I got a distress call the other day. A citizen fan of my Lake Superior Aquaman page wrote me saying, “While swimming in the Lester River (at the spot where it’s like a little swimming hole, right before the first bridge that leads to the park) my husband dived off one of the rocks and lost his glasses. Another younger boy lost his goggles… what are the chances that they fell into the bottom of the hole made by the waterfall? We tried to go down but I couldn’t see or hold my breath that long lol.” So I offered to help, for am I not … Lake Superior Aquaman?

I failed to find the glasses but if your child has lost goggles in Lester lately, I think I found them. What I can report is that this swimming hole is deeper than I thought. This is my first time in right there and I wasn’t even wearing my flippers because I assumed this would be easier! The camera work is shakier than usual because I was mainly focused on looking for these glasses, but also it became clear that I had fearfully entered another world. The water is deep red with tannins like a strong tea, which made me feel like I was diving on Mars. It was so dark that I often couldn’t see what I was descending toward until I bumped into it, an eerie feeling of swimming down into dark water. Even the little fish I saw furtively at 1:22 managed to startle me, swimming out of the gloom…

The main feature I want to point out is the surprising depth, 12+ feet if it’s an inch. I would dive to what I thought was the bottom, only to realize I was only on a shelf on the way to the real bottom. In addition, the place is crawling with crayfish. One is briefly visible in the lower right hand corner at 1:03, he was close to another one and there were shell fragments and claws lying around everywhere. All in all, an edifying dive, I’m going back for better footage and to see if those glasses turn up.