Corplinx Dives the Road to Atlantis!

[corplinx]

As an avid diver, I used thanksgiving week to get away on a one week excursion to the Bahamas. The last dive of the trip was the infamous Bimini "Road". In the eating quarters of the liveabord ship, someone mentioned they heard the rocks of Bimini Road were from Peru. Since my bunk was in the eating quarters, the other passengers heard a loud laugh from behind my curtain. I got down out of my bunk and told my own version of the story of Atlantis and how its pure crapola that people use to sell marks books and videos.

Anyhow, the day of the dive came and captain Rusty (blackbeard cruises) gave us the dive briefing. In short, he said Cayce predicted the road to atlantis would be discovered in the 60s. Jacques Cousteau "discovered" the Bimini Road when he was diving the Bimini area and the locals (who always knew the rocks were out there) pointed it out to him. The captain then told us that science has shown the rocks are naturally formed even though they aren't common in that area and that he thinks there is nothing to them.

Score one for captain Rusty! It would be easy for a diving company to cash in on the manufactured mystery of the Bimini Road by hyping it. Instead, the captain just laid it out and finished with "but you can believe whatever you want".

Now, the dive itself is shallow 10-20ft. Instead of diving with my tank, I just snorkeled it and free dove when I wanted to see something up close. The water was crystal that day. There were many lobsters hiding under rocks and even a good size nurse shark. I saw a good size puffer fish, a barracuda, and a moon jelly (which I snapped photos of with my trusty 15ft waterproof disposable camera). The least interesting part of the dive was the Bimini "Road" itself. It doesn't look much like a road and fails to impress.

My guess is the Bimini Road is a perception trick. You tell people its a road and when they see it their mind matches the patterns they see to a road.

Anyhow, I am sad to say the guy who runs the local dive shop nearest me (Memphis, TN) has been snookered by Mr. and Mrs. Little (http://edgarcayce.org/ancient_mysteries/about_ancient_mysteries_newsletter.htm) into believing in their brand of Atlantis foolishness.

[arcticpenguin]

Cool.

Post a few pics if they turn out.

[corplinx]

Originally posted by arcticpenguin
Cool.

Post a few pics if they turn out.

We took pics of:
swimming in a huge school of moon jellies
swimming with 8 large reef sharks and 3 nurses
said reef sharks feeding
snorkeling in a school of several hundred barracuda
me handling an octopus
me petting a small yellow stingray
me reeling in a 46 pound mahi mahi

Hopefully a few of those pics will turn out well.

Sadly, the vaguely rectangular stones that makeup Bimini road were so boring we didn't waste film on them. You can find pics of them on any crackpot Atlantis/Cayce site and see what I mean.

[Correa Neto]

Here in Rio there's a (discontinuous) layer of beach rocks (calcareous sandstone- sand and fragmentts of seashells cemented by carbonate) that runs at some 8 to 13 m deep for some 40 km. In case someone here knows Rio, it runs from Piratininga beach (Niterói) to Recreio dos Bandeirantes beach (Rio). Its well known by divers, specially in Barra da Tijuca (Laje da Barra is the local name). It looks a lot in some places (as in the Laje da Barra) to the Bimini road, with the "square"slabs and also some slabs that seem to rest over smaler stones (good place for octopuses hide).

So far, no woo-woo has noticed them...

[corplinx]

Sadly, many of our photos did not turn out. We were using cameras that relied on natural lighting as the source and we being amateurs didn't realize that if the sun was not behind you that you wind up with lots of light refraction.

Either that or the power of mythical Atlantis and the Bermuda triangle messed up our photos.

[c0rbin]

Bimini was a place I wanted to check out (as the local wildlife does). Is the diving still worth it?

[corplinx]

Originally posted by c0rbin
Bimini was a place I wanted to check out (as the local wildlife does). Is the diving still worth it?

I wasn't very impressed with the diving in the Bimini area. I had some great dives in the orange cay area including a great night dive at a site called Mystic. At mystic I saw squid, lobster, crab, shrimp, tiger tail sea cucumbers, tons of pristine reef, and I even handled a small octopus.

I had one memorable dive in Bimini because I was the first person off the boat and there was a school of hundreds (if not more) of moon jellies. I'm glad I wore my suit on that dive. However, the moon jellies were a freak occurence according to the dive crew.

Mind you, I am spoiled on cayman island area diving so my standards for good diving are pretty high.

The sapona wreck near Bimini was the best dive I had near Bimini for marine life. I saw a large starfish, lobster under the hull, spotted morays, atlantic spadefish, a huge porcupine fish, some out of place deep sea squirrelfish, yellow stingrays (one of which let me pet it), a large southern stingray, and schools of various fish as far as the eye could see. Mind you, the Sapona is in about 15 feet of water, the visibility is bad, and the water is cold for the Bahamas. However, the abundance of marine life makes up for it. The dive crew mentioned the irony that this wreck in shallow water in the middle of nothing attracts so much marine life versus the natural reefs.

