Great Lakes Cities

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Of the 5 Great Lakes, how many of these have you:

1. Seen?
2. Touched? (dipping your hand or foot in)
3. Swam in?
4. Been on a boat in?
5. Visited an island in?
6. Encircled? (drove completely around, even if not in one trip)
7. Been on a boat that traveled so far from the coastline that you couldn't see it?
8. Scuba dived in? (with gear, not just swimming around with a snorkel or underwater holding your breath)

1. 4 (all but Superior)
2. 4 (all but Superior)
3. 2 (Erie and Ontario)
4. 2 (Huron and Ontario)
5. 2 (Ontario and Erie - assuming Long Point is an island as you do cross a bridge across a marsh to get to it)
6. 1 (Ontario)
7. 0
8. 0

Not the best score considering I've lived my whole life in the great lakes region haha. It would be 5 seen if you count from a plane I guess..

[Crawford]

Is there a lot of Great Lakes scuba diving? Never heard of this being a common thing. There's not much to see down there besides shipwrecks.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Is there a lot of Great Lakes scuba diving? Never heard of this being a common thing. There's not much to see down there besides shipwrecks.

Living along the shore of one of the lakes for 50 years now, I don't think I've known anyone who's ever scuba'd in the lakes, but there is a small niche interest in it for shipwreck enthusiasts.

It's kinda like great lakes surfers. Sure, there are a few of them, but it's not at all common.



There's a really old 19th century shipwreck in fairly shallow water about 200 yards off shore from my uncle's lake cabin up in Door County that I snorkled on. That was a legit cool experience.

It wasn't scuba, but maybe I get a bonus point for at least snorkeling a great lakes shipwreck?

[suburbanite]

Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula is a diving hotspot, at least so much as any place on a lake that stays frigid near round can be.

I did a dive there a number of years ago, and it's a much different experience than anywhere else I've gone. The shipwrecks are very pristine given the lack of ocean life like barnacles clinging to everything. Probably would've been an even more stark contrast back in the days before the zebra mussels turned Georgian Bay into a turquoise colour that can rival many tropical dive spots.

I would think the deep wrecks would basically require a dry suit though. I wore a thicker wetsuit than I ever have and it was still hard to get comfortable.

[hipster duck]

^Tobermory and Fathom Five National Marine Park is exactly what I was thinking of when I gave scuba diving as an option. I know there are diving locations in all of the other Great Lakes.

I'm not a diver but my sister is. I remember that for several weeks, she would drive out to the Etobicoke Olympium to use the 16ft pool to do her certification course. It's a niche hobby, but it's not super niche. I know a few other people through completely unrelated connections that also scuba dive for fun.

[ColDayMan]

1. Seen: 5
2. Touched: 5
3. Swam in: 0
4. Been on a boat in: 5
5. Visited an island in 5 (Apostle Islands, Mackinac Island, Washington [in WI], all of Ohio's main Erie Islands and Pelee Island, and Centre Island in Toronto. BONUS: Harsens Island in Lake St. Clair, so eat it!).
6. Encircled? (drove completely around, even if not in one trip): 2 (Erie and Ontario)
7. Been on a boat that traveled so far from the coastline that you couldn't see it?: 0
8. Scuba dived in?: 0

[Planeboy17]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Living along the shore of one of the lakes for 50 years now, I don't think I've known anyone who's ever scuba'd in the lakes, but there is a small niche interest in it for shipwreck enthusiasts.

It's kinda like great lakes surfers. Sure, there are a few of them, but it's not at all common.



There's a really old 19th century shipwreck in fairly shallow water about 200 yards off shore from my uncle's lake cabin up in Door County that I snorkled on. That was a legit cool experience.

It wasn't scuba, but maybe I get a bonus point for at least snorkeling a great lakes shipwreck?

You definitely get points from me for that Steely!
I saw something awhile ago, probably on WTTW, of a freshwater reef off Promontory Point that is supposedly a popular place to scuba

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

I would think the deep wrecks would basically require a dry suit though. I wore a thicker wetsuit than I ever have and it was still hard to get comfortable.

Does Georgian Bay not warm up in the summer?

When I snorkeled the small wreck off my uncle's beach up in Door County, I was just wearing regular old swim trunks.

But that was shallow water, maybe 25' deep, perhaps you went down a lot deeper with scuba gear?

[Tom In Chicago]

Of the 5 Great Lakes, how many of these have you:

1. Seen? All 5
2. Touched? (dipping your hand or foot in) 2 Michigan + Superior
3. Swam in? 2 Michigan + Superior
4. Been on a boat in? 1 Michigan
5. Visited an island in? 1 Michigan
6. Encircled? (drove completely around, even if not in one trip) None
7. Been on a boat that traveled so far from the coastline that you couldn't see it? 1 Michigan
8. Scuba dived in? (with gear, not just swimming around with a snorkel or underwater holding your breath) None

. . .

