October Dive Along

BLUE LAKE DIVE ALONG OCT 5&6TH

Two of Dive Addicts' most excellent dive instructors Amy Smith and Cliff Campbell will be offering a dive along at Blue Lake this coming Friday and Saturday October 5&6th. If anyone is interested in doing a night diving certification Friday night while they are out there, please get in touch with them at Dive Addicts to schedule.

They would love some company, so please give them a call at (801) 572-5111

Cocos Island Trip Update

For 10 days in August, thirteen Dive Addicts experienced diving nirvana found at a remote island in the pacific ocean 300 miles off the shore of Costa Rica. Cocos Island is a Costa Rican national park and has gained a reputation of being one of the best locations in the world for viewing large marine animals as well as encountering hundreds of sharks. Cocos did not disappoint.

The Dive Addicts trip started with a short flight to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. Our group spent one night in the beautiful Alta Hotel surrounded by lush Costa Rican jungle. The next day we boarded the Okeanos Aggressor and began our voyage towards the bountiful Cocos Island. Our thirty-two hour crossing included many sighting of dolphins, one whale sighting and lots of sea-sickness pills for some passengers. After the long voyage the appearance Cocos Island over the horizon was breath taking. With dozens of majestic waterfalls and dense jungles, staring at Cocos Island is like viewing a real life Jurassic Park, an island from the past frozen in time. Below the surface the excitement continued. Each dive consisted of an average of 45 minutes of awe-filled wonder. The hardest part about the diving was knowing which way to look and not letting the regulator float out of your mouth when you were struck with jaw-dropping amazement. There was never a dull moment. Hammerhead sharks numbering in the thousands would circle above or make a close pass in an attempt to be cleaned; white tip sharks either resting or hunting were visible everywhere; countless marbled rays would swim through schools of hundreds of thousands of jacks while ten foot long eels with heads as big as basketballs would emerge from their caverns and swim across the reef; Manta and Eagle Rays would make gliding appearances while 6 foot long tuna would dart through schools of smaller fish in search of a meal; Large turtles would lazily pass by and Amber Jacks the size of a diver would curiously approach; and just to ice the cake, Whale Sharks made many cameo appearances to check out the scene. The most amazing fact though, is that this description is not a compilation of everything seen throughout the week, instead it is a description of a single
typical dive at Cocos.

The amenities aboard the Aggressor were fantastic. The rooms were comfortable, the food was delicious and plentiful and the company aboard was unforgettable. But the best part was obviously the diving. Needless to say, this was another Dive Addicts trip of a lifetime.

Papua New Guinea 2

Send in the Clowns
On most dives, we were treated to a variety of clown fish, including Clowns, False Clowns, Tomato Clowns, as well as several other kinds that I am unfamiliar with. This particular picture is of a pair of False Clowns taken at Witu Islands. By the way, this was shot with a Canon EOS 1DS housed in a Subal housing with a macro port using a Canon 100mm macro lense.

MUCK DIVING WAS A BLAST
This picture of a Blue Ribbon Eel was taken on a much dive at night in Kimbe Bay. The eel was about the size of my thumb, and I would have gotten a little closer to it, but it was very shy. As I would move in closer, it would back down it's whole. Very colorful and interesting to watch!

TUNACATES GALORE
On almost every dive in both Witu islands and Fathers, the sea mounts were covered with a colorful collection of these tunicates. They are about 3-4 inches long, and are absolutely beautiful!



Friendly visitors
On several of the dives, we would surface to find our boat surounded by visitors from the local villages. Adults, teenagers, and sometimes very small children would paddle miles out to sea, to meet our boat and trade for rice, soap, candy and other staples.

Papua New Guinea
There is only one word that can describe the underwater environment of PNG - WOW! The diving there is absolutely amazing! You have never ever seen reefs in such pristine condition and so full of fish! But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.

First of all, as I have previously mentioned, when we got to Narita Airport in Tokyo, we were informed that Air Nuigini had lost the lease on their planes and that they were trying to locate a plane that they could "borrow" so that they could take us on to Port Moresby. This took about 24 hours, and they ended up borrowing a plane from Macau Airlines. (I know, half of you have never heard of it!) It's a small area originally settled by the Portuguese in China. That worked out fine, except that it was not supposed to fly over that big of stretch of water, so it had to wind it's way over every little island to get to PNG. Of course we arrived very late, and missed our connection in Port Moresby going on to Hoskins, and ended up having to spend the night in a little dive resort just outside of Port Moresby. Actually "spending the night" is a bit of a stretch, as we had to get up at 2:30 AM and get on the road back to the airport to catch a round about flight via Rabual to Hoskins. To make a long story short, 55 hours after leaving SLC we finally arrived at the Walindi Resort in Kimbe Bay PNG. Since the airlines gave the resort some bad information about what time we were arriving, they were not ready for us, and the boat captain had decided that this might be an ideal time to tear the engine apart and do an overhaul. This turned out to be a very bad idea, because they were unable to get the thing put back together in a timely fashion, so we sat around the resort most of the day, waiting for the boat to be in one piece.

Once the boat was supposedly repaired, we boarded, got assigned our rooms, and got under way. Boy were we excited, after almost 62 hours, we were finally steaming out of port headed towards the world's best diving, when all of a sudden, the boat engine broke down and we were left adrift in the ocean. This didn't seem like such a big deal to me, since we had two engines, but what the captain hadn't told us was that we only had one operational engine when we left port. Anyway, they radioed for another large boat to come out and get us, and tow us a short distance to a safe harbor just an hour away, and we dropped anchor. Of course by this time, there was almost mutiny on the bounty going on, with everyone wondering what kind of nut case was captaining our boat. The skipper, an Australian guy who was almost suicidal by this point, was just beside himself, but we figured, what the heck, we are floating in the water in PNG, and it's time to go diving. We geared up, jumped in the water, and did our first dive as a night dive. I can honestly say, that pretty much all problems were forgotten within minutes of jumping in the water. I have never in my life seen a more diverse and prolific underwater seascape. Everywhere you turned, there was some weird new creature that you had never seen before. It was simply amazing.

Once back on the boat, we were treated to the cooking of the boat's new Kiwi chef, who created interesting concoctions with odd assortments of ingredients. Apparently, grocery shopping in PNG is not like at home, and you need to be prepared for whatever the Grocery Gods throw at you! The food throughout the week was very plentiful and always an interesting combination of continental/PNG and Asian dishes. The only thing that got a little tiresome was the Mango ice cream, which we had 8 nights in a row!

The next day, the Walindi resorts sent small skiffs out to take us diving while they were fixing the engine on the big boat, and the diving was simply incredible. By the end of that day, the big boat was operating under it's own steam and we took off for the far reaches of Kimbe Bay. We did two days of muck diving in a volcanic crater in Kimbe Bay, that produced some of the most amazing creatures on earth. The muck diving was done in rubble patches that at first glance seemed like very unlikely spot, but were home to some very unique creatures, including 3 different species of lion fish, at least 15 different nudibranchs (one almost 18 inches long), cuttle fish, squid, octopus, mantis shrimp, flounder, mandarin fish, scorpion fish, robust ghost pipe fish (this is a very bizre one!), leaf fish, boxer shrimp, bulldozer shrimp, pipe fish, sea horses and the list goes on and on. I could have been happy if we had spent the entire trip doing nothing by muck diving!

