We’ve made it to Panama City Beach!! After checking into the hotel, we hit the new oyster bar across the street for a great dinner of oysters, shrimp and the “cheapest beer on the beach”. All of us ate too much and complained that it seems we can’t seem to find fresh seafood like this on our side of the gulf.
This morning we’re off to the famous Vortex Spring for a shake down dive and a picnic. Everyone is excited to cheek out the springs gin clear water and freshwater eels. Well Elizabeth seems more excited about the clear water than the eels.
This afternoon we get to the main event, Viola’s first saltwater dive! Everyone else is also looking forward to great artificial reefs that Panama City Beach has to offer.
As the group’s only photographer, I’ve been charged with getting a new profile picture for everyone’s Facebook account. So hopefully we’ll have so cool pictures to share by the end of the day.
We just finished a great dive on the Fumitzuki. Susan had her first real decompression dive with Steve and me. You know multiple stops, free swimming and 15 minutes.
The viz on this dive was not great and it was worse everywhere Jim and Jess were. They exhibited no finning technique. To make things worse Jim is still wearing those force fins that just generate silt on their own.
The weather has been mostly overcast with some wind in the afternoon which made some of our earlier diving a challenge. It has made the light underwater a little flat.
Holland had a rough first day — she flooded one of her strobes. The Captain loaned her one of his and she is going to take a class from him on wide angle photography. Not a bad exchange. Today went better for her.
Steve is having fun. He was the only one who did the night dive last night and will probably be the only one tonight. A diver after Ann’s own heart.
Our next dive is on the Shinkoku Maru. We will be here for the rest of the day. Steve and I will be starting on his penetration dives on this wreck. Steve is feeling lucky.
Travel seems to contain large periods of waiting surrounded by periods of fun and adventure. We are once agin in a holding pattern here at the Blue Lagoon Resort in Chuuk Micronesia having left the boat early this morning in order to allow the crew to prepare the boat for the new group of passangers to embark later this evening.
During these waiting periods, one has time to reflect on the adventurers of the week and the fun everyone had diving here in Micronesia. There were chance encounters with sharks, swimming with turtles, and there were moments of awe watching eagle rays and marble rays swim past the submerged toe-rails.
I was fortunate to dive with the Chief Engineer, Mike, who the last time we visited, had never dove before Ann introduced him to the water. We spent hours laughing and sharing stories with old and new friends along with diving to create new memories and stories.
Diving is about moments, moments of exhileration, wonder, joy and discovery. On a trip here you can experience a wide range of emotions and thrills as you dive among the wrecks slowly being reclaimed by the sea. Once carrying instruments of war these giant steel hulls now prneude entertainment and a home to millions of organisisms and animals.
Of course, I was especially touched when I boarded the Odyssey and almost every crew member asked where Ann was and wondered why she was not here diving with us. While some may feel a little jealous about the comments, I find it a wonderful tribute to her that even after two years, the crew remember her and have such warm feelings for her.
We were fortunate to have had good weather most days and a lot of time underwater. Alex Witschey and Jim Burton completed their Advanced Wreck classes and with the extra days here, Alex was able to complete the dives for his Normoxic Trimix certification. John Rydman was able to complete his SSI Wreck Diving Specialty and Chuck Gerlneuch completed his 1,900th dive on the Nippo Maru
– a truly impressive feat.
Those of us who had been here before all noticed the deterioration that has occurred since our last trip.Some ships have faied better than others, a testament to the quality and care of her shipwrights. Some, built during the years just before the war are after the conquest of Imperial Japan began, were not so fortunate and they are showing a faster reclamation by the sea.
During our week on the Odyssey, we visited the following wreck sites:
Each site offered a mix of traditional wreck diving and reef diving Of course, depth played a hand in determining if one thing or another dominated the site. And of course, there are the engine rooms — tempting holes beckoning divers to explore. Be sure to ask Alex about them, I do not think he missed one of them!