The Sapona, FYI, is a navy experiment gone band. They made a ship out of concrete and robar and it grounded in the Bahamas.

The crew also mentioned that there are some corals growing in the ship that are native to the Caymans and not normally seen in the Bahamas. (I assume they were transmitted from a tiger shark bowel movement).

[jj]

Originally posted by corplinx

The crew also mentioned that there are some corals growing in the ship that are native to the Caymans and not normally seen in the Bahamas. (I assume they were transmitted from a tiger shark bowel movement).

I was in Brisbane before Thanksgiving. I'm not a swimmer (thank you, sinuses :( ) or a diver (um, your sinuses have to drain, right?), but just flying over the area northwest of Brisbane suggests to me it would make a great dive location.

I was south of the Great Barrier, though.

Any experience there?

[arcticpenguin]

The Jan-Feb 2004 issue of the [u]Skeptical Inquirer[/b] has an article on the Bimini 'Atlantis Road', written by a geologist who debunked it decades ago. An interesting read.

[corplinx]

here some pics i took with an el cheapo camera:

behold the amazing nurse shark of bimini road! (http://penguinppc.org/~jeramy/PICS/DIVE/5.jpg)

magic light of bimini caught on camera! don't look into the ring or you will die in seven days! (http://penguinppc.org/~jeramy/PICS/DIVE/6.jpg)
Actually, if you look close to my dive buddy's leg in this photo. You will notice a pink translucent blob. This was a moon jelly who is very hard to photograph with a cheap camera.

corplinx in his atomic split fins is underwater without a scuba tank, did bimini road magically make him breathe underwater?!? (http://penguinppc.org/~jeramy/PICS/DIVE/9.jpg)

The power of Atlantis makes my friend's body dissappear! (http://penguinppc.org/~jeramy/PICS/DIVE/2.jpg) No other explanation could be possible!

Behold! The unnatural creatures that lurk near the road! (http://penguinppc.org/~jeramy/PICS/DIVE/46440002.jpg)
We snagged a dolphin on the way to the road while we were still over the deep. For the record, dolphin (or mahi mahi) makes the best fish for fish and chips in the Bimini area. Deeeee-lish! I got this pic from someone esle on the trip, Neither of those guys is me.

What terrors lurk in the wreck of the Sapona?1? (http://penguinppc.org/~jeramy/PICS/DIVE/46440001.jpg)
The wreck of the Sapona, a WW2 era ship made with a concrete hull to save metal for munitions. Currently, its stuck in 15 feet of water and was used for target practice with dummy bombs for many years. One of our divers found a dummy bomb during our dive of it. I got to pet a friendly yellow stingray. On this dive.[

[corplinx]

one of the other guys had a camera with him when we dove a site called Bull Run

I got to see some prime specimens of a misunderstood animal (http://penguinppc.org/~jeramy/PICS/DIVE/Reef%20Shark%203.jpg)

Seriously, with wonderous things like these reef sharks in the Bahamas, I pity the fool who spends his time looking at some slabs of rock.

[fishbob]

I am so jealous. My daughter is 20.5 years old. The last time I went diving was 20.8 years ago. Kids = the end of disposible income.

[corplinx]

Originally posted by fishbob
I am so jealous. My daughter is 20.5 years old. The last time I went diving was 20.8 years ago. Kids = the end of disposible income.

And my wife keeps wondering why I keep putting off having kids.

And with the modern dive computers, I was able to do a dive down to 127 feet and spent 35 minutes in the water. Things have come a long way since the static dive tables. (On tables you spend all you time in the water as if you are at your max depth so if you touch 130 ft you can only be in the water for 5 minutes since the tables dont compensat e for time your spend at other depths).

[ca3799]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by corplinx
[B]


The power of Atlantis makes my friend's body dissappear! (http://penguinppc.org/~jeramy/PICS/DIVE/2.jpg) No other explanation could be possible!


I guess you didn't notice the toothy, clawed, sea monster that is getting ready to turn around and EAT your friend in the pic. It's so clear, I don't know how you missed it! (joking).

[Thanz]

How can you go to the Bahamas and not know that Atlantis (http://www.atlantis.com/index_flash.html) is very real?!?!? It is right there, dude!

[Psiload]

Originally posted by Thanz
How can you go to the Bahamas and not know that Atlantis (http://www.atlantis.com/index_flash.html) is very real?!?!? It is right there, dude!
The Skeptical Inquirer article on "Atlantis" that AP mentioned above touched upon the Atlantis Resort and Casino. It talked about how the manager of the resort got together with a few friends one night and invented the "Atlantian hieroglyphics" which decorate the resort. He talked about the woo woos who come to the resort, and spend hours trying to decode, and translate them.

Ya gotta love woo woos.
:D

[c0rbin]

Thanks for sharing the pics, Corplinx. I too have had to put off many trips because of kids and am glad to live through your expiriences :)