We next moved the boat to the Witu islands. We met a retired Aussie cocoa palm plantation manager, who came to this very isolated outpost in 1965 and has never left. He was quite a character. Apparently, we need to stop and pay homage to him in order to appease the local villagers so that we could dive in that area. He is a local legend and had some wild stories to share. He also took several Dive Addicts on a tour of the local villages, and virtually everyone who went thought it was well worth the time. Many of the guests, had brought candy, small gifts and school supplies for the children, and they were the hit of the village. (See the picture of Mike Robinson playing the pied piper with the village kids training him and his candy bag!)

The diving in the Witu islands was quite different from Kimbe Bay, and had all sorts of small interesting creatures. (see the pictures attached). One other highlight of the Witu islands were the visits of the natives in outrigger canoes. They came every day bearing papayas, various roots, local greens, and seashells wanting to barter for a bag of rice, bars of soap and candy for the kids. This made for some very touching scenes. It is hard to believe that these people live in such primitive conditions and in such a carefree existence. Making the trip all this way, would have been worthwhile if only to see these people in their outriggers.

We next moved on to Father's Reef, where we had more pelagic encounters. Lots of sharks, mostly gray reef and silvertip, with an occasional white tip, were common on most dives here. We also saw some small Napoleon Wrasse, huge schools of jacks, and other predator types in abundance. Of course the small stuff for which PNG is most famous were to be found everywhere. Most of the diving in this area was on sea mounts or "bommies or knobs" as the Aussies say. Because you are in open ocean the currents could be quite strong on some of these sea mounts, until you made your way around the leeward side. It made the diving interesting to say the least.

The group on this trip was quite diversified, with several very experienced divers, several intermediate divers and a couple of beginners. The dive masters did a superb job of keeping everyone happy, and I'm pretty sure everyone got their fill of diving, with the exception of Mike Robinson who was still whining about getting in another dive after we got back to port, and were cooling our heels at the resort! All in all, we had the opportunity to do 36 dives, and I would say that most people did the better part of that! The last night dive was especially memorable with divers in the water for 71 minutes and rushing form one amazing site to the next. It's really fun to see people get so worked up about little creatures that your average diver would pass right over.

Sometimes, when things don't go quite the way you had planned on a dive trip, patience can wear thin, but this group of 16 Dive Addicts hung in there, and were rewarded with some of the most spectacular underwater experiences imaginable. I'm sure this is one destination that we will put on our "return to list".

July 2007

BIKINI ATOLL TRIP REPORT
Written by Kerstin Olcott

Eleven dive addicts trekked halfway around the world to see what only a handful of divers get to experience- the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Bikini has had an interesting history. Her original inhabitants were asked to relocated "for the good of mankind" by the US government so that nuclear tests could be carried out. World War II was over and the US took 73 ships out to Bikini to see how they would survive nuclear blasts. A series of 23 tests were carried out over the islands. The ships that we were diving on were destroyed during Operation Crossroads, which consisted of two impressive blasts; the Able and the Baker blast.

An average dive consisted of 30 minutes of bottom time between 130-180 feet and a decompression time of 50 minutes. It was all wreck diving and all of the ships etc were active during World War II. We did two dives a day for a total of 12 dives. The beach was amazing, the facilities good and the dive team was wonderful.

The USS Saratoga CV-3 is a masterful ship and the first aircraft carrier ever built in the US. Her impressive history and awe-inspiring presence made for incredible diving. Staring up at her bow from below is a humbling experience. We got to do several penetrations and swim through her living quarters. We saw three of her aircraft lying around the ship. The hangar has recently collapsed. These ships are literally disappearing before our eyes.

The notorious flagship of the Japanese Imperial Navy, the HIJMS Nagato, was a truly amazing series of dives. As we descended on the ship we could feel the eerie presence and personality of the ship. We were touching a piece of history hidden to the majority of the world, we were "waking a sleeping giant." We could almost hear Admiral Yamamoto launching the attack on Pearl Harbor. The enormous guns and propellers defied imagination. As we swam through the remains of the bridge you could almost hear the infamous call sign "Tora Tora Tora." We were able to penetrate the sea plane hangar, living quarters, and other sections of the ship in a series of three dives.

Besides the Saratoga and Nagato we dove the Lambson, Carlisle, Arkansas, Anderson, and the Apagon Submarine. Each of the wrecks is littered with treasure you don't often see on wreck dives. Dishes, coke bottles, dive helmets, torpedoes, a bugle, and artillery shell of every kind are everywhere you look.

On the Anderson DD-411 we saw the tiny ladder leading up the side of the ship where over a thousand sailors found their salvation from drowning during every major World War Two battle. Each diver took a moment to climb the rungs and take in the emotions that those war-torn young men must have felt as they climbed to safety.
In what other trip could you dive several aircrafts, an aircraft carrier, a submarine, a Japanese battle ship, and American destroyers? This trip was the experience of a lifetime.

June 2007

BELIZE TRIP REPORT
A huge thanks to Trip Leader Bill Nelson for the following Dive Addicts Belize trip report:

It has been reported that more than half of the world's population has never made or received a phone call. I suppose a good portion of those people live on Ambergris Caye. But they certainly don't seem to mind; and neither did we after our first few hours on the island.

Our large group of 25 arrived in Belize City after seven hours in the air leaving the normal cramped muscles and a yen for that comfortable chair in front of the TV. Our connecting flight to the Caye, was a commuter plane that accommodated 12. The pilot set down across the street from the Sunbreeze Resort, where we were delighted to see that our accommodations were very comfortable and clean. With one of the island's nicer restaurants on the premises, we knew that we were in the right place.

After being briefed by the dive master (dive shop also on the premises) we arrived about 9 AM each morning for our first descent of the day. If you think no one cares if you are alive, try being late for a dive! Most of our group was suited up and sweating for 20 minutes before entering the water because we soon learned that each dive was more thrilling than the last! The boats were comfortable and new; the dive masters assigned to show us around were wonderful.

For those of you who did not keep a journal, I have borrowed some notes from Edd Thorpe.

Date: Dive Site Comments:
Mon. May 21 Tuffy Canyons This was a "check out dive."
(I think the idea was for the dive
master to see who the experienced
divers were and who needed a little
more attention. As for me, it was a
chance to see who I had to out-swim in
the case of a shark attack.)

Cyprus Tunnels We saw nurse sharks and 2 swim-throughs

Tues. May 22 Tackle Box There were 3 good swim-throughs

Cyprus Gardens

Hol Chan (A night dive) Lots of stingrays and
large eels

Wed. May 23 Blue Hole For most of us, this famous site was
our deepest dive. A collapsed cave, we
saw stalactite formations that we swam
beneath to a depth of 135 feet.

Half Moon Caye Large grey tip reef sharks swam nearby
but the dive master assured us we would
not be molested as sharks are used to
seeing divers in this area. (I thought
that this was fairly useless
information.)

Boobie Bird Sanctuary (And you always wondered where to find
them!)

Eagle canyon to the "Aquarium"

Thurs. May 24 Esmerelda Here, we chummed for nurse sharks. They,
and other fish swam with us, sometimes
so numerous that we could not see the
other diver next to us. We were able to
play and touch the fish and the sharks.

Abyss We took our pictures with a sunken
statue of Christ.

Fri. May 25 Shark Ray Alley Eagle Rays, Spider Crabs and nurse
sharks

Hol Chan We snorkeled in 8 foot water to see
sting-rays while waiting for our surface
interval.

Boca Cica A drift dive, with slow moving current
(3-5 knots) nurse sharks, eels

On Saturday, we shopped, slept and packed while a portion of our group went back to the mainland to explore the ruins and experience the local attractions. On this last outing, one of our ladies unfortunately arrived back at the hotel in a wheel-chair. It was feared that her leg was broken and this began a nightmare trip home for her.

