Headaches and technical diving

Last mission of the Black Jack

Mother Nature is a bitch: beyond a pO2 of 1.6
Exploration – not always conventional
Diving Pioneers & Innovators: A Series of In
Depth Interviews (Mike deGruy)
Issue 7 – June 2012
Contents Editorial
Editorial 2 Welcome to the seventh issue of Tech Diving Mag.

In this issue, the contributors have, once more, brought together a wealth
Headaches and technical diving of information, along with some distinctive first hand experiences. The
contributors for this issue are world renowned industry professional
By Asser Salama 3 Bret Gilliam, technical diving instructor Albrecht Salm (PhD) and
cave explorer Chris Jewell. Read their bio at www.techdivingmag.
Last mission of the Black Jack com/contributors.html.

By Bret Gilliam 5 This issue includes a book chapter about the successful, adventurous
life of the late Mike deGruy. Sadly, Mike was killed in a helicopter
crash in Australia on the third of February, 2012; a definite loss to the
Mother Nature is a bitch: beyond a pO2 diving community.
of 1.6 Tech Diving Mag is very much your magazine and I am keen to have
By Albrecht Salm 16 your input. If you have any interesting articles, photos or just want to
share your views, drop me a line at [email protected].

Exploration - not always conventional Please visit www.techdivingmag.com/communicate.html to subscribe

to the newsletter in order to be notified when new issues are available
By Chris Jewell 24 for download.

Diving Pioneers & Innovators: A Series

of In Depth Interviews (Mike deGruy)
By Bret Gilliam 35 Asser Salama
Editor, Tech Diving Mag

Front cover image © T. Timothy Smith.

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 Headaches and technical diving

By Asser Salama

© T. Timothy Smith.

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There are different causes associated with diving headaches, but The majority of compressors used to fill in tanks are oil lubricated.
fortunately, technical divers are already aware of the basic things Normal filtration does not guarantee the removal of all traces of oil.
that might cause these headaches, like mask squeeze, an excessive These traces contain CO and can easily accumulate inside tanks. If
constriction around the neck caused by thermal protection, a dental the compressor is faulty or not well maintained, the percentage of CO
issue, cold water around an inadequately insulated head, dehydration, exceeds the safe limits and can cause CO headache. This should not
saltwater aspiration, jaw clenching, muscle strain due to anxiety be a problem in technical diving, because all proper facilities apply
and/or muscular rigidity, or sinus squeeze during ascents and/or more filtration.
descents. Unfortunately, though, diving headaches could as well be
as complicated as a symptom of DCS, so seek immediate medical Get the diver out of the water, administer oxygen and seek immediate
attention if a diver complains of headache and has other signs of medical attention. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is the best option.
DCS like joint pain, swelling, skin rash, itching, dizziness, nausea,
vomiting, ringing in the ears or extreme exhaustion. Here are other Carbon dioxide toxicity headache
types of diving headaches: A dull pulsing head pain after diving is usually a symptom of this
type of headache, which is caused by carbon dioxide build-up in the
Migraine headache body. The increase in waste gas is usually due to hypoventilation
Symptoms include severe pain, visual changes, weakness or numbness (too little air intake). Hypoventilation usually happens when a diver
of the arm and nausea. Also post-dive vomiting is one of the migraine doesn’t take large enough breaths or doesn’t breathe often. Simply
headache consequences, but if coupled with other symptoms could put, not breathing enough to get rid of the CO2 created in the body
indicate a DCS hit. will eventually lead to this type of headache. This bad breathing habit
should be avoided by technical divers.
Many of the medications used to treat migraines contain drugs
which will increase the risk of nitrogen narcosis. So take that into CO2 build-up is also caused by the usage of inefficient dive equipment,
consideration when you’re calculating your END and your gas mixes. especially at these depths associated with technical diving. This
As many people have only occasional migraine headaches, yet others creates greater work of breathing, which leads to creating more CO2.
have migraines which are not incapacitating, migraine should be Given that CO2 is way more narcotic than nitrogen, sense dulling is
evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Anyone who suffers from migraine a potential impact of excessive CO2 build-up.
headaches and wishes to dive must consult a physician, preferably
one with knowledge and experience in diving medicine. The best treatment here is to take slow, deep breaths to reduce the
build-up. Also use high performance regulators with good flow
Carbon monoxide toxicity headache characteristics. CO2 headaches don’t respond well to pain relievers.
Symptoms include severe pain accompanied by tightness across the
forehead, dizziness, nausea and vomiting.

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 Last mission of the Black Jack

By Bret Gilliam

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Just after midnight on July 11, 1943 a U. S. Air Force bomber rumbled rested in the bomb bays. Their release over Rabaul would light things
on to the flight line for takeoff from the Allied controlled field at up pretty well in a few hours.
Port Moresby, New Guinea. Capt. Ralph Deloach carefully eyed
his instrument panel as the #2 engine sputtered and coughed before Deloach’s radio crackled in his headset and the clearance was given
settling into a smooth synchronicity with the other three powerful to takeoff. He firmly pushed the four throttles forward and the plane
propellers breaking the torpid tropical night’s lassitude. responded, sluggishly at first, then with increasing speed. Passing 100
knots, he dropped a few degrees of flaps from the wings and raised
Deloach eased his throttles a bit and swung into the wind waiting the nose. Black Jack lifted off into the night sky and disappeared over
for the aircraft in front off him to clear the runway. The veteran pilot the water climbing rapidly. Deloach reduced the throttles at altitude
was in command of one of WW II’s most famous bombers in the and settled in for the flight. Even though he was nine degrees below
South West Pacific theatre of operations. This was a B-17 four-engine the equator in the tropical latitudes, above 12,000 feet it was cold
workhorse, dubbed the Flying Fortress, that had made history from and he shivered lightly in his flight jacket. He reached for the cup
Europe to the Pacific as the U. S. primary airborne attack weapon in of coffee he’d carried into the cockpit and sipped it gratefully as the
the war against the German and Japanese forces. Deloach was aboard plane leveled off and Moore took over to hold her on the northeast
the infamous Black Jack, a veteran of scores of bombing missions. course. Deloach had time to reflect on his aircraft’s war record and
Tonight’s raid had him bound for New Britain Island to attack the his predecessor that flew her to glory, the legendary pilot Capt. Ken
heavily fortified Japanese airstrip at Rabaul on its northeast tip. They McCullar.
would also engage an enemy convoy with over 7000 troops aboard
bound for Lae. From Port Moresby, the flight would be nearly 500
miles over mountain ranges topping 12,000 feet in height and then
traveling blacked-out over open ocean before turning north to his
target.

He quickly reviewed the course with his co-pilot Lt. Joe Moore who
sat in the right seat opposite him. Moore was engaged in a quick
run-through of the final checklist and grunted his confirmation of
the outbound course to steer after takeoff. They would climb out to
the west over the Gulf of Papua to gain altitude before scaling the
mountain range that bisected the southeast peninsula that stretched
down to Milne Bay and oblivion. The moonless night was clear but
he hoped the darkness would cloak their approach from the sea before
the Japanese army could detect their presence. A full load of munitions

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It was McCullar who had established Black Jack’s reputation and The new bomber was assigned to McCullar and was given a new
flew her into the history books. But McCullar was dead now, killed nickname, Black Jack, derived from the last two digits in her serial
in a fiery takeoff crash in another plane and Deloach commanded the number “21”. Her name along with an artist’s rendering of the Jack of
B-17 this night. At that moment, he had no way of knowing that this Diamonds and the Ace of Spades was painted on her starboard nose
flight would be the last mission of Black Jack. proudly declaring her identity. It was one that the Japanese would get
to know all too well over the next nine months.
The beginning
The B-17 Flying Fortress was a big bomber by any conventional There was a bond between the aircraft and her skipper that was palpable
measure, weighing in at over 20 tons. Four 1200-horsepower engines to her crew and other observers. McCullar enjoyed a reputation as a
hung from her wings that spanned 103 feet in breadth. In fact, the flamboyant gambler and fearlessly aggressive pilot. He even had a
wingspan exceeded the 74-ft. length of the aircraft by a considerable 14th machine gun mount installed in the plane’s nose fired by a button
amount. Thirteen machine guns jutted from her turrets and gun ports on his control wheel so he could use the big bomber to personally
along with a full complement of bombs. Her crew of ten typically was duel with Japanese fighters that dared to challenge him. He pioneered
made up of a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, flight engineer, a tactic called “skip bombing” where he would roar in at minimum
radio operator, two waist gunners, a ball turret gunner, and an extra altitude and release his bomb loads about a hundred feet short of
gunner who roamed within the fuselage as needed. B-17s became the target ships. The bombs literally skipped off the water at high
famous through the exploits of their heroic crews over Europe in such speed and slammed into their prey just at the waterline. It was highly
aircraft as the Memphis Belle, later immortalized in press and movies. dangerous, requiring split second timing, but devastatingly effective.
McCullar’s technique was picked up by the rest of the 43rd and sent
Black Jack was B-17 #41-24521, Model E. She rolled out of Boeing’s thousands of tons of enemy ships to a watery grave.
Seattle factory in July of 1942 and six weeks later was assigned to
the 43rd Bomb Group based in northern Australia. The 43rd was part Black Jack and McCullar became an awesome team, simultaneously
of the 5th Air Force that had been specifically formed to provide aerial respected throughout the Allied squadrons and feared by the Japanese.
support for General Douglas MacArthur’s return to the Philippines. Flying as many as three missions a day, Black Jack and McCullar
This was considered crucial to the defeat of the Japanese Empire’s achieved near mythic status and always came back… sometimes
forces in the western Pacific. But in September of 1942 the Japanese against all odds.
were within 30 miles of Port Moresby, the last major Allied position
in New Guinea. This was the stepping-stone the Japanese hoped to A legend is born
use to invade Australia, only a short distance to the southwest. The In November of 1942 the Japanese decided to mount a troop deployment
5th Air Force was engaged in a desperate holding action facing an on the Allies and sent five destroyers laden with attack forces out of
overwhelming enemy force. Rabaul into the Huon Gulf under cover of night. This would stage an
assault on the undermanned Port Moresby less than 75 miles away

