GRAND TRAVERSE BAY -- For many areas, the morning of January 15th was the coldest so far of 2009, but that didn't stop 7&4's Chief Meteorologist Greg Macmaster from going into the water.  Greg and other volunteers from the Grand Traverse Bay Underwater Preserve planned an icy dive into the Bay for around 7:30 AM.  While most of the volunteers opted to stay ashore, Greg took the plunge in the 34 degree water when the air temperature was only 4 degrees above zero.

Macmaster says, "Since you're dry and prepared for the dive, it's like any other cold water dive or ice dive. As long as you're dry and you've got your suit and your equipment, you're good to go."  He said diving under the water was no different than any other cold water dive.  "The difference," he says, "was when we got out of the water. I was a human popsicle within 15 seconds.  My mask was frozen to my hood, which was also frozen.  Getting out of the equipment was really tough."

The reason to brave the cold was to test new SCUBA gear.  Macmaster says,"Any diver who wants to find the latest technology will use this equipment. Now, the scuba shops, since it was tested in this extreme environment can tell divers how the equipment was tested and how it fared in the cold conditions." Four different regulators and a pair of diving gloves were tested this morning.

Macmaster says the importance of testing the equipment today is about more than recreation.  "Any divers who are  recreational divers aren't going to dive at this temperature," explains Macmaster, "but emergency response teams and recovery divers don't have a choice. They have to go out and they want to make sure they have the best equipment possible. Testing it like this, you can find its weaknesses or when it malfunctions so we can improve on the diving skills when we go out and use it."