Sunday was a beautiful day in Atami, with sunny skies with high clouds. The beach crowds were out in effect.
We started out driving from Tokyo leaving at 6:30 am and arriving at our favorite breakfast spot, McDonald's, at about 8:45 am. There were some spots with moderate traffic.
The dive conditions were good, and better than expected visibility after Typhoon 10. The wreck is showing signs of battering, and the deck is showing weaking of the structure. Penetration is still possible, and Darwin is sleeping, as evidenced by the three divers in drysuits led by an instroketor with very small handheld lights and of course no backup lights.
Needless to say when we do penetration, the surface boat crew know our plan and when to expect us back. As well as carrying HID cannister lights, we carry backup Scouts. In the future we will probably carry stage or pony bottles for backup.
Additional information for penetration dives: all team members dive the DIR configuration with 7 foot hoses so that we can exit single file while sharing air.
Due to swift currents at Sodaine, we chose to dive Bitagane. There were some interesting creatures out, such as the cuttlefish. Upon further examination, there was a baby flunder sitting on the ledge behind.
Water temps were 20-21 degrees C at 34 meters, 22 at 15 meters, and about 23 at 5 meters. Air temp was about 33-35.
Thomas (TJO) can post his report for July 31, 2004 Saturday as a followup to this post.
We started out driving from Tokyo leaving at 6:30 am and arriving at our favorite breakfast spot, McDonald's, at about 8:45 am. There were some spots with moderate traffic.
The dive conditions were good, and better than expected visibility after Typhoon 10. The wreck is showing signs of battering, and the deck is showing weaking of the structure. Penetration is still possible, and Darwin is sleeping, as evidenced by the three divers in drysuits led by an instroketor with very small handheld lights and of course no backup lights.
Needless to say when we do penetration, the surface boat crew know our plan and when to expect us back. As well as carrying HID cannister lights, we carry backup Scouts. In the future we will probably carry stage or pony bottles for backup.
Additional information for penetration dives: all team members dive the DIR configuration with 7 foot hoses so that we can exit single file while sharing air.
Due to swift currents at Sodaine, we chose to dive Bitagane. There were some interesting creatures out, such as the cuttlefish. Upon further examination, there was a baby flunder sitting on the ledge behind.
Water temps were 20-21 degrees C at 34 meters, 22 at 15 meters, and about 23 at 5 meters. Air temp was about 33-35.
Thomas (TJO) can post his report for July 31, 2004 Saturday as a followup to this post.
