Hehehehe........


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From another list,




The following is historic preservation gone off the deep end! Bubbles
indeed! I hope that I'm not the only one here that finds this beyond the
realm of ridiculous. Nothing taken, nothing touched just bubbles - I
wonder if he would have faced the same penalties had he been using a
closed circuit rebreather???
Jim Sinclair

Australia Charges U.S. Scuba Diver

.c The Associated Press

TOWNSVILLE, Australia (AP) - An American scuba diver appeared in an
Australian court Friday, charged with swimming into a protected
shipwreck on the Great
Barrier Reef.

Edward Antonovich, of Tarrytown, N.Y., faces a maximum two-year sentence
if
convicted.

He was arrested by Australian authorities Thursday after a dive into the

92-year-old SS Yongala wreck off Townsville, in northeast Australia.

The 33-year-old did not enter a plea before Townsville Magistrates
Court,
where he was charged with breaking rules that bar divers from
penetrating the
hull and intact deck levels of the ship, which sank during a cyclone in
1911,
killing 120 people.

The prosecution is believed to be the first of its kind in Queensland
state,
which is a magnet for divers from around the world who want to explore
the
Great Barrier Reef.

The rules, part of the Historic Shipwrecks Act, are aimed at preventing
unnecessary rusting of wrecks from a diver's oxygen bubbles.

Antonovich was granted bail by Magistrate Brian Smith on condition he
surrender all passports and provide bond of S$1,320.

The court was told Antonovich was born in Australia but moved to the
United
States with his parents and has lived there most of his life.

He came to Australia to attend his father's funeral in Perth and
extended his
trip to include some diving.

Antonovich was due back in court Monday.

Underwater Exploration list archives can be found at:
http://www.topica.com/lists/uwexploration/read

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Mike Wallace
34 47.534
086 34.132