After years of talking about going out to the SS wisconsin I was finally able to get out there and see this historic shipwreck 5 miles off Simmon Island Harbor in Kenosha. I was nice to get some dive time with my friend Leo Quartullo once again and finally get a chance to go diving with Jack Schafer on his boat.

Jack brings some interesting Great Lakes diving experience as he has been diving the great lakes for over 30 years and brings a great perspective to Shipwreck diving and the way he dives.  I was grateful to get the invite to join these two dive monsters out to the shipwreck of the S.S. Wisconsin.

  In 1929, the SS Wisconsin sprung a leak and took 9 lives with her down to a depth of 130 of water. she is a passenger and cargo metal steamer that still has multiple cars including a model T inside.

 Today the wreckage is deteriorating and every year that goes by, the shipwreck appears to be falling apart more and more, rooms collapsing, the cars are rotting out, and the integrity of the shipwreck can start to become something a hazard.  there are a lot of places to penetrate and take a tour on a through trip but attention should yield to caution as it can be quite dangerous to penetrate this wreck.

We set out of Simmon Island harbor and get out to the Bouy of the SS Wisconsin to find another dive charter wrapping up their dives on the wreck so we got to pull in just in time as they were leaving. We secured ourselves to the mouring bouy and worked our way into our gear which was not as easy as we were on a 25ft bayliner and had to put everything together on the floor which made for some interesting setup. 

I just got my regulators serviced and drysuit neck seal repaired so I wanted to make sure I got in a good check out dive as well as navigate around the shipwreck to see where we could enter and exit from on our second dive.  Leo and I proceed to enter the water and descend down to around 90ft which put us right on the deck of the SS Wisconsin.

I decided to opt out of the second dive due to my neck seal being too tight which might have been too cautious but it was a bit tight and headache inducing after I got out of the water so I enjoyed being the first hand on deck and helping Jack and Leo prep for the second dive.

 I had a fantastic time on the water and it was great to hang out with friends and enjoy visiting our historic wrecks of the great lakes.