Chuuk,Palau,Yap
Ray Jones
writes:
> BTW the top
> of my list to go back to would be the San Francisco Maru which sits at 150
> feet and beyond.
Beyond is the key word here, The steamroller in the sand is at 203 and the
mines that are in the first hold are at 187.
> >If you had it to do again would you do a live aboard in Chuuk?
I'd stay on the Thorfinn Read below
>
> I'm not real sure of the benifits of a live aboard here ... Nitrox would
> make a difference, but we saw the Aggressor and the Thorfin everyday and
> they didn't move much. Mainly 'cause they didn't need to, the wrecks are
> plentiful and clustered semi-close together in many places. So, because I
> could be at the side of either of these boats in under 10 minutes from the
> Blue Lagoon Hotel, (most of the time) together with deeper dives requiring
> less frequency (there's no chamber here, except hours away in Guam) and I
> think you'd have more fun at the Blue Lagoon. It has to be said that I
> don't like being cut off and isolated from the locals (this place was bad
> enough in that regard for our own safty) I like to learn and meet as many
> as possible on these trips, so I personally would not do the live aboards
> here. Unless they were to add some features that made deco diving more
> available.
> We did meet a number of the guests that were on the
> Aggressor and the
> Thorfin and they all raved about having great times .... so, different
> strokes, right ?
Hello, I've had the good fortune to do both. I stayed my first trip at the
Truk Continental and the second one on the Thorfinn. After the Blue Lagoon
dropped us off we were kinda on our own which is nice also. It just depends
on what you want. I found that if its a history you want of the wrecks and
just life on the island Capt Lance on the Thorfinn is a never ending source
of information. I learned more in a couple of night about the wrecks at Truk
from Lance than I think I coulda learned in a lifetime with Blue Lagoon. I
would make a point of sitting close to Capt Lance every morning and ask him
questions about the days dives. He had soooo many little tidbits of info that
I loved.
For instance, he told me about an elderly diver who had been on his boat a
few years before and it turned out he had been one of the pilots that bombed
one of the ships. He told of the story about the pilot making his run and the
captain of the ship ran out of the bridge and shook his fist at him. The
pilot in return waggled his wings at him after he had released the ordinance.
The diver committed suicide on the dive when he dove the ship. Capt.
Lance said it took a few days to find him inside the wreck. The locals
claimed the ghost of the Japanese ship (Shinkoku, I think) claimed him.
This is just one of the many stories.... We went into town several times and
even made the tour of the School/Japanese headquarters. One of my buddies is
a world famous Marine/Avaition painter and we research old airplanes and the
locals knew where there was an old Japanese airplane at took us to it.
We thought we would be taken way up in the mountains but it turned out it was
right in town behind someones house. It was grown over and the locals were
nice enough to cut it out of the brush so Randy could take pics of it.
(Of course we tipped them very well)
The Zero that is off of the island of Eten(I don't have my books with me for
the correct spelling) that is upside down can be seen recreated by Randy at
WWW.WILDWINGSDEALERS.COM Click on Randall Scott. Anyone interested in
airplanes and diving should contact me. The F4U that is on this website is
here in Pensacola and it looked just like it was painted until a couple of
years ago when a hurricane tore it in half. Folks, its in 143 feet and still
got tore up. The only thing that Randy added was the prop and he made it look
like it was in the South Pacific by the fish because he wants to sell the
painting and this was its main theater of battle.
> >>One last note ... the reefs at Blue corner have been mauled to death.
> >>Between bleaching and Japanese laying all over the coral there is little
> >>left alive at the corner itself.
> >
> >I have always wondered about the condition of Blue Corner given what I
have
> >read on the net. Do you think the hooks play a role in the condition of
> >the reef?
Well, I know what one of those wiped out spots are (read below)
> The reef hooks, if used properly, should AVOID damageing the reef. What you
> do is look for some rock or dead coral and hook on, pting air in your BC to
> keep you above the reef. Between the air in your BC and the current (which
> can rip) you float and fly way over the coral below. It's not perfect,
> especially if care is not used when hooking up, but it works well
otherwise.
Ok everybody heres alittle embarrassing thing that happened on Blue corner
dealing with the Reef Hooks.
I had just finished my dive and had released the hook and I thought I had put
it away. I've got great air consumption so I was the only one left on the
reef. As the current was whipping me away I was fairly close to the bottom
and all of a sudden BAM I'm face first in the coral!!!!
Looking down I was embarrassed to see that the hook had come out of my pocket
and it acted like an airplane tailhook and slammed me to the deck>>
Oh well, at least no one saw it happen but the fish we're blowing all kinds
of bubbles and couldn't contain their grins <BWG>
Take care,
Ray
Shep Griswold
>Great trip report Shep! I just now got around to reading it.
>
Tank You :)
>I was pleasantly surprised to see your depths at Chuuk. I was under the
>impression that the wreck dives were typically 150fsw+.