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on the other side of the peninsula. The B-17s were sent to stop them. unable to maintain altitude. A quick glance at the altimeter confirmed
McCullar led the air group and located the destroyer convoy as they the worst… they had slipped below 3000 feet.
cleared Rabaul and headed west under New Britain Island. His first
attack run was made at less than 200 feet skimming in over the ocean
as tracer bullets from the ships outlined his approach. His bombs just
missed the first destroyer and he decided to go around for a second
bombing run. Enemy machine guns had set off ammunition stored in
Black Jack’s tail section and a fire broke out. Flames leaped out into
the interior, but the crew managed to control it as McCullar lined up
his second attack approach, this time barely above the wave tops.

McCullar waited until the enemy ship filled his entire view and then
dropped his bomb load with a direct hit on the bow section. Rocked
by machine gun fire and heavy artillery, Black Jack sustained several
hits that wounded three crewmembers before they veered away barely
escaping. The cool McCullar fought for control and swung the aircraft
back around for a third attack run. This time the Japanese fleet put up
a blistering wall of fire but more of Black Jack’s bombs found a target
with another ship. A geyser of explosions filled the night sky and the
plane’s left outboard engine was hit and the controls were shot away.

Though crippled and fighting to keep his B-17 in the air, the unflappable
McCullar made a fourth low level attack run scoring more hits on the
remaining Japanese warships. With two bombs left, a final fifth pass
was made from 4000 feet. That cost him the inboard engine on the
right wing that was hit in the fuel system and shut down.

Now down to only two engines, Black Jack began to lose altitude
and McCullar faced the long haul back to Port Moresby that would
require him to somehow clear the Owen Stanley mountains… over
two miles high. It was a grim scenario: only two engines working,
a third on fire, the aircraft shot to hell, half the crew wounded, and

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McCullar ordered the crew to throw out all remaining ammunition Victory was fleeting however. As Deloach maneuvered for his return
and loose equipment in a desperate attempt to slow their descent. The to Port Moresby, the full fury of the storm erupted on Black Jack.
damaged left engine smoldered and sparked threatening to explode Rocked by turbulence and with visibility so reduced that the other
at any moment. Ditching in the ocean seemed the only way out but planes were obscured, a battle ensued just to remain in the air. First
would mean certain capture by the Japanese and McCullar doubted one, then the second engine on the right wing failed. Dodging the
if his wounded could make it out alive on the crash landing. The dense main storm clouds and pockets of lightning, Deloach was blown
command came to rip out seats, tables, emergency gear, even their off course and finally became hopelessly lost. With fuel low and the
machine guns, and throw it from the amidships hole in the fuselage. plane struggling to maintain altitude, the pilot knew they would never
clear the mountain range even if they could establish their position.
Slowly Black Jack leveled off and began to climb on her two
remaining engines. The left outboard propeller glowed cherry red and Shouting to Moore as a sounding board for options, the two men
finally sheered off spiraling into the sea. It took two and a half hours grimly decided that ditching was their only choice. In the early dawn
to wrench their way to 10,000 feet, just enough to make it through light they peered below them looking for a potential site to put down
a mountain pass and set down safely in Port Moresby. McCullar’s in shallow water. Sweeping over a finger of land known as Cape
gritty persistence brought his crew back safely and his unprecedented Vogel, Deloach caught a glimpse of a native village perched on a
five attack runs sank the Japanese destroyer Hayashio. sandy beach next to a shallow lagoon.

The last mission “That’s it,” he thought. “If I can grease her into the lagoon behind the
Tonight’s mission had already started badly when the #2 engine failed barrier reef, we can get out before she sinks and swim to shore.”
to run smoothly during takeoff run-ups. Deloach snapped to attention
when the right inboard engine faltered two hours into the flight. He He quickly relayed his intentions to the crew and told them to secure
adjusted the fuel mixture and it finally stabilized. Engine troubles and for a crash sea landing. With two engines out and fuel down to fumes,
he wasn’t even over the target yet? Was that an omen? To add further Deloach lined up his approach. He knew he’d only get one shot at it
stress, a violent weather system could be seen approaching as they and better make it good. Cranking in full flaps, he brought the plane in
neared the southeast coast of New Britain. nose-high and as slow as possible. It touched down briefly inside the
lagoon and skipped into the air again to land just outside the barrier
Now flying in violent winds, driving rain, and flashes of lightning reef in deep water. Three crewmembers were injured on impact, but
Deloach fought to keep his plane aloft. He finally caught sight of the all nine scrambled out of the sinking hulk and fell into the black water
enemy convoy and lined up his bombing run. The squadron of B-17s as the morning sun rose from the storm-tossed ocean. But fortune
roared in from the storm and caught the ships by surprise. The enemy smiled on Deloach and his men as the natives saw the plane crash and
was almost completely annihilated, less than 900 of 7000 Japanese launched their canoes to rescue them.
combatants survived.

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 All were safely recovered and they spent the night sheltered from
roaming enemy troops in Boga Boga village. Their escape was
facilitated the next day by an Australian coast watcher named Eric
Foster who called for a small seaplane to set down and take out
the three wounded men. Later a P.T. boat came in and rescued the
remaining crew dropping them off on nearby Goodenough Island.
Another small plane landed there and brought them back to Port
Moresby, a fitting end for a courageous crew and a legendary B-17.

Deloach was awarded the Silver Star for his flying skills and valor
saving his men. He later embarked on another career as the “Marlboro
Man” in a series of ad campaigns that celebrated his craggy good
looks as a symbol of American rugged individualism.

The dive
I had the chance to dive the Black Jack in November of 2004 while
aboard Mike Ball’s Paradise Sport out of Milne Bay. We anchored just
inside the barrier reef allowing easy access to the drop off wall face.
My wife Gretchen and Capt. Larry O’Driscoll would accompany me.
First we secured two nitrox cylinders for decompression to a stage
line off the anchor rode. A steep wall precipitously fell away from
the shallow reef top and we glided down to about 75 feet where we
picked up the first glimpse of the massive tail of the wreck looming
up from the sand bottom at about 150 feet.

As we descend, a strong current makes itself known and it’s necessary

to kick vigorously to overcome it. We approach the wreck from the
tail that towers nearly thirty feet above the main aircraft frame. The
tail machine gun turret is clearly visible and I indicate that Larry
should take up a position nearby and illuminate it up with his dive
light. I gesture for Gretchen to take a high position on the tail to add
more size perspective. This is the hardest assignment since she has to

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constantly fin into the streaming current. capture the entire B-17 lying placidly on the seabed.

We shoot a few frames aft and begin making our way along the
fuselage. The Black Jack is in almost unbelievably good condition
after over 60 years submerged. The aluminum structure is largely
completely intact and only sparsely covered with a bit of marine
growth here and there. Incredibly, the ammunition belts remain fed
into the 50 caliber machine guns and their barrels still rotate freely.
The right tail section horizontal stabilizer is bent slightly upwards
from the impact of settling in next to the drop off wall. Swimming
forward we can easily see into the fuselage compartment where the
crew had braced for the landing.

The cockpit is intact as well and I can reach in to move the pilot’s
controls. Both seats are in place, pushed all the way back to allow
Deloach and Moore to escape from the overhead hatch after setting
down. The nose has bit of an upward bend to it from the initial impact
and all four propellers are in still on their mounts to the massive
engines. The blades show evidence of crumpling and bending from
their first contact with the ocean surface at nearly 90 knots. The entire
forward section of the wreck is swarming with bait fish schools,
snapper and adorned with some layers of bright soft corals. Attracted
by our intrusion, a few sharks sweep into view to check us out.

