Right now, the waters of Lake Michigan are so crystal clear that you can see all of its secrets laid bare from the sky. So clear, in fact, that the US Coast Guard last week made a routine fly over the area, and was able to capture these incredible images of shipwrecks that have been laying beneath the water for, in some instances, more than 100 years.
The clear water is common at this time of year, during the short window of time after the winter ice melts, but before warmer temperatures and agricultural runoff trigger algal blooms, that cloud the lake from site once more.
Despite how inviting the perfect blue water looks, don't be deceived, it's still only around 3 degrees Celsius (38 Fahrenheit).
According to NPR, around 6,000 ships have sunk in North America's Great Lakes, with approximately 1,500 in Lake Michigan alone. One of the coast guard pilots, Charlie Wilson, told NPR that it's "fairly common" to see a wreck from the sky, but "not in the numbers we saw on that flight".
They've since shared their images on the US Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City Facebook page, calling the event "Shipwreck Sunday".
Some of the wrecks they spotted were well known, including the remains of the James McBride, photographed below, which sank in shallow water during a storm on 19 October 1857.
US Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City
US Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City
Also in shallow water was the well known wreck of the Rising Sun, photographed in the top image, which went down in 1917 - thankfully all 32 people on board at the time were rescued.
However, authorities have struggled to identify the others. Possibilities include The Francisco Morazan, an ocean freighter that ran aground in 1960, and the Water L. Frost, a wooden steamer that was lost in 1903.
In case you're interested in doing some of your own detective work, you can see a map showing locations of known ship wrecks around the Manitou Passage, one of the most common shipwreck spots in Lake Michigan, here. These wrecks were all photographed near Sleeping Bear Point northeast along the shoreline to Leland, the US Coast Guard reports.
