FAIRFIELD COUNTY DIVING ASSOCIATION

June 2016 Volume 23 Issue 6

Inside this Issue The Presidents’ Corner The Presidents’ Corner by Mike Cassetta by Mike Cassetta page 1 Summer and dive season are in Our group stayed at the beautiful full swing in the Northeast. If you Bosque del Mar. It had wonderful FCDA Donor I page 2 are going away, safe travels . If not, views and a beautiful pool area there are plenty of opportunities to quipped with howler monkeys and a May Meeting DAN dive locally. splashing kid named Joseph. We Raffle Winners page 3 Recently, Matt, Lisa J and I did a also did some zip lining, horse riding wonderful 50+ minute dive off Fort a nd a wildlife cruise in the national Wetherill. Visibility was a nice 10-15 park. On our cruise we saw crocs, FCDA Member Ads feet and water temps were in the iguanas, monkeys (capuchin & page 3 low 60s with a low of 57 at 40 ft. We howler) and all sorts of awesome saw large schools of small fish, some birds including a rare “Green Duck”. rays and a halibut. Overall great Thanks to Don Brown of Ski & Wreck Diving with Sand dive. We have upcoming dives with Scuba for presenting at our May Tigers by Mike Gerken Orbit Marine (Capt Noel), the Thun- meeting on Maya Riviera “Reefs, pages 4, 5, 6. 7 derfish (Capt Bill) and the annual Wrecks, Sharks & Cenotes with a treks to Cape Anne. side of Guac”. Our June meeting will I was fortunate enough to spend be Friday June 24th and our fea- FCDA Donor II page 5 a recent week in Costa Rica. Thanks tured guest will be Capt Noel of Or- to Lisa Jarosik for organizing. a bit Marine speaking about his recent Astonishing Sonar group of us from the Aquarium in- trip to Bali. Congrats to the whole cluding FCDA members Mark Dexter Voroba clan as Noel’s daughter re- Image of the Bomb & Michelle Lapin. We had a fantastic cently graduated from medical Laden Wreck of SS week both above and below the sur- school and got married. Montgomery That is a face. The diving in Costa Rica was Look forward to seeing you all simply brilliant. We dove with Rocket soon and let’s get wet. Ticking Time Bomb Frog on the Pacific side. Although pages 7, 8, 9, 10 conditions were at times challenging, Mike the amount of sea life we saw was Explorers plan June well worth it. Most of our dives were between 70-90 ft with surge. Visibil- mission to Andrea ity could range from 100+ to 25 ft Doria shipwreck by dependent on current. We saw in- Associated Press page 11 credible large schools of fish, white tip reef sharks, octopuses (or octopi or however you say the plural), gui- Next FCDA Meeting tar fish, mantas and a bull shark. We page 12 hope to show off some of Michelle’s videos at an upcoming meeting. On the surface we also had a blast. We ran into Andy and Julie Cummings along with John Hill and wife at dinner in town before our whole crew was thrown out of a gift shop (ps - we did nothing wrong).

Page 2 FCDA Donor The business listed on this page has donated dive gear and dive services to help support the Fairfield County Diving Association.

UPCOMING TRIPS

Bonaire 2016 Sat, Nov 12, 2016 - Sat, Nov 19, 2016 Divi Flamingo

Truk Lagoon 2016 Sun, Nov 27, 2016 - Sun, Dec 04, 2016 Truk Odyssey

Red Sea (Egypt) 2017 Sat, Nov 25, 2017 - Sat, Dec 02, 2017 Red Sea Aggressor

Page 3 May Meeting DAN Raffle Winners

After an exciting presentation Dive Center and Orbit Remember, you can't win if you don't by Don Brown on “Reefs, Marine Dive Center for buy tickets and you can't buy tickets if you Wrecks, Sharks & Cenotes donating tonight’s raffle don't get up and come out to FCDA With a Side of Guac” the club prizes for our DAN raffle. events and meetings! hels its raffle to support our DAN Sponsorship. Winners were: $10 Gift Card donated by New England Dive Center - Charlie Blanchette; Jelly Fish Sting Relief donated by New England Dive Center - Charlie Blanchette; $10 Gift Card donated by New England Dive Center - Kelsey Smith; Intova Neoprene Camera Case donated by New England Dive Center - Maciej Wroblewski; $10 Gift Card donated by New England Dive Center - Kelsey Smith; Spin Chill Drink Cooler donated by New England Dive Center - Jeff Susa and a New England Diving Guide donated by Orbit Marine Dive Center - Tom Thomes. Thanks to New England

