Most people don’t think of Lake Michigan as an ideal scuba diving spot, said Duane Johnson, a scuba instructor in the area.

“The first question that people always ask is, ‘What’s there to see?'” he said.The answer is shipwrecks. Boatloads of them.

Johnson offers scuba diving courses through Precision Diving, a Great Lakes dive training company. On his Web site, Johnson lists about 30 shipwrecks in Lake Michigan, some dating back to the 1800s and located as deep as 380 feet.

“Lake Michigan has no other attraction other than the shipwrecks,” Johnson said. “For me, when I dive on shipwrecks, it’s like a connection to history.”

Myron Siciak, owner of Elmer’s Watersports in Evanston, 1310 Oakton St., said the Great Lakes have a collection of shipwrecks unrivaled by anywhere else.

“The wrecks here are so much more well-preserved (than wrecks in warm-water Polynesia) because of lack of growth … and because it’s on the bottom (of the lake),” he said.

Jonathan Rosen, originally from Seattle and a Kellogg student, said he has been diving since his senior year of high school. He said he did not have a great Lake Michigan dive experience.

“There’s not a lot to see,” he said. “You have to wear a thicker wet suit and it’s obviously not as nice as being somewhere tropical.”

Every 10 to 15 feet down Lake Michigan, there is about a 10 degree drop in temperature, Siciak said.

“By the time you’re at 100 feet in Lake Michigan, it’s about 40 to 42 degrees,” he said.

These temperatures require special equipment and preparation, Siciak said. Multiple tanks and regulators are required, since colder temperatures make equipment more prone to failure.

Siciak said he charters boats from the end of April to the beginning of November.

The lake’s clarity has improved recently thanks to better environmental policy and an invasive species, he said.

“Before, the visibility in the lake was pretty horrible,” Siciak said. “If you could see your feet when diving, it was a pretty good day of diving.”

Now, because of zebra mussels and the Clean Water Act, Lake Michigan has up to 100-foot visibility, he said.

“Zebra mussels are pretty voracious particulate eaters,” Siciak said.

He said particulates are the main limitations to visibility.

“One zebra mussel can filter a liter of water a day, ” Johnson said.

Still not all divers said they have had great luck with visibility. Francisco Sanchez, Kellogg ’09, said he dove in Lake Michigan two years ago.

“It was horrible,” he said. “That day the visibility was zero. I couldn’t even see my fingers.”

Sanchez founded a scuba diving club in Kellogg his first year with other classmates. He said it is hard to keep the dive club active because most students leave for the summer, the most desirable time to dive. The club started with 200 members and dropped to 60 members by the next year, he said. Sanchez cited last year’s economic crisis as a reason why club membership may have dropped.

“The prospects for the club are uncertain, but I think it will survive,” Sanchez said.Rosen said he hopes to revive the Kellogg dive club.

Even with technological advances in scuba and snorkel gear, Lake Michigan still poses dangers, divers said.

“It is definitely a challenging bit of water to dive in just because it’s not warm and fuzzy like diving in Cozumel,” Siciak said. “If you’re prepared for it, it’s not a problem.”[email protected]