We were loaned a new mask by Aeris, complements of Dive Addicts to test dive on the trip. It has a computer display in the lower right corner of the window. You can't imagine how amazing it is to look at your gauges with literally no effort! They're right in front of you all of the time.

Our return flights were not as smooth as our trip to the Caye, but nearly everyone went back with a new awareness of the beauty off the coast of Belize and a desire to return again.
...and I finally figured out why my dive computer doesn't run "windows."

March 2007

Silver Banks- Whale Trip Report
Let me start by saying that the Silver Banks Whale trip was one of the most absolutely fabulous trips that we have ever been on with Dive Addicts. The Silver Banks is located about 9 1/2 hours by boat North of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Out in the middle of nowhere, the Silver Banks is a shallow pinnacle reef area that each season serves as a birthing/breeding area for the North Atlantic Humpback Whales. Whales come from up North, give birth, breed again, and then several weeks later head back up North with their new borns to feed.

We spent a incredible, if not magical week watching, interacting and snorkeling with these highly intelligent animals. The full grown adults weigh in at about 40 tons and the calves are anywhere from 5-8 tons. Think of the adults as about 2-3 city buses, with the calves about the size of an average car! These amazing animals would entertain us all week long as we traveled around in two small zodiacs during the day, and then spent our meal times and night times on our Aggressor Fleet boat. The food was great, the company was great, and we had a spectacular week.

We learned an amazing amount of information about whale behavior, most of it up close and personal. We learned and observed spy hoping, where the whales would stick their heads out of the water to observer us, peck slapping where they would slap their 15 foot pectoral fins on the water to get our attention or the attention of other whales. Tale slapping where they would thrust their huge tail flukes way up in the air and smack their tales down real hard to get other whales attention, breaching where they would shoot their whole body almost completely out of the water and crash down, blows which is when they shoot water out of the blow hole and take a breath, bumping when the male whales competing for the attention of a female would smash into each other and the grand daddy of all whale behavior the "Valentine". The valentine is the most incredible behavior to observe. The female whale becomes vertical in the water column, sticks its pectoral fins out and then starts to slowly pirouette around in circles as a signal to the male whale that she is interested in some affection. Probably the most amazing sight of the trip was watching one of the crew members free dive down 30-40 feet and imitate the valentine action and watching the 40 ton female mimic the diver. It was truly one of the most magical things I have witnessed.

Another interesting behavior of the Humpbacks, it what's called "A Rowdy". This is basically where 3 or 4 males will compete with each other for the attention of a female. They ram each other, cut each other off, breach, flip out of the water, and basically act like teenage boys trying to impress the prom queen. It was absolutely amazing to be so close to the action and watch these monsters go at each other. Of course we witnessed this behavior from the safety of our zodiac and not while we were in the water!

The crew on the Aggressor were very knowledgeable and very professional in all of their dealings. I think that every Dive Addict on the trip came away with a new found appreciation for nature and specifically these mammoth, highly intelligent manuals. It was certainly the trip of a life time for everyone, and one that we will not soon forget.

BREACHING North Atlantic Humpback whale engaging in breaching behavior. The whales are pretty much the same as the ones that you see in Hawaii, except that the Atlantic versions have white pectoral fins and white markings on their belly and sometimes on the underside of their tale. The adults are approximately 40 tons, and the cavles are born at least 3 tons, and during the 6 weeks or so that they remain in the Silver Banks, they can grow to as big as 8 tons, feeding on their mother's milk.

March 2007

THE ACCIDENT!!!!
Because there has been so much misinformation flying around about "THE ACCIDENT", I thought I would go ahead and tell the story from my perspective. (I might add, that I was not the only person there, and since there were 9 of us in the water at that moment, you will probably get 9 different versions of the same incident!)

Our group had been following at a distance a group of 3 whales - a mother, a calf and an escort male for well over an hour. Eventually, the 3 whales slowed and showed interest in allowing us to approach them in the water. As we slowly swam towards the whales, we noticed that they were asleep, which allowed us come quite close to observe and photograph them. As we got about 20 feet from the whales, we stopped to watch them and take pictures.

As we were watching from that distance, suddenly a surface current picked up and started to move us closer to the whales. At the same time the mother whale decided it was time to bring the calve to the surface for a breath. (The baby whales don't know when to breath on their own) As the mother started to surface, she turned in our direction, thereby narrowing the gap between the divers and the whales. The whales moving closer to us, and the surface current now pushing us towards them, combined to place us directly over the surfacing whales. As the calf surfaced right into us, it woke up and was spooked when it made contact with us. The spooked calf spooked the mother (40 tons worth!), which lashed its tale out and made contact with me (Randy Thornton) and Janet Blackwelder. The backwash of the tale threw Gwen about 20 feet, but she was unharmed. Janet Blackwelder was knocked unconscious and was under water, and I suffered a broken leg (femur).

As I made my way back to the surface, I yelled for help and several of the snorkelers came to my assistance. At that point, I knew my leg was toast, and I needed help just to keep my head above water. Simultaneously, other swimmers brought Janet to the surface, and the group kept us both above water. Gwen signaled the boat that there was a problem and we needed to be picked up. The boat rushed to our assistance, and began the process of getting us both aboard. The 2nd zodiac was called for, and the two boat captains along with some of the guests helped to bring us both up on the zodiacs. Because Janet was unconscious, and potentially had spinal chord injuries, she was brought on board first and me second. As you can imagine, pulling me up with a broken femur onto a bucking zodiac was no picnic. Once they got me onto the zodiac, they tried to stabilize my leg as best they could under the circumstances, and then they transported us back to the Aggressor (mother ship), which was about a 5 min. ride.

The Nekton liveaboard was moored next to the Aggressor, and there just happened to be an orthopedic surgeon onboard, who was doing the same thing we were - watching whales. He was brought over to the Aggressor and assisted with the transfers from the zodiacs, as well as helped to access our stability. He also assisted with re-splinting my leg, which involved a couple of free diving fins and a steel pole.

The captain of the Aggressor immediately contacted the US Coast Guard to check about a helicopter evacuation for both of us. Due to the distance from US waters, the Coast Guard was unable to respond. The Dominican Coast Guard is not capable of such a sea rescue, so the captain of the Aggressor had to make the decision to pull anchor and navigate out of the treacherous Silver Banks area before nightfall and head back toward Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic which is where the closest medical facilities were located.

The crossing was 9 1/2 hours through moderately choppy seas. I was awake the entire crossing and in severe pain. Fortunately, the boat's First Aid kit contained some morphine, which Barbara Gilson and her daughter Alysa Madsen (both registered nurses) were able to administer throughout the crossing. Additionally, they were able to keep an eye on both Janet's and my vitals, and offer overall comfort. Janet regained consciousness at some point. Since I was a little busy, I don't know when she actually came to, but since we were both laid out on the deck, I could hear her groaning, so I knew she was awake. As it eventually turned out, Janet was pretty much OK, with the exception of a concussion and a broken rib. She kind of got body slammed and was black and blue from head to toe, but was eventually released from the hospital and was able to fly commercially from the DR back to the US, for which we are all grateful.

Two ambulances met the boat at the port, and transported us both to the nearest private hospital. The hospital was a mixed blessing. The doctors and nurses took very good care of me, however it was a bit like being transported back in time. The hospital was quite primitive by US standards, both with training and equipment. Our preference was to try and get me back to the USA for surgery, but by the time we got through messing around with trying to get the insurance to take care of the evacuation, it was too late, and I needed to go ahead with the operation in the DR. I was operated on 26 hours later in a cement operating room that had no glass in the windows, just louvers. I could hear conversations happening curbside through the window. I was awake the entire operation with only an epidural, and saw the doctors using a hacksaw on my bone and a sledgehammer pounding the steel rod in my leg. I am told that orthopedic surgery is quite brutal even in the best of circumstances, but to be awake during the procedure and watching it was interesting to say the least. One of the most frustrating things about the 3 1/2 surgery was listening to the doctors answering their cell phones with the same hands they were operating with. After a while when I kept looking over my shoulder and giving them the "evil eye" for answering their phones, they put a drape over my head so that I would stop bothering them!

