For years, it’s been beyond difficult for even qualified divers to experience the Marshall Islands’ Bikini Atoll, where between 1946 and 1958 the U.S. government tested more than 20 nuclear devices on a mock fleet of real American and Japanese warships. Starting next year, in May 2018, the Truk Master will begin offering a Bikini trip for qualified tec divers.

Post-World War II, the effects of a land-based bomb were known. The Navy wanted to test the effects of nuclear warheads on ships, and Operation Crossroads was born. Assembled in Bikini’s lagoon were the mammoth, 888-foot aircraft carrier Saratoga, a U.S. battleship, two attack transports, two destroyers, two submarines, and a Japanese battleship and light cruiser.

Rendered uninhabitable by fallout from the tests, the atoll was declared safe for diving in 1996, but only approved, entirely self-sufficient expeditions could receive the necessary permits. In 2010, UNESCO named the atoll a World Heritage Site as the symbol of the dawn of the nuclear age. Untouched for decades, today the 230-square-mile lagoon is known as a wildlife haven, especially for sharks. The ship graveyard also is surrounded by untouched coral gardens.

Scheduled trips will start in May 2018 aboard Truk Master, offering 10- and 11-night trips for a maximum of 11 guests per cruise. Because most wrecks in the atoll are beyond recreational depths, technical-diving skills and wreck experience are required.

For more info, go to masterliveaboards.com.