WANTED 6 Volunteer Underwater Explorers Pacific 1616 Spanish galleon and more!!

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Dondon462

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Location
Hobart Australia or China or Fiji or on dive Boat
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Join Australian Geographic Society 2012 “Life Time of Adventure” awardee Don McIntyre, on one of the greatest Underwater Maritime History explorations the Pacific has seen in the last decade
.

You may not need experience, just passion and a sense on adventure. It involves many untouched 16-18th centaury wrecks, uninhabited Tropical Island “BLUE BASE” camp on “Nomuka Iki”, and 5 star dive support vessel ‘ICE”. Three years of planning now moving to operational phase. Govt. permits and Kingdom of Tonga Royal Family support.

Marine Biology, Science or Archeological experience welcome. You will be assisting with preliminary surveys and investigations of known wrecks in the Kingdom of Tonga and some that have recently been poorly plundered and playing with whales!. Sign on for a minimum of 10 weeks, starting 1st July. 2013 Require Dan insurance , min 50 dives and hands on attitude. Small group of six on ‘Blue Base” team, Support Vessel “ICE” carries another team of four. You pay $400 per week all found. You camp on uninhabited island and participate in all living details including wash dishes and cook! We work the weather so could be pleanty of time waiting!


This is the beginning of the next five year plan. We will be looking for good people in various positions in the future. We claim no wrecks as our own. We empower the locals who own the wrecks to take control. We provide the expertise. We are NOT a charity. If you make the grade and wish to stay on longer you pay $200 per week. Next year the key people may be offered positions..

Send your Expressions of interest to my mailbox with basic details and I will get back...or check out the web site in my profile...THX


 
Yes it is true!...just to give a bit more background as I had a sceptic in another forum post..he asked why the hold was still full, how we know the date, but not the name and why I would want complete strangers helping rather than close friends... here is my rely to that...thanks...Don

Hi There...wow someone readmy post...funny but I often wonder if people think I am "tellingstories" as it is "unbelievable hey!..Well you first need to read theblog and other info on my web site www.bluetreasure.me Over 400 years the name has gone or is yetto be "discovered " during the archeological surveys yet to bestarted, we have a metal "thing" from the wreck that goes 'dingdong" with a date...but you are right..it could have been 20 years oldbefore it went down so would then be 1636...gargo hold is full because we havenot touched anything because of politics, which has now been sorted..takenthree years!!....can't say too much, but we are 90% certain it must be Spanishbecause of insortmation "discovered" in Spain....strangers becomefriends very fast on an exciting adventure and I want passionate people onlyfor this project...I have been amazing sceptics for the past 30 years andcontinue to do so...but if you are up for it, I would love to have you and anyother divers on the 'team"...life is not a rehersal!!...I have just signedmy first diver from ScubaBoard and start the search in Australia forthree more divers this week....

Who am I?? ..Without trying to bore you, or take liberties here is a story Ijust put in Dive Log mag in Australiato introduce divers there to this project..

Thanks!!!
YOU FOUND WHAT?

Most people would consider good health the greatest treasure anyonecould have in life. I subscribe to that, second only to my belief, that a lifeof no regrets is important and will make it quite interesting. Opportunity rarely knocks twice, so here I am, afterthree years planning, preparation and execution, about to uncover what I believemay be, one of the more significant hauls of underwater Maritime History theworld has seen for some time! I use the word “MAY” deliberately, as to be areal adventure, it must have an unknown outcome and I love adventure!!

43 years ago, during my training as a “British Sub Aqua Scuba Diver”,BC’s did not exist and PADI was not on the horizon. Then, as a qualified 15year old S.C.U.B.A. diver, I was still reading about “Captain Kidd” and theswashbuckling exploits of pirates and plunder, while I watched in awe, asJacques Cousteau grew to become my hero through his documentaries. Thepreceding years had been spent exploring the imaginary depths of my loungeroom, after school, with the help of a black and white Television and LloydBridges in “Sea Hunt”. The ocean became a constant in my life, surfing andsailing to extreme lengths. This included a solo yacht race around the world in1990. The Antarctic beckoned, so after sailing 200 teddy bears south in 1993, Ireturned in 1995, to live there with my wife Margie, in a 2.4 x 3.6mtr box,chained to rocks, beside Mawson’s Huts, a year of compete isolation.