The surgery happened on Friday afternoon, and by Sunday afternoon I had developed a complication called a Fat Emboli, which happens sometimes when the marrow from the broken femur mixes with your blood stream and in my case caused severe respiratory distress. By Sunday night, I was in pretty serious condition, and my wife was just beside herself. By Tuesday night, after some "gentle persuasion" with the insurance company, they agreed to send down a medevac team to extract me out of there and bring me home. By Wednesday morning, I was pretty much convinced that I was a dead man, when around the corner two women dressed in blue jump suits carrying all sorts of medical equipment over their shoulders appeared at the foot of my bed and said "Howdy sailor, need a lift?" At this point I just burst into tears and have never been so glad to see someone in my entire life. They basically told the hospital nurses and doctors to stand back and let them do their jobs. They pulled out all of the tubes and leads that were hooked up to me, attached their own stuff, gave me a couple of shots of something, checked my vitals, put me on a stretcher and 38 mins later I was on a special Lear Jet and on my way home to Salt Lake City. It was just like the Marines had landed and boy was I glad to see them. I have no hard feelings about the medical care in the DR. They did a great job with what they had to work with, but it was very primitive compared to home.

An ambulance met the plane on the runway in SLC, and took me to St. Marks hospital where I stayed for 3 days, and then I went on to Health South rehab hospital where I stayed for 5 1/2 days. Last Thursday, I came home. Yeah! The docs say it will be 3-6 months before I am off of crutches. I am hoping for 3 months!

All in all, I feel very lucky and blessed that the injuries were not more severe, and that more people were not injured. It could have been much worse. Many people have asked me if I would go back and do it again. My answer to them is: "In a heart beat!" It really was the experience of a lifetime. The North Atlantic Humpback Whales are simply amazing. They touched my life, and for more than one reason, I am a different person after this trip.

Best regards,
Randy Thornton

MAKESHIFT SPLINT ON BOAT

Picture courtesy of Scott Adams

FliGHT HOME FOR RANDY


Randy on the Medevac Lear Jet.

Feb. 2007

DIVE ADDICTS TECH DIVERS RETURN FROM 40 FATHOM GROTTO
Several Dive Addicts returned from diving and training at the famed 40 Fathom Grotto in Ocala Florida this week. A natural sink hole with water temperatures ranging from 66 degrees at the surface to 56 degrees at depth, and visability ranging from 15 feet near the surface to 3 feet at depth, "The Grotto" makes an ideal training dive site. Due to the fact that we were looking for deep water not typically available in Utah during the winter months, a group of 7 divers flew from Utah to Florida to finish up required deep dives on certifications ranging from Advanced Nitrox to Advanced Trimix.

40 Fathom Grotto is famous for it's limited visibility, realtively cold water (by Florida standards) gas fills, training platforms, and unique underwater attractions such as sunken cars, vans, motorcycles, tow sub, skelaton and more!

Although the training was strenuous and taxing, I think everyone had a great time, and most importantly passed their required skills!

Pictured from left to right are Instructor Randy Thornton, Students Michael Thornton, Wendell Nope, Amy Smith, Scott Schoenenberer and Jeff Goddard. (Not pictured is Gary Eubanks)

DIVE ADDICTS' LATEST ADVANCED TRIMIX DIVERS
In the world of OC (open cirucuit) technical diving, the highest diver certification level for open water is ADVANCED TRIMIX. This certification trains and enables divers to do open water dives to a depth of 330 fsw using mixed hypoxic gases with multiple decompression gasses. Wendell Nope and Michael Thornton have just completed their training with Dive Addicts at the 40 Fathom Grotto. Congratulations to both divers for completing this rigorous and challenging training. The ADVANCED TRIMIX certification is a big time achievement and the pinnacle OC technical training. The training dives took place at the Homestead Crater, Blue Lake, Lake Mead Nevada and 40 Fathom Grotto in Ocala Florida. We look forward to hearing of their deep diving exploits in the future! Congratulations again to Wendell and Michael!


Pictured from left to right is Instructor Randy Thornton with students Wendell Nope and Michael Thornton.

DIVE ADDICTS' LATEST EXTENDED RANGE/TRIMIX DIVERS

TDI's Extended Range/Trimix class involves training for doing OC deep air as well as introductory Normoxic Trimix training to a depth of 200 fsw. Amy Smith, Jeff Goddard and Scott Schoenenberger have just completed their training in this challenging course with Dive Addicts Instructor Randy Thornton. The course was held at Dive Addicts in Draper Utah with open water dives at the Homestead Crater and 40 Fathom Grotto in Ocala Florida. This challenging course involves multiple deep dives on air up to 180 feet and dives on normoxic trimix up to 200 feet using decompression gases of up to 100% oxygen content. This course is a prepatory course for the Advanced Trimix. Amy, Jeff and Scott completed the course with flying colors and will be doing deep technical dives with their new found skills soon!



Pictured left to right student Amy Smith, Instructor Randy Thornton, student Scott Schoenenberger and in the back student Jeff Goddard.

November 2006

CURACAO TRIP REPORT
On November the 18th, sixteen Dive Addicts headed by Mike Taylor went to the wonderful island of Curacao for a week of fun in the sun at the Sunset Waters Beach Resort. We arrived in Curacao on the 19th after an overnight in Miami Florida. When we arrived, we were met by the resorts ground transport and we shuttled to Sunset Waters. The island was beautiful. Colorful flowers and lush greenery was everywhere. We were told that the had a wet dry season , that was why things we so colorful that time of the year. After everyone was unpacked we met at the dive shop for the orientation. Quickly after, we went on our first shore dive. The access to the reef was easy and short. We actually did two dives that night and it was amazing. The next day we started out boat dives on the day dreamer. We had six days of two tank boat diving and unlimited shore diving. There were some of Dive Addict's newest certified divers such as, Ellen Thorp, Diane Nelson, Heather Brown, and others. It was a joy to watch these three ladies take their first ocean dives, especially after they said that they would never get certified when their husbands were in their classes. Goes to show you, never say never!

We enjoyed fine cuisine such at goat stew and escargot. That is right, goat and snell. They were yummy. The resort had great food and the staff were so friendly and helpful.

I believe that everyone's favorite dive was Mushroom Forest. It was described as being in Alice in Wonderland. There were huge formations that looked like mushrooms covered with coral all over the ocean floor. It was truly a forest. The group had so much fun and enjoyed each others company. We did have one little dive addict, Cole Jensen, who had stings on his feet from something that got into his boots. He was such a trooper and dived anyway. He was nicked named Captain Cole because he got to help the Captain drive the boat.

This trip was by far Mike Taylor's favorite trip not only because the diving was so nice, but the people on the trip with him were so very much a joy! You know the trip was good when people say, "I would do this trip again", and that is exactly what was said. Thanks to all the dive addicts that went on this trip and made it so successful and enjoyable.

Sincerely Mike Taylor

August 2006

Whale Sharks, Whale Sharks and more Whale Sharks!
Galapagos Islands -Galapagos Aggressor 1

Wednesday August 16, 2006 - Got up at 5:00 AM and left for Salt Lake International Airport at 6:00 AM. Flew out on Delta to Atlanta at 8:30 AM. Onto Bogotá Columbia and then into Quito Ecuador. In Bogotá, there were hundreds of police in the airport. They all had these old fashioned holster that were bright white. It looked like something out of a 1940s film noire.

