Anyone dived at a site with no land visible in all directions?

[Lucifer911]

ive always wondered what it would be like to dive far enough offshore where you cannot see any land?

Has anyone dived in the Pacific? There’s a remote location called Marshall Islands, Bikini Atoll. Various radioactive shipwrecks and very expensive trip to get there. Would it be worth the hike?

 

[KathyV]

I can't give you any advice about Bikini Atoll, but I can tell you that you can experience diving with no land in sight from some liveaboards. The itinerary on some LOBs is closer to shore, while on others you can get farther out to sea.

 

[Kevrumbo]

ive always wondered what it would be like to dive far enough offshore where you cannot see any land?

Has anyone dived in the Pacific? There’s a remote location called Marshall Islands, Bikini Atoll. Various radioactive shipwrecks and very expensive trip to get there. Would it be worth the hike?

Yes. Read the linked thread below regarding the risks and caveats to what is otherwise a great dive adventure:

Bikini Atoll July 2018 2 spaces left

 

[gr8jab]

ive always wondered what it would be like to dive far enough offshore where you cannot see any land?

This happens all the time. I never considered it anything to note or contemplate. You don't have to go out to the middle of the Pacific.

In perfect weather, visible distance (D in NM) for an observer 8 feet above the water, looking at and object X feet high is:

D = 1.17 * sqr(X)

For example: a two story building is 20ft high, and possibly visible at 5.2 miles. Molasses Reef is about 7 miles from Key Largo. You would need an object on shore of 35 feet to spot it.

In practical terms, haze can obscure the horizon and any land at much closer distances.

 

[Kevrumbo]

This happens all the time. I never considered it anything to note or contemplate. You don't have to go out to the middle of the Pacific.

In perfect weather, visible distance (D in NM) for an observer 8 feet above the water, looking at and object X feet high is:

D = 1.17 * sqr(X)

For example: a two story building is 20ft high, and possibly visible at 5.2 miles. Molasses Reef is about 7 miles from Key Largo. You would need an object on shore of 35 feet to spot it.

In practical terms, haze can obscure the horizon and any land at much closer distances.

A better more illustrative practical example. On a clear day and calm sea state:

That faint object to the left of the sailing vessel in the middle foreground, at the horizon line, is roughly 2.7 nautical miles (3 statute miles or 5km) away distance, the observer floating at sea level and looking out with the naked unaided eye. . .

 

[Oz Chris]

Large parts of the Great Barrier Reef are 50km or more off shore - 2 hours by fast boat. Not a lot of land out there.

 

[GJC]

Introduction to Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

100 miles south of Galveston. 2 or 3 day trips on the MV Fling.

 

[AfterDark]

North Carolina a lot of the wrecks are out of sight of land, 25 even 50 miles off the coast.

 

[Centrals]

HMS Repulse, HMS Prince of Wales, IJN Haguro, Seven Skies, Sun Vista etc etc. All of them are dotted along East and West of Malaysia Peninsula.

I have done some of them and really made me felt small and vulnerable as all the dives were decompression dive. The first dive was the most nervous and comparable to my first and last bungee jump in Queenstown NZ.

 

[Kevrumbo]

HMS Repulse, HMS Prince of Wales, IJN Haguro, Seven Skies, Sun Vista etc etc. All of them are dotted along East and West of Malaysia Peninsula. . .

Has anyone dived in the Pacific? There’s a remote location called Marshall Islands, Bikini Atoll. Various radioactive shipwrecks and very expensive trip to get there. Would it be worth the hike?

There is nothing more solemn and sobering than respectfully visiting the gravesite of historical warships sunk-in-action, and reflecting on the heroic sacrifice of crews that went down with them.

Bikini Atoll is different because these capital and auxiliary ships were sunk as a test -but nonetheless perhaps more frightening upon seeing in old YouTube newsreels what the atomic bombs did to these vessels- and then diving down and witnessing the appalling evidence of the incredible blast effects of this terrible weapon yourself. . .