Eighteen minutes into the dive we are well into decompression

obligations and I signal Gretchen to precede us on the ascent. I watch
her and Larry drift with the current back to the tail and follow the
ascent line up the wall. Alone on the wreck now, I fight my way back
into position to shoot some wide shots of the wings and nose-to-tail
perspectives. The current increases slightly and I angle to intercept
the ascent guideline. Checking my air supply, I note that I have nearly
1000 psi remaining and decide to indulge a few more minutes to

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It looks like Black Jack could have landed last week… not six decades A one-room school dominates the north end of the village bringing
ago. Firing off a few more frames, I drift up towards the deco tanks education and literacy slowly to the newest generation.
and rendezvous with my partners. We surface 30 minutes later into a
blazing sunny morning and ease our way back to the stern of Paradise Our group spends a several hours ashore in the warmth of the sun and
Sport. the village’s hospitality. Finally, we bid our farewells and clamber
back aboard the launches to ferry us out to the vessel. With the sun
Boga Boga village well overhead, I peer over the drop off as we approach Paradise Sport
As we toss down breakfast, Larry asks if we’d like to visit Boga Boga wondering if I can make out the wreck far below. The cobalt blue
village and we eagerly accept the invitation. The natives of the village water rewards me with a clear distant image of Black Jack resting
swarm around our launch as we come ashore. Other divers from the serenely in the depths.
liveaboard have preceded us ashore while we were diving and we find
that the entire village has turned out on the rare occasion that outside The villagers saved Deloach and his crew in 1943 in spite of the very
visitors appear. real threat of reprisals from the Japanese.The calmness of the ocean
and the tranquility of the village belie the fury of war that brought
I’m fortunate to be introduced to one of the village elders who was Deloach and his men to this distant outpost in faraway New Guinea.
a small boy when Black Jack swooped over and splashed into their A handful of divers will visit the aircraft but this relic of a conflict
lagoon. His father was one of the first to paddle out and haul the long over sleeps peacefully… a testament to a gritty Air Force crew
floating crew to safety. He tells me that Capt. Deloach returned to and the local village that reached out from another simpler existence
Boga Boga after 45 years had past to see again the place of his narrow and rescued them.
escape. I tell him that I had seen a video that chronicled Deloach’s
visit. Author’s note: Since my chance to dive the “Black Jack”, virtually
all access to the wreck has been cut off. No liveaboard vessels
The concept of “video” is not one he’s familiar with and I snap currently visit the Cape Vogel at all anymore and it’s beyond the
back to his reality where no electricity exists and only a handful of reach of any land-based resorts. Boga Boga village has fallen on
mechanized equipment is to be found. This is mostly limited to a few hard times since no outsiders can visit anymore either thus cutting
outboard motors that are rarely used due to the logistics of obtaining off the valued economic impact of visiting divers. It’s a sad story...
gasoline supplies from hundreds of miles away. This is still an outpost Meanwhile the infamous B-17 sleeps peacefully intact on the bottom
only barely removed from the Bronze Age and cook fires burn lowly nearly 70 years after her plunge to depth.
as the evening meal simmers with a fragrant aroma. After dusk,
candles and lanterns provide the only lights and they are extinguished
a few hours after sunset as the villagers retire en masse. It’s a simple
life of modest gardening, fishing, and tending a few goats and pigs.

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Mother Nature is a bitch: beyond a pO2 of 1.6

By Albrecht Salm

© T. Timothy Smith.

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Let’s consider the following scenario: you are a technical diving
instructor having a bunch of enthusiastic divers, and you’re diving
with them all weekend long. The next day early morning you should
go on a scheduled flight to your next job at another dive site. So waiting
the recommended 24 hours is way out of any possibility. What are
your options? Cancelling the last dive doesn’t only give you hassle
with re-scheduling the whole set-up with tanks and transportation,
but you will as well lose customers and money. Cancelling the flight
even more so!

How about that one: you do the dives, but you handle the shallow
decompression stops of the last dive aggressively with oxygen,
resulting in a far more expedited inert gas off-gassing (with a high Well, you blew the software: not your fault! Due to an error, obviously
risk of a CNS ox-tox hit, for sure). Anyway, you have the equipment, sloppy work on the programmers side who did not initialize very-well
the expertise, the experience with thousands of dives and the bravado all his variables with an inert gas saturation as a boundary condition
to do it. Your TEC students will not notice it, when you start breathing for dive time t = 0 min, so you try something else out of the tool-box:
down your oxygen tank at, say 9 or 12 m. The guys are fumbling
with their reels and trying to deploy their SMBs ... So, you even
stay longer at 6 m, doing all the stops there for the last stages. Why
did you choose 6 m? Well, besides the much higher oxygen partial
pressure than at 3 m and thus a higher efficiency, there you have as
well a higher ambient pressure, which gives, thinking in terms of
avoiding micro bubbles which would hinder the off-gassing an even
more efficient decompression(*).

Well, everything went fine this time. You sit comfortably in your
jump-seat enjoying the flight, but now you switch on your laptop
and try to assess your ox-tox risk from this very dive. You take your
latest piece of PC deco-software and try to simulate just the oxygen
decompression, nothing else (the fractions F being: FN2 = FHe = 0,
F02 = 1).You key that in, and:BOOOOOM! Off we go:

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 of pressure; instead of the [Bar] to which us regular diver folks
are easily accustomed to. But as the expert you are, you know that
approximately 2% are missing, pressure wise (1.308 to be a little bit
more accurate), so you add a little bit to the deeper side. In terms of
depth you add at 6 mca. 0.2 m to receive the requested 1.6 atm for
pure oxygen.

pO2 [atm]
p amb @ f = 1.0
[Bar] O2
1,5000 1,4804
1,6000 1,5791

1,5199 1,5000
1,6212 1,6000

This is all but just „circa“! Why? Well, even 10 m of water column
do not give exactly one Bar. For pure (fresh) water the conversion
factor is 0.98065, for seawater it is 1.00522 [(4), p. 893], everything
dependent on the specific density of the water you dive in (or your
deco software thinks, you are in … J).

OOOOOOOOOOps: wow! Shouldn’t there be something like 100%

of a CNS dose with a pO2 = 1.6 and 45 min? Well, another oops:
by checking your NOAA diving manual (1) on p. 3-23 (4th edition,
section 3, table 3-4), you see that these guys are always talking
about atm, which, in this case, is not the automatic teller machine
you searched for urgently at the airport but: [Atmospheres], a unit

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So, this one above goes from 88% to 149%. WOW: now you get
suspicious and you double-check with a completely other piece of
new deco-software, keying in a couple of depths, increasing from 6.0
to 6.2 m:

Here we have 84.4% to 83.1%: decreasing with increasing depth!

And, as well with a somewhat peculiar peak in between at 98% and
with 8 cm more depth we reach a certain trough at 79%. Well, well:
we shall not split hairs here and a deviation of, say +/- 3% would be

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still in the green. But this one is far, far away from the NOAA rules To make a long story’s end: obviously there is ample leeway for
and seems to be not very reliable … Even if you have right away 1.6 a programmer to implement the ox-tox scene. To put it even more
atm of pO2: this is just reached at the mouth-piece from your second bluntly: nobody told these guys, especially around the 100% and the
stage. Down your trachea the oxygen becomes quickly diluted with 100%+ dose. So let’s go back to the old masters, the NOAA (1) and
air saturated with water vapor, further down the airways it becomes the USN (3): this is how they did itaround 1.2 < pO2< 2.5 atm:
even more diluted with your old, used air i.e. with carbon dioxide and
the residual N2 or He from your previous inert gas uptake. pO2
[atm]
NOAA USN
[min] [min]

1,2 210
And, as well concerning the dive time we could exceed the 100% 1,25 195
CNS limit. Say at 1.6 we would stay 49 min instead of the 45, thus 1,3
1,35
180
165
giving around 110%. Computational-wise this should be a piece of 1,4 150
1,45 135
cake since the NOAA rule is linear in time: for half the time we would 1,5 120
expect half the dose, i.e. 50%, or, in this example with 4.5 min the 1,55
1,6
83
45
result should be 10% of the CNS dose. For your convenience, we 1,65
1,7 240
checked a couple of deco software also in various releases concerning 1,75
these two aspects,putting the results together for comparison; that is 1,8
1,85
around the 100% limits in the pressure- and the time-domain to check 1,9 80
the linearity: 1,95
2 25
2,05
2,1
2,15
2,2 15
2,25
2,3
2,35
2,4
2,45
2,5 10

Remark: the NOAA exceptional exposure limits are suggested from

Dr. C. Lambertsenand were published in the 1991 Version of the diving
manual. Bob Hamilton oncedescribed them as “best judgment” in the
DAN Tec proceedings ((2), Session D2-3). The USN limits however
((3) Volume 4, table 19-4, p. 19-14) are single depth exposure limits
on pure oxygen for standard procedures, not for exceptional exposures
Ultimate Planner’s data provided by Asser Salama
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(and, as well not for mixed-gas diving!). How could we proceed with Diving Mag, Issue 5, page 41).
our scenario from the beginning of this story: obviously there are a
couple of ways to look at it in the high-pressure regions: These extrapolations are a simple and linear by nature. Why? Well,
we could have used some polynomial or another complex exponential
approach. But this would not have helped us either: it just complicates
the matter. The other important boundary condition is not to violate
the USN limits!

If we look at the chart: the green line is the NOAA standard, the
red dots are the USN marks and the blue-dashed lines are 4 linear
extrapolations. Ex #1 ends at ca. 1.7 atm, Ex #2 at 1.9 atm. Those
two do not give us much freedom in terms of depth: a small surge, a
little wave, a quick helping hand for your diving comrades…The 9 m
depth line can be easily exceeded. On the other hand, Ex #4 ends at
2.5 atm and is relatively nearto the USN limits: let’s avoid this one.
So the straight line of choice would be Ex #3: giving ample leeway
up to 2.2 atm of pure oxygen pressure but nevertheless a little bit
more conservative than the USN limits.