FCDA Member Ads

Hey - have you got a non retail-diving business that you’d like to share with fellow members of FCDA? Get your business card size ad in the FCDA monthly newsletter “Surface Interval” for only $50.00 for one year. Give your business a boost and help support the production of our monthly newsletters. For more information, write to FCDA, P.O. Box 3005, Fairfield, CT 06824 or email to [email protected].

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Wreck Diving with Sand Tigers by Mike Gerken

While most humans try to are the plentiful sand tiger sharks avoid sharks, the surge in popu- (Carcharias taurus). larity of shark diving in the past With small, piercing eyes that 10 years shows that divers are seem to stare at you from every enthusiastically traveling the direction and rows of ragged teeth world intentionally seeking them protruding from a cruel smile, the out. sand tiger's visage is reminiscent North Carolina's Outer Banks of a Hollywood villain's. But looks are a prime location for diving can be deceiving; these sharks are P.O. Box 3005, with sharks. Over the centuries, actually docile and sedate animals Fairfield, CT 06824 many ships met their demise that do not startle easily. Careful there due to war, weather or hu- divers who respect the animals' man error as well as by becoming space will be able to achieve prox- Internet mail: [email protected] artificial reefs. These wrecks have imity without needing bait or http://www.fcda.us morphed into prolific reef com- chum. Because of the sharks' mild munities with abundant marine disposition and the ease of finding 2016 Board life from every link in the food them, encounters are almost guar-

Presidents Matt Rownin & chain, and sharks are the domi- anteed. nant predators. Geography plays an important Mike Cassetta Drawn in by the bountiful food role in producing the great diving Vice-President Mark Shannon supply, numerous species — in- opportunities off the North Caro- Secretary Vacant cluding blacktip, sandbar, bull lina coast. The Gulf Stream heads and occasionally hammerhead north along the Western Atlantic, Treasurer Paul J. Gacek sharks — can be found on these eventually colliding with the barrier wrecks. But the stars of the show (Continued on page 5)

A sand tiger shark stretches its jaw while swimming through the wreck of the Aeolus 28 miles off the coast of North Carolina.

Page 5 FCDA Donor Wreck Diving The business listed on this page has donated with Sand Tigers dive gear and dive services to help support the by Mike Gerken Fairfield County Diving Association. (continued)

(Continued from page 4) beaches that are the Outer Banks. In the summer water temperatures can reach 80°F, with the average on the bottom hovering in the mid- 70s°F. Visibility can exceed 100 feet on a good day, and the norm is around 60 feet. The combination of warm, clear water, historic wrecks and plentiful sharks and other marine life makes for world- class diving. Even after spending hundreds of hours in the water with sand tigers, I still get a rush from being among these menacing-looking but gentle sharks. On a given dive only a handful may be on a wreck, while on another there may be too many to count. Each year in mid- down the East Coast, heading as July on the wreck of the Caribsea, far north as Maine in the summer east of Cape Lookout, sand tigers and south to central Florida in ascend from the bottom higher the winter. They detect the elec- into the water column, where the tromagnetic fields the wrecks water is clearer and warmer. On emit and use them as waypoints more than one occasion I have along their route, much like we seen nearly 75 sharks, all females, would use a GPS." gently swimming into the current Whatever inclinations sand in a schooling formation. It is un- tigers have for the wrecks, rec- known why they do this, but the reational divers are happy they sight of it is permanently etched in have them. Being surrounded by my mental logbook. a plethora of toothy sharks while The aggregation of sand tigers exploring a historic shipwreck on the wrecks is most likely due to makes the diving experience all the reliable source of food the the more fascinating and educa- shipwrecks provide. The wrecks tional. As Fessler added, "It's a may also serve as navigational aids history and biology lesson all in during the sharks' migrations. one." Dean Fessler, educational director Also known as ragged-tooth The Aeolus is a reliable site for div- of the Shark Research Institute, sharks or gray nurse sharks, sand ing with sand tigers; they are often explained it this way: "Sand tigers tigers are found worldwide, pre- seen swimming inside the wreck, and migrate long distances up and (Continued on page 6) diver presence does not disturb them.

