New divers as well as more experienced divers have been introduced to the benifits of Sink-the- Stink or Mirizyme in keeping your dive buddies close.  However, these products do little to keep your expensive suits clean and conditioned.

Regular cleaning with a wet suit cleaner will help prevent damage from chlorine (pools), salt (Caribbean and Pacific travels) and other minerals (those local dives).  Additionally, these cleaning products help keep the fabric soft and flexible.

So, in addition to using the deoderizing products like Sink-the Stink or Mirazyme be sure to include a washing with a proper wet suit shampoo.

Ships China Among the Wreckage

Every trip seems like the last – I think I cannot find enough people who want to come to Truk, and yet I still return. Some people like to return for a second trip, feeling like they just did not get enough on their last visit and others are intrigued and want to find out more. Two years ago, most of the group felt they were missing something and wanted to return but only if we ran the trip as a Technical Charter.

So what is a Technical Charter in Chuuk? Well it is a trip that steps beyond the typical charter by offering access to the deeper wrecks not often visited by divers to the lagoon. There is more room on the boat, the number of divers is limited to twelve, and more decompression gas is available. There is even surface supplied oxygen on the decompression bar. The boat has to add extra crew because of the depths of the dive and their knowledge of the wrecks is not as extensive as it is for the other wrecks they visit on a regular basis.

These charters tend to attract more experienced divers because of the depths and the decompression times required. The minimum training level required is Advanced EANx (IANTD) or Decompression Procedures and Advanced EANx (TDI) but more training to handle the depths and planning is highly recommended. I really recommend that a participant is better served with Technical EANx (IANTD) or Advanced Decompression Procedures (TDI) and a wreck penetration course under their belts. With more training, the divers tend to enjoy themselves more and stay underwater longer.

The Technical Diver Group

This week we are joined by a group of very experienced technical divers and a few new ones. My diving companions for the week are Geoff Barker, Steve Brennan (second time to Truk), Mark Conrad (second time to Truk), Ron Hicks (fourth time to Truk), Ann Keibler (third time to Truk), Jerry Kesielwski, Kelly Plato (second time to Truk), Pam Radford (second time to Truk), Bob Sloan (second time to Truk), Jess Stark (second time to Truk), Geoff Streitel (second time to Truk), and Stephanie Watowich (second time to Truk).

I have often thought that a live-aboard dive trip is the most relaxing dive trip but also the most active way to dive. Your equipment is set-up at the beginning of the week and sits there, ready to be donned in an instant. Ok, so maybe it takes more than an instant but it is already together and ready to go. Of course there is still the gas testing, configuration adjustments and the process of getting everything together that accompanies a technical dive but you are only a few steps from the water and a few steps from the ladder on your return. In between dives there are naps to take, books to read, logbooks to complete, planning for the next dive and for the photographers, photographs to download and process.

Geoff & Jerry Planning Their Dive

In general, our surface intervals are three hours between dives and there are three to four dives available each day. The planning portion becomes easier when you realize that the depths are mostly consistent for the dives with only a little variation in depth between the dives.

Our dives this week will be on a wide variety of wrecks, from passenger/cargo vessels to some light destroyers and even a submarine. The first dives of the day will be deeper with shallower wrecks in the later afternoon. Of course many of the “shallow” wrecks for a Technical Charter are the deep wrecks for a standard charter. Our schedule for the week is:

• Sunday:                      Arrive, 9:30 pm
• Monday:                     Nippo Maru, Hoki Maru, Rio de Janiero Maru
• Tuesday:                     Amagisan Maru, Shotan Maru, Fujikawa Maru
• Wednesday:               Aikoku Maru, Kensho Maru
• Thursday:                  Oite, I-169, Shinkoku Maru
• Friday:                        San Francisco Maru, Heian Maru
• Saturday:                   Nagano Maru, Fujisan Maru
• Sunday:                      Terra Firma Again
• Monday:                    Depart at 2:30am

Only on a dive vacation would the day begin at 6:00 am. Breakfast on the Odyssey is a hot, made-to-order breakfast served to you in the dining salon. There are pancakes, waffles, French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, cereals, juices and of course COFFEE!

Kelly Plato After a Dive

At about 6:30 the engines start and the crew moves us to the fist dive site of the day. In Chuuk, most of the wrecks are fairly close together, scattered around Tonoas, Weno, and Uman so moving between them is not a long steam. At about 7:30 the crew has the boat tied up, the lines rigged, the ladders down and are ready for divers to jump in. Of course there is a short dive briefing before each dive to aquaint us with the boats location on the wreck, the highlights of the wreck and any other things we should be aware of. The biggest one of these items is the planned departure time for the next wreck.

