A Narrated COMPLETE TECHNICAL WRECK DIVE On One Of The Largest Japanese Shipwrecks of WWII

We dive the Heian Maru, the longest wreck in Chuuk Lagoon, a Japanese WWII wreck graveyard in the islands of the Pacific. On this dive we use strobes and lines to explore the wreck, technical gear setup, and we bring deco bottles.
It's hard to find complete technical dive videos with explanation, most videos are either short excerpts of a dive, or fail to explain what is actually going on. Hopefully this video is an exception!
As you can imagine we are not world experts in technical diving, and this is not a particularly 'technical' dive. We are learning just like you, please forgive any and all mistakes.

[@snap4433221]

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your storytelling skills. No UUUUUUUM, AAAAAAAM, EEEEEM, you know, like, ... It's just perfect. Love the wreck as well!

[@Toonarmy64739]

Try free rrr

[@uhhhpersoniguess]

I don't know how often you check comments on this, but I'd absolutely love to see more of these videos from you. The narration is pleasant, the footage is good, and it was overall very pleasant to watch. Great job!

[@jonmiller1906]

"I'm learning every dive". People who say they are novice divers or learning every dive are almost universally the best on the boat. Really outstanding video I loved this. Just pure diving, which is what it should be.

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

This is an awesome video no techno beats and overbearing music nice narration !!!!!!!! What equipment are you and your group using i.e. regs wings lights strobes what camera do you have that can display the depth and temperature

[@EODmongo]

Ivory Johnson it appears to be a Paralenz Dive Camera

[@dinosaurstwice4959]

this video genuinely rules. i know nothing about diving and this was incredibly entertaining and informative.

[@SquigglyCarton8]

Go learn to dive man! It’s so fun! You’ll love it!

[@rluxon]

Awesome. Thanks for the complete dive. Wish there were more like it. Like you said in the beginning. You get the dawning, entry, exit and doffing. Thanks again.

[@DarrellGrainger]

Penetrating a wreck without running a line or having your line go loose really made me nervous. For training, I practiced running a line, learning how to tie off to different types of anchor points, etc. on the surface then again on say the deck of a wreck (before penetration). Glad things worked out well for you but just like you practice your S-drills, you should constantly practice running line. Never stop learning, never stop practicing. Thank you for sharing.

[@devoj6969]

Great video, but bad camera placement.

[@deankaras8359]

I love your narrative style, as someone interested in wreck diving it was awesome to see how you think through the steps

[@reubenang6541]

hey man, really high quality and informative video. good stuff! 👍

[@bornaluckyman1]

I echo the majority of the comments here.. this was a real informative video to watch .. it's great to see your perspective on performing this technical dive ... Fantastic thank you

[@Flyingjaffacake]

I've just found this video and I'm really excited to watch it, thanks for uploading.

[@markfrantz4612]

You should totally make another video like this! Love it!

[@antonkooij4301]

Loved watching this video man. I'm an experienced dive master (22 y) and did some guiding work and assisted on courses. And like you said in this vid it could tribute to make diving more deeper and expanding on knowledge. Thanks for that insight, Im on my way to do an Tech dive introduction. Regards Anton

[@mustanggun]

Brother, you did a great job explaining Tech Diving and narrating the dive. Looking forward to Truk myself.

[@DiverEgypt]

Thanks for posting this video. Please keep diving and training. I am sorry to say that your buddy really needs to uplift his skills especially that he is a “tech “ diver. Proper weighting , buoyancy , trim and kicking are fundamental skills of tech diving and it is very clear that he’s not competent enough in any. Line skills also require training and are paramount when it comes to wreck penetration. imagine getting entangled on that reel line for example?! So many things could go wrong. Once again thank you for walking us through this video. Stay safe and keep diving

[@jonuh6159]

This video is pure gold! Footage, narration and infos are just perfect🎉

[@Erockzee]

Such a fun video... great job and the humility is perfect. I'm a cave diver, but not a wreck diver so there plenty for me to learn. Thanks for sharing!

[@edwinneal]

Great video, thanks for taking the time to narrate and explain.

