By Jamie Farris Writer/Editor, Dive News Network

If you drive to the northern most part of Michigan you get a sense of what it must have been like for the early settlers. The beauty of the mountains, the free flowing rivers and the expansive Lake Huron must have been overwhelming at best for the guy who just traveled thousands of miles looking for a place to call home. Today divers who see Lake Huron as well as the hundreds of miles of mine shafts and lakes in Northern Michigan for the first time still get that overwhelming feeling...followed shortly thereafter with the battle cry...WHERE DO I START? The answer? Alpena!

Alpena is the home of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and boasts only 11,304 year around residents according to the 2000 census. The population swells far beyond that in the summer with the influx of divers and other vacationers. Alpena serves as the commercial and cultural hub of Northern Michigan and is anchored right on Lake Huron.

The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is number 13 in the national marine sanctuary system which extends from American Samoa to Massachusetts. The Thunder Bay sanctuary was established to protect the water's shipwrecks and was the first Great Lakes sanctuary that focused solely on a large collection of underwater cultural resources. It covers 448 square miles of northwest Lake Huron, off the northeast coast of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. One of the draws to making this area special for divers is Lake Huron's cold, fresh waters. This combination has created an environment that is good at preserving the hundreds of shipwrecks that litter the lake. Divers can see many of the wrecks as they were when they sank. The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary along with the Thunder Bay Maritime Museum and a multitude of divers, continue to explore the waters of Alpena in order to bring history alive through the many shipwrecks.

Often called the "Sunrise Side" because it is located on the east shoreline of Michigan, commercial fishing and diving are huge are attractors to Alpena. Being located on Lake Huron's Thunder Bay doesn't hurt either considering that it is one of the country's largest national marine sanctuaries. Due to its status as a marine sanctuary, the waters around Alpena are guaranteed to be teeming with all sorts of untouched artifacts. Steve Kroll of Great Lakes Divers in Rodgers City just north of Alpena says that the Thunder Bay area is a diver's dream. Kroll ferries divers out to some of the more famous shipwrecks in the area and he loves his job. "I have the dive shop for equipment and repair and I am a PADI open water dive instructor but what I truly enjoy is diving," Kroll says. "I like taking people out and seeing their faces after having seen a shipwreck like The Florida." To add to his love of the area Kroll has been diving the Alpena area for over 30 years and he says there are still wrecks to be discovered. "The waters around Alpena are still full of mystery," Kroll says. The Florida was a wooden two deck steamer built in 1889. She went down after a collision with the Canadian steamer George Ruby. Four people lost their lives when the Florida went down. She is located just shy of False Presque Isle.

From the wooden schooners of the mid 1800's to the wooden and steel Steam Freighters of the late 1800's there are shipwrecks to be found at almost every level around Alpena. Long referred to as Shipwreck Alley there are shipwrecks scattered from 20 ft to 200 ft. or more. Most divers agree that many of the wrecks 130 ft or more were untouched by early salvage attempts and have been protected by law since the 1980's so they still hold their original structures from when they sank making for an incredible diver's playground of historical shadows.

Joe Sobczak who owns Thunder Bay Scuba in Alpena says that Thunder Bay is closest for his divers but they also dive the Alpena Underwater Preserve. "People come fo

r the shipwrecks and between Thunder Bay and the Alpena Underwater Preserve we keep them busy," Sobczak says. "Divers make a bead line for the wrecks after seeing some of the documentaries about them. We get a real cross section of divers here, experienced, inexperienced, technical, adventure divers...they all come." Sobczak says that one of the more interesting wrecks in the area is The Windiate which was used on the Deep Sea Detectives in an investigation. "The Windiate was a canal schooner," Sobczak says. "The yard arm is still there. The cargo holds are tight. Other than being underwater she looks like you could raise her up and sail her away." The Windiate was built in 1874 and went down in a storm. It lays 4.5 miles off False Presque Isle.

Kim Parker, owner of Aquatic Adventures of Michigan in Brighton dives Thunder Bay a lot. "It is great to have historic wrecks outside our backdoor," Parker says. "We get a lot of divers from all over the United States and I don't think I have ever seen a diver leave disappointed." Parker's favorite is The Grecian. The Grecian was built in 1891 and is a steam, bulk freighter. She lays some 2.5 miles off Thunder Bay Island and still has a lot of artifacts aboard. She sank in 1906 when, in rough weather, her tank tops gave way flooding her cargo holds. The Grecian rests at 108 ft.

So if you are craving the beauty of the mountains, the clean air of a lake breeze and the mystery of a sleeping past, Alpena, Michigan just may be the next spot for a map pin. There are 64 known wrecks in the Alpena area and who knows how many more are out there just waiting to be discovered. ■