Superior divers take a chilly plunge
By ALEXANDER RISSE
DCN Correspondent
Snow is falling, but at Lake Superior Divers Supply and School getting wet is still a top priority. For over 50 years Duluthians have been learning to dive at the shop, which is located on Third Sreet in Lincoln Park. For nearly the same amount of time, Lake Superior Divers has taken yearly trips near Roatan, Honduras for world-class diving.
Don VanNispen, Joe Cheetham, and Paul Makynen all work at the shop. VanNispen founded Lake Superior Divers over 50 years ago. Cheetham and Makynen are both diving instructors.
“An uncle got me into diving—my Uncle Sam,� he says with a rough laugh, pulling up a chair in the center of the room. He goes on to explain that he learned to dive while serving in the Korean conflict. It’s apparent that VanNispen has fallen in love with diving in Honduras.
“Ever since I found [that spot], I don’t want to go anywhere else,� he says looking a little distant. The spot he is referring to is Anthony’s Key Resort. According to VanNispen, the resort was founded by a retired World War II U.S. naval officer.
“There were three huts to start out and additions are made every year,� says VanNispen. “[Now] it can fit 100 people at a time.�
The Honduras trip takes place every March, during the best diving weather for the region. Anywhere from 12 to 40 people will take the trip. Some are regulars, while others tag along once or twice.
“It’s a gregarious lot,� says Cheetham glancing at the others and smiling. “We fly out of Minneapolis and transfer planes in Houston and from there to Honduras."
Cheetham explains the Roatan area of Honduras as having the same high profile recognition within the diving community as Las Vegas does for most people.
“It’s known all over the world,� he says with a small nod.
“There are a wide variety of dive sites, even some shipwrecks,� adds Makynen. “It keeps you sharp.�
The two men reminisce about the stellar diving conditions off the coast of Honduras.
“Salt water tends to be clearer than lake water,� says Cheetham.
“Once I was on a dive and I looked up at the boat and thought, ‘Wow I’m not that far down,’� says Makynen, rocking forward slightly as he finished his sentence. “Then I checked my depth and I was already 80 feet down!�
The trip to Honduras contrasts greatly with the diving conditions experienced in Duluth. Even in the dead of winter, divers from the shop dip beneath the waves. In fact, Lake Superior Divers has developed the rather unique tradition of taking a dive in Lake Superior at the stroke of the New Year.
“You can wear a dry suit to keep you warmer,� says Makynen. “You can fill the suite with air,� he says, making pumping motion with his hands. “It insulates you.�
If a dry suit is not available, the best that can be done to warm up before the plunge is to pour some warm water onto your suite before you dive.
“On cold days it’s not really the water that will get you anyway,� says Makynen. “It’s when you get back into the air that you feel it,� he says with a smile and seeming to shiver.