Wife's first tank dive ever was on a $35,000 Viper military rebreather.

Wilda had been diving on a hookah for a while but had never strapped a tank on her back and was not certified. We went on one of the monthly "mystery" dives one weekend put on by the Western Underwater Dive Club. Instead of the expected beach dive at some random location we found ourselves at the Devonport Naval Base where the club had managed to get the Navy to agree to allow us to do a pool dive with their Viper rebreathers.

The Viper is a high tech rebreather that is used to defuse mines sensitive to magnetic materials and/or noise.

The Navy didn't want a civilian getting hurt or killed on their turf so every one of us were personally escorted by a Navy diver as we swam underwater laps of the pool.

The club captain was a bit worried about what Wilda would do or how she would react to a tank on her back but crossed his fingers and off she went. She succeeded in swimming several laps of the pool without issue. Sadly we were not allowed to bring cameras onto the base hence no photos.

Several months later at age 64 Wilda took the PADI open water course and got her cert and now owns her own tank.

I'm pretty sure there are not many people who did their first tank dive on a rebreather.

Bert

Wow, that's pretty neat that the dive club set that up; and that the Navy let you guys use their equipment.

Wow. To even get to dive a military rebreather...that is one hellva connection someone has.

I didn't mention that the guy in charge of overseeing this experience also had people discuss the equipment they use with us. We were shown a lot of high tech equipment such as portable underwater sonar systems and full face mask gear as well as their storage and maintenance facilities.

You might be surprised how accommodating your local military base can be if approached in the right way by a group such as a dive club. I think they like the good PR and probably have a "media" person on staff full time. You might even suggest that the experience could be covered by the media. I know that the China Lake Naval Weapons Center in California agreed to allow hunters onto their missile test ranges one weekend a year (in October if I remember correctly). Let me know how you get on if you try.

Cheers,

Bert

You know you've been on Scubaboard too much lately when you see pictures of a military rebreather, and all you're thinking is, "....but is it a BPW?"