We finally made it into Quito at 10:30 PM. We hooked up with our driver who delivered us to the Dann Carlton Hotel in the financial district in Quito. It was a very nice hotel. We were expecting to stay there for only one night, however it turned out to be two nights!

Thursday August 17, 2006 - We got up at 7:00 AM and had a large buffet breakfast with the entire group consisting of Mike & Laura Robinson, Larry & Barbara Gilson, Jeff Smith & Jeff Matson, Craig Ramon & Brad Gilson, Sandra McNicoll & Steve Caverli, Brit Server & Crayton Walker and Gwen & Randy Thornton (me!) Our tour operator Ivonne met us at the hotel and took us in a shuttle to the Quito airport, where we found mass confusion. A volcano, just a couple of miles away from Quito had erupted in a major way, causing ash to spew everywhere in that part of the country. Consequently, all of the flights for much of the day were cancelled and we spent the better part of the day waiting for word if our flight was going to take off or not. Finally, about 2 PM we boarded the plane and went out on the runway only to have the tower call the plane back in. As it turned out, our flight was permanently cancelled about 3 PM and we had to go back to the hotel for the rest of the day and wait for word.

We went out shopping at a local market in town and contributed to the local economy by purchasing sweaters, shawls, scarves, etc. Later that evening, the group went out to dinner at a place called "LaRhonda". The food was above average and the restaurant featured live music with two different bands. One which consisted of 3 guitars players with a lone saxophone - which was a very odd combination, and the other band was the typical South American pan flute band in the Peruvian tradition. The second band was extremely entertaining, and I ended up purchasing one of their CDs.

Friday August 18, 2006 - We got up at 6 AM, ate at the buffet again, loaded our gear onto a shuttle and went back to the airport very eager to catch our flight. We eventually were able to get on a flight to Baltra Island by way of Gyuaquil, after much screaming and yelling by our small but feisty tour operator Ivonne! After a 40 minute layover in Guyaquil, we flew onto Baltra where we hooked up with the Aggressor folks at the airport there. Xavier Romero, a dive master from the Aggressor met us and took us back to the boat. We checked in, ate lunch, showed our C-cards and did a check out dive right on the other side of the island where the boat had been parked. We only dove to 56 feet, but saw a lot of cool stuff including a Tiger Snake Eel, a giant parrot fish, the largest Queen Angel I have ever seen, and a VERY friendly sea lion that was zooming through a group of sardines and then noticed us and played around with us for over 15 mins. This first dive was just supposed to be a check out dive to check on our buoyancy, and get our weighting right, but Gwen and I had a great time. The water was a cool 71 degrees, and that took a little getting used to, and the viz was only about 30 feet. Regardless, it was a lot of fun and we saw some very cool wildlife. We are now under way to Darwin Island, which will take us approximately 17 hours from Baltra.

Saturday August 19th, 2006 - We are Darwin's arch and did 4 dives. Two before lunch and two after lunch. The current has been slower than usual and we have had an incredible dive. At one point we saw at least 22 Hammerheads in a school. They are all Scalloped Hammerheads in the 8-9 foot range with every once in awhile, a 10 footer will come by. We have also seen a handful of Galapagos Sharks. These big boys are more in the 10-12 foot size and have a huge girth. They are at least twice as wide as the Hammerheads. The Hammerheads are very curious until they get close to you and you exhale, then they get nervous and take off.



There are all sorts of other cool looking fish, bright yellow puffer fish, coronet and trumpet fish that are 3-4 feet long, yellow fin tuna, zooming in and out of the large schools of fish. One tuna was almost 5 feet long and looked like it could hold its own against any shark that was out there. Huge schools of jacks - some of them enormous! There are green eels everywhere on the rocks. I am seeing 10-15 on every dive. Some of them are 5-6 feet long. The schools of fish are so huge that when they go by they block out the sun! It is very cool to see the large predators dive-bombing through the schools and see the fish scattering everywhere!

I guess the biggest news is - No Whale Sharks. This is the primary reason most people have come on this trip, and the lack of whale sharks is starting to cause some grumbling!

Last night we ate dinner up on the top deck and had a very nice barbeque. The food has been very good, and the service by everyone on the boat has been top notch, including the typical Aggressor warm towels and hot chocolate and snacks on the dive deck.
Sunday August 20, 2006 - Success! Whale sharks - We have seen 4 whale sharks today, including one at the surface that we swam with! One of the whale sharks was at least 40 feet long. It is such an amazing experience to swim out into the blue and look up and see a shark that is the size of a city bus! Xavier and Walter our two dive masters, carry steel rods that they bang on their tanks when they see something. Even if you can't see it, when you hear the banging you swim out into the blue and look for the whale shark. I swam with the whale shark until I was totally out of breath, had 4 mins. of deco, and only 500 psi left, so I had to stop chasing the whale shark and start my ascent. Additionally we had schooling hammerheads (a group of over 20) for 15 mins. Mike Robinson had a hammerhead that came within two feet of his face, turned sideways and looked eyeball to eyeball! It was amazing. We also had a dolphin that swam circles around us at 90 feet several times. This afternoon dives were as good as it gets!

Monday August 21, 2006 - Success again. We got up early and did another dive at Darwin's Arch before breakfast. We saw another Whale Shark. This one was a little smaller than the one we saw yesterday afternoon, but yet it was still enormous. Darwin's Arch is absolutely amazing. Hammerheads everywhere, an occasional Galapagos and silkies. Schools of fish so thick that you think the sun is going through an eclipse when they go over. When the whale shark comes along, everyone swims out into the current and tries to keep up with the whale shark swimming against the current. You can only do it for a minute or two before you are so winded you are over-breathing your regulator. (Note to self- Time to hit the gym a little harder when I get home!) At this point, our air is running out, and we start making our way to the surface. Usually, we have a couple of minutes of deco to take care of, then we are doing our extended safety stop. At the safety stop we see barracudas and Wahoo circling.

Getting back on the "pangas" (dinghies) is a chore in itself. You take off your gear and hand it up to the pang driver, and then pull/kick/throw yourself up and over the side of the pang and land on the side like a beached whale. At this point, you are hoping that no one is taking any video to blackmail you with when you get home. All in all, I think we can count the 2-1⁄2 days of diving at Darwin's arch as a success!

As soon as we get back onto the Galapagos Aggressor 1, we start heading toward Wolf Island for 2 afternoon dives. I have only one word to say about diving at Wolf - WOW! High voltage, high current, lot's and lot's of sharks! Galapagos, Hammerhead and Silkies. Everywhere you looked, sharks, sharks and more sharks! But probably the most beautiful sight at this location are the multiple squadrons of Eagle Rays. Where else in the world can you see 20 Eagle Rays in formation, all at the same time? I am trying to take pictures while I have Eagle Rays and Sharks coming from every direction, and Gwen it tugging on my wetsuit constantly trying to point me in the direction of the next incoming! All the while, I am getting whipped around by the current, and turned every which way but loose! It was truly overwhelming to see so many spectacular formations of perfect eagle rays, and VERY BIG BIG Galapagos sharks coming from all directions. It was one of those times when you whish you had your double 104s or a rebreather that would allow you to stay down for hours.

The water temperature was a little colder than Darwin, about 71 degrees, but the viz was a little better - about 50-60 feet. All 14 divers were kind of spread out over the reef so that everyone could stay out each other's way. It was certainly one of the most exciting two dives I have ever done anywhere at anytime.