There are so many wreck dives in that Lagoon that you could spend many
months there diving different wrecks each day ... There are MANY that can
be done (as we did) on al80's and shallow depth (relatively anyway). Some
of the deeper wrecks are possible this way as well but you know the
limitations (time for one) .... some of our group did the Nippo Maru for
instance but your time limits for no decompresssion diving are pretty
ridiculous in my opinion. I do want to go back sometime bringing some extra
equipment, and deco-dive the area some more ... but for what we were doing
there, with the people that we had along, deco would have never worked
(2/3'rds of our group would not have not choosen to do that ) BTW the top
of my list to go back to would be the San Francisco Maru which sits at 150
feet and beyond.
>If you had it to do again would you do a live aboard in Chuuk?
>
I'm not real sure of the benifits of a live aboard here ... Nitrox would
make a difference, but we saw the Aggressor and the Thorfin everyday and
they didn't move much. Mainly 'cause they didn't need to, the wrecks are
plentiful and clustered semi-close together in many places. So, because I
could be at the side of either of these boats in under 10 minutes from the
Blue Lagoon Hotel, (most of the time) together with deeper dives requiring
less frequency (there's no chamber here, except hours away in Guam) and I
think you'd have more fun at the Blue Lagoon. It has to be said that I
don't like being cut off and isolated from the locals (this place was bad
enough in that regard for our own safty) I like to learn and meet as many
as possible on these trips, so I personally would not do the live aboards
here. Unless they were to add some features that made deco diving more
available.
We did meet a number of the guests that were on the Aggressor
and the
Thorfin and they all raved about having great times .... so, different
strokes, right ?
>At 09:26 AM 4/28/99 -0700, Shep Griswold wrote in part:
>>...Sam's Diving. He's been running
>>this business for over 8 years now. We did not use Splash which is at the
>>hotel PPR....the few times that I saw it actually go out, I don't think
>>that they can come close to the speeds that Sam's smaller faster boats can
>>go. Since the dive spots are far away this is a very important feature to
>>take into consideration.
>
>There was in this forum a recent discussion on the topic of lenght of dive
>day from PPR. Could you tell us what time you boat left each day and
>typically returned and how many dives you did during that time?
Sam's usually picks up at 8:30 (I think) I'm not that clear because we
moved the time around a whole bunch. If you are headed to Peleliu, which is
farther away, you should leave earlier. We left around 7:45 on those days
that we wanted to get an earlier start. The day after the wedding, we left
at 10:00 for obvious reasons :)
To me, anytime on a boat is a good time, so the rides didn't bother me at
all. The scenery is so great ! and with a driver like the one we had
,Poker, we were constantly weaving through beautiful rock islands.
Sometimes that was to avoid windy or rainy conditions.
>
>>One last note ... the reefs at Blue corner have been mauled to death.
>>Between bleaching and Japanese laying all over the coral there is little
>>left alive at the corner itself.
>
>I have always wondered about the condition of Blue Corner given what I have
>read on the net. Do you think the hooks play a role in the condition of
>the reef?
>
The reef hooks, if used properly, should AVOID damageing the reef. What you
do is look for some rock or dead coral and hook on, pting air in your BC to
keep you above the reef. Between the air in your BC and the current (which
can rip) you float and fly way over the coral below. It's not perfect,
especially if care is not used when hooking up, but it works well otherwise.
>
Thanks for the comments and I hope this gives you a little more info ...
it's all IMHO
____
(_/\_)Shep Griswold
==@ Kirkland,Wa,USA
mailto:gri...@nwlink.com
Everyone has a right to be stupid. Some just abuse the privilege.
Jan Faust
>For instance, he told me about an elderly diver who had been on his boat a
>few years before and it turned out he had been one of the pilots that bombed
>one of the ships.
I'm pulling this out of context due to my interest in old people and gonna ask
a Jan question. How old is the oldest known diver?
;-) Me
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The sea breathes life into me,
it is from whence I came." -Jan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.searover.com/jan
Ron Fuller
>At 06:12 PM 6/05/99 -0700, Jan Faust wrote:
>>and gonna ask
>>a Jan question. How old is the oldest known diver?
>
>
>Lenni Riefenstahl would certainly have to be in the running for recreational
>diving,
I figure if you get paid for it and Riefenstahl does/did, that it should be
considered "occupational".
but for 'occupational' diving there were a number of 'hard-hat'
>divers still working while in their late seventies up until the early 1950's.
Chuck Nicklin is still making commerical underwater video and films and
he's going to be 72 in the fall.
>
>Age is just a state of mind! :-)
>
Mind? Mind what?
