Bikini Atoll July 2018 2 spaces left

[FuAn]

Hi there,

at Oceanic Ventures Houston we will have an escorted trip to the Bikini Atoll in July 2018 spaces are rare and usually booked out long time ahead this is your opportunity without planning 3 years ahead.

The technical only as well as rebreather friendly and will be escorted by Houstons seasoned Tec and Rebreather Instructor Trainer Trainer Eric Keibler

Any questions ask Ann Young Keibler over at OVI (713) 523-3483 or myself.

Adventure Travel - Bikini Atoll - Houston's Premier Scuba and Dive Shop Oceanic Ventures Inc.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Some very important and vital questions that are not addressed by the info and itinerary links above:

In 2013, the closest Recompression Chamber to treat a civilian emergency dive casualty was 1500 miles away at Truk Lagoon: Is there a local stand-by facility now in place there on Bikini Island, or back at Kwajalein? Or is there a Chamber onboard the M/V Truk Master liveaboard? At the very least, are there provisions on the M/V Truk Master to support In-Water-Recompression?

For a 2013 Bikini Atoll Expedition, the liveaboard M/V Windward had an onboard multiplace Recompression Chamber (click link & scroll down in pdf), and an attending licensed Hyperbaric Physician present as well:

http://www.petemesley.com/cms-assets/documents/172274-7207.bikini-main-info-2014.pdf

Otherwise, a dive casualty has to be evacuated via a small private turboprop medevac flight from the airstrip on Bikini to Kwajalein, and then either coordinating a regularly scheduled United Airlines Flight or an on-call US Coast Guard/Air Force medevac flying west to Truk's Chamber, or returning back east to Hawaii's Kuakini Medical Center Hyperbaric Facility in Honolulu: This is roughly 2800 miles and maybe 5 to 7 hours time just for the on-call US Coast Guard or Air Force outbound dispatch flight from Hawaii arriving in Kwajalein, and another 5 to 7 hours return with the patient back to Honolulu.

The point is you're looking at a potential worst case elapsed time scenario of well over twelve hours getting a critical "hyper-acute" DCS/AGE patient evacuated from Bikini Atoll for emergency hyperbaric treatment. (The best case is 5 to 6 hours to Truk's Recompression Chamber using Flight UA154, but that United Flight only has scheduled Kwajalein departures on Tues, Thurs and Sat)

 

[FuAn]

Good question.

Yes there is a 2 person chamber onboard. The captain is an experienced Navy chamber operator and in water recompression trained, there is an O2 generator onboard. And there are several emergency evacuation plans in place. Plus at least our group mostly consists of doctors, some of them with hyperbaric experience.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Some additional info on ancillary costs:

2013 Bikini Atoll Liveaboard (M/V Windward) open circuit gas costs for 17 dives over eight days including crew gratuity: $3.8k. (Helium $5.66/cuft, Oxygen $1.70/cuft). Excess baggage total fees charged by United Airlines (each way -each flight leg outbound and homebound!): $1.2k. My X-scooter DPV itself cost $400 as check-in luggage, with NiMh Battery (Lithium Battery this size is prohibited) and a hard case carrying it all, was near the maximum allowable weight limit of 40kg for a single item of baggage.

Our attending Hyperbaric Physician -who was also diving a CCR with us on the wrecks- was none other than Simon Mitchell. . .

Finally, if the airstrip on Bikini Island is not usable, you're looking at 25 to 30 hours return journey of the liveaboard back to Kwajalein to deliver a medical emergency patient.