Expeditions

 

 

 

Dive Bum Okinawa


 Dive Log 2008


USS Emmons 6 April 2008

In honor of the men who served and died on the USS Emmons, 5 divers laid a wreath on her hull next to the memorial plaque to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the sinking of the USS Emmons.  Once again Chuck and North of Nago provided outstanding service making this one of the most cherished dive trips of the year.

 As the winds picked up we headed for a protected reef just north of Kouri Island and after a nice long surface interval we went for a relaxing dive.  The water was great and the reef had tons of fish and invertebrates.  On the way back to the boat we found a cool swim through ending another great dive. 

 On April 6, 1945, the USS EMMONS was on patrol between Ie Shima Island and the northwestern tip of Okinawa.  In one of the largest Kamikaze attacks ever, the Japanese launched over 350 suicide planes.  At approximately 1730 the first of Kamikazes hit the USS Emmons.   Casualties were very heavy that day: Seven officers were either killed or missing in action, six wounded, fifty enlisted sailors were either killed or missing in action and sixty five were wounded.  Although the USS Emmons was severely damaged and the remaining crew was ordered to abandon ship, she refused to sink.  Her burning hull drifted all night towards Ie Shima Island.  Ie Shima Island was still held by the Japanese and early on the 7th of April the order was sent out to scuttle the Emmons before she could beach on the island.  Currently she rests in 145 feet of water off of Kouri Island. 

 

 


Hey Dive Bums,

Sorry for not keeping the dive log up to date.  I have been trying to finish up Divemaster before I PCS.  Here are some photos from the last few weeks. (March – April)

Semper Dive,

Brian

  

 

 


Kerama Islands  15 March '08 

  I can’t think of a better way to get re-acquainted with Okinawa than a dive trip to the Keramas!  I would like to thank John C-N for setting up the Dive and Bruce (Capt of the C-Falcon) for making my first dive back in Okinawa a great one.

  Our first dive was off of Tokashiki.  We anchored in about 60 fsw.  The water was a cool 70 f and the vis was about 40+ feet.  Here we saw tons of bright reef fish a few moray eels and a few lucky divers got to see a turtle.  Just off the starboard side of the boat about 50 meters away and in 70+ fsw there were the remains of an old sunken Japanese boat and its anchor. 

  During our surface interval / transit to our second dive site we saw at least half a dozen whales blowing and surfacing.  Once at Mae- shima we anchored in about 30 fsw just off of a real nice reef with lots of crevasses and overhangs.  Just as we entered the water and right below us we saw a 5 ft white tip shark resting in a small cave.  I managed to get a few pictures but the shark was swimming around and stirring up a bit of silt.   But the highlight of the dive came right at the end of our dive when John and I were getting ready for our safety stop, John noticed a small (two foot long) white tip shark under a balmy right by the anchor line.  This little guy was fearless and did not want to move from his little hiding spot.  He just swam around in circles as John and I snapped photos of him.

   

Click on the whale for a short video


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