![]() I then booked to go on The Scuba Doctor's expedition in February 2012, and again had to cancel because of work. I immediately booked to go on one with Peter Fear, but had to cancel because of work. The trial liveaboard diving expedition to Bikini Atoll was a great success and Indies Trader Marine Adventures obtained the only license to dive Bikini and scheduled dive expeditions for 2011. ![]() (The third is the USS Oriskany (CV-34) sunk as an artificial reef, now popularly known as the "Great Carrier Reef", off Florida, USA.) Lucky bugger! There are only three aircraft carriers in the world you can dive on, and he'd got to dive two of them within a month of each other. Photo: USA MilitaryWithin a few short weeks of diving on HMS Hermes (95), the world's first aircraft carrier, Peter was diving on the USS Saratoga again. ![]() Martin Daley, the owner operator, had invited Peter Fear, plus Pete Mesley from New Zealand, along to offer their expertise on setting up the live aboard dive operation. This time it was a trial liveaboard expedition on the Indies Trader Marine Adventures vessel Indies Trader. So Peter Fear was off on his third trip to Bikini Atoll. I told him about the offer, and he said, "Go!" I then explained my work commitments for the next three weeks, and he said, "Don't go!" Photo: UK MilitaryThen one Wednesday afternoon in October 2010, just a few weeks after returning from an expedition diving the British HMS Hermes (95) aircraft carrier sunk by the Japanese in WWII off Batticolola, Sri Lanka, I got a call from Peter Fear saying, "There's a boat leaving to go to Bikini Atoll on Sunday and there's a spot on it if you want it?" About 30 minutes later my boss came into my office and asked why I was looking so depressed. Disaster! How was I ever going to fulfil my dream of diving on the sunken ghost warships of the nuclear fleet? Without a major lottery win, or the ability to hook up with someone going there by boat as Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, did on his luxury 126 metre mega-yacht 'Octopus', it looked like I would never get to dive at Bikini Atoll. Late in 2007, the land-based operators cancelled diving at Bikini Atoll because they couldn't rely on the airline to get people in and out. Yet it was still a destination every serious wreck diver dreamed of getting to. Back then an expedition spot cost more than A$12,000 plus expenses for a 2 week trip per diver. The Bikini people had setup a land-based diving operation and you could fly in to Bikini Atoll via Majuro Atoll. So I booked to go on the 2009 expedition and started to do the training to get the skills and certifications I'd need.īack then around 250 or so divers a year got to go to this remote location in the Marshall Islands. Some of the guys on that trip stopped diving for more than two years afterwards saying, "What's the point, nothing can top Bikini Atoll!"īy the time Peter Fear returned from his second expedition to Bikini Atoll in 2007 I was salivating at the concept of diving the USS Saratoga (CV-3), an aircraft carrier and one of the world's largest "dive-able" wrecks. Diving the Nuclear Ghost Fleet at Bikini Atollīikini Atoll is the greatest underwater warship wreck museum in the worldīikini Atoll is without a doubt, the top wreck diving destination on the planet! Soon after I started diving back in 2006 I met Peter Fear, The Scuba Doctor ( I started to hear stories from Peter, plus some of the others who had been with Peter on a dive expedition to Bikini Atoll in 2005, about how great the place was.
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