The Great Lakes account for one-fifth of the world's fresh water, and their square-mileage is larger than the state of Texas. There are legendary shipwrecks in the lakes, and dozens of ecosystems to explore.

So it only makes sense that submarines make their way into the Lakes from time to time. But typically, those are scientific vessels. These... are personal submersibles, and they're not QUITE in one of the Great Lakes, but they are slipping below the surface in the state of Michigan.

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Cookies Enabled! recently came across members of the Personal Submersible Organization on Lake Charlevoix in northern Michigan, as they were preparing to launch a half-dozen of their personal submersible water craft.

Members of the club also took part in a special show-and-tell at Boyne City Elementary School as a show-and-tell to some of the students.

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The Founder of the Personal Subs organization, John Wallace, said scuba divers can typically go down 130 feet for about 10 minutes. This group was intended for people who want to go deeper, for longer. One of the smaller subs in his group, he said, could dive to 350 feet, and two of the other subs could actually go as far as a thousand feet down, all of which could stay down for up to three days if needed.

Wallace then gave a quick tour of one of the submersibles, describing the air scrubber system, and some of the tools they use inside the crafts to stay comfortable while they're under a lot of pressure.

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