Let’s discuss these extrapolations. But, please keep in mind: these

are just mathematical things! That is not a recommended diving
procedure! (Well, I still want to keep my instructors licenses, at least
a couple of them). But we want to suggest a reasonable algorithm
a programmer or developer of deco-software could easily follow.
The added value would be that with various deco-software, at least
the ox-tox doses would become comparable ... Well, there is much
more on the road that the inert-gas doses resp. the decompression
times become comparable: even if the deco software tools share the
same basic algorithm there is much space for interpretation! (This is
already covered in your favorite TEC-magazine: have a look at Tech

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 (*) At least, mathematically wise. After ca. 15 min or so your heart
NOAA beats a little bit slower than normal and your blood vessels become a
p O 2 NOAA except. U S N Ex. 3 Ex. 4 little bit narrower, thus reducing the efficiency a little bit. The doctors
[atm] [min] exp. [min] [min] [min] call the former “bradycardia” the latter “vasoconstriction”. These
1,2 210 things have been investigated as well through the USN, the DCIEM
1,3 180 240 and the NMRI since long. But up to now not much deco software
1,4 150 180
1,5 120 150 have implemented these “oxygen correction” factors.
1,6 45 120 45 45
1,7 75 240 37,5 40
1,8 60 30 35
1,9 45 80 22,5 30
2 30 25 15 25
2,1 7,5 20
2,2 15 0 15
2,3 10
2,4 5
2,5 10 0

Bottom line is:

- we thought: let’s share this information about the shortcomings of
the deco software
- and: let’s challenge a feedback from the wild
- and: let’s suggest a possible and easy way out

(1) NOAA Diving Manual, U.S. Department of Commerce, 2001,

Fourth Edition
(2) DAN Technical Diving Conference Proceedings, January 2008
(available for free as a PDF at: www.diversalertnetwork.org)
(3) US Navy Diving Manual, SS521-AG-PRO-010 0910-LP-106-
0957, Revision 6, 15. April 2008
(4) The Underwater Handbook, Charles W. Shilling (ed.), 1976,
Plenum Press New York

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www.techdivingmag.com/ultimateplanner.html

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 Exploration – not always
conventional
By Chris Jewell

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A small dedicated community of cave divers exist whose goal is to the UK, I can assure you that - that Bristol is not on the way from
explore new underwater cave passages. These divers often employ Manchester to Dover!
unconventional tactics and equipment is often adapted for specific
goals. These divers focus on ‘getting the job done’ and are extremely Our contact in Spain was David Magdelena, a Spanish caver and cave
passionate about exploration. In 2009 and 2010 cave divers Chris diver that I’d met on another expedition in 2008. He’d invited us to
Jewell and Artur Zoklowski made a series of exploration dives in a dive in Fou de Bor a resurgence site in the Catalonian Pyrenees near
Spanish Mountain cave called Fou de Bor. Here Chris gives us antells Andorra.A resurgence is the term used to describe a cave where the
the story of two friends, two explorers and gives an insight into the water comes out of the mountain rather than goes in. Some caves
challenges that underwater explorers must overcome for the reward resurge into rivers or large pools but in other cases it is necessary to
of discovery. travel through a section of dry underground passage first. Fou de Bor
was such a cave. Furthermore it was very well known in the local
“Hello Chriiss” said a very sleepy Artur Kozlowski in a Polish accent area as the dry section of the cave is a very popular beginner’s trip.
unsoftened by several years of living in Ireland. It was about 9.30am The cave has also been known for a long time and exploration first
and I’d had to phone three times to wake him up! started in 1885. The sump however was far from a beginner’s sump.
It was the site of Spain’s first cave diving fatality in 1965, a reminder
Dispensing with pleasantries I got straight to the point “This is going of which can be seen by the plaque at the entrance remembering the
to sound crazy but do you want to come to Spain on Friday to push two divers who lost their lives. Since that time the last explorer was
some underwater caves?” Xavier Garza in 1998 when he had used open circuit scuba to reach
a point 367m from base at 60m depth. Artur and I planned to use
I’d been planning a cave diving expedition to Northern Spain in the rebreathers to carry on past this point.
autumn of 2010 for 4 months. John Volanthen was to be my diving
partner but at the last minute he was called to go to France to assist in Equipment decisions are one of the key things a cave diving explorer
the attempted rescue of Eric Establie. Suddenly my trip fell apart and must deal with. When diving open circuit the simple third in, third
I could think of just one person with the experience necessary who out rule ultimately dictates the amount of gas a diver can use whilst
could drop whatever they were doing and go to Spain with only a few exploring and related to their depth this equates to an amount of
days’ notice – Artur Kozlowski. exploration time. Simply put to dive longer and deeper bigger
cylinders are required. Beyond diving thirds on a pair of cylinders an
Of course he said yes and after explaining the project and the plan explorer can utilise several stage cylinders to increase the amount of
ferries were hastily booked. To add to the sense of rushing around exploration time. Added to the calculations need to be the potential for
we were recruited to collect diving kit from Rick Stanton and John decompression requirements and extra gas carried for this eventuality.
Volanthen’s houses enroute to Dover in order to drop it off in the With open circuit scuba these cylinders will be consumed during the
Herault. In case the reader is not familiar with the geography of dive and need replacing before subsequent dives can take place. When

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cylinders need to be carried a reasonable distance into and out of the scene for the rest of the trip (it was the middle of October so perhaps
cave the size and quantity of these becomes a factor in how realistic I’d been optimistic during my planning). I’d promised Artur sun in
it is to accomplish a project. Spain but all we seemed to get was drizzle. On the first day we carried
our diving kit up to the entrance of Fou de Bor with help from our
Using rebreathers helps with the volume gas required and the logistics Spanish hosts. The rain did stop for us and we began to get hopeful.
of transporting cylinders to the dive site but introduces greater After many short but very sweaty caving trips we had kit set up at the
uncertainties. The principle of a safe exit in the event of equipment sump and began to put it all together. To make matters more difficult
failure needs to be maintained. E.g. the diver needs enough bailout in the cave there is a steep muddy slope down to the water and no
gas to get out of the cave from the furthest point. However calculating dry land at the bottom. It was getting late by the time everything was
this requirement is not always so easy. In a cave with a known profile ready but we dropped below the surface of the water to find out what
calculations on turn points based on gas consumption factoring in the cave was like. Visibility was terrible but we expected as much as
depth and swimming speed can be made. When exploring this is the water in the pool was static. We passed two underwater squeezes
harder butgenerally a diver can however make some calculations at -9 and -12m respectively and we hoped we’d meet nice clear water
beforehand using their estimated swimming speed and SAC rate pretty soon. However when we got below 20m and into the full flow
and then set themselves some turn points based on distance and/or of the underground river it was clear that conditions and visibility
time. As the cave was trending deeper we also had to factor in the were terrible. We turned the dive and headed out to wait for a better
decompression requirements in Fou de Bor. Ultimately therefore our chance. For 3 days we waited for conditions to improve whilst we
exploration time would be governed by the distance we swam and were given a guided tour of the local area by David Magdalena. It
corresponding dive time but also by our decompression obligation. was pleasant but really wasn’t what we’d travelled to Spain to do and
The equipment we selected for the first dive had to be sensiblefor it sapped my morale.
transportation into the cave, give us flexibility to deal with different
scenarios and be practical to carry underwater. It isn’t simply a case Finally though we got to make our big dive, conditions above ground
of adding as many cylinders as possible as you reach a point that this had improved slightly but I still wasn’t optimistic of good visibility
slows you down and hampers your ability to move through smaller underwater. However when we reached the sump pool the water level
passages. Therefore in addition to our rebreathers we each had a 12ltr was 1m lower than on the previous visit – a very good sign. Once
of TMx and an Ali80 of EANx. Finally on the first dive we also left underwater, atthe squeeze at -9m the fast flowing river was met and
a single Ali80 of O2 at 6m. In a cave like this this one to conserve we emerged out of the gloom into clear(ish) water with around 5m of
the O2 for future dives we generally do our decompression on the visibility. The old dive line was followed down to -40m as the survey
rebreathers. However open circuit oxygen in case of failure is very drawn by the previous explorer indicated.Then rather than carry on
important. directly to 60m as had been reported, at 50m depth an elbow was
passed and the dive line was followed back up to 30m. Here we tied
We arrived in the Pyrenees in the middle of a storm which set the on our own reel and set off into the unknown.

