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by Scott D. Jones
September 6,
2000
While I've always been an athlete, one of my
fondest boyhood fantasies didn't involve sports at all.
It featured daring underwater adventure, narrow escapes,
beautiful women, and of course, saving the world. I
dreamed of being just like Sean Connery, the best James
Bond.
The classic 1965 Bond film Thunderball, with
its spectacular underwater action and stunts, helped
spark my interest in the submarine world. Since then I
have become an avid diver, usually lapsing into a
Bondesque daydream at some point during my many dives.
But something was missing. There had to be some way to
prolong the fantasy. Thanks to Stuart Cove's Dive South
Ocean and the British Colonial Hilton, any certified
diver can be James Bond for about a week.
Casino
Royale
On my arrival at the British Colonial
Hilton in Nassau, the Bahamas -- the same hotel used in
Thunderball and its 1983 remake, Never Say
Never Again -- I was treated with all the respect
due a super-spy. A few minutes after getting settled
into my luxurious James Bond Suite, I heard a knock on
the door and a porter brought in a martini -- shaken,
not stirred. As I sat down to relax, I noticed the
entire Bond film collection was there for my viewing
pleasure. What a perfect way to get me in the mood for
the next day's activities. I slipped Dr. No into
the VCR and let the fantasy begin.
For Your Eyes
Only
The next morning, I met Stuart Cove,
owner of Dive South Ocean, who invited me on a private
guided dive of the famous Vulcan bomber, a
massive airplane that was sunk specifically for the
underwater scenes in Thunderball. Stuart and his
team take adventurous divers on guided tours of the
James Bond wrecks every day, and this particular day was
going to be mine.
Stuart knows the Bond wrecks and the local waters
exceptionally well, having worked as a shark wrangler on
For Your Eyes Only and Never Say Never
Again. In true Bond fashion, my dive guide for the
day was Claudia, a 5-foot-10, blonde, South African
beauty, who could easily have been cast in a Bond film
herself.
The years of saltwater submersion had taken their
toll on the Vulcan, but you can still make out
the framing where Connery battled sharks and villains.
The fabulous structure is now covered with plenty of
colorful corals, and the wreck is home to a multitude of
sea creatures. I glanced at Claudia, then back at the
wrecked bomber. I couldn't wait to get home to tell my
buddies.
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