Some quick facts about Bikini: It consists of 36 islets, has a land area of only 2.32 square miles, but a lagoon area of 229 square miles. It’s located at approximately 11 degrees 31 minutes N, 165 degrees 33 minutes E. Current population consists of the Bikini Atoll Dive Resort staff (9-10 Marshallese men, only one of which is actually from Bikini), four dive masters, and assorted Department of Energy staff and scientists (who monitor and test the radiation levels ashore). We went ashore and met Jim, the former British Special Services Officer now Head Divemaster, who graciously allowed us to use the laundry facilities, borrow their DVDs and and pretty much have the run of the place. There was even free (!) ice cream. There’s also a desalination plant ashore so there’s plenty of fresh water for drinking, hosing off and even ice. A real treat for us cruisers. The staff was busy setting up for the upcoming season, (March-November) so every morning we’d see them take off in their heavy duty dive boat heading to work, which included attaching mooring balls to all the wrecks so the dive boats could tie up to them (they remove them when they leave each year so therefore must reattach them again upon their arrival). From Dec. through mid-Feb, only a skeleton staff lives ashore. When we asked about an area with a white picket fence surrounding it, we were told that it was to protect a very old ancestral Bikinian graveyard. The vessels available for diving include the USS Saratoga (the world’s only diveable aircraft carrier), USS Lamson destroyer, USS Arkansas battleship, USS Carlisle attack transport, USS Anderson destroyer, USS Apogon submarine and the HIJMS Nagato (the Japanese battleship from which Admiral Yamamoto ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor). The Carlisle, Lamson and Anderson were sunk by the Able bomb and the Saratoga, Arkansas, Nagato, and Apogon by the Baker bomb. There are 12 decompression dives available, and are definitely not for novice divers, as they range in depths from 115 feet to 180 feet. Every diver must do a checkout dive before being allowed to continue, although the checkout dive is reportedly one of the best of the entire 12, as it consists of diving on the USS Saratoga flight deck and penetrating the bridge. Gary only did one additional dive after the checkout dive on the “Sara” - he chose the stern dive on the Nagato - and reported an incredible experience. The Nagato is upside down so the sheer size of its hull was impressive, not to mention the four 23’ props. And, to top it off, an 8’ tiger shark (one of the most aggressive and unpredictable, i.e., have been known to attack humans for no reason) made an appearance to add a little excitement at the end of the dive. Everyone had a great experience diving the wrecks – although the divemasters’ suggestion that the cruisers bring their equipment ashore beforehand to have it looked at to make sure it met the stringent requirements in place proved to be good advice as most people had one or more items that needed either repaired or replaced. They’re very strict about your equipment meeting their requirements – if it doesn’t, you don’t dive. Period. Regarding the radiation threat ashore: according to Jim, there are, of course, many different opinions on the subject of just how much radiation is actually still at Bikini and how soon the Bikinians might be allowed to return to a safe island. He assured us that it was perfectly safe ashore and while he didn’t recommend eating any of the coconuts ashore and none of the divemasters eat anything grown there, some of the Marshallese workers do and there is also a local Bikinian man who has a small experimental farm ashore and eats the produce he grows from it. The 12 boats who made the trip to Bikini (all came via Majuro, with some stopping at other atolls along the way) were: Pegasus, Blue Moon, Interlude, Navi-Gator, Camira, Integrity, Costa Vida, Kipona, Free Bird, Indigo, Aquila and . Some of these yachts arrived in the Marshalls to wait out the Southern Hemisphere cyclone season and others had already been in the Marshalls for a year or more. The weather while we were there was almost perfect with most days consisting of blue skies and typical tradewinds out of the NE or E up to about 15 knots, sometimes more. We did have some light squalls, usually at night, but they didn’t produce much rain. We also had some ITCZ activity towards the end of our stay after we had moved north in the atoll, with 3 days of brisk (25+) squally, rainy weather, but the anchorage was well protected with minimal fetch so no problem there. We had a couple of potlucks ashore, including a wrap up BBQ at the gazebo on the beach, which included lots of good food and music provided by cruiser musicians. We made a thank you posterboard for the staff and brought in photos of our boats, boat cards, and personal memorabilia to express our thanks for such a great time. Time was beginning to run short as we had made plans to be in Kwajalein around March 13. Since there was still more of the atoll we wanted to explore, we sailed the 8 miles north to the small island of Romurikku, a narrow, long island that had been blasted clean of all the coconut palms by the bombs (and this island had not been replanted). There now are only thick shrubs growing here. We explored the huge bunker ashore (with 2-3’ walls) and enjoyed the great snorkeling and shelling on the beach. Some interesting finds included some 40 lb. lead bars laying on the beach. Gary was successful with the speargun and brought home a yellow snapper and a grouper for dinner. The island is well protected from the prevailing NE winds , which blew quite strong when we were there. We had hoped to actually sail over the Bravo crater before we left but, with a somewhat favorable weather forecast, we decided to make a run for the U.S. Army Base at Kwajalein Atoll, also known as the Kwaj Missile Range. We arrived there late the next day, after another wet beat to weather in 18-30 knots of NE/E wind. Was the trip to Bikini worth it? Absolutely. While it’s a little off the usual cruising route in the Marshall Islands, it’s a step back into time that we’ll never forget … some 60 years after the Bomb.
