Suppose I want to go to Bikini Atoll

[Barmaglot]

since you are close to the red sea, i would recommend doing some training locally and diving the rosalie muller and thistlegorm as a starter. can try tekstreme for the training.

Counter-intuitively, getting to Hurghada from Israel is both difficult and expensive. There are no direct flights - I would have to connect in Istanbul, Cairo, or somewhere in Europe - and the tickets are in the $400-600 range and up. I would also need a visa, which is a pain in the ass to get, requiring three visits to the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv, and it's good only for a single entry. I am, however, looking at Sharm el Sheikh, which can be reached by bus and doesn't need a visa. Going by www.infinite-ccr.com, the rebreather courses are around 1000€ + tax + gas fills and sofnolime, so about $4000-5000 to get fully trained up plus a few dozen dives for experience? $5000-7000 for a rebreather kit if I find a good deal on a used set? Does that sound right?

Re: 65 dives a year - it may sound like a significant number, but then I go 4-5 months between dives, and I'm afraid that on CCR, that can present an unacceptable level of danger.

 

[lermontov]

That sounds about right funny how you can get cave fills is bikini atoll.
Even without the CCR everything is likely full through 2021 anyway.

if youve got money set aside and you can go when you want they offer discounts fro late comers if they have a cancellation or such- me and my buddy just got it for next year at 20% off

 

[runsongas]

take a look at PURE if you have to stick to sharm. infinite is ok for AN/DP and ccr air/helitrox, but they don't offer mod 2/2+ it looks like.

 

[Vitesse2l]

My club is taking a trip to Bikini for the 75th anniversary of the ghost fleet test. They were planning on twinsets originally but have all gone with ccr now. Lots of expense all round.

 

[KenGordon]

I was talking to a bloke that runs trips there at the Birmingham dive show.

Helium is 20C (US) per litre. So 1750l (eg 21/35 is twin 12s) is 350USD a fill.
The cost of the trip is about 10k USD plus flights. So likely 15k.

You probably ought to do it properly.

Whatever, OC start with TDI AN/DP or Helitrox, then Trimix (60m)
Or CCR, MOD1, MOD2. They might make you do some MOD0 no stop 30m thing though if no previous deco qualifications. Whatever, it is only one extra course, so the difference in training cost might not be as bad as you think. Malta or the Canaries would be the obvious places to go. Or Chepstow, with the collapsed GBP.

CCR is just better, especially when gas duration might be an issue. Someone OC on weak mix or air is in much more peril than a CCR diver on proper gas. It’s not machines that kill divers, it is divers.

 

[rjack321]

Counter-intuitively, getting to Hurghada from Israel is both difficult and expensive. There are no direct flights - I would have to connect in Istanbul, Cairo, or somewhere in Europe - and the tickets are in the $400-600 range and up. I would also need a visa, which is a pain in the ass to get, requiring three visits to the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv, and it's good only for a single entry. I am, however, looking at Sharm el Sheikh, which can be reached by bus and doesn't need a visa. Going by www.infinite-ccr.com, the rebreather courses are around 1000€ + tax + gas fills and sofnolime, so about $4000-5000 to get fully trained up plus a few dozen dives for experience? $5000-7000 for a rebreather kit if I find a good deal on a used set? Does that sound right?

Re: 65 dives a year - it may sound like a significant number, but then I go 4-5 months between dives, and I'm afraid that on CCR, that can present an unacceptable level of danger.

$500 for a flight is cheap
Depending on what you want you can find a used unit in the $3500-4500 range fairly easily.

You may need to find a way to dive more often than every 4-5months if you want to be proficient enough to be doing decompression and/or CCR dives anywhere. If your schedule doesn't allow that, then perhaps you need to think about what you can sacrifice in your life, time, or money etc. to allow you to dive regularly enough to be proficient in Bikini. Or perhaps you really shouldn't try to book a "trip of a lifetime" that scares you, bends you, or kills you.

 

[jstrang]

I was in bikini this past June in the truk master. 1/2 the group were on OC. Twin 80s for back gas and 2 stages for deco. While the sand is 170’ these are massive ships. The flight deck of the Saratoga sits at 90’. Most of the cool penetration is between 100’ to 140’. We did Sara 31/2 days. Like 7 dives. I would go back to just to dive her again. Good Buoyancy would be a much better asset to have. It is silty in the lower decks.

Some of the other wrecks will take you deeper as they are lying on their sides or inverted like Nagato. But there is less penetration available.

I don’t believe indies goes there anymore - truk master is the only option.

Your plan to get tek50 is a good one. If you then decide ccr is for you xover to ccr then.

If you can, go to truk/Chuuk before bikini. Cool wrecks but also some shallower ones.

enjoy the journey.

 

[Barmaglot]

$500 for a flight is cheap

Not for a couple of 1-hour flights it isn't. I've seen trans-pacific flights (LAX-MNL) advertised for less than Egypt Air charges for Tel Aviv - Cairo route.

Thank you everyone for the feedback. I think I'll do the TecRec 40/45/50 in April to get my feet wet in tech diving in general, see how I handle narcosis and decompression, etc - and if it goes well, I'll look into CCR options.

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

Not for a couple of 1-hour flights it isn't. I've seen trans-pacific flights (LAX-MNL) advertised for less than Egypt Air charges for Tel Aviv - Cairo route.

Thank you everyone for the feedback. I think I'll do the TecRec 40/45/50 in April to get my feet wet in tech diving in general, see how I handle narcosis and decompression, etc - and if it goes well, I'll look into CCR options.

If you are looking at CCR options in the future maybe have a chat with @RainPilot as he is a CCR instructor here in the UAE and can help you get to the depths you want to go in order to dive the nuclear ghost fleet which also happens to be at the top of my bucket list.

 

[BenjaminF]

@ScubaWithTurk , travel between Israel and the UAE isn't really an option currently... They don't seem to like Israeli passports there. At least Egypt allows us entry.