Starting to plan a trip to Truk/Chuuk - help please

[CDNScubaMoose]

I met up with the shop owner last night and went over all the information and opinions that I had gathered from SB ... he wanted me to pass along his thanks as well (he's not the most computer savvy). Looks like it is going to be the Odyssey with a day or 2 on either end of the week at either the Truk Stop or Blue Lagoon.

Probably not going to do much in the way of technical diving from Truk stop - I will likely be the only one that is trimix certified although the shop owner will likely be advanced nitrox/deco. The rest of the group will likely be recreationally trained only. However, I am going to keep the option open of spending some more time at the Trukstop for a couple of deeper dives and see how the budget falls together.

The shop owner did ask about when the best time of the year would be to go. I understand that cyclones/typhoons are rare in that part of the world but I have also read about a rainy season. Can anyone tell me when the rainy season is? I am assuming that it doesn't really matter for the diving but it might make a more enjoyable trip if we can sit out in the sun between dives. I am also thinking that there will be a couple of us doing photography and/or video so if we have some sun the results might be just a touch better.

Thanks again

 

[Boiler_81]

This sounds like a great plan. I looked forward to my once in a lifetime trip to Chuuk for more than a year after I booked it. Now I am trying to figure out how to do my second once in a lifetime trip to Chuuk.

 

[RJP]

I met up with the shop owner last night and went over all the information and opinions that I had gathered from SB ... he wanted me to pass along his thanks as well (he's not the most computer savvy). Looks like it is going to be the Odyssey with a day or 2 on either end of the week at either the Truk Stop or Blue Lagoon.

You're gonna need to do a day on the back-end for sure given the air schedule off of Chuuk.

The Odyssey moors at Blue Lagoon, so you'll want to stay there instead of Truk Stop. Here's the view from my room there:

Blue Lagoon Resort - Trip Review

Coming in I did three days at Blue Lagoon before boarding the Odyssey. Flight schedule from Newark was either arrive Friday morning...or late Sunday night. Didn't want to risk a missed flight or blown connection...or be dead tired my first two days on the boat. I dove Fri/Sat/Sun with Blue Lagoon, asking them to take me to sites the Odyssey doesn't usually do - which they happily did. I think even in wreck-diving Nirvana you must get bored doing the same sites over and over, so the guides were very appreciative of someone saying "Take me to where YOU want to dive today!"

 

[Kevrumbo]

For those trimix and tech wreck penetration certified, the only helium readily available out of all dive ops landbased & liveaboard, is at the Trukstop Hotel/Truk Lagoon Dive Center. A minimum 20/20 trimix with eanx50 & Oxygen deco is the best way to tour the San Francisco Maru, Aikoku Maru and all the deep wrecks of the Fourth Fleet Anchorage (and the Oite Destroyer to the north as well) --wrecksites that the liveaboards rarely visit unless on a dedicated tech wreck charter.

btw, Trukstop supplies the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop with the oxygen needed to blend their day-to-day needs for nitrox.

 

[RJP]

btw, Trukstop supplies the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop with the oxygen needed to blend their day-to-day needs for nitrox.

And Truk Stop got it from a distributor in Guam.

So?

 

[ncchuck]

"Which means...?

Unless Truk Stop is making the O2 themselves, this is meaningless."

Why does making O2 make a difference either?

 

[RJP]

"Which means...?

Unless Truk Stop is making the O2 themselves, this is meaningless."

Why does making O2 make a difference either?

My point was that there seems to be an implication that Blue Lagoon is somehow inferior to Truk Stop because they get their O2 from Truk Stop...however Truk Stop gets the O2 from somewhere else as well.

 

[Kevrumbo]

"Which means...?

Unless Truk Stop is making the O2 themselves, this is meaningless."

Why does making O2 make a difference either?

And Truk Stop got it from a distributor in Guam.

So?

My point was that there seems to be an implication that Blue Lagoon is somehow inferior to Truk Stop because they get their O2 from Truk Stop...however Truk Stop gets the O2 from somewhere else as well.

Trukstop imports most of Weno's medical/high-grade oxygen, supplying it to the island's hospital, clinics and probably the Recompression Chamber itself as well. They ship it from Sacramento in bulk, using larger volume cryogenic liquid container pressure cylinders instead of the regular standard T-cylinder supply bottles with oxygen in gaseous form. I was told that starting this year, they are shipping similar large volume liquid container pressure cylinders filled with helium too, thus cutting the retail cost of trimix blending by 50% to $1.95/cf.

So obviously, if you're going to do some serious deep mixed gas diving, doesn't it make sense to stay near the prime source of your essential gases for blending?

 

[RJP]

So obviously, if you're going to do some serious deep mixed gas diving, doesn't it make sense to stay near the prime source of your essential gases for blending?

Sacramento?

 

[Kevrumbo]

heh-heh . . .that is staying at the Trukstop as the gas source for blending, with purchased supply from Sacramento.

If y'all want the nice ambiance of the Blue Lagoon Resort, that's great and fine. Gradwin Aisek is a nice fellow, and has the most interesting memorabilia at Blue Lagoon Dive Shop, with fun stories to tell about his great father Kimiuo. But if you want the better equipment and gas support for the deeper wrecks, go with Trukstop Hotel.