Before I begin, as I mentioned in the last issue, the Revue app that hosts these newsletters is shutting down on January 18th, so you have a couple of days to enjoy this issue on that platform before it disappears in a puff of smoke along with all its predecessors. I will then send it out again using MailChimp as a test of the new system. If you don't see the MailChimp version before the end of this week, please check your spam folder and, if it is not there, and if you have a moment, please let me know by FB Messenger or a brief-as-you-like email to divebooks@simonpridmore.com.Bikini BoundIn previous issues, I have occasionally dropped in an ancient low-res image of divers on the shipwrecks of Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. These are the remains of warships that were deliberately sunk in Operation Crossroads, a pair of weapons tests carried out in 1946 to see what would happen if you detonated nuclear bombs close to large vessels. The first test was airborne; the second was underwater. The experiments showed conclusively that some ships would sink and some ships would not. It depended how far away they were from the blasts. The experiments also showed that if you were observing the experiments and were showered with radioactive sea water it could make you very sick very quickly.Two of the ships with historical significance that were sent to the bottom of the sea by these explosions were the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga and the Nagato, Admiral Yamamoto's flagship during the attack on Pearl Harbour and the only Japanese battleship to survive the Second World War.We used to run annual trips out of Guam for groups of technical divers who wanted to visit the wrecks. There was a small resort and dive center on one of the islands surrounding the lagoon, that was occupied during the diving season. Otherwise Bikini was completely uninhabited. We would fly from Guam to Majuro on the Air Micronesia Island Hopper, stopping at Truk, Pohnpei, Kosrae and Kawajalein on the way, then the following day take a small Air Marshall Islands plane to Bikini, bouncing in Kwajalein (again) en route. We would do six days of diving - two dives a day - and then retrace our steps all the way across the Western Pacific back to Guam again. The dives were on air in manifolded double cylinders to a maximum depth of 50m (165ft ) or so with 30 minutes of bottom time and decompression on a trapeze under the dive boat connected to the shot line. A dozen regulators delivering nitrox 80 snaked down from the boat and were clipped off to the bottom rung of the trapeze at 9m (30ft) for divers to pick up and breathe from when they got there. The diving operation was the brainchild of Jack Niedenthal and Fabio Amaral and it ran from 1996, when Bikini was declared safe (although it was not recommended to eat the coconuts), until 2008, when it was shut down because the air service from Majuro to Bikini had become too unreliable. Two dive groups in a row were left stranded in Majuro because there were no planes available and that was that. Today, the only way to dive Bikini is by liveaboard out of Ebeye (part of Kwajalein), see below. It's not a cheap trip by any means - it never was - but it is quite a notch to have on your weight belt.
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Scuba Conversational - Issue #44
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Before I begin, as I mentioned in the last issue, the Revue app that hosts these newsletters is shutting down on January 18th, so you have a couple of days to enjoy this issue on that platform before it disappears in a puff of smoke along with all its predecessors. I will then send it out again using MailChimp as a test of the new system. If you don't see the MailChimp version before the end of this week, please check your spam folder and, if it is not there, and if you have a moment, please let me know by FB Messenger or a brief-as-you-like email to divebooks@simonpridmore.com.Bikini BoundIn previous issues, I have occasionally dropped in an ancient low-res image of divers on the shipwrecks of Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. These are the remains of warships that were deliberately sunk in Operation Crossroads, a pair of weapons tests carried out in 1946 to see what would happen if you detonated nuclear bombs close to large vessels. The first test was airborne; the second was underwater. The experiments showed conclusively that some ships would sink and some ships would not. It depended how far away they were from the blasts. The experiments also showed that if you were observing the experiments and were showered with radioactive sea water it could make you very sick very quickly.Two of the ships with historical significance that were sent to the bottom of the sea by these explosions were the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga and the Nagato, Admiral Yamamoto's flagship during the attack on Pearl Harbour and the only Japanese battleship to survive the Second World War.We used to run annual trips out of Guam for groups of technical divers who wanted to visit the wrecks. There was a small resort and dive center on one of the islands surrounding the lagoon, that was occupied during the diving season. Otherwise Bikini was completely uninhabited. We would fly from Guam to Majuro on the Air Micronesia Island Hopper, stopping at Truk, Pohnpei, Kosrae and Kawajalein on the way, then the following day take a small Air Marshall Islands plane to Bikini, bouncing in Kwajalein (again) en route. We would do six days of diving - two dives a day - and then retrace our steps all the way across the Western Pacific back to Guam again. The dives were on air in manifolded double cylinders to a maximum depth of 50m (165ft ) or so with 30 minutes of bottom time and decompression on a trapeze under the dive boat connected to the shot line. A dozen regulators delivering nitrox 80 snaked down from the boat and were clipped off to the bottom rung of the trapeze at 9m (30ft) for divers to pick up and breathe from when they got there. The diving operation was the brainchild of Jack Niedenthal and Fabio Amaral and it ran from 1996, when Bikini was declared safe (although it was not recommended to eat the coconuts), until 2008, when it was shut down because the air service from Majuro to Bikini had become too unreliable. Two dive groups in a row were left stranded in Majuro because there were no planes available and that was that. Today, the only way to dive Bikini is by liveaboard out of Ebeye (part of Kwajalein), see below. It's not a cheap trip by any means - it never was - but it is quite a notch to have on your weight belt.