Back From Truk/Chuuk--awesome!!

I just got back from Truk/Chuuk Lagoon from a weeks stay aboard the Thorfinn. Did 24 dives on 19 different wrecks.

The Diving What can i say? It was Truk Lagoon!! I guess the thing that struck me most was the size of these wrecks. Each wreck could easily be explored several times and see something different each time. Our dive guide, Paco, was really great. He took us deep into some wrecks; down passageways, into galleys, bathrooms, engine rooms, holds, pointing out some very interesting things: saki and beer bottles, shoes, helmets, gas masks, all kinds of munitions from 16 inch shells used on battleships to carpets of bullets littering the floor, Zero fighter planes that never made it to battle, and the remains of Japanese sailors who became victims of Operation Hailstorm. Diving these wrecks took me back to Feb. of 1944 because other than the coral growth, these wrecks are just as they were the day they went down. We saw one ship that actually went down fighting, the Aikoku Maru. Her antiaircraft gun barrels were off-set showing that she was firing as it sunk. These guns alternate in their recoil, but when at rest, they are even with each other. Another larger gun was still pointed skyward and empty shells littered the area around it What a trip back into history! We did the San Francisco Maru twice because of her depth - about 160 ft. to the two military tanks sitting on her deck. Each time it was our morning dive, and a planned Deco dive. Most of our dives were between the 70 and 120 ft. depth. It would take me more words than you would want to read to describe all I experienced.

The Thorfinn A converted whaler with quite a history behind her. Old, but comfortable. Large rooms, and adequate food. (not the Aggressor, but still good) If you're more interested in diving rather than onboard amenities, then this boat is it. If you want, you can dive an easy profile, as easy as you want, but if you're experienced and comfortable, you are allowed to pursue a more aggressive profile; deeper and more penetration into the wrecks. I can't speak from experience, but I don't believe the Aggressor or the Odyssey would allow you the latitude that the Thorfinn allows. Capt. Lance, well what can I say? A colorful, opinionated, knowledgeable, talkative man who will, in the end, do his best to accommodate the wishes of his guests. If you have a special diving request, (shark dive, or outer reef dive) he will first try to squelch it, then turn around and get it done. I don't know if Capt. Lance had some bad experiences with past guest stealing things from him (books, tapes, etc.) but everything is locked up. If you want a drink, or a video tape to watch in your room, you had to ask one of the crew, and because of language, that could be a task. The dive guides and crew were just great. Every dive, they loaded your equipment, photo and video gear, and helped you gear up and took everything from you before you reboarded the boat after each dive. It really wasn't much different than Aggressor style diving; instead of climbing down a ladder to the platform, we climbed down a ladder into a skiff and took no more than a 10 min ride to the site. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it might me. All in all, the Thorfinn is a dive operation for divers who really don't care about cruise ship aminities, but just diving the Lagoon.

For sure, i did not like the 20 hrs. of flight to get there and 20 hrs to get back. If I ever go to that part of the world again, I will travel in segments, especially coming home. I will stop in Hawaii for a couple of days before I head for the mainland. A 61 yr. old body is not built to be in tight confinements for that period of time. Well, now I can brag that I've been there, done that---Truk Lagoon.

Barracuda2

Thanks for the report. Our LDS is planning a dive trip to Truk in November 2006 and my buddy and I are thinking about going. That trip would fall almost exactly between both of our 50th birthdays, so it may be our big 50th party thing.

My concern is/was the depths. I am not averse to an occasional deep dive (130+) but I don't want to do a bunch of those, and I don't want to do deco dives. I have heard from a couple sources that we will be able to see plenty without going extreme. Any more about that from you would be welcomed.

50% of my dives have been "PADI deep" and 10% have been over 100ft, but 160 is deeper than I want to normally go. I am perfectly confortable in the 80 - 120 ft range, so as long as we will be able to find good things to see and do in that range, then we will continue to consider this trip.

Any additional comments you have about depths in Truk would be appreciated.


Wristshot

BTW, at our LDS last week they had a presentation by Diane Strong about Truk and Operation Hailstorm. Diane has written a couple books, the most recent about Kimiuo Aisek, one of the "fathers" of diving in Truk. Dan Bailey was also in attendance with his map of the wrecks of Truk.

Was in Truk on the Odyssey Oct. '03.
As Barracuda2 said, it is awesome. Depths, well it is part of it. But you don't have to go all the way down, there's plenty to see at deck level.
Strongly suggest you take a Nitrox course before you go. It gives a greater margin of safety, and your mix can be chosen for the depth you are going to. We had that on our boat, did Nitrox on every dive, even in the holds of the SF Maru at 175ft.
BTW if divers aboard a boat don't want these depths, then other sites are chosen.
I was lucky, as all aboard our boat were about equal in qualifications/experience, and we were allowed do the whole nine yards.

Don't let deco put you off, with a computer you can avoid all deco with a multilevel profile back up the masts to 20ft if you like.

Go and enjoy!

Seadeuce

Do these boats do triox and dive with doubles?

The Odyssey does, but check before any trip. If they had a group of AOWs aboard who were not even Nitrox certified, then they would cut their cloth to suit.

As a rule they prefer to do all dives on Nitrox. Triox would probably be common for "Deep Week" - see their site

http://www.trukodyssey.com/main.html


Cheers,


Seadeuce

Seadeuce:

Strongly suggest you take a Nitrox course before you go. It gives a greater margin of safety, and your mix can be chosen for the depth you are going to. We had that on our boat, did Nitrox on every dive, even in the holds of the SF Maru at 175ft. Seadeuce

Click to expand...

Dude, you were diving Nitrox at a depth of 175 feet????

I'm not sure I would of done that, much less advertised it. You're lucky to be posting such a comment. And who were these people diving with you that allowed this to take place?
My friend, may I suggest you re-take your Nitrox class, cause apparently you've forgotten what you've learned.
For those that have read this thread, please don't try this.

Safe diving
Scott

Seadeuce:

Strongly suggest you take a Nitrox course before you go. It gives a greater margin of safety, and your mix can be chosen for the depth you are going to. We had that on our boat, did Nitrox on every dive, even in the holds of the SF Maru at 175ft.

Click to expand...

Dude, you were diving Nitrox at a depth of 175 feet????

I'm not sure I would of done that, much less advertised it. You're lucky to be posting such a comment. And who were these people diving with you that allowed this to take place?
My friend, may I suggest you retake your Nitrox course? Cause apparently you forgot what you've learned. I don't mean to put your dive practices down, however there are a lot of learning folks here that would probably be tempted to try such a feat because you got away with it. By all means it's your dive, dive as you wish. However, for those that have read this thread, pls don't try this.

Dive Safe.
Scott

Truk sounds like a wreck divers paradise. I would be interested to hear more about the Nitrox at 175 feet though.

maybe it was EANX21??? :14:

Greetz, Miel