That night, we took off for the 14-hour crossing back to Cousin's rock. It was very rough, and several people got sea sick, including me! I ended up taking some Dramamine, which doesn't happen very often for me. It was Larry Gilson's 60th birthday, and the chef cooked up a special birthday cake, which was quite good! The food has been wonderful on this boat, and the crew is probably the best that I have had on any liveaboard. All of them are native Ecuadorian, and extremely helpful and friendly. The two dive masters Walter and Xavier are great, and always looking for stuff to show us. Xavier actually has a master's degree in Marine Biology, and has been very informative about all of the marine life.



Tuesday August 22nd - After a LONG night crossing we have arrived at Cousin's Rock. We did two dives here, which were quite different from Darwin or Wolf. First off all very little current. There are lot's of beautiful starfish in various flavors. They look kind of like starfish with chocolate chips on top! Dozens of small fish that I have never seen before and a few sea lions waiting to play with us. For the first time, we are seeing other people. There are a few other boats in the area, and after the desolation of Darwin and Wolf, it almost feels odd to see another human being outside of our own little party. Galapagos is very much an isolated chain of islands way out in the middle of nowhere, and it is obvious that the isolation has keep the prolific number of fish high!

Tuesday August 23rd - The 2 dives at Cousins Rock was quite different from Darwin and Wolf. The water was 3 or 4 degrees cooler. We saw a few sea lions, which were quite playful. We also saw hundreds of starfish is various colors, sizes and shapes. The biggest attraction at Cousin's was the seahorses. The seahorses in Galapagos are larger than most. The ones we saw were 4-5 inches long. One was yellow and one was red. They are very surreal looking, almost like a toy or something.

Later that afternoon, we traveled over to Bartoleme bay and took a little pang trip to see the penguins and sea lions. The penguins are very cool to look at, although their numbers have been decimated from 4000 down to 400 total for the Galapagos Islands. El Nino had a very bad effect on them, and killed 90% of the populations. Later that same afternoon, we also hiked up to the top of the volcanoes on the top of Bartoleme and saw the view that was made famous in "Master and Commander". The sight is really one in a million.

That night we motored over to Santa Cruz, which was about a 4-hour trip, and spent the night in that bay.

Wednesday August 24th - We got up and did a "sea lion" dive in the bay of Santa Cruz, at a place called "Plata Plazas" - Nothing too exciting, but I did see several creatures that I have never seen before. The marine biology is very diverse here, and I have seen 30 -40 creatures that I have never seen anywhere else in the world.

Later that afternoon, we did a tour of the Charles Darwin Center, where we saw the large tortoises and tried to see Lonesome George, who is the last of his breed. When he dies, that particular genetic strain will cease to exist. Unfortunately, Lonesome George was feeling a little shy that day, and would come out of his opening so that we could see what he looked like. We did however see several HUGE animals that were just enormous!

We were off the boat that night on Santa Cruz for dinner on our own. The restaurant that the boat hooked us up with, took forever to get us our food, but it tasted great. Grilled Slipper Lobster in Garlic Sauce!

We then moved to San Cristobal Island to catch our flight back to Guyaquil and then onto Quito for an overnight stay before we fly home. Some of the group are staying in Ecuador to do jungle tours for 3 days.

Overall, the trip was a great success, and I am looking forward to coming again to see the wonders of the Galapagos Islands! Another great time was had by Utah's Dive Addicts.

June 2006

Little Cayman
It's Friday, and we had geared up for our final two dives of the trip this morning, however mother nature has is not cooperating with us this morning and we have been blown out! It's not the end of the world, because we have been having incredible diving all week, but it's kind of funny seeing a bunch of gung ho divers relaxing around the pool this morning.

The diving this week has been absolutley superb. Great viz, great weather, uncrowded dive sights, and the Bloody Bay Wall. What could be better. 25 Dive Addicts all enjoying each others company, and enjoying the resort, diving and food!

The reefs have been in absolutley great shape. Hurricane Ivan that passed this way almost two years ago hit Grand Cayman and really did almost no damage at Little Cayman. Consequently the facilitites and the reefs are in great shape.

Almost everyone on the trip has seen new creatures they haven't seen before. (See Kerstin's fish list below for her personal list of underwater life sighted.) The wall in the Bloody Bay Marine Park is just spectacular. It is as sheer as they come, and covered with an incredible amount of various sponges, hard coral and soft coral. We have experienced sharks, turtles, sting rays, eagle rays, as well as dozens of the typical Carribean characters. It has been just fantastic. We couldn't have asked for a better week of diving!


Kerstin's Little Cayman Fish List
Kerstin Olcott, one of Dive Addicts' Instructors, spotted the following fish on the Little Cayman trip. Quite an impressive list!

Juvenille Spotted Drum
Rainbow Parrot Fish
Spotted Scorpion Fish
Green Morray Eel
Spotted Eagle Ray
Southern Sting Ray
Honey Comb Cowfish
Porcupine Fish
Balloon Fish
Princess Parot Fish
Gray Angelfish
Tiger Grouper
Nasau Grouper
Black Grouper
Graysby
Four-eye Butterfly fish
Banded Butterfly fish
Rock Beauty
Queen Angelfish (juvenille and adult)
Docotrfish
Horse-eye Jack
Cero
Great Baracuda
Blue-striped Grunt
School Master
Ceasar Grunt
Red Hind
Tabacco Fish
Fairy Basslet
Spotlight Parrot Fish- male and female
Striped Parrot Fish- male and female
Red band Parrot Fish
hogfish
Bluehead
Blue Tang
Squirrel Fish
Long Jaw Squirrel Fish
Neon Goby
Goldspot Goby
Masked Goby
Briddled Goby
Sand Diver
Trumpet Fish
Peacock Flounder
Yellowhead Jawfish
Black Durgon
Queen Triggerfish
Nurse Shark
Carribean Reef Shark
Spiny Lobster
Brittle Star
Lettuce Sea Slug
Banded Coral Shrimp
Arrow Crab
Flame Scallop
Sea Star
Spotted Morray
Flamingo Tongue Snail
Brittle worm
Atlantic Octopus
Arrow Blemy
Red Spotted Lobster
Urchin Crab

May 2006

Trip Report from Grand Cayman

We just returned from an incredible week of diving during Dive Addicts' annual "Tech Week". This years trip was spent with Dive Tech and Cobalt Coast resort in Grand Cayman. The resort is located on the North West side of the island, fairly close to the turtle farm. A small hotel with 18 rooms and an all inclusive food package, this resort is away from the crowds of 7 mile beach, including all of the traffic jams.

Given that this week was to be dedicated to working on technical diving skills, equipment rigging and diving to depths beyond normal recreational limits, Dive Tech was the perfect operation to hook up with. We had a nice combination of boat and shore diving. Because the resort is located on the North West side of the island, we had easy access to both the mini wall, which is just a stone's throw from shoreline, as well as the main wall, which was about a 15 mins. leisurely swim from the shore. A typical shore dive would consist of a bubble check and safety drill in the shallows, a descent down the mini wall to 65 feet, a swim across the sand flats to the main wall, and then a descent down the main wall until the desired depth was reached. The equipment configurations consisted of double aluminum 80s for back gas, and stage bottles as side mounts in either aluminum 40s or 65s depending on how deep you were going. Gases consisted of Air, Nitrox, Oxygen and Trimix in various flavors.

