Diving in Palau May 8, 2011

Ripping currents, loads of fish including manta rays, turtles, sharks, Napoleon wrasse, tuna, barracudas, jacks and other large fish, provided continuous entertainment on most of the 25 dives that we did that week, aboard the Palau Aggressor.  The topside islands, true to their reputation, are one of the most beautiful sites on earth.  They look like someone dropped dark green dumplings in a perfectly clear and still blue ocean.  We saw literally hundreds of small-uninhabited picture perfect islands that pock mark the Philippine Sea. 

Gwen and I spent the week of May 8^th doing up to 5 dives per day, on a very well run live-a-board.  The Palau Aggressor is a catamaran that is very stable as well as spacious.  The crew was top notch and ran the boat without any hitches.  The chef was from NYC and did an excellent job in continuing to surprise us with amazing food at each meal. 

The diving was very good, maybe not the very best that I have done, but very good nonetheless.  The most exciting dives of the week were usually the channel dives where there was a ripping current that attracted the large pelagics.  We would typically swim as a group to the staging area where we would hook into the reef with the supplied reef hooks and wait for the action to start.  A few times we got skunked, but more often than not, we had a great show!  Due to the ever changing currents and the fact that we were typically drift diving, the entire boat usually dived as one large group or two smaller groups.  If I had any one complaint, it would be that diving as a large 16-person group can get a little tedious, however the advantage of diving from a live-a-board far outweighs the problems with a crowd.  Although most of the sites would have been easily accessible from one of the numerous day boats that ply their trade in the area, the advantage of the live-a-board is that you don’t spend long trips on small boats all day long. 

Blue Corner, Big Drop Off, Peleliu Corner, and German Channel were some of the best sites of the week, with the most action! 

We also did a 3-hour land tour in Peleliu, which was fascinating!  We saw lots of WWII relics including a Japanese and American tank, as well as Japanese gun placements.  We saw Orange Beach where 3000 US servicemen lost their lives trying to make their way to shore.  The Japanese were entrenched in over 600 caves on the island, and what was supposed to be a quick 3-day process to secure the island, ended up taking 78 days and was one of the bloodiest battles of the war.  A very sobering site and one that I will not forget soon! 

Gwen and I shared the boat with 14 other divers who were all Russians from Moscow.  This was an experience in and of itself!  The Russian divers were a hardy bunch, but also in typical Russian fashion spent much of each night drinking vodka and Jack Daniels and smoking cigars!  Probably not an ideal combination for diving, but they seemed to have amazing stamina! 

Diving in Palau is something that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.  Unique and beautiful scenery both above and below the water!  

Advanced Trimix Training at Lake Mead

This past weekend, Josh and I were at Lake Mead, outside of Las Vegas training a group of divers in an Advanced Trimix class and another group finishing up their Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures.  We had a great time, with the exception that I managed to get all the way down there and forgot my dry suit!  I had to have it flown down on Delta!  What a pain the rear!

Water temp was 54 degrees at the surface and 52 at depth.  Nice brisk dive!  We were very lucky with the weather.  We had very windy evenings and were afraid that we were going to get blown out a couple of times, which wouldn't have been the first time at Lake Mead!

We had a great time with the group which consisted of Richard Lamb, Amy Smith, Jack Weimer and Jeannie Weimer who all completed their Advanced Trimix and Todd DuLaney and Ray Kovuisa who completed their Adv. Nitrox and Deco Procedures.

This is a picture of Ray's special super hero Finish Rubber Man Suit!  All one piece, it made underwater communications take on a whole new meaning with his rubber mittens!   You can see Jack standing next to Ray is concerned about something!

Cave Country right after Christmas

Josh, Michael and I spent 8 days in Cave Country at our house in Ft. White, Florida www.cavecountrylodging.com starting the day after Christmas this year.  We were working on a CCR Cave Instructor course with Phil Short from the UK.