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Almost immediately a deep shaft loomed ahead – the dark blue of I soon got used to driving the Yellow monster and we took it in turns
the pit leading us straight down to 60m before the gradient eased off to drive through the night and day to Spain, finally arriving at our
(this was the 60m point reached by the previous explorer but the line campsite on a Saturday evening. David Magdelena wasn’t able to
has been washed out). I had the line reel in my hand and descended join us until the middle of the week but another local cave diver
the shaft feet down whilst I watched the spool turn slowly, depositing had become interested in our exploration. Joel was not a caver and
the fine white string along the cave wall. At the bottom we followed had never been in a dry cave, he was used to diving in sites with
the sloping passage to 80m depth and a gravel floor before the cave quiteeasy access and his equipment showed this. He was also a keen
finally started to rise in a series of steep steps. The passage was large videographer andI was a bit reluctant to invite Joel to help us as I
here and we rose up above boulders in the steeply ascending cave. knew we’d end up carrying more kit but Artur was instantly attracted
At 35m depth after laying 210m of new line and having significant by the idea of filming. So Joel appeared on Sunday morning after a
decompression already racked up we voted to turn back for surface. tour of all the local campsites and watched us fettle kit for several
hours.
During decompression a problem with my chest-mounted rebreather
meant I needed to use some air from my bailout cylinder for After driving to the cave and piling the gear by the side of the road our
15minutes at -9m before swapping back to the rebreather to complete first bit of good luck happened. Four cavers appeared, two of them on
the decompression. The 9m stop was made halfway through the their first caving trip. When they saw the pile of diving cylinders and
squeeze, with our feet in clear fast flowing water and our torsos and tackle bags their eyes were wide but they offered to help with a few
heads in the murky static part. At -6m the visibility was 30cm and an bags and saved us a couple of journeys.
extremely cold 100minutes was spent in the 8 degree water, leading
to a total dive time of 5hours. The end of the line after dive was now We knew we’d need more equipment to explore further this year.
approximately 588m from dive base. This included extra diving cylinders and in my case a Santi heated
vest with large battery pack to combat the cold water during the long
I expected I wouldn’t get a chance to return to Fou de Bor for several decompression stops. Because of the extra equipment we decided to
years but when we postponed an expedition to Meixco in 2011, do a set up dive to make the main exploration dive easier. We put two
heading back to Spain in the summer seemed like a good idea. Artur Ali80s of Oxygen in the water at 6m depth and two 7ltr cylinders
was also up for it. We’d taken my car in 2010 and even though I with EANx32 about 380m from base in case of needing to bailout.
was now driving a more sensible estate car we weren’t sure it would On this setup dive I also took some underwater photographs and the
be large enough. Artur however had just purchased his first car – a visibility (once passed the static sump pool) was excellent compared
long wheel base bright yellow Ford Transit van -The thing was huge! to last year.
The Van however was also rather untested and considering we were
planning a several thousand mile trip he booked it in for a service/ On our first exploration dive we were accompanied by Joel who
checkup which thankfully showed up no problems! wanted to do some filming. After the first 100m of passage we waved

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goodbye to our cameraman and headed off for the end of the line. I reel. I tied on my reel and ran out another 70m until -52m was reached
was using my chest-mounted rebreather, one 12ltr cylinder of 10/50 and we called it a day. We ended up with a total dive time of four
Trimix and one 12ltr of EANX32 Nitrox. Artur used his Megalodon hours with 330m of new line laid.
rebreather with two similar large cylinders of off board diluent, with
both of us swapping gases based on depth.We got passed our deep The plan was have a rest day the following day but we needed to carry
point of 80m found last year with only a maximum depth of 78m due some kit in and out of the cave to be ready to dive again. Plus Joel had
to the lower water levels. In the much better visibility the ascending arranged for us to meet a local TV news crew at the cave so we found
passage beyond could be fully appreciated – there were very large ourselves back at the site early(ish) the next day. David Magdalena
piles of boulders stacked up steeply with a winding path between arrived to help us and keep the news crew and the excitable Joel at
them. Arturreached the end of the line first at -35m and we followed bay. After some posing for the camera and a short interview they went
the cave upto -12m. On the way we now had to make decompression away so we could get on with the real work of swapping depleted
stops of several minutes at -18m, -15m and -12m. Once passed the cylinders over and bringing damp dry suits out into the sun. For our
12m point some horizontal passage was followed to -10m and after a second push dive we also wanted some extra emergency gas and so
short descent the cave headed up again and it looked like it might go another large cylinder was carried in so that it could be left after the
to surface. first deep section.

As a cave explorer with a background in ‘dry’ exploration this is the That evening after another portering trip to the sump we found a
ideal scenario. Once out of the water we could spend hours exploring note on our windscreen in Spanish with a name and phone number.
passages and reduce our decompression for the dive home. Although Not sure what to make of this we dialled the number and spoke in
cave diving solely for the purpose of underwater exploration has long broken English/Spanish to a gentleman who told us to wait in the
been established, originally sumps and underwater passages used to village. I wasn’t sure if we were in trouble somehow and thought
be seen just as obstacles to be passed. With the majority of UK based we’d look very foolish if we turned out to be waiting for the police
exploration divers coming from a ‘dry’ caving background this view to arrest us. Fortunately however an elderly gentleman appeared in
often prevails and for many reaching surface beyond a sump is the a 4x4 and beckoned us over. He had a house in the local village and
ultimate goal. from the caving magazines he pushed into our hands we worked out
that he was involved in the early exploration of Fou de Bor. Ramon
My dive computer showed me that if we wanted to surface we Canela turned out to be the local caving godfather. Back at his house
would need to make a total of half an hour of decompression stops he produced surveys, books and photographs of caves nearby and
– considering the longer length of our previous exploration dive this we quizzed him about the history of Fou de Bor. It was one of those
was great news and it looked like everything was going perfectly! wonderful chance encounters that cave exploration creates. Meeting a
However just at this point a long gradual descent began. After 260m caver from a different generation and culture we were able to connect
of new line the cave was back down at -44m and Artur finished his over our exploration in one of his favourite caves.

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The next day our push dive went ahead as planned. Apart from laying Artur therefore headed on till he reached our previous limit at -52m
line we were also under pressure to do some survey work. where a fresh reel was tied on. After a short shaft down to -65m two
ways on could be seen – up an ascending canyon to the right or down
The amount of dive line laid in a cave will tell you the distance to a smaller passage to the left. Looking for depth Artur chose left and
swim but without compass bearings and depths it is impossible to found himself at -96m shortly afterwards and in a massive chamber.
tell where the cave is actually headed inside the mountain. In order He described the cave at this point as a massive collector with what
to do this and produce a map of the cave, explorers need to survey looked like several passages coming in. Having now laid 140m of
their finds. This is done by recording the distance between two points, new line and bearing in mind he was now over 1km into the sump
the compass bearing and the depth at both of them. With well tagged he called it a day.In total I ended up with a 5hour dive whilst Artur
dive line the distance part is easy – the rest just involves stopping and was in the water for over 6hours. The survey was completed upto
writing down the depth and bearing every 10m. 800m though the end of the line is now 1,050m from base and down
at -96m.
Surveying however is time consuming and combining this survey job
with exploration was not ideal. We hatched a plan to take it in turns We were very pleased with the dives but we couldn’t relax and rest on
to survey on the way in down to a depth of 40m then swim quickly our laurels until we had the kit out of the cave. Knowing how much
through the deep section and complete this survey on the way back. there was I was secretly dreading this. However the next day when
This however affected our required decompression. Previously on the we arrived at the sump we found a large party of visiting cavers stood
ascent to -12m beyond the sump elbow the total time to surface had around. With just a little effort they were persuaded to grab a few bags
been half an hour. Now the extra time taken with the survey meant and take them out with them. Meanwhile Artur, David and myself
this had already doubled before we’d even reached the end of the line. began to carry the heavy cylinders out. We moved the mountain of
Then at 800m from baseone of my PPo2 displaysflooded. Combined bottles near to the entrance and then made a chain through the smaller
with the extra deco we’d racked up this was enough of an excuse to sections of cave. Finally once the bottles were near day light our next
turn back for me. There was still survey work to be done in the deep bit of luck came along. Ramon’s son appeared from the town with
section and if we split up we could achieve both an extension to the lots of local lads who all grabbed the kit and took if off to the Van.
cave and the crucial survey. Ramon was there as well and once we had everything back at the van
the entire group departed for a well earned celebratory drink in the
To some readers this action of splitting up will seem to go against local bar. With lots of hand shaking and promises of “see you next
everything they have learnt. However solo diving in ‘UK’ cave year” we left Bor satisfied with the dives we’d done and the delighted
diving is a well-accepted practice and actually the norm for very good by people we’d met along the way.
reasons. Although the conditions in Spain were much better than we
were used to, we were both equipped and very comfortable with I’m afraid this story doesn’t have a happy ending. Not long after we
diving solo when the need arose as it did here. returned from Spain Artur made an exploratory dive in Pollonora 10,

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a cave in Kiltartan in Ireland. Unfortunately he never returned from
that Dive. He was well equipped, prepared and well trained. However
nothing can remove the inherent risks of cave diving and Artur knew
and accepted those risks. His death is a sad reminder for all of us of
the dangers but equally Artur would not want it to deter anyone else
from cave diving exploration. This article tells the story of our last
dives together and writing it is something he and I discussed and
planned. I know that Artur would never have wanted a good story to
go untold!

