Dear Fellow Diver:
On February 17, 1944, the United States bombed the hell
out of Truk Lagoon with "Operation Hailstone," an aerial
attack on the Japanese planes and ships sheltered there.
That included dropping six 500-pound bombs onto the San
Francisco Maru, one of the 40-something Japanese cargo ships
now resting in the lagoon. Seventy-five years later, I
thought about that morning attack as I swam through her aft
holds and saw what remained -- probably more divers have
been through her holds now than WWII soldiers. I plunged
down 180 feet into hold four to find a big, squat pile of
munitions, including rows of depth charges. In the next hold
over were torpedoes, many that broke when the ship went
down. Up at 165 feet, I swam past the burned-out wheelhouse
and a trio of three-man tanks sitting on the deck, gun
barrels intact. Down in hold two were a water tanker and
pickup truck, but beneath those was the money shot -- the
floor was littered with beach mines. Stacks upon stacks of
the globe-shaped explosives were everywhere.
I got a good look at the large bow gun on the bow, but
that was all I could do in 25 minutes. Dive time is limited
at that depth, so I had to start my long trip back to the
surface, which
included 30 minutes
of decompression.
When
I was here five
years ago, I had
to turn around
halfway -- my
narcosis made
me too nervous
to go on. But
after getting
into technical
diving so
I could explore
deeper wrecks,
I did this dive
on trimix, so my head was clear and I could take
away some good memories.
If you're into wreck diving,
Truk Lagoon is heaven. The WWII
wrecks are scattered within a few
miles of each other, all in a
calm atoll with no currents, and
many of them are within recreational
depths -- albeit they're
best for divers with lots of 100-
foot dives under their belts. I
treated these as technical dives,
yet all but one wreck I did is
possible to do with either air or
nitrox from a single tank (see
the feature, "Technical Diving:
Is It for You?").
What's the best way to experience them -- by land or by sea? I've done both before,
but I had 10 days in December to devote to Truk Lagoon, so I decided to revisit both
options and see if I had a clear favorite. I enjoyed staying on the palm-tree-studded
island of Chuuk (ronounced "chook," that's the official name for this Micronesian state;
according to Undercurrent editor John Bantin, the Japanese had difficulty pronouncing
that, so called the area Truk) and taking boats from the dock to the wrecks. Then again,
Truk Odyssey, which I took the following week (and review in next month's Undercurrent)
let me hop off the deck to dive wrecks up to five times a day.
Getting to Chuuk is not easy; United is the only airline servicing the island.
I took a seven-hour flight to Honolulu and stayed overnight, then did the same in
Guam, followed by a two-hour morning flight to Chuuk. So I arrived with a good dose
of jet lag at Blue Lagoon Dive Resort -- while its van picked us up promptly at the
airport, the four-mile ride down the potholed road was headache-inducing. The resort,
with lush emerald grounds and hundreds of tall palm trees, is as well-manicured as
Disneyland. I was greeted by a friendly man at the front desk, and after a quick
check-in, he waved over a couple of sturdy staffers to lug my gear bags up to a
second-floor room in one of the squat wooden buildings scattered around the property.
Loud-patterned bedspread aside, the queen bed was soft and inviting. Dated furnishings,
but the full tiled bath was clean, the hot showers and cold air conditioning
abundant, and my green-painted balcony had a table and two chairs to enjoy gorgeous
views of the water and spectacular sunsets.
One advantage of land-based diving is surface-interval activities -- Blue Lagoon
offers snorkeling, picnic lunches on an island, and WWII relic tours. But I was here
for the wrecks -- I had emailed my diving preferences several months in advance -- so I
walked 500 yards to the dockside dive shop, painted a cheerful blue and packed with dive
merchandise for sale and rent, to check in. Sam, my favorite dive guide, was waiting for
me. A Chuuk native I had met on my first trip here, Sam knows the wrecks inside and out,
and besides having great diving skills, he is as cheerful as the sun overhead -- I never
saw the smile drop from his face. Sam set no schedules or itinerary for us -- he, my
buddy and I just talked about what we wanted to do and boom, we were off. Without a set
time to leave the dock, I never felt rushed.
