Welcome!
My name is Karri, and I am PADI certified open water scuba diver. I am writing this blog, well frankly, because I haven’t
been able to find very much information about diving in Michigan. My husband, and I took our scuba classes (we took SSI classes, but are PADI certified LOL!) fall/winter of 2007, and did our open water tests while in Florida for Bike Week in March of 2008. We dove some inland fresh water springs. It was great! Especially for our first open water dives.
We took on diving because we both have a love for history and adventure (plus, I always wanted to swim with the fishes!), and we are dying to venture under the mystery of our Great Lakes to see the shipwrecks few people get to witness. But 
before we go for the big guys, we wanted dive in some inland lakes. I have found only a few tidbits of information on the internet about Michigan inland lakes and scuba diving. None of what I found gave any detailed information, like where to go in, what we may or may not find, etc.
My plan, is to keep a detailed dive log in blog format. Each new dive location we do, I will write a detailed entry on it. Where we went in, what we found, water visibility, temperature, out of water conditions, etc. My goal is to help new Michigan divers who cannot find information on the web about where to dive!
If you have an inland lake to dive in Michigan, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
Karri's Dive Blog 
Hi Karri,
A couple of great books that i found helpful were: 1) Snorkeling Guide to Michigan Inland Lakes by Nancy S. Washburne
2)the Sportsman Connection books-written for fisherman, they provide info on hundreds of michigan lakes, providing detailed lake maps and reports on depth and water clarity,
Hope this helps.
Eric Engbretson
Engbretson Underwater Photo
Thanks Eric! I just recieved a notice from my library that Snorkeling Guide to Michigan came in today! I’ll have to check out the other one too!
Here are dive sites around Michigan from Dive Training magazine
http://www.dtmag.com/dive-usa/nc.html
Several do not have write ups yet but are useful for google searching nevertheless.
Thanks for the blog!
Hi Karri,
My girlfriend and I just recently got started diving in the area, we just finished our Naui Advanced Class this weekend. We used your blog to give us an idea of what to expect at Martin Lake (that was our first dive together without instructors) a few weeks ago, it was a great help!
Our local dive shop, http://www.sass.com (in Battle Creek) promotes what they call Wednesday Night dives, the last one of the season is tomorrow night at Gull Lake. Very short notice, for this year, but maybe next year it would be worth checking out. They typically dive a variety of lakes in the area on Wednesday’s throughout the summer. We got started late this year (with me just getting certified), but we have made it out for a few nights and it’s been fun and a good source of info with a good group of local divers.
We are totally hooked on diving right now and can’t get enough, so we’ll be constantly searching for reasons to head out to dive and checking back to see how you are doing.
Mark & Becca
Hey I noticed you recommend great lakes diver locker. Doug the owner of the dive shop was my instructor when I recieved my certification. I also did SSI with Ocean sands in Holland but ended up finishing it with Great Lakes. My father who is also a good friend of Doug has his own diver center in the Philippines os if you and your husband are intersted in some nice exotic diving let me know thruogh email and UI can send you guys some further information.
Over here in Alpena, we have many recreational dive site, many wrecks that range in depth from 8 feet to 200 feet. We also have sinkholes, and even a underwater spring where the underground water comes up through the sand, this is a very easy 20 foot dive. Also after a day of diving you can visit the NOAA’s Maritime Heritage Center.
Thanks for the info! We really need to hit the other side of the state!
Have you and Brian kept a log and maps of the places you have been and what is there??. Im finding different dive shops that use certain lakes for training keep a treasure of navigational objects to look at besides the fish.
Hi Karri,
We do scuba charters at Advance Scuba & Paintball in Holland. We travel down to New Bufflo and as far up to Pentwater. There are some awsome wrecks in the Lake Michigan on our side of the lake. We also do fun dives on weekends when we do open water training and you are always welcome to join us. If you would like to get on our email list go to http://www.advancescuba.com and sign up for our news letter.
Tim Marr,owner