Expeditions
Dive Bum Okinawa
Dive Log 2012
Marine Corps Birthday Dive 10 Nov 2012
Happy Birthday Marines!!! We just completed our annual Marine Corps Birthday Dive celebrating the 237th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps. We had a good turnout and the weather was great. We got to see a lot of cool critters on this dive and to top things off we got to see two MV-22 Ospreys fly overhead as we were just coming out of the water!!
Three tank dive 24 June 2012 and Maeda Point 30 June 2012
Sorry Dive Bums I’ve been a bit slow in updating the website. We’ve had some great weather these last few days and we’ve been on some awesome dives! The first set of photos are from our three tank dive to Diamond Beach and Clothesline June 24th. Al and Roger were finishing up an O/W class and took the class on a boat dive. After demonstrating their final skills, Al took everyone on a great tour and found some nice garden eels and a friendly taco (octopus).
The second set of photos are from our dive/snorkel at Meada Point June 30th. It’s always fun to take some friends and family out especially when you beat the crowds at Maeda Pt. The fish and critters seemed to be extremely photogenic on this dive. Even the barracudas wanted their photos taken.
I sure do hope that the Dive Gods smile upon us for the upcoming 4th of July weekend!
Three tank dive 24 June 2012
Maeda Point 30 June 2012
Water Treatment Plant 24 May 2012
With terrible weather earlier this week we kept a close eye on the weather forecast, the METOC Marines quickly became our best friends!!! Their predictions were spot on, Thursday was perfect, light variable winds, no waves, no surge and the sun was out!!
What an awesome way to start off the Memorial Day Weekend. After a brutal week at work, we took a much needed break and rallied the troops and made our way to Sea Wall for great dive. A group of “Joint” Dive Bums (divers from each of the services: Marines, Navy, Air Force and Army) headed to the WTP for a quick dive after work. This was the first dive on Okinawa for most of the divers in our group. By all of the excited discussions after the dive I could tell they all had a blast, we all had a great time!!! The water was a balmy 77 f and the vis was a decent 30-40 feet (not bad for poor weather earlier in the week). The sun was bright and highlighted the vast soft coral garden covering the reef. The critters seemed to be out enjoying the break in the weather too. We saw a large school of Razorfish, several different species of Clownfish, Moorish Idols (Gill), Pipefish and countless other beautiful reef fish.
Kerama Islands May 6, 2012
What a great weekend, with over a week of rain and poor weather it’s about time we got a break. On Sunday, we headed out to the Kerama Islands for a three tank dive. On the first two dives I documented Al and Roger’s tec skills for their upcoming Tec Certification. After they completed their skills I got some me time behind the camera. That’s when I got the shots of the turtle, nudi’s and clownfish. Our third dive was going to be a drift dive so I wasn’t expecting to get too many good shots however, the current wasn’t that strong just around one knot. We dropped down to around 60 feet and that’s when the fun began. Immediately I spotted a young Lionfish just hanging out waiting for some small unsuspecting fish to swim by. Then we ran into a large green moray eel hiding behind some soft coral. And then the coup de grace, we saw four white tip reef sharks!!! I’d like to thank Reef Encounters for a great dive, Doug awesome job putting us on some great sites!
15 April 2012
It was an honor to be one of the photographers on this year’s USS Emmons Memorial Dive. This was my third Memorial dive on the USS Emmons. For me, it all started in 2007 when a few divers laid a wreath on her hull 120 feet below the sea. This year marks the 67th Anniversary of the sinking of the USS Emmons. I would like to thank Kurt for setting up this year’s dive. Kurt you truly outdid yourself this year, it was a great ceremony. And once again Chuck and North of Nago provided outstanding service making this one of the most cherished dive trips of the year.
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.
