Mike took his
first formal
scuba training in 1981 and then trained as a commercial diver in 1984.
He subsequently trained as a paramedic in diving medicine in Los
Angeles,
California and ran a hyperbaric facility in Ontario for a year.
He has been taking pictures underwater for 15 years and has traveled to many exotic destinations including Honduras, Belize, St. Lucia, Bonaire, The Bahamas and Hawaii.
He has spent the last seven years diving, photographing and researching shipwrecks and other sites throughout the Great Lakes with emphasis in the area at the eastern end of Lake Ontario and into the St. Lawrence River.
Mike has been a speaker at numerous trade shows in Canada and the
United
States and has won several awards for his Great Lakes shipwreck
photography.
Mike will be making two presentations for this, his second year as a
Shipwrecks
presenter.
Historically,
Tobermory has been the diving destination of choice for divers in
Ontario,
Quebec and bordering U.S. states. The clarity of the waters of
Georgian
Bay, the natural beauty of the area and the world class diving
facilities
in Tobermory have attracted visiting SCUBA divers from many parts of
the
world.
The Niagara II was located in Port Maitland on Lake Erie in early
1998
by the Tobermory Maritime Association, as she awaited the scrap yard.
After
much hard work the vessel was purchased and transported to Tobermory
later
the same year.
The winter months were spent cleaning and preparing her for her sinking
which took place in May of 1999.
Come visit one of the Great Lakes newest and most exciting wrecks,
the
182 foot Niagara II, before, during and after her sinking.
Very few modern day freighters have met their end on the Great Lakes or in its tributaries. On the rare occasions that they have, it has usually involved a horrific storm and tremendous loss of life. We all know of the Edmund Fitzgerald and the Daniel J. Morrel, because their stories have caught the imaginations of writers and historians for decades. But what about other Great Lakes freighters that have come to less dramatic ends?
The Roy A. Jodrey is a wreck that made news headlines but left
peoples’
minds almost as suddenly as she slipped beneath the tranquil waters of
the St. Lawrence River.On November 20th, 1975 while heading upriver the
Jodrey tore a hole in her keel so large that she rolled on her side and
sank only 4 hours later. No lives were lost and she soon drifted into
obscurity
and was forgotten. Who would ever think that some 20 years later a
mollusk
would invade these waters and change water clarity so much that her
remains
would once again be alive with activity. Come visit this 640 foot ore
freighter
and learn some of her previously unexplored history.
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