After operating for 13-years, financial losses have forced closure of scuba diving at Bikini Atoll. 

The problems are due to the inability of the national carrier Air Marshall Islands to get passengers to and from Bikini in the past eight months when both its planes were crippled with mechanical problems, coupled with high fuel prices.

Air Marshall Islands did not fly from October until early May, stranding many divers late last year who had to be evacuated from Bikini by ship after planes repeatedly broke down. 

Billionaire Paul Allen’s mega-yacht Octopus spent a week at Bikini in February, and one dive group flew there in May - the only divers to visit the atoll since last October.