Diving these wrecks is always a new experience for me. While this is my sixth trip to Chuuk and I have had a number of dives on most of these vessels, I still find new things that I have not noticed before as well as the realization that nature is working to reclaim these massive ships.

One of the most notable is the fly bridges on the Aikoku Maru. In 1998, they were still in position, hanging majestically over the edge of the hull. Over the next few visits they began to sag and now they are merely rubble hanging down over the hull. They are just another pile of twisted metal, appearing to be a part of the damage caused by the explosion of the ammunition hold.

Catalogs of Time

Some people will tell you that ghosts remain on some of these wrecks. There was a large loss of life on many of the wrecks we visited during this week and the remains of these fallen sailors and soldiers are still there. While there was an effort to remove them and give them a proper Shinto send-off in the late 80’s, there are still bones on most of the wrecks including some skulls. Diving the deeper wrecks increases your chances of coming across them exponentially. This experience makes you realize that these are more than diving attractions but also underwater graves, interments for sailors and soldiers who were not fortunate enough to escape the bombings, torpedos and fires. On the Oite, a destroyer, over 400 people perished in the attack.

Diving these wrecks is like swimming through a time capsule; time stopped in 1944 for these ships and the men they took with them. Their personal belongings as well as the cargo are from another place and time. They are reminders how temporary life can be on this earth.

Fine Wine

What makes these trips special is the people. Most of the people on this trip have been diving together for three or more years. They have taken classes together, helped on another with courses and evaluations and practiced skills with one another. They have traveled together including a trip to Chuuk. Their interaction with one another made this trip especially fun and entertaining.

Who can forget Pam’s “Blink” taste test with wine and beer or Kelly’s agreement to let Jess apply some Krazy Glue to his abused, cut hands. And of course, there was wine served with every meal and several bottles of special wine, thanks to Pam, served with some.

It was a great week of diving and I look forward to the next week when our new diving family arrives but I will miss this group when they leave. There is nothing like diving with these fun loving people.

The fun of returning to a place you have been before means that you know what to expect when you arrive and that you have the possibility of running into old friends at the most unlikely spots. While our group was being me by Captain Lenny Kolczynski and the current crew of the Odyssey, I was surprised to find Gardena Aisek at the airport. She and her family own the Blue Lagoon Resort. She was at the airport to meet a student she was sponsoring to Xavier High School, a Jesuit High School and boarding school for gifted students from all over Micronesia. In the few moments we had before we all needed to go our separate ways, I found that she is now teaching at the College of Micronesia, that her daughter Christinia has moved in with her brother in Guam and that her other son, Advin, is now running the hotel. Her family is doing well and she is really enjoying her new career as a Professor.

Bright September Moon Over Weno

Chuuk itself is a country that in some ways has lost its way. The Chuukese people have had their own culture suppressed since the turn of the century. The Germans fist dominated this small enclave, which they called Truk, in the early 1900’s losing their limited possessions in the Pacific after WWI. The Japanese recognized the strategic positioning of Chuuk to an early 1900’s shipping system and offered to manage the islands when Germany was displaced. Over the years that followed, Chuuk was transformed into a thriving seaport and then a large military installation. Like many of the native peoples in Japanese dominated islands, the Chuukese people soon found it easier to conform to their new master’s will than to retain their own cultural identity. The Japanese transformed one island into a stationary “aircraft carrier” by moving much of one mountain and filling in the reefs and marches with the dirt. Of course, they were only the engineers, it was the local peoples who provided the labor necessary to realize their protector’s dreams.

The island of Tonoas, renamed by the Japanese to Dublon, was to become the center of culture and civility in the islands, with movie theaters, housing and restaurants. They built a system of water pipes to bring the fresh spring water from the top of the mountain down to the town and the loading pier (Dublon in Chuuk was the source of fresh water for many of the Pacific islands in the area). They electrifies the island by stringing electrical polls around the island and they allowed the locals to help with their day-to-day activities.

Today, little of this physical presence in Tonoas remains. The water system, still in use is crumbling and beginning to fail, the electrical poles still exist but the power generation plants have long since ceased to work and all that remains of the towns are a few buildings scattered around broken slabs and fire hydrants. A former sea plane base houses a school and the old hospital serves as a housing complex for about 10 families.

