Our primary motivation for going to Bikini had been to dive the Saratoga - the aircraft carrier that lies in 50 metres of water. We tried to get permission to dive but the Bikinians were having a conference in Hawaii and all their focus was on making their way there. Still, we managed to get a permit to visit the atoll for USD25. This was fortunate because just as we left Majuro the Bikinians, in their wisdom, increased the permit price to a whopping USD5,000. God knows what they were thinking but they've stopped dead any future cruising to Bikini (we think it has to do with a planned USD1,000 fee for visitors arriving on cruise ships). This fee was clearly news to their people in Bikini because just recently one of them asked on the Yokwe net when they might expect more yachts because they need some diesel. They were told they were unlikely to see one until the permit became more reasonable.

Bikini was the site for nuclear tests conducted by the US from 1946 to 1958. The initial tests were conducted under the code "Operation Crossroads" and the later and more notorious test which contaminated Rongelap and Rongerik Atolls in 1954 was operation Castle Bravo. The reasons for conducting the Crossroads tests, the logistics, and the obstacles they faced, as well as the results of the explosions, are outlined in a frank, well written report called "Bombs at Bikini" by Joint Task Force One. It starts.....

The gray-green dawn of July 25,1946, enveloped
Bikini Atoll. The target fleet lay still, with
'Yoke" flags flying to signify all personnel had been
evacuated. Like moving shadows the support vessels
slowly filed out of the Lagoon. Last to leave was the
flagship MT. McKINLEY. The Lagoon was deserted.
Just over the eastern horizon puffs of cumulus
clouds appeared, heralding perfect weather for the
flnal atomic test at Bikini. As the time for the explosion
approached, men paced the decks, adjusted
their binoculars, studied the deserted target fleet to
fix in their minds the steel pattern soon to be shattered.
Clearly visible was the doomed SARATOGA, floating
majestically as she had throughout the war; among the
forest of masts could be seen the tall thin mast of
LSM-60, the ship from which the bomb was suspended.
Closer -- fatally close -- lay the mighty ARKANSAS.
Men stared fascinated as the relentless count began.
In a few seconds the awful explosion would come. Not
few; Two ! OneI

The results are history. Ships were crushed, and
sank; two million tons of water and spray buried
scores of ships. Even more deeply buried -- lost in the drama of the moment -- were the underlying
problems, the guiding motive. Why plan an
Operation Crossroads'? Why send 42,000 men,
242 ships, 156 airplanes, 4 television transmitters,
750 cameras, 5000 pressure gages, 25,000
radiation recorders, 204 goats, 200 pigs, 5000 rats
and why transport Numbers 4 and 5 of the
atomic bomb family thousands of miles across
land and sea for two brief moments of majestic
destruction?

The book goes on to answer those questions and to give the results of the experiments that were conducted. If your interested here is a link Bombs at Bikini

In hindsight it was an immoral thing to do. To render people homeless and to contaminate the environment in such a way, but in the context of the time it seems less so. The focus was on the experiment and the consequences for one small atoll with a few hundred people was just one of hundreds of considerations for a successful outcome in their eyes.

Today Bikini is a ghost town. Even less populated than Rongelap. The station is on Bikini island in the north which has a wonderfully protected anchorage. It houses the caretakers. When we were there they were collecting turtles and fledgling boobies for a feast on Kili Island where Bikinians live today. It was sad to see half a dozen turtles on their backs waiting their fate. On the machine shed there is a reminder of what the Bikinians have lost.




But Bikini is also beautiful and bountiful. The view from the closed bar is stunning but unfortunately it only operates when divers come in in the less windy months in summer. We were not game to try to catch lobster here given their tendency to process coral but there are definitely some large specimens here.





We did manage to locate the Saratoga using our depth sounder and we also noticed an oil slick near where the Japanese ship the Nagato sank and assume it is still slowly leaking oil even this many years later.

We spent the last few days on Bikini Atoll at Enya island in the south east. It hosts the airport and is a graveyard for earth moving equipment. The dock is a challenge for dinghies since it has been constructed in completely the wrong direction and is subject to swell. The reef off the airstrip can be quite nice for snorkelling but can be murky. The reef itself is interesting to explore and has a lot of cruising reef sharks.




Most people associate Bikini with the swimsuit but it was revealed 4 days after the first nuclear bomb on Bikini by the frenchman Louis Reard who thought it might create as much sensation as the bomb itself - it did.