[@rabukan5842]

Hi Zack, by now, 3 years later, I'm sure you have much more experience and training, and as a long time tech/cave/rebreather instructor, the only thing I would say here is that you did an excellent job with your narration, with advising viewers to get more training, and with your explanations of what you were doing. Basically, you did fine with your primary and secondary tie offs, but I didn't see any further secondary tie offs, which in wreck penetrations and caves, you want to continually do to both protect the line, and to keep the line taut to help prevent you from getting entangled in it. It also gives you the ability to penetrate further, but if you are not trained to do so, it is always best to stop at your training limit, which you did. Also, your buddy's buoyancy skills can use some work so that he is mostly horizontal with very little vertical positioning and using mainly frog kick with ankles above the knees. Last, I would always stick to my profile plan (not rely on my computer's adjustments,) and always use my deco bottle as it is very worth cleaning the nitrogen out. EAN32 is not a deco gas, but EAN50 is. So even if you breath it for 5 minutes, you will be better off. Other than that, very well done.

[@DavidPurviance]

glad you made it back safe, glad you enjoyed your dive, but yes please get some training.

[@eamonshields2754]

Awesome video, loved the raw content

[@kevingumfory]

When teaching others, we teach ourselves. Real nice video. Real nice narration. Need to go see if there are more yet.

[@kirkrose7312]

By far the best informative video I have watched so far. More videos please. Loved the narration on what you were doing and why it was done as well as the description of the equipment. I would watch more if you make them.

[@SammyPrairiechicken]

Gorgeous dive site, I actually thought it would be deeper. Bucket list.

[@YvesSevens]

nice dive and nice explenation, but why is your buddy's bladder mounted upside down and why is his right inflatorhose not connected? (12:30)

[@dr4109]

Great video and I’m glad that you’re learning and having fun as you go.

[@ardentpyro2]

Thanks for the video would love to see more. I dont understand all the comments from the peanut gallery. You admitted this was learning. I guess we have the worlds best divers on these comments. Every negative comment they said you addressed in the video. Maybe if they took their heads out or their asses they might be able to losten and realize you addressed lines, trim, buoyancy, learning and perfecting skills. Great job for having the balls and discipline to start tech diving.

[@12ofnu]

Appreciate you making this video! Love your style 😊

[@cheddar2648]

I'm glad that people dive into overhead areas and then upload it, cause I ain't ever going into something. Nope. But to each their own.

[@ahockeykid]

Great video. As I rec diver I've always wanted to see something like this on the tec side. Thank you!

[@HeadmuckLP]

Great video, very enlightening and entertaining with the high quality footage and narration in full lenght. Really sets it apart from a lot of other diving content, especially for technical diving. Would be great to see you upload more of such videos. I'm definitively inspired to try technical diving once I have the financial means.

[@Mr.AndyLopez]

Great video man! Hope to see more soon 🙏🏼

[@gilliancrew6049]

Thanks for this video . I have been looking for more information about what tech diving is al about and this helps

[@JURASSICDIVERUK]

A truly fantastic dive and amazingly narrated. Really hope you do many more.

[@rayquaza277]

Hey man, just happened to stumble upon this video. Thank you so much for making a complete tech dive narration! I'm finally in a position to be able to start diving frequently and I've been looking for this exact kind of content. Cheers from Australia

[@alexanderravik3998]

Awesome video 👍

[@whaleshark2625]

This is such a great video - really appreciated your clarity and narration! I'd love to see more videos like this.

[@eriksenactual]

Really enjoyed the video!

[@harrydevil]

Greatly appreciate this video, thanks for making it and post more full dives!

[@_piz2862]

Amazing Video. Her sister ship Hikawa Maru still exists and is a museum ship in Yokohama!

[@joeystories6946]

Great cinematography🎥🏅🎥🏅🎥🏅🎥🏅narration extraordinaire🏆

[@bryancoiffman5330]

Enjoyed this so much!

[@joeyL12345]

Great video man. Thanks a bunch for doing this

[@DavidRibasDaCunha]

I believe loads of rec divers around the world would love to get into tec diving if it wasn't so damn expensive

[@boatingdave1883]

Great video. Thanks for the tour. Truk is definitely on my list to go someday!

[@_Feyd-Rautha]

This is so great. Thank you

[@ArcofZen]

Great video! I’d love to dive chuuk… I did however dive some incredible WW2 shipwrecks in Coron Bay Philippines, this is giving me massive nostalgia!

[@e.l.2734]

Yall have to assess every pathway on the spot? Wow. Amazing video and great narration, too.

[@mous6687]

Awesome, unique view into a true tech dive. Great narration and video quality. Great job.

[@hatredsgames]

Awesome video and flawless narration. Definitely do this more.