Page 6 Wreck Diving with Sand Tigers by Mike Gerken (continued)

(Continued from page 5) dominantly in temperate and sub- tropical waters, including the At- lantic coasts of North and South America as well as South Africa, Australia and Japan. Juvenile sand tigers are around 3 feet long at birth; the average length for adult males is 8 feet, while females max out at around 10 feet and 350 pounds. Sand tigers tend to mate in late winter to early spring. The male shark will bite the female on the pectoral fin to latch on during the mating process. Each year in May, at the beginning of the dive season in North Carolina, many females are seen sporting grizzly wounds. The Atlas ’s mazelike remains are a perfect backdrop for photo- But the sharks are fast healers. graphing sand tiger sharks. Come July the wounds are mostly healed with only faint scars re- Overfishing of sand tigers has ened Species. maining. caused their numbers to plummet The answer to whether sand Every two or three years, after worldwide. In the 1970s and '80s tiger numbers are increasing de- a gestation period of eight to 12 in Australia, divers purportedly pends on who you ask. "I do not months, females typically give used powerheads to kill have any scientific evidence, but I birth to one or two pups, typically sharks for sport. Because of how do believe sand tiger shark popula- one from each of her two uteri. easy it is to approach sand tigers, tions might be on an upward These young sharks are frequently little skill was involved in this style trend," said Chris Paparo, manager seen on the wrecks and are easy of fishing, and the results were of the Marine Sciences Center at to approach. This small number of devastating. In the , the Southampton campus of Stony births is due to the fascinating but recreational fishermen as well as Brook University. "In recent years, macabre phenomenon of intrauter- commercial longliners and purse anglers targeting fluke or striped ine cannibalism, in which the lar- seiners often caught sand tigers bass have been catching both ger and stronger fetuses consume unintentionally. Considered a adult and juvenile sand tiger the lesser ones. A pregnant female "trash fish," sand tigers caught as sharks with greater frequency." may start off with as many as 40 bycatch usually died. These and Recreational divers who have embryos but give birth to just the other unchecked and destructive been diving North Carolina's one or two pups. Hence, sand tiger fishing practices took a toll on sand wrecks for more than 25 years also sharks obtain their hunting in- tiger shark numbers to the point report seeing more sand tiger stincts even before birth. The dis- that they became a protected spe- sharks now then ever before. advantage of this is that sand ti- cies in Australia, South Africa and "Shark numbers may be stabilizing, gers have one of the slowest rates the United States in 1997. Today but to say they are increasing may of reproduction of any shark spe- they are listed as vulnerable on the be a stretch," Fessler countered. cies. When their numbers are International Union for Conserva- "There are more eyes in the water down it takes longer for them to tion of Nature and Natural Re- today looking for sharks than there rebound. sources (IUCN) Red List of Threat- (Continued on page 7)

Page 7 Wreck Diving with Sand Tigers by Mike Gerken (continued)

(Continued from page 6) see the greatest numbers of some of the famous sand tiger were 25 years ago; in turn more sharks on wrecks we also see haunts that were often at the top sharks are being seen." large gatherings of other fish of the hit list. As long as Mother Based on what I have witnessed such as Atlantic spadefish, grou- Nature cooperated enough to allow over the past 15 years, I believe per, jacks and flounder. us to venture offshore, we could shark numbers are slowly on the When I was a dive boat cap- pretty much count on outstanding rise. I'm seeing sharks on wrecks tain in North Carolina, each shark diving. where they were rarely seen be- morning before departure I As divers walked down the dock fore and with more regularity. Re- would ask the divers where they at the end of a successful day of gardless of whether their numbers wanted to go. Most would say shark encounters, I could tell I was are increasing or not, sand tiger without hesitation, "We want going to see many of them again sharks, like all marine apex preda- sharks!" There was no need to soon. It was apparent these divers tors, require continued protection. twist my arm; a few minutes later had been bitten — not by a shark The health of the ocean ecosys- we would be under way to wher- but by a bug: Sand tiger shark div- tem, on which we are dependent ever the hot spot for sand tigers ing is highly contagious. for fish stocks, starts at the top of was at the time. The wrecks of the food chain. Abundant sharks the Caribsea, Proteus, Atlas, Aeo- Reprinted from Alert Diver - equates to abundant marine life. lus, USCGC Spar and W.E. Hutton Winter 2016 It's no coincidence that when we (also known as the Papoose) are Astonishing Sonar Image of the Bomb Laden Wreck of SS Montgomery That is a Ticking Time Bomb