With $250,000 from Microsoft in America, I launched “ExpeditionReef Bound” in 1997 for “International Year of the Reef”. It was a 17 week,live interactive web site, (something novel in those days!) following myadventures onboard the 18mtr expedition vessel “Spirit of Sydney”, through the Great Barrier Reef. It was ground breaking technology forit’s time, that went on to win a coveted global “Envision Award” , from 1000entries, as the best “Adult education/entertainment “ web site in the worldthat year. With US DIVERS sponsorship and my hero Jacques Cousteau as thecompany figure head, he was sadly to pass away in the middle of our expedition.I decided then, I needed a ship, not an ordinary ship, but a close equal to“Calypso”! I wanted my boyhood adventures to get real!..I mean who doesn’tright!

Three years later I found the ship. With Dick Smith sponsorship, I tookcontrol in Finlandof a 36mtr Ice ship, renamed “Sir Hubert Wilkins”. After a quick trip to New Zealand anda refit that included a helipad and the exact same model helicopter as carriedonboard “Calypso” ( Wahoo!!!) I headed out with a volunteer crew, (all ala REDbeanies!), for three “interesting” Antarctic seasons, on, in and under the ice.In 2003 to get warm, I set out on a seven month treasure hunting expedition tothe Philippines.“Huey” was the cutest little expedition ship you could imagine. We carried allthe toys, Nitrox, ROV, towing Magnetometer, 5 man recompression chamber,Dredges etc.

When you pay the Philippines government $200,000 for the exclusiverights to look for just one ship, a “special” ship, of Spanish origin from the“Manila Galleon Trade”, you hope you find something right!..We did!!..It wastruly amazing, bordering on awesome....it was called “corrugated iron”. So weeventually departed rich with fond memorizes of having to do our veggieshopping with the helicopter, as it was simply too dangerous to travel thelocal roads, of being escorted by an armed body guard 8 mtrs behind, anytime wewalked in Manila, of trying to stop armed members of the NPA Terrorists fromboarding our ship and of the beautiful and friendly Philippine people andcrystal clear waters, devoid of any fish!..I would not have missed thatexpedition for the world!! “Life Aquatic” with Team Zissou is real life for menow and Jacques Cousteau still the legend.

I sold the ship and moved on to racing rally cars and a world first soloGyrocopter flight around Australia.Then in March 2010 life took an amazing turn. I was about to set off on one ofmy most “fun” adventures. 4000 miles in a little open boat from Tonga, across the Pacific to Kupang in west Timor. I would follow in the footsteps of William Bligh,after the Mutiny on the Bounty!. We had just 40cm of freeboard when we left andonly carried the things he carried, no toilet paper, no charts, only two weeksof water and virtually no food. As we set out, I had no idea I would loose18kg, go close to dying, nearly run out of water and get kidney stones, but Iknew, I would be back in Tongaas soon as I could get there!

WHY? Well in the month of final preparations in Tonga, I had stumbled across some informationthat made me believe the Kingdom of Tonga is full ofunexplored wrecks. I met the late King His Majesty George Topou V and spenttime with the then Prime Minister. There was a chap in Jail for plundering awreck and I had a meeting with a senior cabinet minister about that and theissue of historically significant wrecks in Tonga. He asked me to return andHelp!.