Chris Jewell lives in Manchester in the UK and has been cave diving
for 6 years. He is currently planning an expedition to Sotono San
Agustin, a deep cave in Mexico and you can find out more on www.
facebook.com/cavedive

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Pg. 35 www.techdivingmag.com Issue 7 – June 2012
As a highly successful filmmaker for over 25 years, Mike deGruy has all the film crew to dive on rebreathers, a product that was new to
had his ups and downs. He’s won dozens of awards both domestically most divers at the time. We’ve been close friends ever since.
and abroad and his work has appeared everywhere, BBC, PBS, TBS
and National Geographic Television. But along the way he’s spent a Our trip started out steeped in humor and only got funnier. In an article I
few nights in Heartbreak Hotel. wrote back then called On the Road with National Geographic I noted
our departure from Grand Turk in rough seas: “I knew right away that
Early in his career, deGruy was viciously attacked by a shark and Mike deGruy and I were going to get along as we both stifled laughter
narrowly escaped death. He’s lost over a half a million dollars worth observing the rest of the National Geographic Explorer film crew
of filming equipment due to circumstances beyond his control in the trying to cope with seasickness. Mike is one of the world’s top nature
field. And he’s even had his support ship sink out from under him into cameramen both above and below water. And he’s spent his fair share
2,000 feet of water. Yet, like a true pro Mike has always come back of time bouncing around boats in various ends of the earth. He even
with the footage. From his dramatic images of orcas snatching sea lion had a shark try to chew off his arm a few years back leaving enough
pups from the beach to his elaborately detailed studio sets, deGruy’s scars to win any bar room contest of diver stories. So I didn’t expect
career has taken him to the world’s most remote and spectacular the 10 foot seas we were battling today to bother him too much.
locations.
But Boyd Matson, the show’s host and resident talking head, was a
Although a bit “vertically challenged”, at about five and a half feet in bit less experienced. When he boarded the expedition vessel at 5:00
height, Mike is also perhaps the most boundlessly enthusiastic person AM that morning, I had already placed him under “fashion arrest” for
in diving. Whether onstage narrating a film segment or appearing in carrying more that 50 lbs. of hair care products in his luggage. Boyd
his numerous documentary productions, there is no mistaking when he has hosted the National Geographic Explorer series for about a year
makes his appearance. Audiences are snapped to attention. Children now and he’s got to be one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. He
crane their necks to get a better view. Even dogs and cats strain to kind of looks like a Nordic cross between Robert Redford and Huck
figure out what all the ruckus is about. The man is like a Tasmanian Finn with a tousled head of blond hair right out of the J. Crew catalog.
Devil on speed. And once he get’s going… well, it’s best to just get For a balding guy like me, it was disgusting.
out of the way.
But seasickness had Boyd’s full attention. Right now he was wiping
We met in February 1996 while we were both working on a National the fruits of his last “heave ho” out of that million-dollar hairdo and
Geographic Explorer documentary on humpback whales out on the working on his best thousand yard stare while silently praying that the
Silver Bank, north of the Dominican Republic. He was the Director damn boat would stop rocking. Lined up next to him in white-knuckled
of Photography and I was the designated “whale expert” whose angst were producer Claire Van dePolder and sound technician Eddy
mission was to shepherd host Boyd Matson into camera frame with O’Connor. Both were engaged in spirited Technicolor projectile
the leviathans and, hopefully, bring him back alive. I also had to train vomiting. As Mike and I turned away giggling inanely, Eddy flashed

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me a look that said, “Who do I have to screw to get out of this movie?”

Yeah, we were off to a good start. And before you could say “Sasoon
Herbal Cream Conditioner”, Boyd and his cosmetics were on the way
to the whale petting zoo.

All kidding aside, Boyd’s got a pretty tough job. He basically has to
learn a new extreme sport every week and try to look good doing it.
The week before he had been traveling by dog sled in mid-winter
blizzards in Minnesota and then was shipped off to be hurled off some
high altitude mountain peak to bring back some gut-wrenching hang
gliding footage. So I guess, we should have cut him some slack when
he showed up to learn to dive with rebreathers... and 60 ton whales...
in the open ocean... in one day. But, of course, we didn’t.

Mike, being a professional diver, got used to rebreathers in a heartbeat.

Boyd’s learning curve was a bit steeper. Think of looking back on
Everest’s north face route and that might put it in perspective. But
sort of like an eager golden retriever, Boyd would try anything and
keep going at it until he almost got it right. I swear I contemplated
tossing a Frisbee off the stern of the boat once just to see if he would
fetch it.”

When I launched Fathoms magazine in 2001, I asked Mike to be

our first interview subject. He agreed, “As long as we don’t have to
discuss that hot tub incident at your house during the snowstorm.”
In the dialogue that followed, Mike spoke frankly about his life,
filmmaking, and what it’s like to take a deep submersible into the
ocean’s depths. His encounter with my treacherous hot tub remains
forever sealed.

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Mike, we’ve found out that you’re originally from Mobile, How long were you in the Marshall Islands?»I lived in the Marshalls
Alabama. How did a Southerner make it in the California film for three years as the resident manager of a marine lab. This was a
scene?»Hmmm… That’s a bit strong. Certainly I have not made it wild period of my life. I took a year off from school for the job and
in Hollywood. I may have lucked into a few dollars and filmmaking after three years made that trip to Palau and, well, never returned to
opportunities in my little natural history documentary world, but after UH. I was in my mid-20s, had free run of a spectacular atoll, managed
20 years, who wouldn’t? Mobile was important to what I do today. I about 10 boats, had full diving facilities and dove my butt off in some
grew up, on and in the water in the many rivers around Mobile Bay of the most spectacular waters and reefs I have ever seen. Never mind
and the Gulf. I had a mad obsession of flying and since I couldn’t that little shark thing.
afford a plane, I bought a regulator. It’s the same thing really, only
you’re flying underwater, and much cheaper. School and the urge to
see and study coral reefs took me away from the South and to Hawaii.
I never left the Pacific.

Kidding aside, how’d you get started in filmmaking and not, say,
lumberjacking?»Let’s get something straight here: kidding is never
an aside. Okay, here’s the brief scoop: while I was a lowly grad student
at the University of Hawaii, thinking I was headed for a career in
Marine Biology, fighting my friends for tenure at some plum spot in
the tropics, teaching Zoo 101 the rest of my life, I met a madman who
sent me, Bruce Carlson (current Director of the Waikiki Aquarium)
and Paul and Gracie Atkins (who took the same career path as me) to
Palau to collect live chambered nautilus (my research animal at UH).
At the last minute he threw a couple of old Arriflex S cameras at us
and said, “Make a movie of this.”

So we did. It had to be the worst piece of crap you’d ever seen, but
it was a blast to do and upon returning I immediately dropped out of
school and started making films. I never told anybody I didn’t know
what I was doing, so I kept getting hired. I have to say, however, that
splitting logs was a close second.

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Speaking of that, what’s it like having a reef shark chewing on bad sign. Out of the deep came a rather large Silvertip shark, about
your arm like it was a chicken wing?»Grey Reef sharks just have 10 feet long. I pulled out my trusty powerhead, which was only about
no sense of humor. What’s it like? What the hell do you think it was two feet long, and watched as the shark cruised right at us and passed
like? Well, that’s not entirely fair since you have experienced a shark straight over my head. I literally had to back up to keep from being
attack first hand as well. You know, between the two of us and friends scraped. I couldn’t believe this… my first dive back, into THIS! Of
like Al Giddings, Rodney Fox, Jimmy Stewart… we ought to start our course, Al just kept filming.
own club for shark survivors. That would be a neat little fraternity.

But back to my own personal little Jaws incident. I innocently took

a picture of a shark that was some 20 feet away, admittedly it was in
a threat posture, but jeez… and the little five footer shot right in and
ripped off the top of my arm! I couldn’t believe it ! At first everything
was happening in super slow motion and I watched with unbelieving
eyes. The shark’s head approached, brushed my camera aside, and
at the very last nanosecond, opened its mouth and engulfed my right
forearm. After the mouth closed and it began shaking like some rabid
dog, things sped up really fast and I was being jerked around like a
rag in a mad dog’s mouth. It ripped off the top of my arm, did a loop,
and attacked again from below. As I futilely kicked at it, thinking
“aloha world,” it grabbed my fin rather than my lower thigh, again
shook like a paint shaker and tore out a semi-circle of rubber. This,
apparently it didn’t like, as it spat it out and went after Phil Light, my
diving partner. I’d never imagined I would be happy to see someone
attacked by a shark, but I sure was then! Phil was cut, but okay.

After the accident, how long did it take before you could go back
into the water without getting the willies?»I had 11 operations But to answer your question, I still react differently to sharks. Before
over a two-year period, but got back into the water after about a year. my incident, I never really thought about them, except as photographic
Interestingly, one of my first, if not the first, dives was again in the subjects, as well as marveling at their unique and awesome beauty.
same place with this little-known cameraman named Al Giddings. After nearly getting killed by one, I am acutely aware of them and
We were on the dropoff near the Deep Passage and Al was filming swimming around in shallow water at night is no longer fun. And
Grey Reef sharks. Suddenly I noticed the Greys had vanished… a swimming in your hot tub after dark is pretty conflicting, too!