[@williamsweet7511]

the best way for me to learn is to do it "safely" and slowly. Everyone is gonna make some mistakes along the way. Seems like you're doing great and having fun.

[@badgerbar3623]

Awesome video, looking forward to more dives hopefully

[@sittingduck5477]

That was a good hour watch, nice!

[@jonlockwood7088]

Your advanced wreck instructor was Mr Chatterton wasn't it?

[@jadefalcon001]

This is FANTASTIC content. I really appreciate your narration of what you're doing, what you've changed or re-evaluated, everything. It's like a lot of aviation youtubers (like FlightChops), but wetter. Great work!

[@mikeodell5915]

thank you for sharing.

[@nes.torfernandez]

Very helpful video! And yes you could have done things better but at least you knew you were learning and advising everyone to stick to their training level. 👌🏼

[@Richard1976]

Great video

[@djsalose]

What organization did you do your technical training with?

[@bryanbertuzzi9259]

Dood great vid! Please make more!!!

[@Burritosarebetterthantacos]

I cant even imagine what a trip like this costs.

[@nicholasvonrhine6311]

Outstanding.

[@ponyrang]

Wow, My best friend, Wonderful video dear. I enjoyed watching. Hope to see you soon...

[@joesmith-ds9mg]

Great video thanks for sharing

[@provuksmc6619]

Wreck diving made me interested in cave diving. I like the overhead environment. But i don't like all that greasy, slimey stuff that grows on ships. But nice video and nice voice over.

[@Al556]

every single dive, no matter how many dives we have logged we are always learning

[@drakcheslav]

very nice talk though. Couple of things tho. As one tech diver to another, I believe we never stop learning, so here's what I've picked up. 1. I was taught that light goes on the left hand, since your right hand is the operation hand, while left hand always points. And you never turn on or off the lamp underwater. You have holds and temp holds why a rigid goodman handla is advisable. 2. DSMB's/Reels and such should either be sowed on your but d ring or bungeed to the plate so they don't present a entanglement hazard. 3. Stages are to be clipped off to a line, and never left randomly. Currents can pick them up and you can lose them. 4. Backup lights should be snoopy looped to the harness. 5. And in case of your buddy, the RB inflator shold be bungeed on the right shoulder as the left too. Since in some shots it was behind his shoulder. Great dive, I'd really love to dive it some day. And great video. Thanks for putting this out. Cheers!

[@Elparquito]

Dang. Liveaboard at Truk. That's right up there with a liveabord at Cocos Island (Costa Rica) and Port Hardy (Canada). One your a technical diver, *all* your dives are "technical" dives. It's not like you ever go back to using recreational scuba gear. :) I love diving the 10' long hose on "recreational" warm water dives as in Cozumel. You get all kinda strange looks. Not to mention diving a stainless steelbackplate and wings pretty much means you don't need a weight belt on warm water dives. :) Got my TDI Advanced Trixmix certification in 1998.

[@kennethlove2884]

That live aboard looks extremely nice

[@BlueHorizonDiving]

Looks incredible wreck to explore

[@joeyL12345]

Put the one w/ Chatterton back up dude

[@1corrsfan]

I'm new to watching wreck dives so I really really appreciate the step by step guide as he going around the ship. It's stunning, that first pic was amazing. I'm finding it hard to navigate the floor and the walls tho. I look forward to watching more of ur videos. Say your diving a wreck where there's no place to wrap ur line around or a place to clip strobes/lines, how would u go about attaching it then?

[@Yggdrasil42]

I don't think I've ever seen a wreck that has no tie-offs. If it's really not possible then you don't go into the wreck. Not worth dying for.

[@Dan_Rugs]

Hey fellow dive talk nerds leave this mans a sub!

[@ianyapxw]

As someone that works in content creation I would suggest you consider being a full time KZbinr, especially if you have a work from home job. There's aren't other types of diving videos like this, so you have your own 'style' of content, I believe there's good product-market fit, and you have your 'moat' because not everyone can do the dives you do let alone talk over them. You'll almost always get your dive trips, equipment and training as a tax deduction and that's a huge plus too. There's a few things you'll need to change about your personal branding/content but it's not huge. Hope you'll consider because I enjoyed this video and I'm sure many others did too.

[@zakaria600]

Awesome dude 👍👍🤙🤙

[@Skidbladnerx]

Hey Zack, which phone case is that? Really interested.

[@Biriadan]

Should you be placing your decompression cylinders on top of the wreck like that? What if currents change while you're in there and they get blown off and lost? Seems like it's safer to just keep them on you.

