Scuba Diving in Michigan, United States

33 mapped sites

Best dive sites in Michigan, United States

Showing 13–24 of 33

Glenlyon

Michigan · 4.6–18.3 m

The Glenlyon was a 328-ft steel package/bulk freighter built in 1893 that ran aground on a shoal off Menagerie Island while seeking shelter in Isle Royale's Siskiwit Bay on November 1, 1924, carrying 143,000 bushels of wheat. The wreck is broken and scattered across the reef in 15-60 ft of water, with the bow on the bay side of the shoal and the stern on the lake side, but the pieces lie close to their original positions and large sections — including the engine room with triple-expansion engine, drive shaft, propeller, and boilers — remain intact. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is one of the ten major wrecks protected within Isle Royale National Park.

IntermediateBoat entry

Panther (Wrack)

Michigan · 27.4–33.5 m

The Panther was a 249-ft wooden bulk freighter (built 1890 by James Davidson, West Bay City) that sank on June 26, 1916 after being rammed in dense fog by the steamer James J. Hill about four miles southeast of Whitefish Point; the Hill kept her bow in the hole until the Panther's crew climbed aboard, and no lives were lost. Located in 1975, the wreck sits upright and largely intact in 90-110 ft, with two anchors at the bow, grain cargo, and tools visible in the stern. It lies within the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve, one of the last places in the Great Lakes where wrecks remain free of zebra-mussel encrustation.

AdvancedBoat entry

SS Pewabic Wreck

Michigan · 47–51 m

The sidewheel steamer Pewabic sank within minutes on August 9, 1865 after turning into the path of her sister ship Meteor off Thunder Bay, killing between 75 and 100 people — one of the Great Lakes' worst disasters. Salvagers recovered most of her copper cargo by 1917, wrecking the cabins but leaving the 200-ft hull upright and largely intact with its deck at 155 ft and the bottom at about 165 ft. Today she is a classic entry-level technical dive in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, sobering both for her history and for the divers lost on her over the years.

ExpertBoat entry

Regina Wreck (Sanilac Shores Underwater Preserve)

Michigan · 7.6–24.4 m

The Regina is a 250-ft steel package freighter lost with all hands in the Great Storm of November 1913 and not located until 1986. She lies upside down off Port Sanilac in the Sanilac Shores Underwater Preserve in about 80 ft of Lake Huron, with the hull bottom reached at roughly 25 ft. A 56-ft opening in the hull allows qualified wreck divers into the hold, and scattered cargo still litters the lake floor around her.

IntermediateBoat entry

Cedarville (Wrack)

Michigan · 10.7–32 m

The Cedarville was a 588-ft self-unloading limestone carrier that sank on May 7, 1965 after colliding in dense fog with the Norwegian freighter Topdalsfjord in the Straits of Mackinac, killing ten of her crew — one of the largest vessels ever lost on the Great Lakes. She lies broken nearly in two on her starboard side, rolled past vertical, in about 105 ft of water east of the Mackinac Bridge, with the shallowest parts of the hull reachable around 35-40 ft and the pilothouse and cabins near 75 ft. Now the marquee dive of the Straits of Mackinac Shipwreck Preserve, she is buoyed each season but demands respect for her size, orientation, current, and variable visibility.

AdvancedBoat entry

SS Cayuga Wreck

Michigan · 20.4–31.1 m

The Cayuga, one of five early steel sister-ship steamers, sank in 25 minutes on May 10, 1895 after the wooden steamer Joseph L. Hurd struck her starboard side in dense fog near Ile Aux Galets, west of the Straits of Mackinac. She lies in 67-102 ft with a slight port list: the bow is broken off and rotated while the relatively intact stern allows limited penetration, and pontoons from failed 1890s salvage attempts still litter the site. Because she sits on the shipping lane just outside the preserve boundary, careful boat handling and surface protocol are essential.

AdvancedBoat entry

Bermuda Wreck (Murray Bay, Alger Underwater Preserve)

Michigan · 3.7–9.1 m

The Bermuda is an intact wooden schooner that sank in 1870 and now rests upright in sheltered Murray Bay on the southeast side of Grand Island near Munising, within Michigan's Alger Underwater Preserve. Her deck sits about 12 ft below the surface with the bottom around 30 ft, making her one of the best shallow intact schooner dives on the Great Lakes. The protected bay location means the site is often diveable when Lake Superior weather cancels offshore trips, and it is popular with both new divers and snorkelers.

Boat entry

A. R. Colborn and Crane (Wrack)

Michigan · 10.7–13.7 m

The A.R. Colborn was a wooden steam barge built in 1882 and abandoned at Port Huron on April 28, 1922; her remains lie alongside a sunken crane in 35-45 ft of water in the swift St. Clair River just south of the Blue Water Bridge. The pair make a popular high-speed drift dive for experienced local divers, flown over by the strong current that keeps the river exceptionally clear. The site sits among a cluster of river wrecks (M.E. Tremble, Ben Hur, lightship LV-55/James Beard) dived from the Port Huron seawall.

AdvancedShore entry

Montana Wreck (Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary)

Michigan · 11–20.1 m

The Montana was a 236-ft wooden steam package freighter that burned to the waterline and sank in Thunder Bay, Lake Huron in 1914. She rests in about 63-66 ft of water within Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary near Alpena, with an intact power train: a massive boiler, a three-story steam engine rising roughly 30 ft off the bottom, drive shaft and propeller. NOAA maintains seasonal bow and stern mooring buoys, and the wreck attracts game fish, making it a favorite for photographers.

IntermediateBoat entry

Higgins Lake (Northwest Shore / State Park Area)

Michigan · 0–16.8 m

Higgins Lake in Roscommon County is regularly cited as one of Michigan's clearest inland lakes and a popular freshwater shore dive, with the most-dived area off the northwest shore near the boat launch by North Higgins Lake State Park. Divers cross a long shallow sand flat to a drop-off and find several small sunken boats in roughly 40-55 ft of water, with abundant panfish and usually very good visibility. It is a long surface walk/swim, and the nearest air fills are about an hour away, so divers bring filled tanks.

Shore entry

F. T. Barney Wreck

Michigan · 43–49 m

The F. T. Barney is a 126-ft two-masted wooden schooner built in 1856 that sank in under two minutes after a midnight collision with the schooner T.J. Bronson on October 23, 1868, settling gently in 160 ft of Lake Huron off Rogers City. Rediscovered in 1987, she is one of the Great Lakes' most intact schooners, with an erect mainmast, intact stern cabin, and a cargo hold still full of coal — the first Lake Huron shipwreck listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The depth makes her a prized technical dive.

ExpertBoat entry

Gull Lake - Ross Township Park Scuba Park

Michigan · 0–33.5 m

Ross Township Park on the east shore of Gull Lake near Hickory Corners is southwest Michigan's most developed inland shore-diving site, with an extensive sunken attraction park placed for divers. Submerged features include training platforms, a car frame, ~40 ft of railroad track, several boats including a large wooden sailboat and an ice boat, a motorcycle, a phone booth, an ice shanty and an underwater climbing wall, mostly in 10-60 ft. The spring-fed lake reaches over 100 ft deep with visibility commonly 20-30 ft, and the park is heavily used for open-water training.

AdvancedShore entry