Need a freediving buddy in Chicago

[dallas]

Hi all,

I just moved to downtown chicago and was hoping/wondering if it would be possible to do a little diving in lake michigan. I started freediving in southern ca a few years ago and am comfortable in the water but have a ways to go in terms of skill. I could definitely use a dive buddy and/or some recommended dive sites. Looking for shore dives especially ... although it sounds like most shore dives around here are pretty shallow.

thanks for your help.

 

[adrian2907]

Are you still looking for someone? Have you ever found anyone in this city interested in this beautiful sport??? Help me find some people around here, courses closer than hawaii or miami etc

 

[dallas]

Hi adrian. apologies for the delayed reply. Short answer is no. I received a message from a guy in ohio who dives in a quarry there that he really likes. I sold my car when I moved to chicago though and couldn't justify the time/expense to rent a car and drive over ... little strapped for time and money. I haven't met any freedivers from chicago area, although to be honest I could probably look harder...

As far as diving goes I did make it out to a quarry south of town here, Haigh quarry, in the fall. Fun to get in the water if you don't mind the mud and low vis, but they are closed for winter. You in Chicago? We should get together in the spring and do some dives.

 

[byronq]

My good friend, Piotr lives in Chicago; I believe his handle here is "Nostres".

Here's one of his latest pieces of work:

 

[byronq]

PS- and don't forget Freedive-a-Palooza in Wisconsion during the summer. Not sure of the 2012 dates yet, but here's a recap from 2011:
http://forums.deeperblue.com/wisconsin-freedivers-spearos/91185-freedive-palooza-2011-a.html

 

[slimsteve]

Hello and welcome to the area. I live in Davenport IA and do most of my diving and spearfishing in WI with the Wisconsin Spear Hunter Gang. Dive-a-palooza is the last weekend in July this year and they will be having an instructor come up again this year to provide a beginers freedive class. I am not sure if it is the same guy as last year and if it is it will be well worth taking the class. If I recall his stats he can take an individual who is comfortable in water but with little to no freedive experince and his average beginer student after this class can hit close to a 3 minute breath hold and 60 feet in depth. Also some of the more experinced free divers many of which have scuba instructor license are extremely hesitant to dive with people who have not taken a course for fear of liability issues connected to their licensure so I would reccomend you take the class.
slimsteve

 

[Whopperhead]

Dalls - welcome to the area. There are about a dozen freedivers in the Chicago area that I can think of. Piotr (Nostres) is a good dude to dive with, BigThree, Freedivingmike, Dan Cook (Vladas), Kalin, Jeremy isn't far from Chicago and there are a few more that I can't think of. We have a WISCONSON Forum you can use to post about diving or looking for divers. They can often be found scrolling that area.

 

[Hurlow]

Thought I would resurrect this thread since I was just hoping to head to Haigh quarry this weekend, but don't have anyone to dive with. If anyone plans to dive in Chicago or Haigh in the coming weekends and needs a partner let me know. I am just starting out, and have only dove a few times.

 

[Chicago]

I also looking for dive buddy in Chicago area, I could go up to 90 fit, and have all the gear