Cold comfort - Snow and ice won't keep these divers away

For some scuba-diving enthusiasts, a little snow and ice and some freezing temperatures aren’t enough to keep them out of the water.


At noon on New Year’s Day, a group of about 10 of them gathered on the roadside near Holland State Park to decide if there was too much snow and ice to go for a dive.


“What have we got?” one asked. “Chunks,” another said, as the group looked down at ice floes and slush floating in the channel. That’ll make it more exciting to get into,” a third person said.


The scuba divers were the only group to continue with the daring New Year’s Day activities on Thursday, Jan. 1. A group of water-skiers that usually ski on Ottawa County’s Pigeon Lake on New Year’s day called it quits after the lake froze over, and a group of die-hard surfers also decided not to try Lake Michigan due to ice.


And with the water temperature at 32 degrees, and visibility at about 4 inches, what’s the point in diving? “Because we can,” said Matt Cummins, a Holland resident...[HollandSentintel.com]