A couple of years ago Jacqui and I were able to tick this off our bucket list. I had wanted to do this for almost 30 years, and it didn’t disappoint when we went there. So, here’s a rundown of a day of diving in Truk Lagoon.
Truk Lagoon (Chuuk) is in Micronesia. Just north of Papua New Guinea, near Palau and Guam.
During World War 2 the island of Truk was under the control of the Japanese. And it had been for years before the war. It was being used as a naval base, to support their operations pushing south into Papua New Guinea.
In February of 1944, America launched an aerial attack for 2 days. Sort of a payback for pearl Harbor if you like.
As a result, several ships and planes ended up at the bottom of the lagoon. The actual numbers seem to vary, depending on your sources. But it would be roughly 40 ships and at least 1 submarine, that are located within a 5-6 km radius.
The lagoon is surrounded by tropical islands so it’s reasonably well protected. The waters are beautifully clear, and the water temperature sits at about 30 degrees Celsius. In short, it’s a diver’s dream.
Getting There
There’s an airport on Truk which takes flights as part of a milk run from Palau and Guam. We had travelled from Perth to Hong Kong. Hong Kong to Guam, then onto Truk.
Luckily, we spent a couple of days in Hong Kong and a night in Guam. Otherwise, that would have been a long trip.
Accommodation
There are a few hotels on the island. The one we stayed at was the Blue Lagoon Resort. It used to be one of the old Continental Hotels, back when the airline had its own chain group. This is the closet hotel to the dive sites.
The resort is dated and tired, but it is clean and functional. They have a restaurant on site with a good selection of dishes to cater to most tastes.
There’s also a bar right near the beach, which is perfect for sundowners.
The other option for accommodation is on a liveaboard dive boat. These are a costlier option to start with, but once aboard, all your meals are covered.
The drive from the airport to the lagoon area is a little depressing. There is no real town in terms that we would understand, and many of the houses seemed to be in a state of disrepair.
But the people were wonderful. Always smiling, very helpful, and they seemed to be very happy.
If you’d like to check out the resort, click here.
Dive Operations
Right next to the resort is the dive shop and dive operations centre. They have a about 6-7 Pangas, which are wonderfully stable vessels to dive from.
The shop hires out cylinders and weights to visiting divers, and they carry out the refills as required. Other than that, the shop is more for tourist type souvenirs. You won’t be picking up too many spares while you’re here, so plan ahead.
Each boat is allocated a guide and a driver. And you will normally have this team for the duration of your stay.
Prior to each dive, the guide sets up your scuba gear and stores it on the boat. At the completion of the dive, you are responsible for washing your gear and hanging it up. They have full washing station and hanging room, right near the boats.
First Dive
So, after a hearty breakfast It’s off to the boats. We got to the boats at about 0930 for our first briefing. We were to be diving on the Fujikawa Maru. This was a freighter that was loaded with supplies. It was sunk by a torpedo bomber.
Onto the boats, and away we went. It took about 15 minutes to get to the site. But all we knew was that the boat was slowing down.
There are no markers on the surface to show the location of the wrecks, they are suspended about 3 metres below the surface. The guides are so good that they know where the wrecks are by looking at the landmarks on the surrounding islands.
Left a bit, right a bit, forward a bit more. Then suddenly there it is, and the driver immediately jumps overboard with a rope to tie onto the marker. Very entertaining.
Then it was gear on, buddy checks, and into the water we go. Luckily, with water that warm there’s no need for a wetsuit. Just a set of board shorts and a rashie and were good to go.
Fujikawa Maru
There are some things that stay with you for a lifetime. What you saw and how you felt at the time.
One of those things, is descending down and down through dark blue waters. Then just a slight shape emerges, and suddenly a ship comes up into view as you descend upon it.
The feeling of movement is almost imperceptible, so it seems as if the ship is coming up at you.
The ship is sitting at 35metres, and we spent most of our time between 20 25 metres. 70 years on and nature has certainly taken hold of her. Corals encrust almost all the exterior fittings. And fish love structures, so they’re here in abundance as well.
Surprisingly, when you get inside the wreck the corals are largely absent. Just a layer of silt covers the surfaces.
Our guide takes us expertly through the wreck. Into the kitchens, officer’s quarters, engine rooms. He knows this place like home.
Without a guide this would be a truly intimidating place, and for me, I wouldn’t be venturing too far inside at all.
The sight of Mitsubishi Zero fighters lined up in the hold. Ready for delivery, was an amazing site.
All too soon the time is up and it’s back to the surface. We discuss our experiences on the ride back. We were all at the same place, at the same time. Yet we all have slightly different stories to tell.
Lunch
We get back to shore at about 1100, spend 15 minutes or so washing and hanging our gear, then it’s off for a shower to get the salt off.
Lunch at 1200 in the restaurant. One thing I was concerned about coming here was the prices. There was only one place for us to get food while we were here. They had a monopoly.
Happily, it’s not something that they’ve exploited. The prices were quite reasonable. Or maybe I’m just used to Perth prices, and everything else seems reasonable.
Shinkoku Maru
For our second dive, we assembled at 1400 near the boats. Our guide had already put our gear together and had it stored on the boat ready for departure.
Another short ride and we were ready to go. The Shinkoku Maru is an oil tanker that sits in about 38 metres of water.
Another fantastic, guided swim throughout the ship. One of the things that really got me, was the torpedo holes. When you see the size of the hole, you’re in no doubt why it sank.
I’m 6 feet 3 inches tall, and with fins on as well, I couldn’t stretch out far enough to touch the edges of the holes.
And yet again, the dive seems to be over so quickly.
The Dive Schedule
We only did 2 dives per day on this tour, except for one day when we did a night dive. We were happy with this and found it enough to do for 9 days, without getting exhausted.
Friends of ours were on one of the liveaboards, and they can do 5-6 dives per day. We think this would have been too much for us. But maybe that’s just an age thing.
We would generally get back from the second dive at about 1530, and there was enough time to snorkel the shallow reef out the front of the resort. Some of our team even found some old military hardware, which they handed over to the site museum.
Dinner and Sundowners
Dinner in the restaurant started at 1800, then it was out to the bar for sundowners.
Just sitting back, watching the sunset, palm trees swaying in the breeze. It was exactly as cliché as it sounds, and it was magnificent. The next couple of hours were spent chatting with like minded people from around the world who have a thousand tales to tell.
Final Thoughts
In 1988, a friend left a copy of Sport Diver magazine at my house. I wasn’t a diver then, but I wanted to be. The feature article that month was of Truk Lagoon, and I read that article dozens of times.
The magazine stayed in my collection and moved house with us for several years until I finally threw it out around 2015. In 2016 I purchased a new Sport Diver magazine, and the feature article was on Truk Lagoon. A week later our club advertised a 2-week trip to Truk. We had to go.
Despite building it up as an almost mythical place in my mind, it went far beyond what I hoped it would be. If Jacqui and I get the chance, we’ll go back again.
If you’re a diver. Put Truk Lagoon on your list. It’s not the easiest place to get to, and tours can be costly. But you’ll remember it for the rest of your life.
If you’d like some extra travel articles, check these out.
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Cheers and happy travels