The main island in Chuuk is Weno, known as Moen to the Japanese. This is where the Americans established their presence after the Japanese surrender of the islands. Home to Anderson field, now the Chuukese International Airport, this island developed into the main power center for the island group. Like the other islands in Chuuk, little remains of the physical presence of the Japanese occupation. Xavier High School is located in the old Japanese communications bunker complete with its blast doors and reinforced walls. But while the physical presence of the Japanese occupation has faded from the landscape, you will still find influences in the culture and diets of the people. Rice is a feature of many meals as are “stir-frying” cooking techniques.

The Japanese and the Americans are responsible for our reason for visiting this far flung atoll. In 1944, Operation Hailstone provided the Chuukese with a tourist draw like no other place on earth. For several days, American fighter planes and bombers sunk a major portion of the Japanese merchant fleet and sent three small destroyers to their watery graves. The loss of life for the Japanese was incredible as was the loss of this strategic port.

Today the sounds of war are silenced but the ships remain…an ever present draw to divers from all over the world. It is these wrecks we have flown over twenty hours to see and after a little sleep in a comfortable berth aboard the M/V Odyssey, I will begin another visit to Truk’s famous Ghost Fleet.

We had a pre-trip meeting for our September Truk trip.  We have thirteen divers headed over at the end of August for a week of technical diving on the deep wrecks and then we are teaming up with Matt Reed for another week of wreck diving on a more recreational charter.  Some of the people from the first week will remain for the second week but we also have some new people arriving for this week.

I am excited about returning to Truk.  This will be my sixth trip to Truk Lagoon.  Every time I tell myself, this will be the last trip, I should go somewhere else nest time, I find the lure of these wrecks, the warm water and the people I have met calling me back.  In preparing the trip information sheet for this year’s trip, I looked back through some of the earlier packets as well as the photographs from earlier trips.  A lot of friends have joined me on these trips over the years and it was fun to look back and see some much younger faces peering back at me.

Many of those people moved away and started diving in their new home waters; others like Eric & Patricia Bancroft are busy raising children and find little time for technical diving.  Still, there are a number of the people who remain active divers with us, exploring the hidden wonders in other exotic locations.

As we march steadily toward our twentieth year in business, I suspect we will be looking back at a number of old photographs and remembering trips and friends from the past.  We have trained a lot of divers over those years and have taken thousands of people all over the planet to look under the lapping blue waters.  We have been touched by the many special people we have met in those locations and our outlook on the world will be forever changed.

For our new divers, welcome to the family, for those from all of those past years…why don’t you write?????

I should know better, since I was a kid on the AAU swim teams, I have needed to dry out my ears with ear drops or suffer the consequences.  So here I am, paying the piper for a ignored procedure last week.  I guess it is time to mix up some more ear drop solution and put it back in my dive bag.  I have my own solution based on some suggestions I received from my doctor and some experimentation.  It may not be the best solutions and it may not work for everyone.  But, it works for me.  You might check with your doctor.

Tom Mount suggested using a domeboro solution instead of my solution becasue alcohol can lead to drying and cracking of the ear tissues.  According to Web MD “this medication is used to treat infections of the tube (canal) of the outer ear (external otitis). This product contains acetic acid/aluminum acetate, a combination that kills bacteria and fungus that cause infection. Wetness in the ear canal can help bacteria and fungus to grow. This medication also causes drying of the ear canal, helping to cure the infection.”  Tom’s point is that it is less abusive on the ear canal.  The one downside to this is that it is available only with a prescription.

The most important thing in preventing ear infections is to dry out the ear canal so that harmful bacteria and fungus don’t grow and cause the infection that i am now suffering with.  Some people use their hair dryers to dry their ears but since I have little hair left, I don’t use a hair dryer too ofter.  I am not even sure where it is.

Treating the ear infection once it starts is important becasue you do not want it to travel into the inner ear.  So, your Doctor should prescribe some ear drops and maybe some oral antibiotics to combat the infection.  Remember to complete the cycle as your doctor tells you.  It is a bit harder to get rig of the infection if it becomes a more resistant strain.

I have a lot of diving to do overn the next two months so I need to get rid of this sooner rather thna later.  Hence the muffled hearing I spokeof earlier.

Sierra Scooter

 “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

 Those words ran through my head this week as we hosted a Xscooter Annual Service Clinic at the store.  Geoff Streitel and Kelly Plato were on hand to allow the group to repair their scooters.  I should have know that the evening would not proceed as smoothly as we had hoped when the video portion of the PowerPoint presentation would not work properly.

After a little tinkering and rebooting my laptop, we abandoned the digital projector and just used the laptop monitor itself.  So far so good, right?  We continued with the steps for breaking down the rear-end which is where more problems presented themselves.  The screw holding to lower hubs in place were frozen and while we eventually were able to remove Geoff’s without further damage, Kelly’s scooter was another matter.  We ended up breaking off all of the screw pillars from the hub and still could not get the hub off.  So, one unit down; it is off to the manufacturer for repair leaving us all one to look at.  