Another advantage: With at least 10 small, covered boats, Blue Lagoon can easily
group guests with different skill and interest levels, from novices to tech divers and
photographers. The seat-less wooden boats, each with two 40-HP outboard motors, have room
for up to six divers to sit on the unpadded, extra-wide gunwales. Some of those 30- to
40-minute rides were hard on my tailbone. The winds picked up on the day we dove the Rio
de Janeiro Maru, making the ride not only long but also bumpy and wet. By the time we
arrived, it looked like I had already been diving. Luckily, the water temperatures average
84 degrees. The wreck, resting on her starboard side at 94 feet, is great for sport
divers. After finning through dark, silty passageways, Sam showed us a hold full of beer
bottles and bolt-action rifles hidden away, then took us into another hold where huge
gun turrets were stored. There was a lot to see on the way up in the 80-foot visibility, including the huge prop, rudder and stern gun. At 40 feet, the port side, now facing
upward, was covered in small coral heads, each its own mini-ecosystem with a variety of
small fish. Diving with an 80-cubic-foot aluminum tank and 30-percent nitrox, I spent 50
minutes on this fascinating wreck.
We spent the hour-long surface intervals either snorkeling shallow sites or on Eten
Island, once a busy airfield, drinking fresh coconut milk. (For a cash "donation," Eten
locals gave us punctured coconuts.) On the day we had a snorkeler aboard, Sam moored on
the Gosei Maru, sunk by an "Operation Hailstorm" torpedo and now resting on a slope, with
her stern at eight feet and her bow below 100 feet. The clear water around the propeller,
home to schooling snappers and bright anemones, made an exceptional place to relax
while offgassing.
After two dives, the boats headed back to the dive shop. I had signed up for afternoon
dives but didn't have to get out of my wet gear and trudge to the dining room for
lunch, because the restaurant had prepared box lunches for those who ordered the evening
before. Eating my PBJ and banana sandwich, chips and fruit with a bottle of water or
soda while stretched out in the shade and regarding the water was bliss, especially knowing
there was no rush -- Sam and our captain would be ready to head back out when my
buddy and I were. On two days, we were the only ones on our boat for the third dive. And
with so many sites in the lagoon being dived by small boats with just a few guests, we
often were the only divers on a huge wreck.
Because I was diving sidemount, I could use my same tanks each day, saving me the
time of re-rigging them, and the dive shop had plenty of outdoor wetsuit hanging space
and lockable storage rooms for stashing my wet gear. For trained technical divers, Blue Lagoon supports rebreathers; it rents backmounted
doubles and deco bottles, and can
supply trimix and oxygen.
I was a bit surprised one day to see
a mom and her two teenaged kids on our
boat for a morning dive. Another guide
came along to dive with the 13-year old
daughter, a junior openwater diver who was
not allowed to dive the Fujikawa Maru at
110 feet. That's one of the Lagoon's most
iconic sites, with its holds full of airplanes
and the infamous R2-D2-looking air
compressor in the machine shop. Sam led us
over the anemone-covered starboard rail to
the impressive bow with its large gun and
photogenic telegraph. The teenaged boy was
so excited to be diving his first wreck,
he was in constant motion, swimming quickly
from artifact to artifact. By the time we had swum through the torpedo hole in the hull
into the hold, he was out of air and had to finish his dive breathing from Sam's spare
tank. I silently thanked Sam for allowing us all to keep diving, because the Zero fighters
stored in this hold were not to be missed. I could read the tail number on one plane
and swim into the fuselage of another. Spare props, fuel tanks and landing gear, along
with gas masks and barrels, were scattered all over the floor.
But that dive reminded me of Undercurrent's recent writeup about the man who took
his children diving in Truk Lagoon. This is not a place for children, or novices, for
that matter. With calm seas, no currents, and clear, warm water, the diving seems deceptively
easy, but given the depths of most wrecks, sport divers breathing air like this
teenaged diver use their allotted time in a hurry. In my opinion, Truk-bound divers
should have a minimum of 50 dives after receiving their Advanced Openwater certification,
with a good deal of those being between 80 and 130 feet.