The ship was built by the St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company in its second year of operations, and was the seventh of the 82 such ships built by that yard. Laid down on 15 March 1943, she was launched on 15 June 1943, and completed on 29 July 1943, given the official ship number 243756, and named after General , an Irish soldier who was killed during the American War of Independence. In August 1944, on what was to be her final voyage, the ship left Hog Island, , where she had been loaded with 6,127 tons of munitions. She travelled from the to the , then This incredible image shows the highly details sonar image of the wreck of a anchored while awaiting the for- World War Two war ship laden with more than 1000 tonnes of sitting mation of a convoy to travel to at the bottom of the sea just off the Kent coast. The SS Richard Montgomery sank in 1944 while carrying munitions, mostly aircraft bombs, with a total explo- (Continued on page 8) sive content of 1,400 tonnes.

Page 8 Astonishing Sonar Image of the Bomb Laden Wreck of SS Montgomery That is a Ticking Time Bomb (continued)

(Continued from page 7) Cherbourg, , which had come under Allied control on 27 July 1944 during the Battle of Normandy. When Richard Montgomery arrived off Southend, she came under the authority of the Thames naval control at HMS Leigh located at the end of Southend Pier. The harbour mas- ter, responsible for all shipping movements in the estuary, or- dered the ship to a berth off the north edge of middle sands, an area designated as the Great Anchorage. On 20 August 1944, she dragged anchor and ran aground The salvage effort was abandoned after the SS Montgomery flooded and on a sandbank around 250 me- sank below the waves. Today it remains on the sandbank where it sank, tres from the Medway Approach close to the Medway Approach Channel. Channel, in a depth of 24 feet (7.3 m) of water. The general dry had been recovered. Subse- According to a 2008 survey, the cargo had an average quently, the ship broke into two wreck is at a depth of 15 m (49 ft), draught of 28 ft (8.5 m); how- separate parts, roughly at the on average, and leaning to star- ever, Richard Montgomery was midsection. board. At all states of the tide, her trimmed to a draught of 31 ft During the enquiry following three masts are visible above the (9.4 m). As the tide went down, the shipwreck it was revealed water. the ship broke her back on sand that several ships moored nearby Thames_Estuary_airports_propo banks near the had noticed Richard Montgom- sed_locations_SS_Richard_Montgo about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) from erydrifting towards the sandbank. mery Sheerness and 5 miles (8 km) They had attempted to signal an Map of the Thames Estuary from Southend. alert by sounding their sirens with the exclusion zone around the A Rochester-based stevedore without avail, since throughout wreck of Richard Montgomery, and company was given the job of this Captain Wilkie of Richard locations of proposed airports: 1. removing the cargo, which began Montgomery was asleep. The Cliffe; 2. Grain (Thames Hub); 3. on 23 August 1944, using the ship’s chief officer was unable to Foulness; 4. Off the Isle of Shep- ship’s own cargo handling equip- explain why he had not alerted pey; 5. Shivering Sands (“Boris ment. By the next day, the ship’s the captain. A Board of Inquiry Island”). source hull had cracked open, causing concluded that the anchorage the Because of the presence of the several cargo holds at the bow harbour master assigned had large quantity of unexploded ord- end to flood. The salvage opera- placed the ship in jeopardy, and nance, the ship is monitored by tion continued until 25 Septem- returned Richard Montgomery’s the Maritime and Coastguard ber, when the ship was finally captain to full duty within a Agency and is clearly marked on abandoned before all the cargo week. (Continued on page 9)

Page 9 Astonishing Sonar Image of the Bomb Laden Wreck of SS Montgomery That is a Ticking Time Bomb (continued)

