We left Hawaii after three weeks of delightful diving and headed for Micronesia--Historic Truk Lagoon.
Truk (or as the locals call it, Chuuk) Lagoon has a long history of occupation by naval powers, but, by far, the most dramatic and violent, was the Japanese occupation before and during WW II.
Operation Hailstorm was begun on February 17, 1944 when airplanes of the US Navy raided Truk, a major naval/naval air base of the Empire of Japan. The US Navy was hoping to find a group of Japanese Warships in the Lagoon, but there were mainly cargo ships there. This was because two weeks earlier a US reconnaisance plane had flown over Truk and was probably seen by the Japanese; thus, they moved the warships out of the anchorage. However, there are about 30 sunken ships in the lagoon along with a number of warplanes and most diveable by recreational divers.
We spent a week at the Blue Lagoon Resort, diving with the Blue Lagoon Divers. You can also dive from a live-aboard such as the Aggressor, the Oddessy, or the Thorfin.
A word about the Resort...it is really the only place on the lagoon suitable for divers. The accomodations are adequate, somewhat akin to Motel 6. There is a restaurant on site and is reasonably good. You can also go into town and eat at the Truk Stop; the food and variety are comparable to the Lagoon's restaurant. But Truk is not a gourmet's Mecca--expect good, wholesome food, reasonably priced, but not elegant. We especially liked the banana pancakes for breakfast and the coconut cream pie for dessert. Both are made from local fruit and are just great! Beef and chicken, lettuce and tomatoes are imported--as are many other foodstuffs; Chuuk is a small island group with less than 100,000 occupants spread over the separate land masses and their is not alot of agriculture there. The tuna is fresh and, seemingly, always available. Strangely, the reef fish are not always available, but when they are they are daily-fresh.
Truk is a tropical paradise in terms of weather, climate, scenery, etc. But the infrastructure is not well-maintained--for example, the filtration system for the water supply had been broken for months and was still not repaired when we were there; thus, you had to have bottled water in the room for drinking and tooth-brushing (parasites in the piped-in water). Also, the road (there is realy only one on the Moen, the Resort island) is filled with pot holes and deteriorating edges. There are other "third world" aspects to Truk, but that does not detract from the diving--and the locals that are associated with divers are friendly and pleasant.
It is a good idea to carry a few spare parts along--maybe a spare dive computer for your group--because there really is not a fully-stocked dive shop there and repairs are done with no sense of urgency. One of the people we dived with had a regulator problem and, fortunately, one of us had a spare regulator along. The dive shop did the repair, but it took two days and was really not a good job.
The Resort uses boats with a capacity of 8 divers, a dive master and a boat driver. if you are used to oxygen and first aid kits on boats, you are in for a disappointment. Also, the safety talk consists of, "Do a safety stop at 15-20 feet for 3-5 minutes or whatever you like." There is no discussion of hand signals or air supply, etc. So, safety really is each diver's own responsibility(which, in truth, it is anyhow). Since most of the dives at Truk are deep, it is really important to keep your eye on your computer--especially the nitrogen adsorption section and deco sections. And do not expect anyone to remind you. I am told that this is not true on the live-aboards.
Now, that all said, the diving was superb! The ships are still in relatively good shape, although alot of artifacts have been removed. To counter that, the locals have taken items from inside the ships and put them where they are visible. So the diver has some sense of what things looked like when the ship were sunk. Larger item are where they originally located. Thus, you can see Zeros in various states--whole, partially assembled, wings, tails, guns, etc. There are also battle tanks, military trucks, artillery, ammunition for both naval and army artillery, etc.
The ships are covered with soft and hard coral, some large clams, anenomies and other sea life. Although there are not massive schools of fish, there are plenty. You should espect to see lots of small fish like Clownfish and butterflies. There will also be pelagics that come in schools or alone--we saw occasional sharks and rays, a very large school of tuna, a couple of schools of barracuda, lots of angelfish, chubs, jacks, etc. But the real sea life highlights were the coral and the small fish that inhabited the ships.
