Divers play green card

Children play inside a two-person recompression chamber set up for the Surf Dive Action Expo at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

A diver inside the 10,000 litre display tank with a notice that the water will be recycled.

Youngsters take a look at this de-activated mine from The Gulf. Photos: Phil Barling

By Graham Davis

The Navy’s Men in Black, the divers of Australian Clearance Diving Team One (AUSCDTONE), are going green.

Environmentally that is.

Last week, 20 divers from the team, led by its Executive Officer, LEUT Chris White, participated in the four-day 2004 Surf Dive Action Expo at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

Thousands attended the expo and the Navy received good exposure.

Part of the AUSCDTONE display involved divers entering a 10,000 litre glass-sided tank and showing how they work beneath the surface.

They also played noughts and crosses with youngsters standing outside the tank.
However there was one very large stumbling block before the event.

Because of the serious shortage of water in NSW, stringent restrictions on water usage are in force.

Anyone needing to fill a “pool” with contents of 10,000 litres or more has to obtain a permit from Sydney Water.

The divers’ tank fell into that category and LEUT White successfully sought the appropriate permit to turn the tap on.

However, they did not want to waste the water on completion of the expo by simply pouring it into the gutter.

“So we’ve arranged for two slip-on tankers to collect the water for re-use at the end of the display,” LEUT White said.

“The water will then be taken to Canberra for a display we have to put on at ADFA on August 28.”

The water is likely to be re-cycled back to the tankers after Canberra and re-used yet again for a Navy Day at Garden Island Sydney on October 3.

The team’s “diver in the tank” demonstrations were just one facet of its activities at the Sydney expo.

Each day there was an hour-long main arena show involving motorcycles, bicycles, skateboards and the like.

The divers provided the spectacular finale for the show.

In two sticks of eight, and with the recorded sounds of hovering helicopters, they fast roped on lines 30 metres and 20 metres, from the darkened ceiling area of the auditorium.

Once on the ground, the black helmeted and gloved divers formed a security cordon.

The diving team also provided an impressive static display in the vestibule of the centre.

A two-man recompression chamber was provided, as was a protective suit which would be worn by a sailor called to inspect and destroy unexploded ordnance.

The latest diving equipment was laid out along with an extensive photographic exhibition.

Equipment used by team members in the salvage of HMS Nottingham off Lord Howe Island two years ago also was exhibited.

On the footpath outside, a sandbagged pit was set up and in it was a sea mine, now empty, brought back from The Gulf.

.