Best Regards
Ron in San Diego
Diving in San Diego
http://www.diegoweb.com/diving
r...@diegoweb.com
Michael Doelle
>How old is the oldest known diver?<
Leni Riefenstahl (Triumph of the Will, Festival of Nations, etc., as film
buffs will know) must be near the top of the list. Started diving at 71 or
so and claims to have more than 1500 dives now. She'll turn 97 in August. I
last saw her featured in a German dive mag about 2 years ago. She was still
diving then and is still publishing pictures.
michael
Ron Fuller
>K. What is the difference between recreational diving and occupational
>diving. Is the guy/gal who is teaching recreational divers to dive an
>occupational diver or is the guy/gal with the hard hat. While you are
>explaining would someone mind telling me what those people in the hard
hats are
>doing under there?
>
If you earn a substantial portion of your income it's occupational, if
your don't earn enough to cover the cost of your gear it's recreational.
Many dive masters and some instructors actually fall under recreational and
have other jobs that pay the rent.
As for what people do in their hard hats? Ask Strike, he has first hand
experience.
I still shiver when I think about the sewage plant divers .
Nick Simicich
>Ray wrote:
>
>>For instance, he told me about an elderly diver who had been on his boat a
>>few years before and it turned out he had been one of the pilots that bombed
>>one of the ships.
>
ask
>a Jan question. How old is the oldest known diver?
Many years ago, when there was no e-mail, you had to pay for telegrams by
the word.
A probably apocryphal story went around that the members of the Cary Grant
fan club had an argument over the age of their hero and one of them
telegraphed him with the short, but cheap message,
"HOW OLD CARY GRANT?"
The reply came back:
"OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU?"
(Which is as good of an answer as you are likely to get. Due to my
interest in old people?)
--
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend...
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Nick Simicich mailto:n...@scifi.squawk.com or (last choice)
mailto:n...@us.ibm.com
http://scifi.squawk.com/njs.html -- Stop by and Light Up The World!
David Strike
>
>>For instance, he told me about an elderly diver who had been on his boat a
>>few years before and it turned out he had been one of the pilots that bombed
>>one of the ships.
>
>I'm pulling this out of context due to my interest in old people
Thank you for your interest! :-)
>and gonna ask
>a Jan question. How old is the oldest known diver?
Living or dead? :-)
Lenni Riefenstahl would certainly have to be in the running for recreational
diving, but for 'occupational' diving there were a number of 'hard-hat'
divers still working while in their late seventies up until the early 1950's.
Age is just a state of mind! :-)
Strike
David Strike
(snip)
>K. What is the difference between recreational diving and occupational
>diving.
The short answer is that recreational diving is for pleasure and takes
place, (or should!), within fairly strict guidelines as regards depth,
conditions, equipment (ie. SCUBA), etc., while occupational diving tends to
encompass all of those folks with appropriate training who dive for payment
>Is the guy/gal who is teaching recreational divers to dive an
>occupational diver
It largely depends on the Workplace laws, rules and regulations imposed by
the country in which the person lives - but generally speaking the answer is
- IMO - 'Yes'!
>or is the guy/gal with the hard hat.
A better term than, 'hard hat', (which is sometimes used as shorthand for
the old Standard Diving Dress), is surface demand diving equipment where the
diver is attached by an umbilical hose to the surface, (or, in some
instances, to a bell.)
>While you are
>explaining would someone mind telling me what those people in the hard hats are
>doing under there?
Cutting, welding, blasting, inspection, search, salvage, recovery,
maintenance, etc., etc.! :-)
Strike
Simon L Hartley
>If you earn a substantial portion of your income it's occupational, if
>your don't earn enough to cover the cost of your gear it's recreational.
>Many dive masters and some instructors actually fall under recreational and
>have other jobs that pay the rent.
Not if OWHS (Occupational Work Place Health and Safety) have anything to do
with it. But Strike and I have already had that debate.
As an asside... ...the owner of the shop I DG (DM in training but too busy
with my real job to finish it) for recently went to a meeting regarding
proposed changes to OWHS standard in NSW (actually Australia wide I think).
Proposed standards ranged from the sensible to the ridiculous. Sensible
being tighter and more standardised record keeping (and dive briefing
proceedures (including providing written briefs in different languages)) to
cover owners in the event of an accident. The ridiculous included having
students and instructors tethered while in a pool during training and
having open water divers tethered with two surface personel for each diver
(one supervisor, one giving and receiving line signals to the diver). I
suspect some of the people suggesting these measures either haven't dived
before or haven't dived outside of an occupational framework. Or at the
very least don't know the meaning of the words "fun" or "adventure" :-)
I for one would simply stop diving with charter operators if the controls
became so ridiculous. Anyone have any more info on proposed standards?
Everything I got was second hand and sketchy.
Simon
Simon L Hartley
RSM Unit Web Administrator\First Year Course Coordinator
Associate Lecturer
School of Resource Science and Management
Southern Cross University
P.O. Box 157
Lismore NSW, Australia 2480
Ph: (02) 66203251 or (61 66) 203 251
Fax:(02) 66212669
E-mail: shar...@scu.edu.au