Diving Disney - Page 1
AT THE DIVING EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION show (DEMA)
in Las Vegas in January 2000, Bob Rusnak and Greg Platt were working
the Historical Diving Society-USA booth and were approached by Barry S. Olson,
the chief diver for The Living Sea aquarium at the Epcot Center at Disney World
in Orlando, Florida. Barry was interested in exploring the possibity
of introducing a heavy gear diving program at Epcot and was wondering
if the HDS-USA had anyone who could give a U.S. Navy MkV demo for them.
The answer, of course, was "yes," and as luck would have it, Jim Boyd was already planning
to drive to Florida in February to do some heavy gear diving with friends
in the Keys. We contacted Barry, and a stop at Epcot was arranged.
BARRY OLSON (left) and DiveQuest divemaster Mike Rambus (in wetsuit) checked out
Jim Folk's MkV helmet on Wednesday afternoon, February 23, 2000. A mismatch in
comm connectors made it impossible for us to rig up comms to the MkV.
Disney uses surface-suplied SuperLite 17s for maintenance work, and all the
staff divers who tried the heavy gear were SuperLite and surface-supply qualified.
Mike Rambus was the first to dive, and Matt Moss was lacing his legs (right)
while Jim Boyd supervised and shot topside video. When it came to rigging
the helmet, Jim gave tending lessons (below).
DIVER MIKE RAMBUS did the obligatory "hero pose" with tenders Josh Collins
(left) and Matt Moss. Josh and Matt are aquarists who care for
the fish in the aquarium. A motorized diving stage was used (right) to enter
the huge 27-foot-deep tank. The only problem is that it was rigged
for scuba divers and did not come up flush with the deck. That three-foot
"first step" was a doozy in the MkV. Getting down was fairly easy,
but climbing back onto the deck was a real struggle that defied any and all
attempts to do the job gracefully. mThe diver could be viewed from the public
underwater viewing area (below), which could be accessed directly from the topside
diving area. The curved glass made flash photography difficult but not impossible.
Continue to Diving Disney - Page 2
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in Las Vegas in January 2000, Bob Rusnak and Greg Platt were working
the Historical Diving Society-USA booth and were approached by Barry S. Olson,
the chief diver for The Living Sea aquarium at the Epcot Center at Disney World
in Orlando, Florida. Barry was interested in exploring the possibity
of introducing a heavy gear diving program at Epcot and was wondering
if the HDS-USA had anyone who could give a U.S. Navy MkV demo for them.
The answer, of course, was "yes," and as luck would have it, Jim Boyd was already planning
to drive to Florida in February to do some heavy gear diving with friends
in the Keys. We contacted Barry, and a stop at Epcot was arranged.
BARRY OLSON (left) and DiveQuest divemaster Mike Rambus (in wetsuit) checked out
Jim Folk's MkV helmet on Wednesday afternoon, February 23, 2000. A mismatch in
comm connectors made it impossible for us to rig up comms to the MkV.
Disney uses surface-suplied SuperLite 17s for maintenance work, and all the
staff divers who tried the heavy gear were SuperLite and surface-supply qualified.
Mike Rambus was the first to dive, and Matt Moss was lacing his legs (right)
while Jim Boyd supervised and shot topside video. When it came to rigging
the helmet, Jim gave tending lessons (below).
DIVER MIKE RAMBUS did the obligatory "hero pose" with tenders Josh Collins
(left) and Matt Moss. Josh and Matt are aquarists who care for
the fish in the aquarium. A motorized diving stage was used (right) to enter
the huge 27-foot-deep tank. The only problem is that it was rigged
for scuba divers and did not come up flush with the deck. That three-foot
"first step" was a doozy in the MkV. Getting down was fairly easy,
but climbing back onto the deck was a real struggle that defied any and all
attempts to do the job gracefully. mThe diver could be viewed from the public
underwater viewing area (below), which could be accessed directly from the topside
diving area. The curved glass made flash photography difficult but not impossible.
Continue to Diving Disney - Page 2
Return to Links Page