There are a number of "must sees" on Truk: the one every puts at the top of the list is the Fujikawa Maru. It contains very penetratable holds with all sorts of war material, a fantastic engine room, a nice pilot house, baths and staterooms. It is a great dive.
My list has two ships that are "musts": they are two of the few warships that are diveable. First is the Fumizuki, an escort destroyer. It is mostly intact with its guns, torpedo tubes, rudder and screws, etc. The deck starts at 100 feet and the bottom is at about 125 feet. The second is the I-169, a submarine. The bow has been destroyed and the conning tower is tipped over. But you can see inside, look down through the aft torpedo tubes, see some instrumentation, etc. the deck is at about 125 feet and the bottom is at 144 feet--you need to see the rudder and screws, so be prepared to go that deep.
Klaus Lindemann, an American author/diver has explored, discovered and written extensively abouyt Truk. You can buy some of his work at the lagoon, but inventory is not one of their priorities. Try contacting him at hailstormx@aol.com. I recommend that you purchase "Hailstorm, The Dive Guide" before you go. The dive masters will take you to any ship you ask to see and a little homework helps. Had I not requested the Fumizuki or the I-169, we would likely not have seen them.
We did all of our arrangenment through Trip 'n' Tour and they did a good job...but be sure to check every single detail on you tickets--they made a few mistakes with final destinations and one person's name. Other than that, we were pleased with what they did. Also, remember to listen to the resort staff when they tell when they are leaving for the airport; if you miss check-in, you are stuck in Chuuk--REALLY--until the next available flight--even if there are empty seats on your flight! REALLY!
Chuuk was, by far, the best full week of diving that my two friends and I have ever done. It is just great diving! Remember that these are ships that were sunk in an historically significant event, not some freighter that floundered in a storm or some ship sunk on purpose for the benefit of divers: real men, doing real battle were killed aboard these ships--it is a very evocative feeling that one gets during the dives--a unique experience for us recreational divers who have a limited opportunity to dive historically important wrecks.
Joewr
Truk (or as the locals call it, Chuuk) Lagoon has a long history of occupation by naval powers, but, by far, the most dramatic and violent, was the Japanese occupation before and during WW II.
Operation Hailstorm was begun on February 17, 1944 when airplanes of the US Navy raided Truk, a major naval/naval air base of the Empire of Japan. The US Navy was hoping to find a group of Japanese Warships in the Lagoon, but there were mainly cargo ships there. This was because two weeks earlier a US reconnaisance plane had flown over Truk and was probably seen by the Japanese; thus, they moved the warships out of the anchorage. However, there are about 30 sunken ships in the lagoon along with a number of warplanes and most diveable by recreational divers.
We spent a week at the Blue Lagoon Resort, diving with the Blue Lagoon Divers. You can also dive from a live-aboard such as the Aggressor, the Oddessy, or the Thorfin.
A word about the Resort...it is really the only place on the lagoon suitable for divers. The accomodations are adequate, somewhat akin to Motel 6. There is a restaurant on site and is reasonably good. You can also go into town and eat at the Truk Stop; the food and variety are comparable to the Lagoon's restaurant. But Truk is not a gourmet's Mecca--expect good, wholesome food, reasonably priced, but not elegant. We especially liked the banana pancakes for breakfast and the coconut cream pie for dessert. Both are made from local fruit and are just great! Beef and chicken, lettuce and tomatoes are imported--as are many other foodstuffs; Chuuk is a small island group with less than 100,000 occupants spread over the separate land masses and their is not alot of agriculture there. The tuna is fresh and, seemingly, always available. Strangely, the reef fish are not always available, but when they are they are daily-fresh.
Truk is a tropical paradise in terms of weather, climate, scenery, etc. But the infrastructure is not well-maintained--for example, the filtration system for the water supply had been broken for months and was still not repaired when we were there; thus, you had to have bottled water in the room for drinking and tooth-brushing (parasites in the piped-in water). Also, the road (there is realy only one on the Moen, the Resort island) is filled with pot holes and deteriorating edges. There are other "third world" aspects to Truk, but that does not detract from the diving--and the locals that are associated with divers are friendly and pleasant.
