Newbie JJ diver advice

[nadwidny]

I have a spot on a Bikini Atoll trip booked in late September (3 months from now). I have no work commitments until then and can conceivably dive twice a day on the JJ and work up to Mod 2. Any thoughts on whether I should just dive OC (deep air, unfortunately) in Bikini or take the JJ as a very fresh mod 2 diver?

I've been to Bikini twice. You absolutely do not want to do it on OC. Or deep air. If you aren't able to get some sort of CCR trimix ticket before then, don't go. Re-book. Don't be "That OC Guy That Effs up the Whole Trip for Everyone".

 

[nadwidny]

I would be diving with Dirty Dozen.

I seriously doubt DD would let you dive OC in Bikini.

 

[Heat Miser]

I seriously doubt DD would let you dive OC in Bikini.

no this is wrong I saw DD reel last month saying you can dive it on OC

 

[OTF]

Thanks for this perspective. Out of interest, have you dived Bikini recently? I only asked because I spent quite a lot of time at Truk recently focusing on the deep wrecks (IJN Oite (62m, very moderate penetration), San Francis Maru (57m - light penetration through the aft and forward holds) , Aikoku Maru (56m - moderate penetration) and Amagisan Maru (53m - moderate penetration) as well as a bunch of wrecks in the 40-50m range where we got right into the engine rooms. From what I've read the penetration in the wrecks in Bikini will not be as extensive as what I've experienced at Truk?

I have no desire to climb through wrecks into tight engine rooms at 50m+ on air. In fact, I simply won't be doing that. But if the diving is no more technical than my experiences in Truk then I think I would be better off on air on open circuit where I have experience instead of on a rushed Mod 2 on a unit I only have ~50 hours on.

I would be diving with Dirty Dozen.

• Yes I have dived Bikini recently, on a boat with mostly CCR divers and a couple people on OC trimix. Definitely not air! Our CCR dives were each roughly 2 hour runtimes and we wanted every extra time advantage the units could provide. I don't think the OC people had as much fun. A couple of OC divers had mild DCS symptoms which none of the CCR group experienced.
• Each of the Bikini wrecks are different, some don't offer much penetration at all, some offer longer deeper and sketchier opportunities than Chuuk. Here is a video of some excellent divers (Pink fins is a Master fleet guide) doing the grand tour of the Saratoga interior .
  You do not have to do dives like that to enjoy Bikini though. In fact if you spend your time in there you will miss lots of cool stuff on the outside of the wrecks. One trip isn't enough to see it all so don't worry about doing the hardest interior rooms your first time there. You should be cave trained for the serious penetrations.
• Dirty Dozen runs a good operation.