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After the Marshall Islands, what direction did your career the film we started on the chambered nautilus. We sold it to PBS and
take?»The Marshalls were literally a life-changing experience. the BBC and never turned back. I became a freelance cameraman
Almost from life to death, in fact. I officially wrote off school and for the BBC working extensively on major series like Trials of Life,
the career that a Ph.D. would have given me. I left everything I had The Living Planet, Life in the Freezer, and began producing my own
trained for (Marine Biology) entirely. This was a tad intimidating, but films shortly thereafter. I got hired by this foxy little lass at Turner
must speak volumes about how much I loved that collecting/filming Broadcasting in Atlanta for a shoot in Samoa and ended up marrying
trip to Palau. Paul Atkins and I both quit graduate school and along her. Mimi and I now produce a film about every three years.
with his now wife, Gracie, managed to twice return to Palau and finish

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 What are your current projects and where will they be taking
you?»I am travelling to Punta Norte in Patagonia to film killer whales
literally rushing out of the water to grab hapless sea lion pups from
the dry beach. I filmed this some eight years ago for The Trials of Life
and have to say I still get a lot of comments about that sequence. Of
all the natural history phenomenon I have filmed, or even witnessed,
this has to be right at the top. When you are laying in the surf zone,
wearing a wetsuit and a camera and 40-ft. whales are screaming out of
the water right next to you, grabbing scurrying sea lions and violently
slapping them back and forth, ripping them apart, then returning to
sea where they flip them 30 feet into the air with their tails… well,
this has a lasting memory. So I return, this time with a 35mm movie
camera for an upcoming feature film on whales. Wish me luck.

When and how did you get started filming from deep
submarines?»Maui Divers is a jewelry manufacturer in Hawaii,
who uses exotic corals as stones. To acquire these precious corals,
they owned and operated a little submarine, the Star II. I was a diver
helping launch and recover the sub and had several opportunities to
dive in it as well. I had experienced nothing like this before. At 1,200
feet in Hawaii’s beautiful blue Pacific, there was a dim moonlight glow
over the bottom. Surrounding us were huge bushy gold coral trees
that sparkled like Christmas decorations with their bioluminescence.
Then there were the bamboo corals – as you might imagine from
the name, these spectacular creatures had a skeleton beginning at the
bottom of about an inch thick. But what most impressed me was their
bioluminescence. If you gently nudged these corals with the sub, a
ring of blue-green light appeared at their base and traveled right up
the stalk, took the 90 degree turn and spiraled its way off the tip.
Spectacular! This was the seed that took 20 years to germinate.

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Four years ago I got a call from the BBC, who were producing a film violently belching what looks everything in the world like thick black
for The Discovery Channel on a search for the giant squid. They told smoke from a 1950 steel mill stack gone bad. It is a place of extremes.
me they were taking a one-man sub to New Zealand to try to film a Extreme conditions, needless to say, as there is no light, great pressure,
giant squid, and was I interested in going to Kaikura for a month, you do the math (some 4,500 psi), and near freezing conditions. Not
learning how to drive the sub and be the pilot/photographer! At this to mention very little oxygen. But the greatest extreme has to be the
point I just have to ask… is this a great job or what?! Anyway, I contrasts. The vents are dispersed along the East Pacific Rise, part of
said I didn’t know, I’d check my schedule and get back to them in a the submarine mountain range encircling the earth. It is now generally
month. Right. Needless to say, I signed on and that turned out to be a agreed that these rift zones produce the earth we now drive and grow
defining moment for me. I am totally and completely hooked on small tomatoes on. Anyway, the hot spots are ephemeral and seem to have
submersibles and expect the rest of my life to revolve around them. about a 20-year life span, then they quit spewing – like terrestrial
volcanoes, just a different time scale.

As you cruise along the bottom, your porthole reveals lava. Huge
fields of black lava which looks exactly like the lava fields in Hawaii.
Nothing seems to live there, just bleak, stark basalt with the occasional
rattail, sea cucumber or bizarrofish oozing by. Then you start seeing
tiny white specks on the bottom. These specks increase in number and
soon you recognize them as crabs and funny looking lobster. Within
30 feet from starkness, you hear a “Holy shit, there it is!” from the
pilot (he has the best view) and out of your little window emerges
an entire community of creatures thriving on the noxious gases and
chemicals super heated by the earth’s molten core. Masses of tube
worms, 12-feet long, pure white with brilliant red plumes hide many
species of fish, gastropods, other types of worms, crustaceans of all
sizes and shapes and perhaps my favorite, octopus like you’ve never
seen before. What a place that is. Perhaps what made it so special was
the equipment I was using on the Alvin. Woods Hole has invested a
What’s the deepest stuff you’ve filmed?»The deepest stuff I have substantial amount of money toward superb imaging and we rigged
filmed is off Panama, on the mid-ocean ridge. These dives were the sub with high definition camera systems. We saw details of this
just over 10,000 feet and I did four or five of them from the Woods unique community that had never been seen before.
Hole sub, Alvin. We were diving on the hot vents, characterized
by extraordinary black smokers, towering underwater volcanoes

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What’s the most interesting subject you’ve filmed?»That’s a tough swim beneath them and flip them 50 feet into the air with their tails.
one. So many elements are involved in making a place interesting, the The pups are still alive during this punishment, which may go on for
animals, the conditions, the physical elements… But as far as subjects 10-to-15 minutes. Then the telltale blood arrives at the surface and
go, I have to say that the phenomenon I am about to embark on again it’s over. This cycle repeats itself for over a week.
has to be right up there. In Patagonia, a group of killer whales have
cued in on the “fledging” of a population of sea lion pups, which How did you make the National Geographic connection?»In 1989,
are just learning to swim. I was there with Paul Atkins, who was my lovely bride and I produced a film on sharks called Sharks on
also filming the event and perhaps the busiest Assistant Cameraman Their Best Behavior for the Hawaiian PBS station, KHET. About a
known to man, Keith Turner. Keith was loading magazines for the year into the three-year project, Geographic bought into it and I have
both of us, and running roll after roll of film at 150 frames/second worked on and off with them ever since.
kept the poor guy mighty busy. Several things impressed me about
this extraordinary phenomenon; the whales were not there except Weren’t you competing against Boyd Matson for that hosting
for the two weeks when the pups dared to enter the water, then they spot?»How embarrassing. I’d hardly saying I was competing with
showed up right on cue. How did they know the pups were ringing Boyd, because he clearly is perfect for that Explorer position and
that dinner bell? The same whales return year after year, at exactly obviously I was no competition as they chose him, but I did audition.
the right time, so they must be cueing in on something – certainly not We were considering moving to Annapolis, Maryland at the time and
the calendar. Then the behavior itself is amazing, if not downright the Explorer spot seemed a reasonable idea. Fortunately, I came to my
morbid. The big males hunt individually, while the smaller females senses and moved to Santa Barbara instead, a city that I love living in.
hunt in an organized pack.
After they picked him over you, didn’t you ended up shooting
There is a break in the reef about 100-feet wide and even at this break him repeatedly - photographically that is?»Yeah, for a while I was
the whales can only make it over at high tide. So they wait, as did I. shooting quite a few of the openings and links for Explorer. That
At high tide, when the pups foolishly enter this “dead zone,” they are was back in the days when they were still using film and we had an
history – better frame up your shot and start rolling because the black absolute blast travelling all over the world doing three-minute pieces.
and white freight train is coming through. Their speed and inertia Then they went to video and after one of those video jobs I never
bring them literally out of the water and up onto the beach, where heard from them again! I guess that speaks for itself… I still shoot
they grab an unsuspecting pup. With a violent shaking of their head film.
and bodies they slam the little sea lion time and time again against the
beach while they work their hulk back into the water. But it doesn’t Besides yourself, who are your favorite underwater filmmakers?»I
end there. They take the pups out to sea and release them offshore. can’t possibly answer that. This is such a small world and everybody
This is the morbid part – they breach on top of them, take them in knows each other and to single out one of two without naming the
their mouths and sling them 30-to-40 yards across the water and whole lot would be, well, I just can’t do that. I can say this, however,