I had an absolutely wonderful time!  Diving anytime with my boys is a great experience, but also being challenged both physically and mentally, made for memorable experiences!  I saw parts of Ginnie Springs that I had never been in previously, including a beautiful little syphon that was absolutely gorgeous!  We did the Grand Traverse from Orange Grove to Peacock 1, several long traverses in Ginnie, and had a good long swim in Little River.  Over all, we spent about 20 hours underwater that week, and really had a great time!

As usual, Phil puts on a very demanding course and I went to bed each night dead dog tired!  Of course, I always enjoy diving with my boys and we had some very memorable experiences.  8 straight days of fairly aggressive cave diving, and I was about ready for a day or so rest!  At least I was pretty much able to keep up with them.  The old man hasn't completely lost it just yet!

By the way, did I mention that it was stinking cold?  It was only 18 degrees the first night we arrived!

I'm looking forward to getting back down there again in April for some more cave diving!

Papua New Guinea with Dive Addicts

Papua New Guinea November 3^rd-17^th, 2010

Traveling from Draper, Utah to Papua New Guinea is one of the more horrendous travel experiences I have personally had.  2 ½ days of full on travel with overnights in Brisbane, Australia and Port Moresby, PNG (the murder capital of the world!), somewhat lively discussions with Air Nuigini personnel over weight restrictions, very tired travelers, and stiff muscles, but all was forgotten about by the time we finally rolled into Walindi Resort in Kimbe PNG.  With friends and loved ones asking us if we needed our head examined, we were determined to make it to one of the premier dive destinations on the planet!  We actually were returning to the site of a pervious Dive Addicts trip aboard the Star Dancer, a luxury liveaboard that calls Kimbe PNG home.  Our trip in 2007 was an amazing experience, and this trip lived up to our expectations! 

After a nice lunch at the Walindi Resort, we boarded the Star Dancer to find that she had undergone a retrofit since our last trip in 2007.  New ownership and a new captain were a welcome relief and the crew commanded by Christopher Guglielmo a native Floridian by way of several years in the Turks and Caicos, assisted by Yuki Kawamura, a young Japanese girl who served as Trip Director and Dive Master, as well as several PNG locals, the boat was in tip top shape and ran extremely efficiently and comfortably.  The food was top notch and plentiful.  Captain Christopher is a world-class underwater photographer and was very helpful at assisting and giving helpful hints to guests when requested. 

Our Dive Addicts group consisted of 10 people including Randy & Gwen Thornton, Doug & Carrie Larson, Alex Miller & Andrea Kelly, Doug  & Amy Smith, and Mike & Nikki Robinson.   Our itinerary included Kimbe Bay, Witu Islands and Fathers Islands.  PNG offers a wide variety of animal encounters with the widest variety of bio-diversity found on earth.  One of the most exciting adventures for new divers coming to PNG is the small critters found on the “muck dives”.  Muck dives in PNG consist of diving in usually dark sand from the many local volcanoes.  Found amongst the rumble, palm fronds, coconuts, and various and assorted trash on the bottom, you can find some of the coolest small unusual creatures found anywhere.  Pipe Fish, Leafy Ghost Fish, Leafy Scorpion Fish, Mandarin Fish, Mantis Shrimp, Decorator Crabs, Twin Spotted Gobies, Blue Ring Octopus, Unidentified Ringed Octopus, Enormous Sea Cucumbers, numerous Nudibranchs of all types shapes, sizes and colors, Hermit Crabs, Upside Down Jelly Fish, Boxer Crabs, Moray Eels of several variety, Twin Spotted Lion Fish, Ornate Ghost Pipe Fish, Blue Ribbon Eel, Rock Moving Wrasse, Juvenile Spotted Sweet Lips, Flamed Colored Dart Fish, Bi-Colored Dart Fish,

Our diving on the bommies included lots of sitings of Bump Head Parrot, Napoleon Wrasse, Silver Tip Shark, White Tip Shark, Grey Reef Shark, Squid, Cuttle Fish,  Spiny Devil Fish, Lion Fish, as well as all of the usual suspects. 