(Continued from page 8) the expense. ing “panic and chaos” to Folke- the relevant Admiralty Charts. In The Maritime and Coastguard stone, although no injuries. Scroll 1973 she became the first wreck Agency nevertheless believe that down to page 2 for video designated as dangerous under the risk of a major explosion is re- According to a BBC news report section 2 of the Protection of mote. The UK government’s Re- in 1970, it was determined that if Wrecks Act 1973. There is an ex- ceiver of Wreck commissioned a the wreck of Richard Montgomery clusion zone around her monitored risk assessment in 1999, but this exploded, it would throw a 1,000- visually and by radar. The exclu- risk assessment has not been pub- foot-wide (300 m) column of water sion zone around the wreck is de- lished. The Maritime and Coast- and debris nearly 10,000 feet fined by the following co- guard Agency convened with local (3,000 m) into the air and gener- ordinates: and port authorities to discuss the ate a wave 16 feet (5 m) high. Al- According to a survey con- report in 2001 and concluded that most every window in Sheerness ducted in 2000 by the United King- “doing nothing was not an option (pop. circa 20,000) would be bro- dom Maritime and Coastguard for much longer.” ken and buildings would be dam- Agency, the wreck still held muni- One of the reasons that the ex- aged by the blast. However, news tions containing approximately plosives have not been removed reports in May 2012 (including one 1,400 tonnes (1,500 short tons) of was the unfortunate outcome of a by BBC Kent) stated that the wave TNT high explosive. These com- similar operation in July 1967 to could be about 4 feet (1 m) high, prise the following items of ord- neutralize the contents of Kielce, a which although lower than previ- nance: ship of Polish origin, sunk in 1946 ous estimates would be enough to 286 × 2,000 lb (910 kg) high off Folkestone in the English Chan- cause flooding in some coastal set- explosive “Blockbuster” bombs nel. During preliminary work tlements. 4,439 × 1,000 lb (450 kg) Kielce, containing a comparable When the condition of the mu- bombs of various types amount of ordnance, exploded nitions was originally assessed 1,925 × 500 lb (230 kg) bombs with force equivalent to an earth- there was concern that copper 2,815 fragmentation bombs and quakemeasuring 4.5 on the Richter azide, an extremely sensitive ex- bomb clusters scale, digging a 20-foot-deep (6 (Continued on page 10) Various explosive booster m) crater in the seabed and bring- charges Various smoke bombs, including white phosphorus bombs Various pyrotechnic signals An investigation by New Scien- tist magazine concluded in 2004, based partly on government docu- ments released in 2004, that the cargo was still deadly, and could be detonated by a collision, an at- tack, or even shifting of the cargo in the tide. The bad condition of the bombs is such that they could explode spontaneously. Documents declassified shortly before revealed that the wreck was not dealt with immediately after it happened, or The SS Richard Montgomery was anchored in Sheerness when it grounded and in the intervening 60 years, due to broke up in 1944.

Page 10 Astonishing Sonar Image of the Bomb Laden Wreck of SS Montgomery That is a Ticking Time Bomb (continued)

(Continued from page 9) plosive, would be produced through reaction between lead azide and copper from fuse com- ponents (lead azide would react with water vapour, rather than liq- uid water, to form hydrazoic acid, which could react with copper in the detonating cap to form copper azide). The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said in 1998, “as the fuses will probably all have been flooded for many years and the sensitive compounds referred to are all soluble in water this is no Sonar images show the wreck in two pieces on a sandbank about 1.2 longer considered to be a signifi- miles (2km) off the coast of Sheerness. cant hazard”. Critics of government assur- ances that the likelihood of a ma- structurally, with accelerated de- an airport, and the wreck area jor explosion is remote argue that terioration in some areas and would have to be considered. The one of the fuses of the 2,600 fuzed new cracks appearing in the bow co-chair of the Lib Dem committee -fragmentation devices could be- section of the wreck. The report on transport, Julian Huppert dis- come partially flooded and un- states that “Whilst significant agreed saying “This report shows dergo the reaction producing cop- structural collapse does not ap- the ship’s slow deterioration is con- per azide. A knock, such as caused pear to be imminent, surveys tinuing with the lethal cargo still on by the ship breaking up further, or suggest that this prospect is get- board,” and “This must surely put a collision on the busy shipping ting closer.” The increasing calls an end to the bonkers idea of lane, could cause the copper azide for a new airport in the Thames building an airport in the Thames to explode and trigger an explosive estuary would mean a solution estuary”. A 2013 Daily Telegraph chain reaction detonating the bulk would have to be found for re- article quoting local historian Colin of the munitions. moving the wreck, or at least Harvey, agreed the ship would The wreck site has been sur- making it safe, should the airport have to be removed before any veyed regularly since 1965 to de- be built. airport was built and printed a termine the stability of the struc- A May 2012 report into the sonagraph showed the ship clearly ture, with a diver survey being condition of the wreck issued by broken into two pieces. However a completed in 2003. High-resolution the Department for Transport DfT spokesperson said that the multi-beam sonar surveys in 2005 found that, while there had been ship remained stable, and the like- and September 2006 found that little change in 2009-2010, the lihood of an explosion was remote; there had been no recent signifi- future was uncertain due to the the matter of the ship was unre- cant movement of the wreck. “dynamic nature” of the sur- lated to the ongoing development Surveys undertaken in 2008 and rounding environment. Mayor of of the aviation strategy. 2009 by the MCA, and reported in London Boris Johnson said that September 2011, showed that the engineers had found the wreck Reprinted from thevin- ship was continuing to deteriorate would not prevent construction of tagenews.com May 4, 2016