Diving always works up an appetite, and Blue Lagoon's restaurant, with padded rattan
chairs and floor-to-ceiling windows offering awesome water views, kept me filled with
basic but tasty servings. Breakfast was American-style eggs, fruit, toast and pancakes,
with sides of bacon, sausage, potatoes or fried rice. Meals, prepared as ordered, came in
large portions -- when I couldn't finish my three huge banana pancakes the first morning,
I decided the next day to split a plate with my partner. Lunch and dinner options ranged
from cheeseburgers and club sandwiches to steaks, salads and stir-fries -- my favorite
meal was the Monte Cristo sandwich with French fries and a banana split for dessert. The
friendly wait staff was slow, but it was hard
to get mad when they forgot something, because
they always took care of it with a smile. All
menu items are a la carte, but without drinks,
my buddy and I never spent more than $20 on a
meal for the two of us, including the banana
splits. Sometimes after dinner we then waddled
over to the Sunset Bar, which opens every evening
with Happy Hour specials.
Even though Sam took care of most of my
needs, other guides from the all-male dive
staff helped me find an analyzer or carried my
tanks. It amazed me every time we pulled onto a
wreck -- there were no buoys on the surface --
the captain and guide knew the exact locations
of the ships. Sam jumped in and tied off to a
submerged buoy, the captain helped me attach my
sidemounted tanks, then I entered the water by
backroll. Most divers handed up their weights,
then removed their BCs before climbing aboard
on the small ladder; I disconnected my tanks and handed them up as well. As I took my seat on the gunwale, I was handed a cup of cold
water, refreshing during those 85-degree days.
While I dived with Americans and Canadians, over half the divers at Blue Lagoon were
Asian, and most were male, but ages ranged from the 13-year-old junior openwater diver
to 60-ish. The lagoon doesn't offer many shallow dives suitable for beginning divers.
The Betty Bomber, sitting at 60 feet, is a popular one, but I found the Emily "Flying
Boat" more interesting. This four-engine float plane crashed in the water, landing
upside-down on the 50-foot bottom, and she sports a fair amount of colorful soft coral
growth and life. I found a couple of messmate pipefish and tiny sap-sucking sea slugs,
while my buddy spotted an upside-down jellyfish and played hide and seek with a brown
coral blenny. After leaving the wreckage, I finned over to a small reef that was home to
Moorish idols, bannerfish and rabbitfish.
After a three-night stay and eight fantastic dives, it was time to board the Truk
Odyssey, which had tied up to the dock next door. For me, the real upside of Blue Lagoon
was picking the wrecks I wanted to dive and leaving at a time my buddy and I chose.
There are disadvantages: the rooms need a facelift, the boats aren't the most comfortable,
I had to take my gear apart and reassemble it every day, and the half-hour rides
from dive shop to dive sites and back meant there weren't as many dive opportunities per
day. But I enjoyed the quiet downtime after my dives, and what's better than drinking
fresh coconut milk straight while offgassing from a dive through a WWII warship?
Next issue, I'll tell you about traveling Truk Lagoon by liveaboard.
-- L.E.D.
Our Undercover Diver's Bio: "I got certified to dive in Florida in 1998 and received my
instructor credentials in 2000. I've done 1,200 dives in seven mainland U.S. states, more
than 20 Caribbean islands, British Columbia, Hawaii, Micronesia and in Mexico's stunning
cenotes. I enjoy researching new places to dive, and have been my own travel agent for the
past decade."
Divers Compass: My Superior Room at Blue Lagoon was $145 per night,
plus a five-percent room tax; everything there is priced separately, so
meals, drinks, dives and transfers are all extra . . . I paid $110 for
a two-tank dive and $30 for a third dive; nitrox fills were $8 each for
30 percent . . . my Honolulu overnight at the Best Western Plaza Hotel,
with free airport shuttle, was $200; my Guam overnight at the Fiesta
Resort was $150 and the airport shuttle was $12 . . . Chuuk electricity
and currency are the same as in the U.S., and English is spoken; paying
with cash is cheaper, but credit cards are accepted for an additional 3.5
percent . . . Website: bluelagoondiveresort.com; see great overhead drone footage of the
resort at www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwD0UGMjE0I