We participated in a couple of different shark feeds and got up close and personal with a gaggle of White Tips and Grey Reef Sharks who were not shy about getting right up in your face. 

Papua New Guinea is a photographer’s and videographer’s paradise.  There is something virtually on every dive to grab your attention and challenge your skills! The water temperature during our 8 days was a balmy 87 degrees Fahrenheit!  Many of the guests went without wetsuits or skins and simply dove with a rash guard.  The water conditions ranged from raging current to virtually no current in bathtub type conditions.  We dove on mostly bomies (sea pinnacles) in the mornings and in the afternoon and nights mostly in more protected sites.  The dive masters were top-notch young PNG local boys who were able to pick out even the smallest creatures who us mere mortals were oblivious to! 

While in the Walindi Islands, we had the chance to visit a local village.  A guy named Dicki, who has lived on the island for 45 years running a Copra plantation, took us through the local village and introduced us to the folks there.  Most of the adults were up the hill at their garden spot while the kids were home mowing the lawns with bush-whackers, a large machete type knife.  The kids were unbelievably sweet and followed us around posing for pictures and smiling from ear to ear.  They were thrilled to practice their English.  Each island has its own unique language that is unintelligible to the people on the islands next door.  In PNG there are over 867 unique languages with Pidgin the common language spoken throughout PNG as well as a fare amount of English.  There are over 50 political parties and no one prime minister has lasted their entire 5-year term.  Indigenous counting systems are more than 50.  One counting system is based on the joints of the body and nose! 

The people of PNG are generally quite pleasant and friendly, with the notable exception being the hoodlums who run around Port Moresby.  Once out of Port Moresby, the people were always excited to see us.   There are still quite a bit of territorial village/tribal protectionism.  Apparently, the week before we arrived, a group of 6 men were hacked to death when their boat ran out of gas and they washed up on the shore of a non-friendly competing village.  The villagers didn’t appreciate the intrusion and hacked them with bush-whackers! 

On several of the dives, upon surfacing, we would find young kids in dugout canoes with outriggers, wanting to trade flowers, fruit and vegetables for soap, rice, or other staples.  They would float for several hours behind the boat until the cook would come out and do a little “business” with them!  They also love to get their pictures taken and grin from ear to ear! 

While diving the pinnacles in Fathers Islands, we were hosted by a resident 5 foot long Great Barracuda by the name of George, who is very photogenic!  In fact, so close that you get an up close and personal view of his nasty dental work! 

One evening after completing a night dive, we were greeted at the hang bar by several large Silver Tip Sharks that were quite interested in checking us out.  Made for a few anxious moments during the safety stop!

Interestingly enough, PNG has experienced a bit of an El Niño year, and so there has been a small amount of coral bleaching, but they seem to be recovering nicely.  One cool photography opportunity of the warm water is that occasionally you will see an ultra white bleached sea anemone that makes for a striking photographic opportunity.  According to Captain Christopher over 60% of all species of the world’s coral is found in PNG with an incredible amount of endemic fish. 

The Star Dancer holds 16 guests, and Dive Addicts had 10 of the spots.  This was our 2^nd time onboard for this itinerary, and this particular crew was a huge improvement over the previous experience!  The diving, accommodations, food, service and sites were certainly worth the effort to get here and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for something a little off the beaten path!  The travel home was a little tedious and included 3 flight cancelations and lots of sitting around in the Hoskins airport which certainly gives a whole new meaning to airport services!  I now refer to the Hoskins airport as Hoskins Prisoner of War Camp!  One small hint - don’t even think about opening the door to the restrooms!  It was a near death experience!  Air Niugini is not Delta by any means, but we made it safely and I would gladly return to PNG again!  

Eurotek 2010

October 16, 2010 - 


Just finished attending the first day's sessions. The biggest problem was trying to decide which of the many sessions to attend. As they run 4 concurrent sessions each time slot, it made for some difficult choices!