I survived the Talisker Bounty Bounty voyage and returned to Tonga in October2010, in a Nordhavn 76 trawler, ready to start diving, but the game hadchanged. I did not even get wet! More research literally made my eyes pop. Lastyear confirmed my research and theories! This year marks the beginning of aunique period in Tongan maritime history, where for the first time, some of themysteries of their rich underwater heritage “May Be”, unlocked by Tong BlueLtd. ..Follow the blog on
 
Just to update, three spots are confirmed filled and a fourth is possibly about to lock in, so there are still a couple spots to fill if you are up for it...it is real and promises to be a bit of fun and adventure...and for those interested in long term, it will be developing into "other " things next year...this is an open ended adventure with pleanty of "unknown " to it..so thanks for thinking about it !!!....Don
 
Hi John...Yes that is right, it is all about people with Passion for what we are doing...everyone pays $400 a week for the first 10 weeks, then $200 a week for the next 20 weeks..then nothing after that, all free and you may be offered a paying job...lots happening with this project. By the end of this year I will have invested $500,000 over the last three years and we are looking for people...who really want to be involved. this is the begining of????There are some very interesting things happening in Tonga and this is the start of an adventure. We will look after our key people as this project grows...because we will need them, so we want to know they are good!

Hope you have had a chance to go all over the web site.. www.bluetreasure.me you will get a feel for what is happening...but obviously we cannot talk about everything on the web site...for now. We currently have Two project directors ( including me) Two Tongans and six other full time divers signed on(one Chinese,one Swiss, two Americans and two Australians) and two specialist consultants involved. We have only three spots left to fill for Blue Base.
If you follow the blog back a few months you will see why I open these opportunities to ordinary people.

Thanks for the interest.....Don
 
You're breaking new ground with this work arrangement, especially based on so much "I can't tell you that" info.
 
Hi..yes I know...but all I can say in all my expeditions since 1993 I have had people contributing..which helps..but importantly I know they want to be there..we now have five people for Blue Base ...all with amazing qualifications and all about to embark on something quite special...as Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd says and I have been saying for a long time...I could not pay professionals to do the things we are about to embark on....this is not work to me..this is exciting adventure at this time...all my crew on Sir Hubert Wilkins were volunteers...they had a ball...so certainly it is not for everyone...and there are no guarrantees...but it is there for those that are up for it..If we ever start making money after we have helped the Kingdom of Tonga those who help us will do OK...if you read our blog back a few months you will see the reasoning... www.bluetreasure.me
 
You know, The Magnificent Seven at least got paid $20 for six weeks of chasing away banditos in Mexico in the late 1800's, which is about $500 in today's currency, or $83.34 weekly. I guess the Volunteer Six aren't even that fortunate? Sounds like an awesome experience, but my bubbles cost more than $400 a week if I was getting paid!
 
Hi Trace..I see where you are coming from Trace..lol..anyway if you look at the web site CREW SECTION you will see that in 2014 we are looking for Tech divers...we have some unbelievable tagets at 50mtrs..(too busy for them this year)and it is free if you have the qualifications:D ... Shift+R improves the quality of this image. CTRL+F5 reloads the whole page...well you have to pay $4000 for the first 10 weeks :wink: ... Shift+R improves the quality of this image. CTRL+F5 reloads the whole page.but at the completion of that 10 weeks, if you stay you get the $4000 back if you are still there..and it then it may lead to getting paid!!...cause you see I have had people in expeditions say they are coming..and then drop at the last minute??..and it takes a lot of organising...and even if we pay people..sometimes they are a no show, or just say..sorry gota go??..all part of the tricky people management..and all part of checking who is up for something quite special hey...freedom it is called ..but good to see people are interested..if nothing else this expedition will be worth watching ..it is not reality TV..more reality with no guarrantees and unknown outcomes ...all the best..
 
HMMM..we may be down to our last spot, so PM me if you are up for it and remember we are looking for divers for the 2014 season now too. I have selected two divers for ICE, one is a PADI instructor and I also now have five OW Dive instructors for Blue Base...A change is as good as a holiday and I suppose Exploring lost maritime history is definitely a change from students..with 6 highly qualified dive instructors on the Bluetreasure 10 diver team, our collective skill sets grow each day...two have come from Scubaboard and the others from findacrew and Divelog Australia, we now also have Swiss, American, German, Chinese and Tongan divers on the team....Thanks..Don
 

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