[@nachtloa2093]

How are you adding the depth and temp to your videos

[@carlbroker]

Great video, how did you integrate the temperature and depth into your video?

[@youssefdiouri2112]

I have a question why do you have 2 dive computers ?

[@drewfullhart1750]

Love this long videi

[@victor-emmanuel7485]

I have no experience with diving at all, and found this very interesting! Thanks What does it take (time- and money wise) to get to this level?

[@zackbloom]

Thanks! That's a great question. It might be a little unpalatable to really cultivate an understanding of how much you will end up paying without having ever dove before! My recommendation would be to get your Open Water certification ($300 and two weekends), and then to perhaps do something like an Intro to Tech course (maybe $600 and some equipment). After that, you will have some idea of what type of diving you want to do. Ultimately if you follow every 'skill tree' in diving, you can spend almost an infinite amount of money and time. But if you know what you want to do (dive a wreck in warm water at 100', or in cold water at 300', or deep in a cave, etc.) you can get pretty far with a few weeks and a few thousand dollars.

[@victor-emmanuel7485]

@@zackbloom Great advice! Greatly appreciated

[@neilquinn]

I'm not a technical diver, but I'd suggest by getting your open water certification first ($400ish, 3 or 4 days with learning, pool time, and 4 dives), do some fun dives, then your advanced open water / "AOW" which will let you go down to 40m and understand buoyancy and no decompression times better. You really want to get buoyancy super solid before you consider technical diving, because if can't control your final ascent and blow to the surface you can get decompression sickness, or "the bends". The next step would be something like PADI's "tec 40" which is decompression light. PADI requires 30 dives before this, but IMO that's not much and you should do a lot more before going tech.

[@victor-emmanuel7485]

@@neilquinn thanks 👍

[@tonka4512]

What type of camara you have on you to film ?

[@Jiggaman388]

Hey man great video! Might need an editor though

[@Jiggaman388]

Yeah I THINK so too

[@TonyCampCamppartyof4]

Hey, quit your job and make more videos. This was fun to watch really

[@nathanputra4661]

i really like the elevator

[@marioschmitt4435]

What case for the phone are you using? Great vid, though, very nice.

[@ajthedestroyer7149]

You've earned a sub my man's

[@manofwar931]

Just wondering what case for your phone you were using looking for one but can’t find a good one

[@ronniek.5553]

I would like to know what kind of strobe your buddy uses the yellow one! Brand name?

[@tiago.matias]

Hi Zack. How did you added depth/temp data to your video? Thanks!

[@davidmills8738]

Is that Truk lagoon

[@user-slowbarhashmanage]

很棒的影片

[@scaleneous]

Awesome video. How did you put the depth & temp there on the corner? Thanks!

[@Yggdrasil42]

It's a feature of this camera. Unfortunately it's no longer made.

[@josemsolis5855]

Please what brand is you phone scuba case

[@paulaporsche9399]

That would be the Yoamoto. She had 18.5 inch triple turret main guns. The biggest in the world. We only had 16 in main guns.

[@salprestige2577]

You may want try dry suits which is essential to learn how dive DIR hogarthian configuration 👈🏼 Safe diving Lol

[@neilquinn]

Nice description. I'm only AOW w/ no tech dives. Did my first wreck dive at the Kittiwake in 2019. Definitely sketches me out but so cool. I would have had a half panic attack feeling the reel line slack like that. If you make another video you you also overlay NDL or remaining PSI on the screen like you did with depth?

[@alexbitzan8747]

Just out of curiosity - while a computer takes care of part of this, it is generally considered a best practice to begin at your deepest point and work upwards. Obviously, in a dive like this, a sawtooth profile is more likely. This isn’t horrible, but (forgive me, my dive physiology is a little lacking) if I remember correctly, it is theorized to increase the risk of AGE due to the recompression of small microbubbles. Is there any consideration of this when planning a deco profile (other than just being conservative)?

[@Yggdrasil42]

Modern research shows that a sawtooth profile is no longer considered riskier than deepest first. Check out Mark Powell's Deco for Divers book or course for an update.

[@paulosouza3369]

Friend, please, don't get me wrong. You're obviously unexperienced, so please. Take care, and practice A LOT more, with a good tech instructor, from a REAL, tech diving agency, before get into deep decompressive dives. It will be good for you, to keep diving. It's not a critic, it's an advice, from an old guy with 25yrs of tech diving.