So far, here are the presentations I attended: 

Leigh Bishop gave a very interesting presentation about Carl Spencer's unfortunate death on the Britannic Expedition 2010. 

Dr. Simon Mitchell gave a very informative presentation on decompression sickness including in-water decompression. 

Antti Apunen & Janne Suhonen shared incredible photographs and spoke about The Molnar Janos Cave System beneath the city of Budapest. 

Phil Short spoke about CCR safety and design parameters. 

Jill Heinerth gave an amazing presentation on Blue Hole exploration in the Bahamas. 

We have a formal dinner and awards show tonight. 

The show has been a blast for me so far. I anxious to see and hear more tomorrow! 



October 17, 2010


Another great day of presentations at Eurotek 2010!

Started off with a very interesting presentation by Barry McGill & Ian Lawler entitled “Misadventure, Minefields and U-boats – the deep wreck of Donegal.” I’m very jealous that they have some many incredible targets just off their backyards!

Carl Douglas gave a presentation called “Baltic Ghost Ships – Shipwreck Discoveries in the Baltic Sea”. This was absolutely one of the highlights of the weekend for me. Incredible photography and video of shipwrecks in the Baltic. Amazing viz, ships from the 1600s to modern, and some of the most spectacular images I have every seen. The wrecks are in pristine condition. I really want to visit this place!

Tomaz Stachura gave a cool` presentation on “Graf Zeppelin, Nazi Aircraft Carrier, expedition 2009” Another amazing dive in the Baltic Sea! Looks like I am going to have to book a trip there soon!

Watched a half hour film by Edoardo Pavia on a recent expedition to Truk Lagoon. Shot in Hi Def video, the videography was very impressive!

Phil Short presented, “Cave Diving Adventures – one man’s worldwide cave diving exploits”. Once again, Phil convinced us that he is certifiable! Even though I have heard the story before, his tale about being trapped underwater in Swindon’s hole, is enough to raise your blood pressure!

Agnes Milowka regaled us with tales of “Cave Diving Down Under – a Look at Cave Diving in Australia” Amazing that such a skinny young girl has added so much new line in so many locations around the world! Very entertaining!

We had a formal dinner last night with black tie and the whole bit! Good food and an entertaining time. The Brits really know how to put on a good show. Well organized, and top notch presentations. Mostly Europeans, but there were also people from OZ, USA, South America, Russia, Eastern Europe, etc. etc. As I mentioned earlier, the biggest challenge was just trying to decide which presentations to attend, as they had multiple ones going at the same time!

Definitely worth the trip over! 

When the team is in Sync!

Doing technical dives, as a team can be one of the most rewarding experiences as a diver.  This is especially true when the team members are in sync with each other and have the same goals, equipment configurations, and safety and communications protocols. 

I have the fortunate advantage of being able to dive quite frequently as part of a 3-man team consisting of my two sons and myself.  Josh, Michael and myself are experienced cave, wreck and CCR divers.  All 3 of us are technical dive instructors or instructor trainers and have on “most days” very similar philosophies about diving in general.  All of my kids, having grown up in a “diving household” were part of the nightly diving discussions (sometimes arguments) that took place around the dinner table, and from a very early age were keenly aware of team diving protocols!  This made for some lively discussion and testing of dad’s opinions!   

As soon as the boys were old enough to start actively taking part in technical diving, I was acutely aware of my wife’s determination that we as a team return from our crazy adventures with the same team members with which we left the house.  If something were to happen to one of the boys, I might as well not come home!

