Skarz,
IF your going to be visiting your cousin at UWM, one of my alma mater’s by the way, you should stop over to Deep Blue, which is a dive shop just down the street. They have a full line of OMER Freediving gear and I teach for them when I get the chance. They also just started an underwater hockey club that plays there every Tuesday night.
If you get a wetsuit you’ll be in great shape. Just up the street from the campus, by only a couple of blocks, there is Atwater beach. Just off the beach are two shipwrecks that you can freedive on. The smaller one, called the Josephine, is 99’ long and sits in only 5-10’ of water. She dates back to the late 1800’s. A little further out is the Appomattox. She is huge, over 300’, rests in 18-23’ of water is an easy 60’-70’ wide and usually has some fish around her. The last dozen times I have dove her, we use her sometimes for openwater checkout dives, and you could easily see her form the surface. Lake Michigan has gotten incredibly clear in the last decade- thanks to the invasive Zebra Mussel. What used to be 10’ of vis is now and easy 50’ and I have measured over 80’ of vis while diving some of the deeper wrecks in wintertime.
If you head to the south side of the city there are a lot of other wrecks right off shore that you could easily freedive. Some of them date back to the 1850’s and have some interesting history to them. In August we get water temps in the high 60’s to low 70’s in the Southern part of lake Michigan. You really need to watch the winds because it can blow that warm surface water back and forth across the lake. When it comes in form the east for a long time it starts to build up on our side of the lake, causing an upwelling of sorts on the Michigan side. Last year this resulted in 68-degree water down to 110’!
You said you had cottages near Waupaca- which lakes? We spearfish in some of the lakes near Waushura county- by Red granite Quarry. Many of these warm up nicely in the summer and early fall. There are also lots of nice fish and you should be able to reach the depths without to much trouble. A summer of practice and you’ll be all set.
Don’t worry about the age thing. I start Scuba diving when I was 14, and even went to instructor school when I was 17- although I turned 18 before the end of the course. There are plenty of younger divers out there. As a matter of fact, you might have seen the FOX kids show that recently featured a couple of teenagers going wreck diving in Lake Michigan- it aired last month. They filmed it on my father-in-laws boat and I was the crewmember. The instructor was a very good friend of mine and the kids were both under 15.
As far as not having any money, I don’t remember having much when I started out. I had to save up along time to get my first set of scuba gear. Since your Freediving you really don’t need to spend that much. A good mask fins and snorkel, plus a wetsuit and rubber belt, are all you really need. The stuff doesn’t wear out very easily and there are no tanks fills to buy, regulators to overhaul, or tank visual and hydrostatic inspections to pay for. All the way around it’s a MUCH cheaper sport! A good wetsuit will increase you enjoyment and time you can spend in the water. Once you have that it’s just time to have fun.
Jon