[pj3000]

Of the 5 Great Lakes, how many of these have you:

1. Seen? All 5
2. Touched? (dipping your hand or foot in) All 5
3. Swam in? All 5
4. Been on a boat in? 3 - Erie, Huron, Ontario
5. Visited an island in? 3 - Erie, Huron, Ontario
6. Encircled? (drove completely around, even if not in one trip) 2 - Erie, Ontario
7. Been on a boat that traveled so far from the coastline that you couldn't see it? 2 - Erie, Ontario
8. Scuba dived in? (with gear, not just swimming around with a snorkel or underwater holding your breath) 1 - Erie

[MolsonExport]

1. Seen? ALL FIVE
2. Touched? (dipping your hand or foot in) ALL FIVE
3. Swam in? 4 (MICHIGAN, HURON, ERIE, ONTARIO)
4. Been on a boat in? 3 (MICHIGAN, HURON, ONTARIO)
5. Visited an island in? 2 (ONTARIO, HURON)
6. Encircled? (drove completely around, even if not in one trip) ONE (ONTARIO)
7. Been on a boat that traveled so far from the coastline that you couldn't see it? 2 (HURON, ONTARIO)
8. Scuba dived in? (with gear, not just swimming around with a snorkel or underwater holding your breath) NONE

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Does Georgian Bay not warm up in the summer?

When I snorkeled the small wreck off my uncle's beach up in Door County, I was just wearing regular old swim trunks.

But that was shallow water, maybe 25' deep, perhaps you went down a lot deeper with scuba gear?

I'm not sure the exact data, but my impression has always been that Georgian Bay is the coldest water in Southwest Ontario. It's a completely different beast than Huron despite the proximity. My understanding is it gets deeper faster, whereas areas of Huron and Erie have shallows that extend much further out. I was up a few weeks ago and it was the warmest I can remember after this hot summer, but I would guess it was still below 67 degrees. By early September it will probably be unenjoyable.

I don't think I went past 45-50 feet during the dive, but it was still the coldest I've ever done.

[SIGSEGV]

1. Seen? All 5
2. Touched? At least 3, don't remember if I've touched Erie or Ontario.
3. Swam in? Michigan and Huron
4. Been on a boat in? Michigan and Superior
5. Visited an island? 0... unless you count things which are called islands but aren't really (Northerly Island, Presque Island).
6. Encircled? Lake Erie, incidentally.
7. Been on a boat far from shore? None
8. Scuba dived? None

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

I'm not sure the exact data, but my impression has always been that Georgian Bay is the coldest water in Southwest Ontario. It's a completely different beast than Huron despite the proximity. My understanding is it gets deeper faster, whereas areas of Huron and Erie have shallows that extend much further out. I was up a few weeks ago and it was the warmest I can remember after this hot summer, but I would guess it was still below 67 degrees. By early September it will probably be unenjoyable.

I don't think I went past 45-50 feet during the dive, but it was still the coldest I've ever done.

Yep. If you go to Tobermory, you can visit beaches on the Huron side that have balmy water (e.g., Singing Sands, at Dorcas Bay, upper 70s and even higher in the extreme shallows). Head over to Little Cove Beach on the Georgian Bay side (less than 7kms away, as the crow flies), and it is really bracing (low 60s).

Yep, I am mixing metric and Imperial.

[Steely Dan]

That's interesting.

Door County is Lake Michigan's equivalent to the Bruce Peninsula, but the water on the Green Bay side is usually more swimmably warm in the summer than the Lake Michigan side.

But Georgian bay is far larger and deeper (about 3.5x in both cases) than Green Bay, so that probably plays a significant role, I'm guessing.

Georgian Bay is so big and so deep that it could be its own Great Lake if historic convention had split it off from Lake Huron, similar to how Lake Michigan and Lake Huron were split from each other despite being a single giant lake, hydrologically speaking.

[MonkeyRonin]

Welp, Lake Ontario will now officially be referred to as "Lake America" for the Yanks.

[Steely Dan]

Gonna have to change the acronym from H.O.M.E.S. to S.H.A.M.E.

That sounds about right.

What a dork.

[mhays]

Add it to the list of stupid crap that will be changed back to normal in short order -- and things most people will ignore even before then. NEXT.

[Yuri]

We'll have more:

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday afternoon to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” his latest escalation as he engages in a tense trade war with Canada.

“‘Lake of America’ was something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “We have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean. So, maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/27/politics/trump-canada-lake-ontario-america

I'd suggest something very creative auch as America's East Ocean and America's West Ocean.

[JManc]

1. Seen? four (never seen Superior)
2. Touched? Ontario, Erie and Michigan
3. Swam in? none
4. Been on a boat in? none
5. Visited an island in? none
6. Encircled? none
7. Been on a boat that traveled so far from the coastline that you couldn't see it? none
8. Scuba dived in? none