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Andy You wrote: I just got back from a weekend in Kingston, and we were getting that sort of awesome visibility. For the first time ever, I actually saw the whole Munson from one vantage point. I don't think the warmth ran quite that deep; there was a decent thermocline around 45', but deco was in nice warm water. In a way it doesn't make sense: a few weeks ago when we were doing the Morrell and the Dundenberg (Lake Huron, just off the Michigan "thumb"), upstream of a lot of the civilization in the Great Lakes watershed, out of sight of land, the viz sucked, but right at the downstream end of the bottom lake, only about a klick offshore, we get great viz. Those zebra mussels must sure suck a lot of shit out of the water, because they're the only reason I can think of for Kingston having the better viz. Now if the little buggers could just leave the wrecks alone, we'd have something going. -- Anthony DeBoer End: Yeah, the Munson is a great wreck isn't it. The vis always seems to be alittle bit better down in Kingston (not much) than down river, but you usually hit a thermocline between 20 - 40 feet. The thremocline moves deeper as the summer progresses and the water warms up. I was on the Keystorm and the America in Chippewa Bay last weekend and the temp was 66 at depth, 70 on the surface. I haven't been down to Kingston since early June when we hit the Aloha, Munson, KPH, and Wolfe Islander. All nice dives. The thermocline was at 22 feet then, and the bottom temp was somewhere in the 50's [heat wave compared to March and April]. It is certainly great when you can see the entire wreck from one point. I did the O'Connell in April and could see the whole thing at 150 without a light, but it was 35 F. Dove it in May and needed a light just to see past 100, but it had warmed up to the low 40's by then. The vis is a function of several things....temp, algae blooms, current, and ofcourse those little critters (Zebra mussels). In April the vis was around 130 -150 in Alex Bay with little current, while out by Rock Island (still in Alex Bay) the vis dropped down to 80 - 100 and the current was significant. As the temp increased, the vis decreased, but the Zebra mussels keep it better than what it has been in years past (so I am told, have only been up there since May of 95). The Zebra mussels are a pretty controversial topic depending on who you talk to. Divers think they are great from a vis point of view, and a pain in the ass as they encrust everything and slice the shit out out your suit and gloves. I use Kevlar palm gloves now and they hold up pretty well. As far as clearing up the water, the Zebra mussels do that just fine. In fact, that is one of the biggest complaints from fishermen and biologists. Since they are filter feeders, they compete with filter feeding fish. If you decimate the filter feeder population you will also decrease the predatious fish population, namely game fish (bass, pike, walleye, and muskies). I don't know how much of an effect they really have on the fish population, that would make a great Thesis. However, I do know how many fish I see on every dive and I can't believe you can actually go fishing and NOT catch anything. I actually pop open Zebra mussels and feed the fish on deco. Just something to pass the time. The Zebra mussels also have an on going war with industry by clogging intake pipes. That creates new jobs for divers and increases the cost of operation. So, are they good or evil? Both I suppose, I do know they do wonders for the vis. Mike
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