Lake Michigan’s Stunningly Clear Water Allows Coast Guard Plane To Take Breathtaking Photos Of Sunken Shipwrecks – For A Brief Time Only

Lake Michigan is so clear; a U.S. coast guard, during a routine sortie, took breathtaking photos of what lay on the bottom of the lake. The waters are so clear, the bottom is completely visible. The plane managed to spot quite a few stunning photos of shipwrecks that had been lying there, some for over 100 years.

The clear water is a very brief, but commonly occurring phenomenon this time every year. Lake Michigan is currently full of crystal clear ice water that has trickled down. Moreover, the warmer climate is still to set in. Warmer temperatures, combined with agricultural runoff trigger the growth of algae that quickly obscure the view of the bottom of the lake.

Though the crystal clear blue water may look tempting, local authorities caution it is quite chilling. At just 3 degrees Celsius (38 Fahrenheit), the water is just slightly above the freezing point of water and anyone foolish enough to dive will undoubtedly be risking hypothermia. Nonetheless, those who wish to experience the beauty of the lake are more than welcome to charter a plane or a boat. The unhindered views of the Lake Michigan certainly won’t last long, advice locals.

As per detailed surveys, around 6,000 ships have sunk in North America’s Great Lakes, of which about 1,500 shipwrecks can be found at the bottom of Lake Michigan. One of the coast guard pilots, Charlie Wilson, said it’s “fairly common” to see a wreck from the sky, but “not in the numbers we saw on that flight”, reported NPR.

Snapping up multiple images, the Coast Guard has shared them on the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City Facebook page, calling the event “Shipwreck Sunday.”

Some of the shipwrecks they spotted have been photographed on numerous occasions earlier. James McBride, photographed below, sank in shallow water during a storm on October 19, 1857. Also in shallow water was the well-known wreck of the Rising Sun, which went down in 1917.

Though Lake Michigan has offered a clear view of multiple shipwrecks every year, authorities have struggled to identify many of them. They presume the one of the wrecks could be of Francisco Morazan, an ocean freighter that ran aground in 1960, and the Water L. Frost, a wooden steamer that was lost in 1903.

There is an interesting map showing locations of known ship wrecks around the Manitou Passage and amateur historians are urged to track down their history.

[Image Credit | US Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, Mirror]