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Explorers plan June mission to Andrea Doria shipwreck by Associated Press

BOSTON — Nearly six decades after 46 people died when the An- drea Doria sank to the sea floor following a violent collision with another ocean liner south of Nan- tucket, Massachusetts, explorers are preparing to do what 16 peo- ple have lost their lives attempting: get a good look at the wreckage. A Washington state-based ocean exploration company is planning the first manned sub- mersible expedition to the wreck in 20 years. Everett, Washington-based OceanGate will use its five-man submersible Cyclops I next month to get high-definition video and 3- D sonar images of the shipwreck, technology never before used to study one of the nation's most fa- china and other artifacts from a The plan is to do two three- mous maritime disasters. bygone era. But 16 of those divers hour dives per day during the "The Andrea Doria stands out have died, the most recent just weeklong expedition. The June 2-9 as the premier shipwreck in Ameri- last year. mission is to document and ob- can waters," said Stockton Rush, The wreck has been compared serve, not collect artifacts. the company's co-founder and to Mount Everest, because as allur- It's being conducted with the chief executive officer. ing and dangerous as the world's help of Boston Harbor Cruises, The New York-bound Italian tallest peak is to mountaineers, the which is providing the operational luxury liner sank after a collision Andrea Doria is to divers. vessel, and iXBlue, which is provid- on the foggy night of July 25, "A big part of the danger is the ing navigation services. 1956, with the Swedish ship Stock- depth and the risk of nitrogen nar- "The Andrea Doria is rapidly holm, which was heading back to cosis," said OceanGate marketing decaying, and using this technol- Europe. The Stockholm ripped a director Joel Perry, a condition in ogy we can build a 3-D map of the gash in the Andrea Doria's hull, which too much nitrogen builds up wreck with very high accuracy that causing it to list and making some in the blood, clouding judgment. scientists can use to compare with of its lifeboats unusable. Five peo- Visibility at that depth is poor, cur- future decay," Rush said. ple on the Stockholm died, but 46 rents are unpredictable and plenty The findings, in turn, could be crew and passengers on the Italian of protrusions can snag a diver, he applied in studies of other ship- ship perished. More than 1,600 said. wrecks. others were rescued as the ship Because of its depth, divers can "There's a great scientific need took 11 hours to sink. only spend about 20 minutes ex- for data on thousands of wrecks all The wreck, in about 240 feet of ploring the wreck. The Cyclops I, over the world," he said. water 50 miles south of Nantucket, with an interior about the size of a has for years attracted treasure- Chevrolet Suburban, can stay Reprinted from the Boston Her- hunting divers looking for money, down for hours. ald May 18, 2016.

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Next FCDA Meeting

Friday, June 24, 2016 - 8:00 PM Coast Guard Cottage, South Benson Marina, Fairfield, CT

7:00 PM - Pre Meeting Barbeque (BYOM - Meat!)

"Diving Bali"

a presentation by

Capt Noel Voroba Orbit Marine Dive Center

Join Captain Noel on his recent trip to Bali aboard the Arenui!