It is a good idea to carry a few spare parts along--maybe a spare dive computer for your group--because there really is not a fully-stocked dive shop there and repairs are done with no sense of urgency. One of the people we dived with had a regulator problem and, fortunately, one of us had a spare regulator along. The dive shop did the repair, but it took two days and was really not a good job.
The Resort uses boats with a capacity of 8 divers, a dive master and a boat driver. if you are used to oxygen and first aid kits on boats, you are in for a disappointment. Also, the safety talk consists of, "Do a safety stop at 15-20 feet for 3-5 minutes or whatever you like." There is no discussion of hand signals or air supply, etc. So, safety really is each diver's own responsibility(which, in truth, it is anyhow). Since most of the dives at Truk are deep, it is really important to keep your eye on your computer--especially the nitrogen adsorption section and deco sections. And do not expect anyone to remind you. I am told that this is not true on the live-aboards.
Now, that all said, the diving was superb! The ships are still in relatively good shape, although alot of artifacts have been removed. To counter that, the locals have taken items from inside the ships and put them where they are visible. So the diver has some sense of what things looked like when the ship were sunk. Larger item are where they originally located. Thus, you can see Zeros in various states--whole, partially assembled, wings, tails, guns, etc. There are also battle tanks, military trucks, artillery, ammunition for both naval and army artillery, etc.
The ships are covered with soft and hard coral, some large clams, anenomies and other sea life. Although there are not massive schools of fish, there are plenty. You should espect to see lots of small fish like Clownfish and butterflies. There will also be pelagics that come in schools or alone--we saw occasional sharks and rays, a very large school of tuna, a couple of schools of barracuda, lots of angelfish, chubs, jacks, etc. But the real sea life highlights were the coral and the small fish that inhabited the ships.
There are a number of "must sees" on Truk: the one every puts at the top of the list is the Fujikawa Maru. It contains very penetratable holds with all sorts of war material, a fantastic engine room, a nice pilot house, baths and staterooms. It is a great dive.
My list has two ships that are "musts": they are two of the few warships that are diveable. First is the Fumizuki, an escort destroyer. It is mostly intact with its guns, torpedo tubes, rudder and screws, etc. The deck starts at 100 feet and the bottom is at about 125 feet. The second is the I-169, a submarine. The bow has been destroyed and the conning tower is tipped over. But you can see inside, look down through the aft torpedo tubes, see some instrumentation, etc. the deck is at about 125 feet and the bottom is at 144 feet--you need to see the rudder and screws, so be prepared to go that deep.
Klaus Lindemann, an American author/diver has explored, discovered and written extensively abouyt Truk. You can buy some of his work at the lagoon, but inventory is not one of their priorities. Try contacting him at hailstormx@aol.com. I recommend that you purchase "Hailstorm, The Dive Guide" before you go. The dive masters will take you to any ship you ask to see and a little homework helps. Had I not requested the Fumizuki or the I-169, we would likely not have seen them.
We did all of our arrangenment through Trip 'n' Tour and they did a good job...but be sure to check every single detail on you tickets--they made a few mistakes with final destinations and one person's name. Other than that, we were pleased with what they did. Also, remember to listen to the resort staff when they tell when they are leaving for the airport; if you miss check-in, you are stuck in Chuuk--REALLY--until the next available flight--even if there are empty seats on your flight! REALLY!
Chuuk was, by far, the best full week of diving that my two friends and I have ever done. It is just great diving! Remember that these are ships that were sunk in an historically significant event, not some freighter that floundered in a storm or some ship sunk on purpose for the benefit of divers: real men, doing real battle were killed aboard these ships--it is a very evocative feeling that one gets during the dives--a unique experience for us recreational divers who have a limited opportunity to dive historically important wrecks.
Joewr