The boat diving, was usually off of the main western wall, but trips aboard one of the two dedicated dive boats were 15 mins. or less. The dive masters and boat crew were top notch. All tech divers themselves, they were more than happy to give suggestions or help out in any way that was needed. Grand Cayman with warm waters, little current, and great viz, was the perfect place to polish up those tech diving skills, and maybe even expand some skills.

The food was very good, with selections such as lobster, crab, pork chops, various pastas, and several deserts that were to die for. The rooms were comfortable with US cable TV, airconditioning and in room telephones. In fact, it was very similar to a dive resort that you might stay at in Florida or somewhere else in the US, except that we were diving in Caymanian waters!

Our evenings were full of dive planning, dive planning and more dive planning! I think everyone along, felt like it was a great time albeit a challenging time.

December 2005

Dive Log: Lake Mead
By, Dive Addicts Instructor,
Joshua Thornton

“Here we go again…” I think to myself as in the pre dawn hours we re-pack our truck in front of the Hacienda hotel in Boulder City, Nevada. As the others in the group wake and begin to bring their trucks around front to reload them, I try to imagine what “normal” people think of us as we haul thousands of pounds of scuba gear out through the main lobby.

I have been looking forward to this trip for quite some time and now it is becoming a reality. No, this may not be the trip of a lifetime, but Lake Mead is a new destination for me; I am always excited to dive somewhere I have not. The plan is simple- I brought two Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures students down, along with seven other Tech-Addicts and we want to go deep, and actually be able to see something. Because some of the divers were still in training, we were limited in depth to 150 FSW, but oh boy did we enjoy it. This was truly the best Lake diving I have ever done, Great Lakes here we come!

Dive 1
Location: Black Canyon, Lake Mead
Depth: 150 FSW
Bottom Time: 54 min.
Visibility: 35 ft
Water Temp: 61 degrees F

Dive 2
Location: Mixing Plant, Lake Mead
Depth: 109 FSW
Bottom Time: 32 min.
Visibility: 10 ft
Water Temp: 68 degrees F

August 2005

Dive Log
Spear Fishing At Deer Creek
By Dive Addict Scott Olcott

Saturday was another beautiful day for diving. Perfect weather for a day on the lake. Boats were zipping about on Deer Creek and we were ready to see what was beneath them. After a night of instruction on spear fishing a few brave Dive Addicts braved the cold, murky water to try their hand at the sport. Despite some poor visibility, a few Dive Addicts not only saw fish but were able to spear them. Others saw nothing but brown rocks in the 5 foot visibility, but any day you get in the water is better than a day with no diving. Diving in Deer Creek requires a fairly warm wet suit or dry suit. Around 35 feet there was a pretty good thermal climb and by the time you got down to 65 feet the water was around 56 degrees. A few fishermen brought home some large carp. Wendel Nope shot the largest fish, a giant carp at just over 10 lbs. Richard Lamb shot the most fish with one very large carp and a small bass. Prizes from OMS, Aeiris, Atomic, Aqua Lung, Henderson, and Tusa were awarded in a number of categories, and virtually everyone went home with some type of prize!

Date: 08/20/05
Location: Deer Creek Reservoir, UT
Water Temp: 56ºF
Depth: 67 ft.

June 2005

Rebreathers in Provo By Dive Addicts Instructor, Randy Thornton
I knew it was going to be a fantastic day for diving as we motored out of the Leeward Harbor on Providencialis, Turks & Caicos. The island known to locals as “Provo”, became a spec on the horizon as we journeyed onboard the “Live and Direct”, one of 4 dive boats owned by Big Blue Ltd. a dive shop known on Provo for small groups and especially catering to the growing technical dive crowd. O2 Technical, the technical dive instruction operation on Provo had chartered the boat that day with 7 technical divers, including 3 Inspiration rebreather divers on Trimix, and 3 open circuit divers on Trimix.

Trimix usually means one thing, and today is no different – going deep! The trip over to French Cay was a little over one hour, due to the unusually flat ocean conditions. Mother Nature had cooperated and we had perfect conditions. As we arrived I peered over the side, and estimated that the visability was at least 200 feet. With zero current, no wind, 84 degree water, and multiple trimix dives under our belt, I knew we were in for a treat. Once we went through our onboard safety checks, pre-breathed our Inspiration rebreathers, we jumped into the gin clear water, and attached our two emergency bailout bottles. Each was a 80 cubic foot cylinder, one containing 80% Nitrox for emergency deco at 20 feet, and the other containing a trimix mixture of 18/34. This normoxic trimix was breathable at the surface as well as at depth, and mirrored the dilluent mixture that we carried in the 3 liter bottles on our CCRs (closed circuit rebreathers).

Once we had gained our composure, checked our systems, and did a bubble check at about 20 feet, we continued our descent until we were on top of the reef at about 60 feet. (the dive site is called “G-spot”, and is a beautiful shallow dive, even if you don’t go over the wall)

This was going to be the last dive site of our trip, and Mike and I wanted to make sure that we had a great experience. We finned over to the wall from the boat mooring, and started our gradual descent along the outer wall. We were diving as a buddy team, just the two of us, and we turned a different direction on the wall from the rest of the group, specifically so that we would be by ourselves. Just the two of us - on completely silent rebreathers – no bubbles, no noise, just us descending into the blue, with one of the most beautiful walls in the Caribbean.

One of the first things I noticed, was the condition of the coral and sponges on the wall. Once we descended past 130 feet, the wall was in spectacular condition. Without any damage from hurricanes, fishermen, or other divers, everything was in amazing condition. Barrel sponges that you could park a Volkswagen in were everywhere, with huge bright colored tube sponges in bright purples and greens. Giant Nassau Groupers were everywhere, as well as huge Jacks that seemed to be very interested in us for some reason.

When we hit 200 feet, the magic started. Out of nowhere 3 very large Spotted Eagle Rays appeared and started their fantastical ballet right before our eyes. We continued to drop down to about 240 feet, and the Eagle Rays stayed right with us, continuing there graceful swirling movements around us. With wingspans of at least 8 feet, and tails another 8 feet or so long, they glided past us and circled around us time and time again for over ten minutes. At one point, two of them swam right towards me and split off at the last second with one gliding in front of me and the other behind.

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, the sharks showed up. Apparently, our lack of bubbles was interesting to a 7 foot Caribbean Reef Shark and it’s two juvenile pups who were about 2 feet long. They continued to circle us and progressively came closer and closer. They didn’t seem to be agitated or aggressive in any way, but simply interested in what these two weird creatures were doing with yellow shells on their backs. When we reached our self imposed 20 minute bottom time, we began our journey back towards the surface which would include 45 minutes of decompression time starting with our first stop at 139 feet for two minutes. The sharks stayed with us through our next 3 series of stops, and finally left us when we reached the 60 foot mark. Each time I ascend from a deep wall dive, there is always a slight sense of relief, when I am back closer to the surface, but this time I was really reluctant to leave the deep!

At 60 feet, we had reached the top of the wall and began to gradually cut back over above the reef towards where the boat was moored. With additional stops at 50, 40, 30 and 20 feet, we finished the last 25 minutes of the dive hanging from the mooring line with ring-side seats watching the activity of the reef twenty feet below us. At this point, the bubble blowers (the open circuit divers) had joined up with us on the mooring line and we had a bit of a traffic jam at the twenty foot mark, where eventually almost all deco divers will be doing their longest hang times.

The entire dive seemed surreal and made for a spectacular finish to two wonderful weeks in the Turks & Caicos. 40 dives in two weeks, with not a one of them boring! I was grateful for the experience of interacting with Mother Nature’s finest and the serenity and calm that I felt. Obviously, deep rebreather diving is not for everyone, but with the proper training and equipment, it will open up an entirely different world.

