Now that Lake Michigan is nice and warm!

My daughter and I went for a dive in Grand Traverse Bay today. The visibility was awesome. I can honestly say it had to be 70 feet or more. I decided to wear my open cell 5mm bottoms with my thermic pile lined 3mm top - which has a hood that goes on separately over the high collar. With it and 5mm henderson super-stretch gloves I was very comfortable. Large, cloud-like schools of various types of fingerlings were in evidence - as were schools of small suckers, yellow perch, smallmouth bass and the occasional pod of carp. Even saw a lake whitefish - which is a little unusual for this area. It was a great chance to check out the prescription lenses in my Cressi Matrix. I found I really did not need to equalize the mask down to the 8-10 meter maximum depth around the breakwall where we dove. The peripheral vision is just fantastic - which I think allways helps me feel more relaxed.

Went back later in the day to enjoy the wonderful play of sunset lighting along the rocks and schools of fish. I made this a much longer dive and swam out to the end of the breakwall. Surface water temp is around 8 or 9C (48F) - with a significant drop in the thermalclines. The water out deep was a beautiful deep blue toward the bottom, with even more impressive visibility. More carp were in evidence late in the day - cruising by in three or four small schools, curious, but not enough to slow much - their amber color contrasted nicely with the deep blue and shifting play of refracted sunlight.

I was really pleased to be so comfortable in the lighter suit top. I really don't care for my 5mm open cell top - it makes me feel way to isolated from the environment. The separate hood and thinner neoprene on the 3mm 'summer' suit allows much greater freedom of movement and a better sense of the water. I suspect the temp in the thermalcline approached what I experienced earlier in the winter - but I had only very faint queasiness - I think a slight occasional chill around the back of the neck may have helped with this. Good houror so with only a faint chill.

Also tried my daughter's Cressi Garas. These are MUCH more difficult to swim with on the surface than my sporasubs - though I'm sure I could work it out given time.

Mine is Black - the matrix is generally more$$ than the bigeyes - but it is a better mask. I had a clear silicone one but the reflections are bad on those wide lenses - i would definitely go with black. Leisure pro has them online for around $45 us if you are in the states.

Nice pics! I have a camera en route and will post any good ones i get.

Even better today - visibility was a bit less - maybe 40-50 feet near the surface - but the wind was out of the north which kind of piles up all the surface water where we were diving - making it a bit warmer - (I saw two toddlers up to their knees for a couple of minutes on the beach - a sure omen of warmer weather). Thermalcline was still icy with that wonderful increase in clarity. Lots of lake trout fingerlings and tiny smallmouth in cloudlike shimmering schools. We brought along the kayak this time (ocean Kayak - 3 person sit on) and had a third person paddling around on it with our flag.

Managed to get the timing right with a big carp - swam right over for a visit about 12 inches from my faceplate 20 or so feet down - they've been extremely warey as a rule.

These Elios 3mm suits are amazing - once again no chill after an hour and a half or so. My daughter is getting her chops with the Cressis

I have to say the visibility yesterday - which was very calm - was just plain freaky. I mistook a 26 inch carp for a 10 inch I-dunno-what because I just wasn't used to seeing a fish that size that clearly that far away - it just kept getting bigger!