The remainder of Geoff’s repair went alright, with some grunting and groaning while more things were removed with difficulty and new things replaced.  Of course, we are not entirely sure everything worked properly – Geoff has to test it in fresh water to make sure the new seal does not leak.  He should be doing it today at Beautiful Blue Lagoon.  He and Kelly were planning on going out to test their scooters before Truk, but now Geoff will be testing and Kelly will be swimming.

I know Kelly is saying to himself, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” but it really did need to have the seal replaced before it had a major lean and the bearings got wet.

Congratulations for the group for completing the Annual Service Training program.  The new technicians are Geoff Streitel, Kelly Plato, Ashton Arsement, Barney Corbin, Jordon Hicks, Wade Sparks and yours truly, Eric Keibler.

Mammoth Lake

When Pete Nawrocky and I were talking recently, he said “when I come down, we need to go over side-mounting and do some dives.”  What was he thinking, I don’t dive technically on open circuit anymore.  Pete even said once you try this you won’t want to put on a set of doubles again.  He is right, I don’t want to put on a set of twins again, I replaced them with a rebreather.  So had he really lost his mind or was he mistaking me for an open circuit diver?  Not really.

When Pete arrived we again talked about the side-mounting.  He has found a lot of interest in this style of diving from technical divers but increasingly from open water divers wanting a way to increase their time underwater without needing twin cylinders.   This increasing interest may be due in part the aging diving population.  By splitting the twin cylinders into two independent bottles, you can carry them separately to the water and done them there or have someone help you carry them to the water, even going so far as handing them to you while you are in the water.

I hear you die-hard doubles divers out there yelling, wait, what about the redundancy afforded by twin cylinders.  Well the answer is you are right and mistaken at the same time.  You are right, the redundancy provided by the manifold cannot be denied, so for a side-mount diver, there has to be a different gas management procedure employed.  That is one of the things you learn in the class.

Pete came in and we rigged up some bottles for diving, configured a Transpac with a Nomad wing and sidemount kit.  A pretty simple rig when you look at it but the truth was in the water.  During the weekend, Dive Rite Tech tour, at Mammoth Lake, we took the assembled harness and headed to the water.  Pete had already taken the bottles down to the water; they were equipped with Dive Rite ADS’ one with a 22” hose on a lanyard, and the other with a 40” hose.  Attaching the bottles to the harness was simple with the top snap put on the bungee and the bottom on the Nomad rail.  It was time to enter the water…easier than doing so with a similar set of twin cylinders.

Diving could not have been easier.  The trim was easy and I just seemed to fall into place – trimmed and ready for the dive.  The set-up was streamlined and easy to propel through the water, even if the water resembled a latte rather than water.  We found some “clearer water” in about 10 to 18 feet near the shore.  Being this shallow sometimes presents buoyancy problems but the rig made easy work of the buoyancy.

I can see why people are attracted to side-mount diving and why there is growing interest in it.  As we worked with people during the weekend I watched divers with various levels of experience slip into the rig and go diving.  It appeared they had fewer problems adjusting to the set-up than a similar experience in a set of twin cylinders.

So, what is the conclusion?  Well, I’m not trading in my rebreathers for a set of side-mount bottles but for those times I need to dive open circuit (yes every once in a while), I believe this a great way to do it.  I also believe it is an effective alternative to twins for Technical diving.  Pete you convinced me!  I think we will be adding this as an option in our training program.

This wasn’t the only thing happing while Pete and Ron Carlo were in town.  Pete came in and gave our Club Aquarious group a very interesting presentation covering diving on the East coast from New York to Florida.  It featured both technical and non-technical dives so there was something of interest for everyone.  Pete had photos of sea life common to these waters and the areas where they live, all synchronized to Pink Floyd.  He followed this up with a discussion of the areas and promoted the idea of diving locally, a very important fact.

The weekend found Pete, Ron, JoLynn as well as Oceanic Ventures staff members, Eric, Ashton, Jordan, and Wade down at Mammoth Lake diving and introducing some curious divers to Dive Rite equipment.  Pete was on-hand to introduce side-mount diving and to take divers on side-mount experiences and yes there were a number of takers.  Most of those who went with Pete were convinced this was a better way.

