Isle Royal National Park 2016

This trip gets better and better each year.  For 2016 we had a great group of people, awesome weather and a great time.  The visibility was not as good as in the years past (20ft - 40ft) the water was comparably warmer.  Where we had less than stellar vis we had warmer water which was a great trade off. Every night we were in a port with a shower (it doesn't always happen that way) and the meals were awesome.

We did a bunch of dives on some great sites.  We did four dives on the Emperor including three on the totally intact stern portion strewn with artifacts. Also on the list we dived the Chisholm Engine, America, Monarch, Cox  and the Congdon Bow.  If you are a shipwreck fan this is the trip for you. If you are traveling from far away and want to experience the Great Lakes at its finest, this is a sure way to get in some epic diving.

We have made this excursion every year since 2011 and it never fails to be amazing.  The Isle Royale National Park is one of the least visited of all the national parks and in our opinion one of the most spectacular as far as rustic wilderness. We travel there every year during the last full week in July.  We hope that you would join us on one of the trips but do not wait too long,  this trip tends to sell out well in advance and we have never had a cancellation so we do not make a waiting list.

Check out our Facebook Page for more pictures of this epic adventure.  Hope to see  you diving with us very soon.

Back from Munising Michigan

Last weekend we took at trip to Munising Michigan.  This has been an annual trip for Divers Incorporated for the past 10 years and each year is as amazing as the previous ones.  For our tenth anniversary we took a special trip to the Kiowa.  This cool ship is about an hour and 45 minutes out of Munising into Lake Superior.   We were planning on doing the Kiowa on Saturday but the weather took a rough turn and we had to switch days.

Saturday's dives became the Smith Moore (75') and the Bermuda (25') and they were fantastic.  The visibility on the Smith Moore was one of the best days I have seen and the water was in the mid 50's which is usually unheard of.

On Sunday Lake Superior was nearly glass as we traveled out for our first dive on the Selvick (60ft) and then out past the Pictured Rocks National Lake shore to see the Kiowa (30')  The Kiowa was an amazing wreck.

Along with the great group of people diving with us,  the dives on the shallower wrecks were accompanied by Natalie and Olivia doing their first Real Dives in Lake Superior outside of the protection of Munising Harbor.

We do this trip with Divers Incorporated each year on the second weekend in July.  We hope you can join us on it sometime soon!

Becoming a PADI Course Director The beginning

If you are following Divers Incorporated or my page you know already that I have been working for the past few months frantically trying to get prepared for the PADI Course Director Training Program (#CDTC, #PADICDTC) that is happening starting tomorrow in Punta Cana, Dominican republic.  Today I embarked on my journey, got here with all my stuff (at least all the stuff I packed I am still not sure if I forgot anything) met some people and talked with one of the top guys for PADI America and one of the top ladies for PADI Asia.

So here is what I know.  Basically I have heard everything from "this is going to be a complete 10 day instructor exam"  to "This is going to be a training course from hell" I think PADI course directors like to play games with us neophytes but I could be wrong. Until it starts tomorrow all they told me is true but from what I gathered from people who are truly "in-the-know" is that this is going to be an intense next few days where they take you from wherever you are now and make you better.  They have a vested interest in you (me) becoming the best course director (instructor trainer for non PADI People) that PADI has ever seen. So we are going to spend the next couple of weeks working towards that goal.   I will know more after tomorrow but in case it really is that intense and I am unable to keep up with this blog like I want to the other basic understanding is that they are going to break the group up into smaller groups and that smaller group will consist of 7 - 8 Course Director Candidates who's soul purpose in life over the next few days  is to make the other 6 or 7 people in their groups outstanding course directors.  Piece of cake right?


In any case I am here, whole.  I have my stuff.  I am more relaxed than I was this morning.  On my personal blog at richsynowiec.com (yep I know its pretentious but if you read it you would understand) I am going to talk more about the preparation for this but for this page lets just say I have been training hard to get here.  Diet, habits, practice, paper writing, studying...   all have been my goal over the past two months.   I am ready for whatever they throw at us.

On another note this resort where we are at is beautiful.   The PUNTA CANA Westin Resort. It is a little too much in the way of a "timeshare" for me to be comfortable with it as a dive resort, but it has palm trees, warm water, sand and a bar.   All the necessities for what I will have to assume is the most challenging of the PADI courses.  I just do not want to mess this up so I prepped hard for it.  I am in great shape and a new path is opened before me.

Today was a long day of travelling and tomorrow starts early.  I am excited.

Where did some of the past posts go?

Rich Synowiec now has his own blogspot (richsynowiec.blogspot.com) separating his personal musings from the dive centered ones.  Both are entertaining to people who follow him but it seems that he sometimes has a lot more to write about than just scuba diving.   This blog is about diving where Rich's other blog is primarily for his own benefit (as he puts it) since, from time to time, he wishes to have a conversation with my future self and allows you to eavesdrop.   The missing posts were moved to his new blog since it is more about family and personal stuff.  Rich is still going to author most of the blogs on this page as well as the blogs on the other pages but the separation was something that just recently suggested.   The reason for the separation, in case you are curious, is that Rich recently attended the PADI Business Academy and there there was the suggested benefit of incorporating a blog into the company web pages. Both blogs will soon appear attached to the company pages (make sure you subscribe) and will link up there.

Thanks for reading, its great to have you along for out diving and thank you for the support.