Working
Vacation
By Kay H.
Seaview is scheduled for six weeks of repairs and
upgrades. The crew has been given shore
leave for the next month. A rotating
schedule for the senior officers allows everyone to have 2 weeks off. After the Seaview has docked and is
officially turned over to the repair team, Lee and Chip meet with the Admiral
to discuss the schedule for the boat’s makeover. Jamieson is already there, having stopped by
before leaving to visit friends and family.
He is eager to pin the admiral down on the date of their proposed
fishing trip to Nelson’s cabin. The
Admiral was planning on being around the Institute the first week, working on
some research projects.
Jamieson looks at Lee and Chip but says to the admiral, “I
hope that these two gentlemen are not going to spend their leave time at
NIMR. I sincerely hope that I do not
have to leave word with security while I am gone to ban them from the
institute. I know that you will be
taking leave, since we’re going fishing for a week. Are we planning on leaving
for the cabin when I get back or later?”
The Admiral smiles and says, “No Jamie, I figured that we
will go after Lee and Chip get back, so at least one of us is here while
O’Brien is overseeing the repair crew in case there are some problems. The upgrades aren’t scheduled until the end
of the repairs.” He glances at Lee and
Chip and smiles. “They haven’t said what their plans are, but they will be
taking some time off. Gentlemen, would like
to clue your doctor and commanding officer in on your plans? Are you scheduling separate activities? Chip, are you going home to visit your
family? Are you going to visit your
mother or friends, Lee?”
Lee glances at Chip before answering. “No. My mother is off researching a story and Chip’s
parents are visiting his sister who is expecting a baby. Not a good place to be at this time.” He
pauses and smiles. “You know that
Seaview’s next mission is scheduled for the Conservation Institute. It is planned as a 21-day survey as part of
CI’s marine Rapid Assessment Program (RAP). The Indonesian government wants to
protect the special areas of the Bird's Head peninsula and Raja Ampat islands.” He stops and thinks for a minute. “You know it will be hard to manage
development in a sustainable way. What a
challenge this will be investigating the unique marine creatures of this area
for protection.”
The Admiral waves his hand at Lee. He is getting frustrated and says, “Captain I
know all about our next mission. What
does this have with your and Chip’s plans for your leave?”
Chip says, “Admiral that is our plan.”
Doctor Jamison and Admiral Nelson exchange looks with each
other, they are confused. The Admiral
finally says, “Okay, gentlemen explain what our next mission has to do with
your plans?”
Lee looks excitedly at the Admiral. “It has everything to do with it. When I looked at the mission profile, I
discovered on
The Admiral
still looks a bit confused. So you’re
saying that your vacation will be …..?””
Chip says
with a smile, “The challenge was trying to take a vacation which would allow us
to work at the same time and this will do it.
The reef diving will be fantastic and will also allow us to survey the area
that we will dive in during the mission.”
Lee,
obviously excited adds, “It is always a challenge when Jamie insists that we
take leave and yet we still have so much work to do for the next mission. This way we can do both. While we have fun, relax and dive we also can
look over the area. This way we will
learn about any potential problems that would affect the mission. There will be Manta Rays close to our resort,
so we can observe how they interact with the divers. We will dive some of the most breathtaking
reefs that are truly teeming with life, including three different types of
Pygmy Seahorse. These are all items that
have been included for evaluation during the mission. This way we will have an idea of which areas
need to be investigated first. The photographs of the area will allow us to
review the reefs and marine life in the area prior to our arrival. The photograph of the reefs and marine life
will help with the mission preparation during the upgrades. So you see, we finally found away to solve
Jamie’s challenge to taking leave.”
Lee and Chip quickly
leave the institute. They head home to
pack for the flight the next day. They catch
a non-stop flight from
While diving
they planned to spend several days in the general area where Seaview was
schedule for the CI’s and several days wreck diving. There were a lot of ships wrecked during
WWII.
Sixteen days
later, two very embarrassed senior officers met the irritated gazes of the
admiral and CMO. Jamieson looked as
though he had swallowed his tackle box.
Lee swallowed hard and began, “In
front on the resort, Sargasso Frogfish
were floating in the weeds. The reef diving was great. There
is a reef at the Northeast point of Kri Island just 5 min. from our Resort. In
the current there were many schools of fish including batfish, barracuda,
jacks, and snappers. Among, above, and
on top of the corals are fish. Schooling fish, solitary fish,
beautiful fish, ugly fish, large fish, small fish. Some fish that are considered to be rare in
many parts of the world are abundant in this area. The fish are so dense that
they sometimes block the view of your dive buddy or the surface.” Lee stopped for a minute and looked serious.
“Admiral, we will need to caution our
divers about the dense fish and to keep their dive partner insight at all
times.” Then Lee continued, “We also watched
mantas, mobula rays, turtles and sharks. There were Woebegone Sharks on many of our dives, lying atop
perfect corals tables like a fish carefully arranged by a chef on a dinner
plate. Among the many boulders we found sleeping sharks and a giant Queensland Grouper. There
was a giant clam near the top of the reef. We found giant clams at many of our dive sites. These
clams are large enough to swallow a child.
They’re embedded in the reef and covered with soft corals, tunicates and
sponges so thick they can barely close their shells.” As he talked, he began to feel the excitement
of their time on the reef.
“Sardine Reef was one of the best fish dives
anywhere. The
large offshore reef has coral bommies on the slope covered with many species of
dendronephya corals, sea fans, many large orange sponges and crinoids. There was also a congregation of fish
shallow near coral near at the top of the reef that is shaped strangely, like
the head and neck of a monster. The
local’s have named it the "Loch Ness Monster". Along this reef we saw
snappers, barracuda and other fish that often stay near the reef in this area. Also this area is famous for five gigantic
“The wreck diving and night diving off
of Wai Island is worth a visit just to see its many Manta rays just off the
beach and 3 WWII fighter-aircraft wrecks. The spectacular night diving was
great and lasted a long time. Between
the wreck diving and night diving we observed several kinds of octopuses,
Crocodile fish, Stonefish (Estuarine & Reef), Hippocampus kuda, Devil
Stingers, Sea Hares, Snake Eels,
Wobbegong sharks, Bobtail squid, many uncommon kinds of Nudibranch and
the list goes on…………. The Epaulette
Sharks walked on the sea bottom on its fins.
We found them often on night dives in the seagrass or even on the shelf
of a wall dive. We saw Double-ended Pipefish
that looked like an unusual seahorse. It
clung to the sea grass and has the exact same color and a body as sea grass and
seahorse-like head.”
“Admiral
this the best place for night diving, so this is the location that we must go
for that part of the mission,” said Lee exuberantly.
When Lee
paused, Chip continued. “It seemed like
a great idea at the time, but we forgot about the problems encountered when
traveling on commercial flights to remote locations. The flight from
The Admiral
just shook his head and laughed. “The
next time let’s make sure you take the flying sub. At least you won’t have that excuse again.”