onta de São Lourenço . We dove with Azul Divers and had an overall great experience.         The diving here was definitely unique for us. The water was cooler, which meant limited corals, if any, and less overall fish. However, we saw lots of big fish - groupers and amber jacks,...

We decided to take advantage of the extended Labor Day weekend to do some dives in Lake Michigan. We booked two spots on a dive charter through Aquatic Adventures, a local dive shop in Brookfield. This would allow us to do two dives on Saturday and two dives on Sunday.  We left Madison late Friday afternoon and drove straight to the dive shop, which took about an hour and 15 minutes, to pick up my tanks. I needed four total tanks for both days of diving, and we opted for both steel and Nitrox. This cost us about $40 per tank, whereas an aluminum tank with an air-fill would have cost about $10 per tank. We opted to pay the additional cost for Nitrox to optimize my bottom time. Since Eric would be diving his rebreather, it would most likely be my NDL (No-Decompression Limit) that would limit our dive time. This is the amount of time I could stay at depth before my computer indicated I should ascend to avoid decompression illness. In retrospect, we didn't think it was worth the extra ...

This was our second time diving Silver Lake, so we knew what to expect this time. We arrived around 8:45 AM and had no issues finding a parking spot at the public boat landing. Earlier in the week we had discussed possibly diving in wetsuits instead of dry suits, since it would be a hot day and we didn't want to overheat. In the end, we decided to dive dry. In order to stay cool, we set up our gear in the shade. I don both my thermal and my drysuit before Eric even gets started with his. (He sweats a lot more than I do.) Since we've been lake diving numerous times this year already, we finally have our system down and can get ready relatively quickly. The first thing Eric does when he gets in the water is a faceplant. Although he looks silly, it's a great way to cool off!       Our first dive we followed the weed line to the left (south). We saw multiple fish cribs and quite a few northern! It was cool to see the northern hide in the weeds and dart away when we got c...

Today was both exciting and semi-stressful as we decided to try a new lake we've never dove in before. Eric called a scuba shop in Menomonee Falls, Underwater Connection, and asked where they dive in the area, to which the response was Silver Lake and Keesus Lake. We drove to Keesus Lake first to scope it out. The parking lot for the boat landing was down the road from the actual landing, which was not ideal. We would either have to unload our gear at the landing and gear up there, or we would have to gear up at the car and walk 50 meters or so down the street to enter the water. There was also a large sign at the landing that informed us it was only for boat access to the lake and not for swimming. We decided to move on and check out Silver Lake next.  Silver Lake also had a parking lot for the boat landing, although it was just across the street and a much shorter walk to the water compared to Keesus. It was also free to access (no fee for parking), which was awesome. The lot was...

This weekend we decided to dive Pearl Lake, which is about an hour's drive south of us just over the Wisconsin border into Illinois. We have visited this lake several times before; we even completed our Advanced Open Water and Rescue certifications here. There are multiple pavilions with picnic tables which are a convenient place to gear up as well as complete surface intervals. The dive entry is very smooth and easily accessible, and there are lots of sunken objects to explore, including a submarine, an airplane, a school bus, and lots of boats. The downside to diving here is that it is quite expensive compared to other locations. The entry fee for diving is $30 per diver: One day of diving at Pearl Lake costs us $60, whereas one day at Lake Wazee only costs us $15!  The visibility is usually quite good; however, it can depend on how many divers are present. Eric dove in Pearl Lake in the beginning of May as part of his rebreather class and had 30-40 feet of visibility, whereas we...

We decided to make a trip up to Black River Falls for Memorial Day weekend and do some diving in Lake Wazee (or Wazee Lake, depending on who you ask). Eric has recently bought a rebreather and finished his initial certification classes, and he needs practice diving with his rebreather before he can move on to the next level. I am still diving open circuit, which means air is only moving in one direction - I breathe in air from my tank, and I expel my breath into the water (hence, all of the bubbles). With his rebreather, Eric is diving closed circuit - his air/breath is contained in a closed loop. He mixes pure oxygen with air, which he breathes in, and when he expels his breath it enters a "scrubber" on his back which eliminates his carbon dioxide. More oxygen is added, and then he can rebreathe that air, hence the term "rebreather." Since all of his air is contained in a closed loop, he doesn't produce any bubbles. There are several draws to diving with a rebr...

This was our very first liveaboard dive trip! Apparently liveaboards are the bomb, at least according to the dive community. The motto of a liveaboard is Eat, Sleep, and Dive, and we found that to be quite accurate indeed. We wanted to give this style of diving a try and see if we liked it. We flew out of Madison early Saturday morning, had a quick layover in Dallas, and then landed in Grand Cayman in the early afternoon. We took a shuttle from the airport to the yacht club where our boat, the Cayman Aggressor IV, was docked. We couldn't board until 4:00 PM, so we grabbed lunch at the yacht club's restaurant and soaked up the sun for a couple of hours.    At 4:00 PM we walked down the dock to the boat and met the captain and the crew. The first thing we did was set up our dive gear. This was the one and only time we had to set up our gear; we never had to switch our gear to a new tank, because they had an air compressor onboard and would fill up our tanks after every dive. I w...

Eric has caught the diving bug. One week after our dive at Devil's Lake, and we're back in the water again! This was our first time diving in Nagawicka Lake in Naga-Waukee Park. Eric was eager to get back in the water and practice with the dry suits. I was not... especially after the cold water and low visibility of last weekend. However, I wasn't going to let him dive alone, so I found myself back in the car heading to the dive site Saturday morning. Fortunately for me, by the time I woke up that morning Eric already had the gear all packed in the car. All I had to do was roll out of bed and change clothes, and we were ready to go. I'm spoiled that way. 😊 When we first arrived at the lake, we scoped out our entry point. We decided to kit up at a picnic table and then walk to the water and enter at the public beach. Not a terribly far walk, but definitely feels farther when you're carrying 30 or so pounds of gear and weight on your back. The weather was cloudy and ...

This was our first dive of the year! We had previously dived in Devil's Lake several times before. In fact, this was where we completed our check-out dives for our Open Water certification back in May of 2021. It's only an hour drive from our house and we are familiar with the lake, so we thought it would be a great first place to go for the season and to practice with our relatively new dry suits.  Devil's Lake is located within Devil's Lake State Park in Baraboo, Wisconsin. This is one of the most (if not THE most) popular state parks in the state, and maybe even the region. It's most well-known for its bluffs which are fantastic to hike and offer phenomenal views of the lake 500 feet below. In fact, Eric and I spent our first date hiking the West Bluff Trail. 😊  The lake is a nice place to learn how to dive, since it's relatively shallow with a maximum depth of 47 feet and an average depth of 30 feet. In addition, the lake is designated as slow-no-wake. The ...