TRAVELSPECIAL
An anti-aircraft gun , frozen in its final position
The Diving Day
Depths are great for Mod 2 type diving , and with the price of helium at $ 2,200 per J cylinder plus delivery , ideal for rebreather diving to give a nice , long bottom time to explore the wrecks . Yes , you could do it on air and open circuit , but as it ’ s quite expensive to just get there , it ’ s nice to have a squirt of helium in your breathing gas so you remember it , and the extended bottom times that a rebreather can give are ideal ,
allowing you to explore the whole wreck in a single dive , as opposed to two or three .
At the resort , all the rebreather divers get their own bench space in the Faff Room , the morning walk to which involved a cheery hello from the cheery gardening man . Once you ’ ve got your unit going , they ’ re lifted onto the boats by the boat crew , and you can potter off to enjoy breakfast in the resort restaurant , flexing your negotiating muscles when all you want is a bit of toast rather than an artery slaying fry up .
Back to the boat after brekkie for the first dive . The warm temperatures are hard on o-rings and soft rebreather materials – I had a split counterlung , a holed loop hose and a leak from a loop o-ring , all on a unit that was perfectly fine when I had been using it just seven days earlier in the UK . This is where having a Kieran with his huge box of spares pays dividends – even with these problems I didn ’ t miss a single dive .
This wreck ’ s features are obscured with sponges and whip corals
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