The windy city, land of the skyscraper and home of Chicago style pizza, playground of the famous Bears, Cubs and diving mecca...wait...diving mecca? Really? Well...yes, it is. While being famous for all of those other things, divers know this is also the place to come if you want to have some great all-around diving experiences. By all around we mean lake, quarry, wreck...you name it, Chicago has a place to dive it.

No matter where you choose to dive in the Chicago area, each of the top dive sites has different advantages. Most of us are divers of habit revisiting the same sites over and over again but in the upper part of the state of Illinois you can get adventurous and actually dive some different venues without having to worry about a lot of travel.

So where do you start? On our diving tour of the Chicago area we are merely making suggestions because there are so many places to dive. No matter where you decide to dive, however, we would be remiss if we didn't start with Lake Michigan.

Lake Michigan is a diver's playground. Fraught with historical wrecks, this area draws people from all over the world, not just the United States. Diving from the shores of Lake Michigan is like a treasure hunt without the need of a map. This part of Lake Michigan is renowned for its shipwrecks. History is buried here in the old shipping lanes that claimed the ships and lives of many a seaman. Old competitive shipping merchants vied for who could deliver faster and in worse weather only to discover that the Great Lake had a mind of its own. Famous for its storms and white squalls, Lake Michigan has a nautical disaster history that has created the ultimate in wreck diving experiences. With vis that can top 60 feet, the wrecks around Chicago can be experienced by the newest of divers.

Just off Oak Street Beach right in downtown Chicago, divers can hit the waters for many shipwrecks. You can reach the Sebastopol, a steamer that sank in about 15 feet of water. It went down in a bad storm in 1956, just a year after it was built. This interesting wreck offers a look back into history via some still waiting-to-be-found artifacts. The ship was carrying over 600 tons of cargo when it went down and all of that is now spread over the bottom. This is a one tank dive and is great for divers of all levels.

Another fascinating wreck is The Tacoma, a wooden hulled tug. The Tacoma had been a hard working vessel with 35 years of duty in her wake before she went down in 1929. She is approximately 60 percent intact but has a lot of damage to her starboard and bow. The Tacoma draws divers because she is an easy dive.

The David Dows was a cargo five-masted schooner that sank in 1892. Historians refer to it as the "grandest cargo schooner to have ever sailed the Great Lakes". The schooner is one of the most popular attractions for divers in the area. The David Dows was 365 feet long, had a 37 foot beam, 18 foot draft and over 1,400 net tons. Today divers can be taken back to 1889 when the David Dows sank. Seven miles from the Chicago Lake front the Dows was rediscovered in the late 50's to land on every diver's bucket list.

Shipwrecks are not the only claim to fame for divers in the Chicago area. Quarries are a huge draw in this part of the country as well. Haigh Quarry in Kankakee, Illinois a former limestone mining site is a 12-acre quarry approximately 60 miles south of Chicago. This diver favorite sports seven training platforms at 25 feet and an eighth one at 65 feet. It offers divers a chance to explore a large stone crusher, a 33-foot cabin cruiser, which is penetrable, as well as a Marine dump truck. The depths hit 90 feet and vis ranges from 35 feet in the spring and late fall to 15 feet in the summer.

Talking about Chicago diving wouldn't be complete unless we mentioned the Buccaneer. Chicago-area divers were treated to a new dive adventure in 2010 after a lot of heavy planning and work. Two years and $20,000 later Capt. Jim Gentile, a scuba diving instructor, who also owns Windy City Diving, led the operation in June to sink the 98-foot Buccaneer. The effort was paid for by donations from local divers and dive shops. The Buccaneer now sits upright in 70 feet of water about 10 miles off Burnham Harbor creating a new artificial reef.

The Buccaneer had served as a World War II vessel as well as a converted cruise ship before finding its way to the bottom of Lake Michigan. The newly sunk vessel is already becoming a big draw for divers.

In other lake diving, the Chicago area offers up for your approval Pearl Lake in South Beloit, Illinois. An average depth of 85 ft. offers divers a chance to explore diving in-land style. Vis on Pearl Lake averages between 10-40 feet depending on the season. There is a lot to see in the lake. From the east beach divers can get to an old step van, several boats and a 33 ft. yellow submarine. The north shore offers a school bus, a 30 ft. cabin cruiser, a statue of the Lady of the Lake and old railroad tracks that can be followed for quite a distance. The west shore is home to a statute of a rather large alligator, a Beechcraft twin-engine airplane and more boats. Twelve training platforms allow local dive shops to conduct certifications and the surrounding community has a lot of amenities.

So are you convinced yet? Do you see why the Chicago area holds so much to offer the modern day diver? Whether it is history you seek, the warm waters of a controlled quarry dive or the wreck diving offered in a natural lake, the Chicago area has something for everyone. It doesn't matter if you are a new diver or a veteran, there are shipwrecks and submerged airplanes calling your name so...grab your tank and fins...Chicago diving is just waiting to show you a little diversity. ■

Special thanks to our sponsor: Windy City Diving