A Kiss in Paradise (3)

A Tale of a Newly Certified, Classic Kiss Rebreather Diver's Travels
Part 3 BIKINI ATOLL, August 2005
By Jeff Giddins


I was fortunate enough to be a late inclusion in a group of Aussie divers headed to a famous wreck mecca, Bikini Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands group in the Northern Pacific Ocean. I was meeting up with the group organised by the "Scuba Doctor" Peter Fear, at the Honiara airport during the stopover to Nauru. Checking in my baggage with Air Nauru I was lumbered with my first ever excess luggage fee, not totally unexpected (20kg over) but acting very surprised somehow I managed to half the cost to a more acceptable $60 aus. Meeting the group, there were some new and some familiar faces, coming from all over Australia. They were already starting to look a bit weary with most having caught two flights to Honiara. Next stops were at Nauru (1hr) and then on to Majuro Atoll staying there two nights. Located on the ground floor of the hotel where we stayed is a dive shop that provided services and equipment for a couple of good dives during the lay day for those who needed to get wet.


Before boarding the light aircraft for the weekly flight to the very remote Bikini Atoll, everyone is weighed including all their baggage. My excess bill amounted to $90 US return, a sarcastic thank you very much just slipped out with the credit card! It pays to travel light I'm finding out. The plane briefly stopped at Kwajalein, a US military airport base along the way. It's an interesting place, lots of WW2 history with shipwrecks and you can read about some in the airport foyer there.

Some of the runways on these outer islands are very short, Bikini being no different except it looked like a crushed coral/rock base overgrown with weeds making for a noisy, bumpy ride upon landing. Once again, back on terra firma we were greeted by our hosts & shepherded towards the wharf to two awaiting landing barge type vessels loading up with our gear/ supplies.


From there it was a short boat trip to the main island that was to be our home for the next week. Jumping off the boat onto the back of "troop style" truck, we headed towards the ex-scientific base. Along the way, I was informed the tanks I would be using were 7 litre not the 5 litre I had expected! Heavy and enormous compared to the 3 litre tanks I was used to, surprisingly did not feel all that bad in water. The base facilities are very good overall, air conditioned, clean, comfortable and well set up for the visiting divers. Having moved and settled into our appropriate rooms it was time to set up the gear, have some lunch and then report to the briefing room for a overview of operations/ procedures, a history lesson, dive plan and finally a thirty metre check out dive on a aircraft carrier, the USS Saratoga.


I was the only diver in the group using a closed circuit rebreather; all others on open circuit were diving heavy steel 12 litre twin tanks, without weight belts being required. Back at the deco bars, they switched from air to breathe the 74% Nitrox surface supplies while I adjusted and maintained my PO2 higher by flushing my loop with 97% oxygen. The low oxygen content is due to the membrane machines producing it on the atoll.

Day Two started well with a 7am breakfast, the dive brief/ history lesson at 8am and by 9am we were hitting the water and diving down on the USS Lamson, a destroyer in 45m. No current and crystal clear visibility was just a sensational 70 minutes spent in water. Only problem I had was a leaky dump on the wings upsetting my buoyancy to the point where I decided to use the counter lungs volume as the main buoyancy control. Back at the dive shop, some quick running repairs were carried out before the afternoon's dive on the USS Saratoga. Unfortunately, I aborted the dive at 26m just before entering the aircraft hanger on the flight deck due to a flooding KISS PO2 display and also errant readings on the VR3 at the same time. Thirteen minutes had elapsed and back up on deck fuming expletives, I’m going to kick that black cat that scurried across my path to kingdom com, didn't seem to help any.

Back at the dive/workshop again to find and repair the faults. Without a spare Kiss O2 display to replace the damage unit, I removed the electronics and sealed up cracks in the clear housing with Aquaseal. Checking the VR3 operation again, I found a new O2 sensor produced a stable reading. I was now prepared and effectively diving the unit with just two PO2 displays working, something I was used to when diving my CCR dolphin. Any doubt and I would simply bailout.


Battleship Day started with a morning dive to 52m on the USS Arkansas for a total of seventy minutes followed by an afternoon dive down to 49m on the HIJMS Nagato, the Japanese battleship that commanded the Pearl Harbour invasion in WW2. The guns on these two ships are massive, big enough to stick your head in the barrel and look around!

A fantastic day of diving ended when I found out during the strip down and preparation of the breather that the VR3 was out of action due to a break in the wiring and I needed a new cable to fix that. I couldn't find any other cable to use and with now only one PO2 monitor working; sadly, it was time the KISS was packed away. Only five dives on the KISS there was a very disappointing outcome. I would have to change to open circuit for the rest of the week. Offers of OC gear were coming out of the woodwork. Later on that evening, some four hours after diving, I could feel a familiar skin sensation, the itches creeping on. Informed the staff I required oxygen and within an hour of breathing it, the symptoms had subsided. A very slight skin bend made me decide to miss the next morning's dive and this gave me time to contemplate reducing the number of dives left, to one a day if I was still symptom free after each day… And to find that BLACK CAT.


The afternoon dive brief was almost finished when Chris Storey divemaster/ videographer extraordinaire ask if I was coming, I couldn't say no, I was fine, so off he bolted to find his spare set of regs thrown together with my wings and harness on a set of manifolded 12 litre tanks. Deco was the 74% Nitrox on the bars and breathing oxygen onboard for the boat ride back. That was the style to finish off a week in paradise, almost lost but never forgotten with many great dives and with a good bunch of people.


Many thanks must go to Jim Akroyd, his soon to be wife Gen and Chris Storey for a very professional run resort operation and with all the extra gear, help and attention I required, especially me being allowed in the workshop with the tools.

Room for improvement:

• Vessel - "Fins on" stepladder fitted on landing ramp for ease of boarding in full kit prevents ramp handling issues/damage to gear or even cracking a few skulls with a ladder being visible in water.
  
  
• Stock - Smaller size 3litres tanks suitable for rebreathers with right and left hand tank valves.
  
  
• Communication - Email needs to be set up at the Atoll for direct contact, saves confusion
  
  
• Costs - Sporting goods/Tipping - Reduce excess fees, its Aussie custom not to grease palms. Pay the workers a fair wage and include all costs in package.
  
  
• Cat numbers - A humane cull seriously needs to take place, especially the poor mangy ones with open festering wounds… I suggest we start on the black cats first!

Jeff Giddins

Part 1 - Vanuata HERE
Part 2 - Solomon Islands HERE
Part 4 - Solomon Islands HERE

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