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Owatonna Diving Club

Dive Club (English)

Service:
  • Air
  • NITROX
  • PADI
  • Rebreather Course
  • Rebreather Rental
  • School Course Learn to Dive
  • Vacation Holiday Scuba Diving
  • Wreck Diving
Company description Founded in 1963, the Owatonna Dive Club is the oldest & largest dive club in Minnesota. Shipwreck dives on Lake Superior with upcoming trips to Isle Royal & Bayfield as well as fall lake diving trips are enjoyed by club members. Scuba classes are offered and air fills available.
The Owatonna Dive Club has offered classes for new divers for over 30 years! These classes have been conducted by club member instructors from several organizations over the years. Open water (O/W) classes have been offered through the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), YMCA, National Association of SCUBA Diving Schools (NASDS), and currently from PADI. All of these organizations have very strict minimum standards that most all of the diving organizations must follow. Any student successfully completing all course requirements from any of these courses will be well trained, skilled, and safe beginning open water divers!

The Owatonna Dive Club classes are held in ten (10) week sessions, one session per week. Students and instructor meet every Wednesday, at the dive club, for a classroom session before going to the pool. The class session is where the students obtain the knowledge of SCUBA diving that is necessary to dive safely and confidently anywhere in the world!

After the classroom session, the class makes the five minute drive from the dive club on Front Street to the Owatonna Junior High School pool, on St. Paul Street. In the pool the students are shown and then practice the skills necessary to achieve a high level of confidence in the water with SCUBA equipment as well as snorkeling equipment. Students are expected to have swimming and watermanship skills, but are not expected to be life guards, Navy Seals, or Rambos with fins!

Classes are conducted in the fall and winter months from the first week in November through the last week in April. The first session, the ``fall`` session, typically begins the second Wednesday in November. The first Wednesday in November is dedicated to a ``Discover SCUBA`` night. On the Discover SCUBA nights, ANYONE can come down to the Junior High and learn a little about the sport of SCUBA and actually get into the pool and try it! Pre-registration and a spirit of adventure is the only major requirement.

Classes are conducted starting the second Wednesday in November and continue for ten (10) consecutive weeks. There is, of course, a break for Christmas Week, and of course for any ``snow`` or ``bad`` weather days. The fall session typically will end the last week or so in January. The very next week is another ``Discover SCUBA`` night to kick off the ``spring`` session which will start the week following for the next ten (10) consecutive weeks. The ``snow`` and ``bad`` weather day rule applies to this session also. This session is slated to be completed by the last Wednesday in April.

For students to earn their ``c-card``, or certification card, they must complete five open water dives with the instructor staff. The club has an ``open water check-out`` week end at Clear Lake, MN every year the week end before Memorial Day week end. Student may either camp out at the Golden Acres Campground or rent a motel room in nearby Stillwater, MN. The open water week end dives will include three dives on the Saturday (one snorkel and two SCUBA) and two dives on Sunday (two SCUBA). Upon successful completion the new open water diver will receive a diploma and their well deserved and highly coveted ``C-Card``!

Advanced courses in SCUBA are conducted by the club based on desire of students to learn more about the sport of SCUBA and the desire to expand their horizons.
Location description: In the 70`s and 80`s stories about Lake Michigan diving were always accompanied by warnings about extremely low visibility. Don Matijeck recalls reports that said one thing, ``if you want to see the wreck, dive Superior.`` But, with recent reports of great shipwrecks abounding, Denny Javens and Corey Monahan have made two trips to see if there is any truth to the rumors.
The change in Lake Michigan diving has came about from an unlikely source that is more often villain then savior, the dreaded zebra mussel. While it is clear the mussels are accelerating shipwreck decay, these little creatures filter a quart of water a day! As a result, Lake Michigan`s water clarity has improved greatly. Added to the improved visibility, many new shipwrecks have been found in the last 10 years on Lake Michigan and when added to new artifact laws and changes to how diver`s view shipwrecks, many of these wrecks hold sights that would take years to see on Lake Superior.
Trip one, July 19-21, leaving out of Bailey`s Harbor showed the rumors were true with two dives to the Frank O`Connor on Saturday. The O`Connor is a large wooden ship with several deck winches, a large double boiler, steam engine, and propeller all still present. Schools of cisco blocked out the sun as they swam through the machinery. There are two buoys for dive boats to tie up to and the wreck lies near several boat launches. Overall the wreck was so good, we went right back down for a second dive to make sure we hadn`t missed a thing. After that we tried a little salmon fishing with great success. After packing up Saturday, we was decided to try diving the Sheboygan area Sunday. An all night drive and a little sleep in the truck and we were ready to do it again.
Launching at Sheboygan we headed out to a wreck just outside the harbor, the schooner Hetty Taylor. This wreck lies deeper in 100 feet, but is mostly intact with a large bow winch. Surfacing, we ran down to the Niagara to see it`s walking beam engine and what`s left of the two side paddle wheels. Once again we were not disappointed as the wreck contains the remains of the paddle wheels, the walking beam, and even the very large steam piston along with another large school of Cisco. With two great days of exploring Lake Michigan we returned to home.

Website: Preview http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~dljavens/dive_club.htm by Thumbshots.org http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~dljavens/dive_club.htm
Local diving well as trips to Lake Superior`s North Shore, Isle Royal, and Bayfield`s Apostle Islands. Dive classes, air fills and Caribbean trips, along with online newsletter, and club membership information.

Contact information:

Phone: (507) 271-2623
Street Address:
P.O. Box 232
Owatonna
Minnesota
United States
55060
Spoken language(s): English
Open: from 09-00 till 17-00
Local time:  GMT - 6 Mexico, Monterrey, Guadalajara
Note: No guarantee is made to the accuracy of these details.

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