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as far as watching programs in an auditorium setting and listening budget, what do you think you get for the product? Yeah, it is about
to the filmmaker narrate their footage, I have never heard anyone the light, but certainly the money helps.
come close to Stan Waterman. That man is elegant, funny and totally
entertaining. I also have to mention Peter Scoones. Now here is a Let’s talk about filmmaking gear. There’s been a lot of buzz about
cowboy. He’s got to be in his mid 60s by now, still diving 300 days a High Definition camera systems. Are you using them? What do
year, builds all his own housings, takes Sony’s $70,000 cameras and you think the next big breakthrough will be?»In a nutshell, I am
turns them into a stream of screws, circuit boards and glass on his still a firm believer in the image that film delivers over anything I
bench, reconstructs them inside a slick little bit of metal he turned on have seen in video. However, I now have serious conditions to that
his lathe, designs his own ports and optics, installs that and goes out statement that I did not have five years ago. Video is making huge
and shoots the most beautiful pictures you can imagine with these strides toward looking at life the way humans see it. I think this has
contraptions that are truly one-of-a-kind. Although I did catch him as much to do with the myriad customizing capabilities on the new
once with an off-the-shelf still housing. cameras as it does with the vastly improved image quality itself.
My biggest complaint with video has been its poor ability to handle
Early in my career, a filmmaker once told me that shooting contrast ratios – shooting in the tropics with harsh sunlit subjects with
pictures is all about light but isn’t it really all about money?»Sure, dark shadows and heaps of bright highlights has always produced a
it’s all about light and exposure if you don’t want to eat, take lovely video image that looks like crap to me – blocked up shadows and
cruises through Greece, drink nice wine and live where you want. blown out skies, etc. Film has trouble with these harsh subjects as
Seriously though, in this business, especially today with the explosion well, but does a far better job than video.
of extremely inexpensive video cameras that produce “broadcast”
images, there are a hundred people out there making films where However, you put yourself at 150 feet in the murky Galapagos, at
10 years ago there were two. So the competition for an hour of four in the afternoon, and a different picture emerges, pun intended.
broadcast time has skyrocketed, which, in general, I think is good. This is the world, low light, low contrast situations where I think I’d
This proliferation of filmmakers, especially the younger ones, adds rather have a nice video camera over my trusty Arri. In the last two
an edge to the programs that the older gang just does not. years I have been using High Definition video and have learned to
love it in some situations. Still, on that beach in Rangiaroa, give me
Having said that, I personally think there has also been a proliferation my Arriflex. But low contrasty situations underwater, especially at
of crap being broadcast and this is, in large part, is directly related to the thousands of feet where I have been working with it lately, high def
budgets these new filmmakers agree to make programs for. A typical is the only way to go.
high-end natural history film, like a BBC or National Geographic
special, has a budget of around a million bucks. So here you have a I swear, when I first saw Billy Lang’s camera system at the hot vents,
new cable channel offering $100-150 thousand for an hour film and the jumbo octopus, screaming black smokers and masses of vibrant
there are 50 people standing in line for that slot! At one-tenth of the tube worms, for the first time I felt the technology had been removed

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from the television system. I saw little or no difference from my high of those programs, which take a long time to make and therefore are
def monitor to my view out the porthole. It was astonishing and I’d expensive, began to make less and less sense to the funders. They
never felt that emotion delivered from video before. Then it grew have a hard time getting their money back, as the various outlets they
better and better as I was able to fill the frame with fingernail-sized sold to internationally, became cheaper and cheaper as well.
creatures and see them in far greater detail than they have been seen
in before, not to mention from out of a little porthole.

The major drawbacks of this new technology are that it is inherently

complicated and expensive to use and maintain. And in many ways
it is old technology polished up. By this I mean the cameras are still
plastic things with funky viewfinders, they are large, heavy and still
fragile and susceptible to environmental elements. I’d like to see
them beefed up physically, sealed better and feel more like their
price. Then there are the recorders. A high def camcorder is about
$90,000 and a good studio deck costs more than that. Why do we still
have to record on such electronically and mechanically sophisticated
machines, not to mention large and heavy and finicky? I anxiously
wait for the “chip” recorders that have to be in the near future.

Even with the proliferation of cable and satellite channels is

there consistently enough market for well-produced, high-end
documentaries?»In a word, no. Not in the natural history genre
that I tend to dwell in anyway. I remember clearly when the cable
explosion began, a lot of people began rubbing their hands together
thinking there would be heaps more work to go around. In a sense they
were right, but one minor detail slipped off the radar screen. There
were heaps of new outlets all right, but the pot of money stayed the
same. So what happened is that the budgets began to shrink across the
board because to fill all the new slots, broadcasters began to put more
money into quantity rather than quality. For a while this had little
effect on the people who were producing the high end “blue chip”
films as there were still the same outlets for those, but the economics

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Since camera gear is obviously foremost on your list of necessities, sometimes accompanied your work. In addition to having
what about the support equipment you need to wear while you dive survived a shark attack, tell us about the time you had the unique
to get you in position for your shots? What type of scuba system experience of watching your own support vessel sink in front of
do you employ? Are you into rebreathers? Nitrox? Inflatable doll your eyes in Palau.»Thanks Al, I really needed that. I seem to have
lift bags?»We spend long stretches in the field, so inflatable dolls lost three Arriflex SR’s, three underwater housings for them, two full
are a necessity, of course. And they better be good looking! As for stills packages and then there was that pesky little boat thing. What
dive gear, it varies greatly according to the shoot. About six years do they say? “Shit happens?” Maybe the reputation is deserved, but
ago we bought three rebreathers, the Biomarine CCR500s. I think Al I feel pretty good about some of the stuff we’ve pulled off, and if a
Giddings took delivery of the first two and I got the next three. I don’t little gear goes here and there, well that’s better than lives! I’ve been
know Al’s experiences, but mine was less than pleasant. I sent them diving in subs a lot recently and I remember a funny feeling I got in
back three years ago for changes and upgrades and one came back a New Zealand while about 1,000 feet down in the one-man sub, Deep
year later and I have never seen the other two again. After literally Rover. I wondered how I’d get out of the thing if, on my way back to
a hundred calls and faxes I can only speculate on what happened to the surface during inclement weather, I saw our boat on its way down.
them. Anyway, before the manufacturer stole them, we used them Maybe it was the Palau experience that put that thought in my head.
very effectively on a film shot extensively in the California kelp
forests. What they brought to us above all else was time underwater. We were shooting for a film on cephalopods called Incredible Suckers.
That was a name I gave it as a joke about the guys who funded the
I tend to light extensively, but well away from the camera, creating project, and somehow it stuck. I had studied the chambered nautilus,
strong back and highlights, but try to be subtle enough to make the captured many with traps, but never had seen them in situ. So we
lighting invisible. To accomplish this, I may use up to 10, 1200 watt rented a ROV from Harbor Branch and flew it to Palau with a tech
HMIs and a couple larger and a few smaller ones. This scheme can and pilot named Jerry Neeley. As often happens, on the very last day
be maddening when you are diving in kelp, as you might imagine, of filming: Viola! Nautilus! We were nailing the sequence, shooting
considering these are all AC lights with cables to the support boat. them against the vertical reef at 900 feet and I was in the control room
The rebreathers gave us four hours at 60 feet to set up all this, with of the 40-ft. boat we chartered screaming with delight. Then Peck
no decompression required. No bubbles are nice and the air is warm Euwer, my assistant cameraman, stuck his head in the door and said,
but the time is what I liked best. Anything that gives you more time, “Hey Mike, there’s a lot of water on the back deck.”
whether it is a good drysuit, nitrox or rebreathers get my vote. When
you are paying for a boat, full crew and there is something great “Water??!” I jumped up and to my horror saw scuba tanks and diving
happening beneath you, an hour underwater just doesn’t cut it. gear sloshing around on the afterdeck. I pulled open the cover to the
engine room and it was half full. The captain yelled to “Lose the
Al Giddings once told me he refers to you as “Black Cloud ROV” and I went into the cabin and told Jerry. He was calmly filming
deGruy,” a thinly veiled reference to the misfortunes that have away with the ROV and said, “Okay.” So we disconnected the ROV

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and threw the cable overboard. Within 10 minutes the boat was resting with cetaceans, pinnipeds, kelp forests, then there are the Channel
at her new home at 1,000 feet. Dang. Never knew why. Islands offshore where I swear, when the conditions are right, is the
most beautiful diving I have ever done. I love that place. I know quite
In addition to your reputation as a cameraman and director, a few people working over there and am impressed with some of their
you’re also widely sought after as a commentator and color man in programs, especially the educational elements they bring to ours and
underwater documentaries. In fact, in 1999’s Discovery Channel other communities.
live broadcast from Bikini Atoll during Shark Week, you actually
stole the spotlight from Giddings. What’s it like to have to work
with the pressure of live TV with millions in the international
viewing audience?»When you are live, there is an intimidation factor
that I have felt in no other situation. The moment you screw up, the
world sees it, so there is obviously an edge. The first time I did a live
broadcast, I was the host and we were in the Red Sea broadcasting
from a ship. I was talking to Martha Holmes from the BBC while
she was 40 feet down and wearing a bobble helmet. Ten minutes
into the 30-minute broadcast, she surfaced with a helmet half full
of water; there goes the show! So I get this stuttering whisper in my
ear, …”Mike… uh.. cover for a bit while we sort this one….” Cover!
Hell, I had never done anything like this in my life and suddenly
everyone was looking at me, all cameras on me and all I could think
of was... nothing! I yabbered on a bit and thank God Eugenie Clark
was there to talk to.

You’re living in Santa Barbara with an interesting collection

of dive pros. How do you like this compared to your old digs in Finally, at a whopping five-foot-seven-inches tall, tell us once and
LA?»Santa Barbara is great. Bev and Connie Morgan and the DSI for all, does size really matter?»Nope.
gang are there, Bob Kirby, and a lot of stills and filmmaker types.
It really is hot spot for diving innovation and filmmaking. Brooks Editor’s note: There are about 50 copies of the original book
Institute is there, the Marine Tech Dept. at City College is fantastic, still in Bret Gilliam’s personal inventory. They are available as a
UCSB has a great diving program and now we’re getting a pretty Signed/Numbered Limited Edition personalized to each buyer by
good influx of Hollywood. It is a beautiful city with fantastic support Gilliam at $200 each, including shipping. He can be contacted for
for diving. We have the Santa Barbara Channel which is brimming purchase at [email protected].

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