Now as adults, Josh and Michael give me a serious run for my money!  Long gone are the days when dad dictates to the young boys what profiles and procedures we will be following.  Since these days we typically dive as a CCR team, our team activities include prepping and testing our rebreathers to make sure that they work as advertised!  Some of the prep will include making sure that the units are set up identically with gas selections, decompression algorithms, gas fills, bail out options, fresh batteries, O2 cells that are working properly and especially making sure that all of our equipment is rigged similarly and is in 100% working order.  Due to the fact that all 3 of us dive the same CCR rigs, we are more closely able to help monitor and keep an eye on each other during the dive.  It’s kind of funny sometimes to look at underwater pictures of us, because its often difficult to tell who is who!  (Although if you look closely, you can usually tell which one is me, because I have a little better form!:) )

Prior to any “big” dives, we spend a lot of time as a team discussing our safety protocols, rigging our equipment in the desired fashion and practicing our individual and team procedures in an environment as close as possible to the target environment.  We practice these team procedures over and over again until we feel comfortable that we are as prepared as possible for both planned and unplanned events.  We spend a lot of time talking about “what ifs” and practice our responses to such events.  One of the interesting things about practicing all of these “what ifs” is that it seems to makes us more aware of potential problems and as a team we seem to do a reasonably good job of avoiding the problems to start with, simply because we become more aware of them! 

Underwater communication because extremely critical when diving as a team.  Due to the fact that we have been diving as a unit for many years, we clearly have a substantial advantage.  Even though most of our signals are fairly standard cave diver and decompression diver signals, we still spend time before each dive reviewing our communication protocols.  Our underwater team communication actually starts above water.  Part of our pre-dive planning includes substantial discussion about the goals of the dive, the profiles and any unique procedures pertaining to that particular dive.  Underwater, is not the time to be figuring out these types of things!  We typically spend a lot more time discussing and planning our dives than we do actually executing the dives.  That is all just part of the fun! 

After each of our dives, we will hold a post dive debriefing, where each of the team members will take the opportunity to review how the dive went and offer suggestions on how to improve our team efforts. 

Even though we are all high spirited and competitive individuals, when it comes time to operate as a CCR team, there is no messing around.  We take our diving seriously, and even though we have a lot of fun, our goal is to pull each dive off with a precision that enhances our safety and effectiveness.  Believe me when I say that if any one member of the team deviates from the plan, you definitely hear about it from the other two members!  I have on a few occasions had to suffer through a tongue lashing from Josh and Michael when they felt I had not followed the plan with precise exactness! 

Technical diving, especially team diving in overhead environments on CCR, requires a single mindedness of attitude and execution.  It also makes for great stories to talk about around the dinner table!   By the way, my daughter and wife, also technical divers in their own right, are equally capable of joining in the lively diving discussions at the dinner table!

We are all about fun, but at the end of the day, the greatest satisfaction comes from developing a plan, executing on the plan and then returning as a team to tell our big fish whopper stories that make our dives sound incredibly difficult, exciting and death defying!

Ricks Spring Cave - Logan Canyon, Utah

This past Monday, Richard Lamb and I did a quick dive at Ricks Springs Cave.  It had been almost a year since I was up there last, so I was anxious to get back in there and see how things were looking.  Being a sidemount dive, I was diving steel 85s and Richard had steel 95s.  

As usual, the water was VERY cold, about 39 degrees or so!  The weather was great, just staring fall weather, but beautiful!  We left the dive shop about 7:30 AM and arrived at the cave about 9:30.  We had a bit of an audience when we got up there, with lots of people asking us questions like: "Is it dark in there, and is the water cold?".  

We prepped our gear, and started the dive.  The entry way was clear and the flow was not too bad. I was wearing a new dry suit, which I apparently cut the neck seal a little too much, and so I suffered a flooded suit.  By the time we were about 30 mins. into the dive and back at the second air space, I was so cold that I had to call the dive!  By the time we made it out of the cave, I was really chilled!  The top of my head was so cold, I couldn't feel a thing!  Completely numb!  I was quite hypothermic and really struggled even getting my gear off.  In fact, Richard had to help me remove my fins!  

All in all, it was a beautiful dive, albeit cold!  I had a great time, and about 2 1/2 hours later, by the time we made it back to Dive Addicts, I was actually almost warmed up!  What we won't do for a little adventure!