VET SUIT
On rain-swept Adak Island in >th<3 . Aleu
tians, where the wind and the tempera
ture have the same effect as fingernails
on a slate blackboard, scuba-diving has
become a popular sport.
On almost any day of the week, men and
women clad in* bulky wet-suits can be. seen
trudging between the snow-covered rocks
alqng Adak's coastline, looking for a
convient place to enter the icy Pering
Sea.--. v
Without a wet-suit, a man would survive
only 10 or 12 minutes in these northern
waters. But with his scuba-diving gear,
a diver can stay in the water for as long
as two or throe hours before he begins
to feel the cold. And the view under
water is terrific - up to 65 feet more
visibility than in some warm-water areas.
The divers who brave these waters are
Navymen assigned to the U.S, Naval Sta
tion at Adak, and their dependents* To
gether, they swim along the deep beds of
sand and volcanic deposit at the bottom
of the Bering Sea, looking at marinelifa
Above the water, the brown tundra-cov- ■
ered mountains present a bizarre sight;
underwater, the view is also unusual!
Giant king crab; furry-sea-lions and
otters; schools of king salmon returning'
to their, spawning-places in the islands
streams; and the usual array of grotes
que sea urchins, octopuses and plant life.
But diving around Adak has its dangers
too. When the Armed Forces used the is
land as a staging base during World War
II, they left behind tons of unexploded
ordnance that is still hidden in crev
ices below the water.*s surface. -The
ordnance poses a constant danger.
Navy-’..rained divers stationed at Adak
have volunteered to teach .off-duty clas
ses for novices in the newly-formed
Aleutian Scuba Divers club. The new
divers, as well as the experienced ones,
say the diving in the freezing Bering
Sea is '’fabulous", „ "You can see, for as
much as 75 feet around you underwater,
one sailor said, "because there*srno
loose sediment to cloud the water."
(Continued next column)
***•?{• -x- x
The club has scheduled weekly clas
ses to teach new divers how to handle
the overwhelming currents and.riptides
.characteristic of the Bering Sea* In
structors introduce diving techniques,
.methods of safety and oceanography,
.New divers practice their skills in the
Naval Station*s heated swimming pool.
After they*ve qualified inside, they're
permitted to "solo" in the chilly Kuluk
Bay waters, at. the edge of the sea. Al
though club membership is limited to mer^
the married sailors have taught their
wives how to dive# So, when the club
holds one of its underwater’"meetings,"
women are almost always there#
The Navymen devote a considerable por-^
tion of their off-duty time to diving V
safety and improvement of techniques#
Scuba-diving is one of the isolated
island's most popular recreational act
ivities - and one of the most rewarding.
The chilling currents of the Bering Sea
provide an exciting challenge and an
excellent training-ground, "After diving
off Adak," one man said, "Cypress Gar
dens will seem like nothing," 'The other .
members aren't so' sure. But they all
agree - Adak was the'last place they
expected to learn how to use- a wet-suit!
FLHTCHcA LIBRARY NEWS !
A most welcome Donation from tho Navy I
Officers Wives (plub has'bought Juvenille
books for the Fletcher Library*
The following books have been received,
with a few more to follow*
IVIMEY Three Blind Mice
LEMSKI Spring is' Here
MAZIERE Parana, Boy of the Amazon
ROBBINS Baboushka and the Three Kings
BANK El l MAN Story-of Little Bl-ack Sambo
STOLZ Wait for me Michael
FERRIS Girls, .Qirls, Girls
NELSON Mystery at Land’s End
SHIRER Rise and Fall-of Adolf Hitler
The Fletcher Library would also like to
particularly thank Mrs* E*; Falkowski
for all her kind help with the childrens
section • r '
•* -5C- -x