It was fun showing divers what things were available from Dive Rite including their new lights and computer.  Ron was having fun taking divers out for a rebreather experience, despite the limited visability.  They were even getting more dives for their DiveAroundTexas dives – marching towards San Marcos in September to collect on some way-cool prizes!

Thanks to Pete, Ron and Dive Rite for coming out and showing us the new and old toys as well as a new way to do things.  Diving is only getting better and better!  Thanks for helping keeping it fun!

Of course, there were some clients who would have preferred a little less attention to their needs.  Ashton Arsement, Brittan Clark and Stephanie Watawich were under the watchful eye of their Principals of Technical Diving Instructor – none other than our own Dave Snyder.  Dave has a reputation of being a little devilish at times, so his students came up with a hand-sign for him during the dives.  Dave was fortunate to have discovered this sign after Stephanie’s son Mathew visited at dinner and asked are you the Dave (with his hands on his head making horns) or are you “Dave” with a faraway dreamy or nice look (this would be Dave Sweeten).

Yes Stephanie saw the hand-sign starting but was too far away to have stopped the revelation.  The cat was out of the bag and Dave Snyder had a new hand-sign for himself underwater.  In fact, his wife Martha even started using in when she signaled to me asking “where is Dave.”

The diving was really nice despite some unusual currents.  Harvey Sisco commented that looking up a wall in Cozumel from 300’ was really spectacular and he could see why we liked doing those dives on a wall.  The wall itself at this depth was sparse but looking up at the coral heads, the fish and the surface way in the distance creates a lasting impression that carries you through the 90 minutes of decompression.  Of course you do have the advantage of decompressing on the reef you were looking at from below, so it is a wonderful way to dive.

Stephanie celebrated a birthday with us and Brittan Clark, Morgan Hann, and Liz Kreiger all completed there 100^th dive on this trip.  Ashton, Brittan and Stephanie finished their Principals of Technical Diving Course and Harvey Sisco completed his CCR Trimix Course on during this trip.  Congratulations everyone!

Why would a destination near Salado be attractive?  Because it is a small Texas town, with a number of bed and breakfast facilities, a collection of small shops featuring the works of some well known and not so well known Texas artists and the famous Stage Coach Inn restaurant.  In other words, it had things for divers and non-divers alike.

On Friday night, Ann and I as well as Steve Brennan, Yulia and Andy Marcer and Wade and Tena Sparks all moved into the Rose Mansion.  The Rose Mansion is a turn of the century Texas mansion that has been converted into a bed and breakfast.  What makes this property unique is that they have moved a number of other buildings onto the property and converted them into lodging options as well.  This made it the perfect location for our group (Pat and Thersa Croll came up on Saturday morning).  That evening, we had dinner at The Range, another converted property.  It was an old farm house that two Chef’s converted into a fabulous restaurant.

Saturday time to dive.  After a wonderful breakfast at our Mansion we headed to the lake.  Arriving we found others from our group already set-up and diving.  Like everywhere else outside in south and central Texas this weekend, it was HOT!  The water was warm but was certainly cooler than the air temperature.  Ann and I quickly assembled our dive gear and headed to the water with our borrowed Dive Flag and float (yes we forgot to bring ours and the fine for not having one is a little steep).  The first thing we noticed after swimming out to the platform, marked by a small water-bottle was that the visibility was not too impressive, especially for the “second clearest lake in Texas.”  Of course Wade’s students and some of the other divers had been here earlier so Ann and I ventured out and found the visibility better but still not what we had hoped.  Oh well, such is life, we were still diving and enjoying ourselves.  Ann also accomplished her goal of re-acquainting herself with her twins and doing a min-water equipment removal and replacement.

That evening, dinner at the famous Stage Coach Inn complete with their well known hush puppies and some really cold iced-tea.  Of course Wade, who had been diving with students all day,  had a little different order for our waitress “I would like a really cold Bud light, 10 minutes later I would like another and then 10 minutes later, please bring me another.  I’ll have one more after 20 minutes.”  And, like clock-work she took care of him.

Sunday, part of the group headed out for more diving but the remainder, including Ann and me, Theresa, Wade and Tena, all headed out to see what surprises the town of Salado had to offer.  We ran into a lovely lady who runs a store TexMexToGo, who was from Houston and lived near the store.  They had some real treats too.

After a little shopping we all hit the road, Ann keeping up with her Texas History lessons by reading “Why Stop” along the way.  Why Stop is a book originally written by a friend of my Father’s detailing the contents of many of the Texas Historical Markers found along the Texas highways and towns.  It has been updated and added to by his daughter.  Ann just keeps telling me that I am “indoctrinating her into Texas“…you have to know some of the history to live here in God’s Country!