Of course all of our rebreather divers wish to send a special thanks to the California Trial Lawyers Association and to the judiciary system in California. With the loss of the Teledyne cells due to frivolous lawsuits in the “great” state of California, we experienced more cell failures and issues than on any trip I have ever run. The new AP Diving cells were not very reliable with at least three failures of brand new cells requiring me to ask other divers to bring more cells with them from the states. The Max Tech R22D cells did not like moisture and the AI cells did not like doing more than 2 dives a day. Fortunately, the new Vandegraph cells performed well throughout the two weeks. The lesson learned is that until the cell manufacturers learn to make a reliable cell similar to the old teledyne cells, rebreather divers must invest in a lot of spare cells; especially when they are diving in remote locations.
Also, for the rebreather divers, I am also happy to announce that the Odyssey is now a complete rebreather friendly location with the addition of rebreather cylinders left by our divers. They now have both 2L and 3L bottles! Diving a rebreather in Chuuk is an ideal way to see and explore the wrecks. Thank you for letting us help complete the circle!
Today you will find our happy crew scouting out old Japanese military sites, catching up on email, connecting with friends or family or just trying to entertain themselves. Ann’s favorite four year old, Jess, is probably causing trouble somewhere, while others are trying to figure out how to get their luggage repacked to conform to the United Airlines baggage restrictions. Lest we forget those civilized pursuits some of the group have elected to have a massage or a pedicure and manicure. Both prneuded on site for a reasonable fee.
Drinking is also an option but with a 50% tax on liquor and beer it is an expensive one.
Of course there is breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pam and I already spent the breakfast and lunch hours together – straight with no break, in the dining room. Of course Ann and were texting via Skype and Pam was doing her best to delete all of her work emails!
Our journey home begins when we gather in front of the hotel at 11:00 for our 2:30 am flight to Guam then it is on to Honolulu continuing to various points in the US. Where is Scotty when you need him? Beam me up Scotty!
Our Journey home begins…
The weather system we avoided in Kosrae seems to have followed us to Chuuk. The basic schedule is It rain overnight, clearing slightly in the morning until just the point where we are loading the boats to go diving and then a small squall runs through kicking up the seas and making for a wet ride out to the dive site. The skies and seas remain a little disturbed while we are underwater and then just after we re-board the boat after our decompression stops, the seas lay down making the ride back to the resort a smooth affair.
We have had some great dives during the shore based portion of our trip. We started with the Fujikawa Maru, which is a spectacular wreck with lots of sea life and coral growth. The engine room and forward holds were a little murkey, probably as a result of divers who were there before us. While the zeros are still there, they show signs of deteriation. It really demostrates that things built for a terestrial environment are not as well suited to life iunderwater.
Because we were here earlier than we had origionally planned, the group decided to dive the deeper wrecks in Truk Lagoon, especially since we will not be visiting them next week. We also decided to do some of the dives using Helium. Using Helium out here is a mixed blessing. It makes for a clearer head and safer diving but there is a price to pay. First, Trimix diving generally requires longer decompression times when compared to air diving which means that we all have to get used to hanging around in shallow water and looking at one another,
Of course the biggest price to pay will come on Sunday when the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop presents us with our diving and gas bill. Helium is $4.50 per cubic foot! The rebreather divers are each using about 7 cubic feet per day while the open circuit divers are using about 38 cubic feet per day. Lest we forget, there are also the oxygen and the bottle rentals. Deep diving in the tropics can be expensive!
I have also come to realize that in order to successfully dive in remote locations, you not only have to be a compotent diver, but you also have to be part mechanic and part dreamer, with a good dose of MacGuiver tossed in. We have already had our share of equipment glitches and malfunctions. Some we have had the spare parts for and others we have not. Parts are not readily available in this remote part of the world but Pam is arriving on Sunday with some parts to make our repairs easier and more permanent. I am already compiling a list of things I need to add to my expedition kit.
So far we have dove the following wrecks:
The Fujikawa Maru,
The Hein Maru,
The Shotan Maru, twice,
The Nippo Maru, and
The Fujisan Maru.
And for all of those fish lovers we have seen a large school of Baracuda, Tuna hunting, Eagle Rays and lots of small reef fish. Alex was so popular with three little yellow stripped fish that they followed him all the way around the wreck and up to his 10 foot stop. It was like having a bunch of high school girls following him around; the only thing missing was the fish trying to flirt with him.
Great diving and good friends, what more can you want. Ok, it would be far better if Ann were here instead of manning the store at home but the world is not a perfect place.
The diving continues…
