Q4_Fall_2016_AlertDiver_web

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All contributions are tax deductible and benefit the DAN Foundation,
a 501(c)(3) organization, Tax ID # 56-1696689.
DANCares Whether it is assistance provided
over DAN’s 24/7 diving emergency
hotline, an important discovery through
our continued research, or application
of emergency first aid – all of these
elements directly impact diver safety.
With your help, we continue to invest
in these initiatives because we care.
Together, we make a difference.
Together,
we save lives.
THE EXPEDITION
At the end of an exciting and successful
expedition, on our last day of diving I joined
three other divers — Italian Edoardo Pavia,
American Michael C. Barnette and fellow
Brit Richard Stevenson — for a tour around
the wreck in a single dive. The visibility was
in excess of 150 feet as we cruised the decks
of the massive liner using lithium-powered
Suex diver propulsion vehicles. We passed
by open and covered promenade decks,
under huge lifeboat davits silhouetted
above us by the midday sun and over the
seabed debris field to a maximum depth
of almost 400 feet. We passed the three
monster propellers and cruised along the
stern veranda café. Each scene was truly
breathtaking.
Watching from the best seat in the house, Richie
Kohler followed us in the Triton 3300/3 submersible
alongside pilot Dmitry Tomashov, while Russian
cinematographer Sergey Machilskiy caught every
frame of our journey using Red Epic 5K cameras.
Circumnavigating the Britannic during its centenary
year surrounded by such incredible technology was
without a doubt the greatest dive of my life.
Tomashov’s father, Evgeny, skillfully maneuvered his
unique, specially built one-man minimal-displacement
submersible into various positions, lighting up scenes
such as the propellers and bow. It was like we had dived
into a science fiction movie, but as Kohler remarked
as he climbed from the submersible hatch hours later,
“Science fiction? No, I think you will find, Leigh, that
dive you just made was science fact.” AD
The dive team explores the Britannic’s propeller, helpfully lit by the expedition’s
two submersibles.
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