August 2005

Addicts Abroad- Truk Lagoon and Turks and Caicos By Dive Addicts Instructor, Randy Thornton


Truk Lagoon- June 19-26, 2005
15 lucky Dive Addicts recently returned from Truk Lagoon on the wreck diving trip of a lifetime! Truk (more recently) known as Chuuk, part of the Federated States of Micronesia, is part of the Eastern Caroline Island chain located about 800 miles from Guam. Although it is not part of the United States, it has some loosely connected relationship, and even has a US postal zip code and is serviced by the US postal service.

The site of “Operation Hailstone” during the later days of World War II, Truk is home to at least 65 sunken Japanese WWII war ships and support ships. Truk was the main forward Pacific base for the Japanese Navy and was used for repairs, refueling, and re-supplying. Consequently, Operation Hailstone caught the Japanese fleet with much of its support ships without any way to escape. Earlier in the week, much of the actual war ships and 3 aircraft carriers were able to put to sea to escape the coming American forces. Because most of the support ships were either being repaired or were in the process of fueling or unloading cargo, they were trapped. Over a 48-hour period, the Americans pounded the Japanese, virtually sinking every boat and plane in the area. Many historians have equated Operation Hailstone with Pearl Harbor. Actually, the damage inflicted by the Americans in Truk is much greater than that which was sustained in Pearl Harbor.

The legacy of these shipwrecks has created a wreck diver’s paradise. 61 years later, these wrecks are a continuing testament to the horrors of war. Each of the wrecks is a time capsule of life as part of the Japanese war machine. Even though most of the wrecks are encrusted with undersea growth, there are literally thousands of artifacts both personal and military, ranging from trucks, tanks, machine guns, deck guns, torpedoes, airplanes and airplane parts, eating utensils, newspapers, blue prints, shoes, clothing, basins, pots and pans, sake bottles, gas cans, water tanks, land mines, underwater mines, rifles, gas masks, and hundreds of other items. Although most of the skeletons and bodily remains have been removed, occasionally we would see bones from deceased crew members. Keeping in mind that these wrecks are war graves, we attempted to offer these areas the utmost respect and made sure that we did not disturb any remains that we may have come across. Recently, the wrecks have been declared a national monument, and collecting of artifacts is forbidden by law. Previously, many of the wrecks have been picked over. The deeper wrecks obviously have more artifacts than the shallow wrecks since they are dived less frequently.

During the week, we dove the Shinko Maru, (Maru means freighter), the Fumitzuki ( a destroyer). The Hanakawa Maru, the Sankisan Maru, the Unkai Maru, the Fujikawa Maru, the Hoki Maru, the Rio de Janero Maru, the Nippo Maru, the Yamagiri Maru, the San Fansisco Maru, the Betty Bomber (a sunken Japanese bomber plane), and the Kensho Maru. For those that made every dive, there were 27 dives available.

Diving off of the liveaboard Truk Odyssey, the diving was a complete joy. The boat would anchor either directly on a wreck or to a mooring that was attached to the wreck. We set our equipment up at the beginning of the week, and never had to mess around with it again the rest of the trip. All nitrox fills were done right in place, and each diver was assigned a locker for his equipment. The crew were experienced wreck divers with intimate knowledge of all of the wrecks that we visited. Dive briefings were given before each new wreck visited and one of the captains would give us a historical perspective on each boat, along with highlights that we should watch for. Each diver made up his own mind as to whether he wanted a guided tour or wanted to self-guide.

The food on the boat was both plentiful and tasty; with the highlight being of the week either the fresh seared Ahi tuna or the steak and lobster dinner. The cabins were comfortable, and there is a nice lounge area with a big screen TV with a DVD player. All in all the boat was very comfortable with a top -notch crew.

Several divers completed advanced certifications during the trip including Advanced Nitrox, Decompression Procedures, and Extended Range. This was the perfect venue to finish up these courses, with plenty of opportunities to practice real life deco diving! The pinnacle of the week for most of the divers was a deep dive to 185 feet on the San Francisco Maru. For most of our divers, the profile was 185 feet for 15 minutes of bottom time, with anywhere from 20 to 35 minutes of deco, depending on what deco gas they were using.

If you are into real life, historically significant wrecks, in warm benign water, then Truk Lagoon should definitely be on your list. It just doesn’t get any better than this!

Turks and Caicos
18 Dive Addicts have just returned from a wonderful week aboard the Turks & Caicos Aggressor liveaboard ship in the Turks & Caicos Islands. (For those of you who don’t know where Turks & Caicos is located, please see your map of the Caribbean right below the Bahamas).

We spent an incredible week doing up to 5 dives per day, off the back of a luxury boat with 9 staterooms and additional crew’s quarters. We were very lucky with the weather, as we had completely calm seas the entire trip. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find that smooth of water at Lake Powell!

Each day was started with a very ample and tasty breakfast, then a dive at
8:00 AM. Upon getting back on the boat, divers were treated to tasty snacks, and then relaxation time until 11:00 AM, when we would do our 2nd dive. After the 2nd dive, lunch would be served in the main salon while the boat was being relocated to a new dive site. Afternoon dives were conducted at 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM and dinner was served after the 2nd afternoon dive.

Dinners were actually quite amazing, with varied and tasty delights available every night. After dinner, a night dive was conducted every night except one, when a quick lightning storm passed through that provided that night’s entertainment almost as well as a fireworks show!

The diving was spectacular. The water temperature was about 84 degrees so absolutely no one was getting cold even with the multiple dives over multiple days. The viz was anywhere from 80 feet to 150+ feet, and the corals and undersea life were very healthy.

Because we were diving from a liveaboard, we were able to visit and dive
extensively in less visited areas. Consequently, the sea life was abundant and very friendly. We saw Caribbean reef sharks on virtually every dive, turtles on most dives, huge groupers, octopi, lobsters (giant ones!), huge crabs, stingrays, spotted eagle rays, as well as numerous Caribbean reef fish in plentiful supply.

We had a varied group with regards to experience level, but by the end of the week, all of our divers looked like they had been diving for years! (That will happen when you do 27 dives in one week!)

As usual, the Aggressor had a hot tub on the top floor and several people
took advantage of it after night dives. Of course, warm towels and hot showers were available on the back dive deck after each dive, and I’m sure that many of the “first time liveaboard divers” were spoiled with the pampering! I think most people will agree, that liveaboard diving is the absolutely most effortless type of diving available.

The crew on this boat were wonderful. They all were very helpful, and you got the feeling they really enjoyed their jobs. The captain, was especially lots of fun and he dove at many of the dive sites along with the guests. His jovial South African accent made for some lighter moments throughout the trip.

The walls of Turks & Caicos were spectacular, and lived up to their reputation. We were sad to see the week come to an end, but look forward to the next Dive Addicts Trip!

June 2005

Dive Log
A Day At Blue Lake

A beautiful day at Blue Lake! The sun was out, and so was all our rental gear. A group of about 15 true Dive Addicts got together and went out to Blue Lake to finish classes and do some fun dives! Randy Thornton was finishing up a group of students in their Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures classes- all the double tanks, reels, and lift bags were turning quite a few heads. But, the real eye catcher was Mike Robinson diving his new Inspiration rebreather. There were quite a few (about 40) people there to kick up the silty bottom but we were still able to see one of the boats, the praying mantis sculpture, and a few other fun things along with all the fish. Matt Mimnaugh stayed with some students working on their Advanced Diver certifications to do some night diving and had a blast! Make sure to check our schedule to see when the next dive-a-long is!

Date: 05/14/05
Location: Blue Lake, UT
Water Temp: 79ºF
Depth: 55 ft.