409 Dive Log Australasia December 24

On 16 Feb, 1944, B-25 Mitchell bombers hit the Sanko Maru with several 500 lb bombs. They must have landed quite a few because the Sanko Maru was severely crippled and went down quickly. Mini Submarine The Mini Sub, forty metres from the Sanko Maru may have been deliberately scuttled. Its hatch is open indicating that there was no attempt to escape. Few Australians would be small enough to crawl down the hatch inside the Sub. It must have been extremely claustrophobic. The two man crew would have to be very courageous and committed. Once on a mission, I suspect that they were not expected to survive. Attacks by mini subs were close to an underwater Kamikaze assault on the allies. Mini Sub is a Type C class that has a diesel motor that generates the electric charge needed to power the Sub. This gave it a much longer range. It is the same submarines as the ones that terrorised Sydney Harbour in 1942. It is one of 72 built and possibly one of two or three mini subs in the world, that are can be dived. You can inspect the conning tower, the twin torpedo tubes and the counter rotating propellers at the stern. Night diving Lissenung Island has one of the best home reefs I have seen. I did seven night dives here, over seven consecutive nights Seven nights of Passion. It is true, I am very passionate about night diving. My first night dive was an eighty five minute dip with a maximum depth of six metres.

One of the first marine life encounters were a pair of Horrid Elbow Crabs. These are a long-time favourite of mine. They are the original ‘cement heads’ and have gigantic arms (with huge elbows). Their entire body is a study in concrete. Their body is a sculpture so ugly that it is simply beautiful. Once you encounter these cute crabs, you will be cast under their spell, forever destined to admire their wonderful faces and chunky body form. I met a massive one in Palau a few years ago and decided to have a tug of war with it to get it into a better position for a photo. This is when I found out that they are extremely strong so I took to gently stroking it. This seemed to work better. I am now an aficionado of ‘crab stroking’ which of course is accompanied by lots of gentle ‘crab whispering’. The 20 cm Elbow Crab that I had found responded to my coaxing and as it came out into the open, I was surprised to find that there were two of them. I had interrupted the crabs during a romantic moment. Oops, Sorry! My admiration for the Horrid Elbow Crab was trumped twice by an even more gorgeous crab. The Soft hairy crab, or Panda Crab. Lissenung is a Coral kingdom of the highest calibre. The diving here features vertical Reef Drop offs, fringing reefs, coral gardens and a great diversity of fish life. It is a really remote and wild location. This creates enormous appeal and the sense of adventure diving here is very much alive. After all, the next major landfall to the North East is Alaska, many, many thousands of kilometres away.

19

www.divelog.net.au

DIVE LOG Australasia #409 - December ‘24