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| At the surface read to dive |
Today I had the rare opportunity to make a dive in a submarine here in Oahu. Atlantis submarines offer a chance to join the exclusive 100foot club without being trained in scuba diving. I was invited to go for a ride along to check out the operation. I have seen this kind of submarine in action over in Maui. While I was scuba diving on the wreck of the Carthaginian this company's sub came and check out the same wreck. I could see the tourists inside snapping photos. Now I had the opportunity to see how the other side feels. It is pretty amazing.
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| Plane wreck seen from the sub |
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| YO-257 wreck |
The pilot, sitting up in front, does all the maneuvering by sight. He has a giant bubble windshield, and a co-pilot at the rear giving him distances. The narrator for the trip sits up front spouting off information about the underwater area and the fish. The sub deftly moves between quite a few wrecks strewn about the bottom. Old shells of airplanes, a Korean fishing boat, and a huge military refueler all act as artificial reefs. They attract coral growth and small fish, which attracts bigger fish as well. We saw lots of giant trevally, a big school of Heller's barracuda, and pufferfish out in the blue. We even skidding along the sandy bottom at one point, I was assured the sub had a steel skid plate for just that purpose, and I could see mantas shrimp diving back into their burrows.
Now I think I will stick with scuba diving but I think this is a pretty ingenious way to share the underwater world with people who otherwise would never get to see it. The sub cruise lasted about 50 minutes. Now I will just have to dive the shipwrecks here and wave hi to the crew who I met today.
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| Our Deepest Point- 117ft |
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