BIKINI ATOLL
BIKINI ATOLL
The Bikini Atoll was the location of 23 atmospheric atomic bomb tests from 1946 through 1958.
The Bravo test, in February 1954, was at 15 megatons the most powerful bomb ever detonated by the United States--far bigger than expected. An H-bomb, it vaporized three islands and threw radioactive debris over nearly 50,000 square miles.
Scuba divers may explore Bikini's sunken ghost fleet, ten major ships from the ninety-five target vessels that were anchored in the lagoon during the tests, including the 880-foot U.S.S. Saratoga, which is the only aircraft carrier in the world in which to dive, and the battleship Nagota, once the flagship of the Japanese Navy, from which admiral Yamamoto directed the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Currently, the only way to visit Bikini is through a pilot program initiated by the Bikini Council to test the potential for tourism. Its one-week trips run mid April through mid November, with a maximum of 12 people each week--virtually all of them scuba divers. Nobody will force you to put on a tank, but right now it is assumed that this is what you're there for. In fact, its assumed you a an advanced diver. For more information contact Central Pacific Dive Expeditions at 800-846-3483, or fax them at 714-851-3111.
Currently you must go as part of a tour, which leaves from Honolulu, Hawaii to Majuro, then from Majuro to Bikini. There is a brief refuelling stop at Johnston Island, an atomic tourist site in its own right.
Some of the text on the page is from the article
"Diving with Bikini's Ghost" by Bob Payne appearing in
the December 1996 issue of Condé Nest Traveler © 1996 The
Condé Nest Publications Inc.