stubsadventures

As all my great adventures have, this one came from a suggestion. Actually, it started with a dive site in Scotland… but that’s a different story. The Chuuk Lagoon (one of it’s names) is a haven for wreck divers. Over 70 wrecks, in this one lagoon, in the middle of absolutely no where. It will take three days to get there, with an over night in Hawaii and on a tiny island (tiny being 5kms by 5kms) called Chuuk, before I board a live aboard for six days of constant diving. There will be 16 other divers on the boat but there are so many wrecks that you each virtually get your own wreck to explore.

February 17, 1944, the Americans launched an attack on the Japanese who were staged at the lagoon. In that attack, the Americans sank 60 ships and 275 airplanes, which are now all resting at the bottom of the lagoon. Also, among all the wreckage are the remains of their occupants.

Diving is what gets my blood flowing, the challenge and the adventure of it draw me in. In the last few years, I have been reading lots of books about diving and although they get me pumped to get out there, they have also instilled a tremendous respect for the sport. The more I experience and push, the further I want to take it but now it is much more calculated. I research, and for this trip I look forward to memorizing the wrecks before I get there because for the first time, I will be exploring the inside of the wrecks. Some of these wrecks are massive and I plan on seeing as much as possible.

I’ll do two certifications when I’m there, my Nitrox and Trimix. Both have their own benefits, I just like to have my options. Trimix will allow me to go deeper than I have ever gone. Normally, I wouldn’t push the limits just to achieve a certain depth but I will go when there is something worth seeing, as there is in the Chuuk Lagoon. In addition to the first time going in a wreck and deeper than ever before, I will also be diving with two tanks for the first time. I have been diving since I was 18. Although the first couple of years the dives were far and few between  the last couple of years I have stepped it up and figure I have more than 50 dives under my belt. Now, that I’m comfortable in the water, comfortable with the unexpected, I’m ready to take on technical diving. I’m just going to be a sponge and soak up all the information I can during my time on the boat.

March 2013.

Stubs.