March 5, 2008

DIVING TRUK LAGOON

by

Bruce Baker

During WWII, Truk was Japan’s equivalent of Pearl Harbor. It was the largest Japanese naval facility outside the home islands, and its headquarters for the Southern Pacific. In 1944, the United States launched “Operation Hailstone” against Truk, sinking about 60 ships in the lagoon—thus creating the world’s best wreck diving site.

After WWII, Truk became a part of the Trust Territories of the Pacific, administered by the United States under UN charter. In 1986, Truk (which later adopted its native name, Chuuk) and the three other members of the Federated States of Micronesia became an independent nation.

From January 27-February 3, 2008 a group of sixteen divers from “The Dive Shop” in Fairfax, VA—including four from the Patowmack Divers Club—dove the wrecks of Truk Lagoon from the Odyssey liveaboard dive boat. Of the sixteen divers, eleven were making a return visit aboard the Odyssey. As one of the five first-timers, I thought that was a very good sign.

The Odyssey was a really comfortable boat. The dive deck was spacious, with plenty of room for 16 divers. We dived using EAN30 in 108 pound tanks, giving us lots of bottom time and gas. The cabins were quite comfortable, equipped with a DVD player and flat-screen TV. The crew was highly professional. The dive masters were really helpful and knowledgeable. Our guide, Kent, was a native of Chuuk, who had more dives in the lagoon than any man alive.

The food onboard was excellent. The chef was a native of Chuuk, and although the food wasn’t fancy, it approached gourmet standards for certain dishes, especially the Asian coleslaw with almonds and sunflower seeds, and the banana pudding. The fare included an open bar, and I was pleased to see an old favorite in the refrigerator—Victoria Bitter from Australia. I used to drink VB by the case when I lived in New Zealand.

Our first dive was on the Kiyosumi Maru. (“Maru” means merchant ship. Most of the ships we dove on ended with “Maru”). This first dive was among the shallowest. I recorded a maximum depth of 88 feet. I noted that we saw bicycles, oil drums, and white sponges. Our second dive on the same boat was a little deeper. I noted what I thought were sea cucumbers. I turned out that they were a form of hard coral—about 18 inches long and 4 inches across.

On many of our dives, we played “follow the leader” with divemaster Kent. For example, on the Shinkoru Maru, we went through a torpedo hole in the bottom of the boat, through the engine room, up two flights of stairs, through a maze of rooms including the head and the galley, then through a skylight into the sea above. As I was doing my first deep wreck penetration, I thought “this is really crazy” but also “this is really cool!” This dive began a pattern of deep penetration with Kent, growing crazier and cooler as the week progressed.

Here are some selected notes from my dive log about the various wrecks:

• Yamagiri Maru—lots of penetration, big shells, schools of barracuda, pufferfish, pink anemone, long-fin bannerfish. I felt haunted by the wreck. It reminded me of the wreck scenes from the movie “Titanic”.

• Fumitsuki (destroyer) A great wreck, lots of guns, shells, a well-preserved screw, navigation lights, and a perfect white “Christmas tree” soft choral. Tunicates.

• Heian Maru (sub-tender) More deep penetration. Racks of torpedos, large 12-foot screw. Name on the bow in Roman letters and Chinese characters meaning “Sea Peace.”

• Hoki Maru—Incredible collection of cars, trucks, steamroller, tractor.

• Fujikawa Maru (New Zealand built ship.) Another deep penetration, this time with divemaster JJ. In the engine room at 92 feet: lots of dials, gauges, and machine tools: grinders, lather, drill press, etc. Zero fuselages, wings, and barrels in the hold. Torpedos, shells, and a well preserved mess hall, head.

• NIPO Maru—anti-aircraft guns, trucks, tanks, well preserved wheelhouse. Schools of jacks.

• “Betty” Bomber – a nearly intact medium-sized bomber in 65 feet of water. Easy penetration. We took photos sitting at the controls. Interesting reef—fish were playing “tag”.

• Rio de Janero Maru—Deep engine room penetration. Some tight (and scary) spots. Crown of thorns on the top of the wreck.

The highlight of the trip was a dive on the San Francisco Maru. She sits in about 200 feet of water (to the sand). The deck is at about 165 feet. We went on a guided deco dive, breathing EAN24. This was my first intentional deco dive. Our dive plan was to spend 15 minutes at depth or to come up with 1500 pounds of pressure—whichever came first. Down in the holds, I got to a maximum depth of 177 feet—a personal record.

The boat had an especially good collection of war materials. A couple of tanks, a couple of trucks, lots of shells, but we didn’t have a lot of time to look around. After only nine minutes, I was down to 1500 pounds, so we started up. My computer required only two minutes of decompression at ten feet, but I added on another ten minutes or so—since I had half a tank of air left.

I was impressed by the overall quality of the wrecks at Truk. After more than sixty years, most of the wrecks were very well preserved, allowing deep penetration within mostly intact hulls. I attribute that to the protection provided by the reef around the lagoon. Tropical storms have limited opportunity to damage the wrecks. In contrast, I think about the wrecks off the coast of North Carolina. Even in 120 feet of water, hurricanes can flip the boats over like toys and rip them to bits. Chuuk Lagoon was much larger than I had thought. The reef is nearly forty miles in diameter, surrounding numerous islands in the lagoon. The boats are also much larger than I had expected. Most were in the 450 foot range.

Not only were the hulls well preserved. The cargo on the ships is largely intact. Regulations prohibit divers from taking anything off the wrecks, and divers appear to be adhering to the law. I had the thought that Truk could never exist in American waters—after all, we were diving among unexploded munitions of all kinds—torpedos, depth charges, shells, and bullets were everywhere. Not a lawyer in sight!

Although Truk is mainly known for its wrecks, it also has abundant sea life. All of the ships were heavily encrusted with soft corals, and fish life was prolific. We noted the presence of lion fish, clownfish and lots of fish I couldn’t identify, Upon my return, I invested in a copy of Paul Humann’s “Tropical Pacific” book.

On Sunday morning, we were moored off the Blue Lagoon Resort, which is where we would spend our last day in Chuuk. Some natives came out to sell us carvings, which were surprisingly well crafted. I bought two. I might have bought more had I known that this would be our only opportunity.

The Blue Lagoon is on Weno, the largest island in the group. It’s the top resort on the island, which isn’t saying much. It’s kind of like a children’s summer camp—built in the 1970s, and a bit shabby around the edges. Weno is the most god-forsaken place I’ve ever seen. The road around the island is full of huge pot holes, filled with raw sewage. There is no sign of tourist economy outside the resort. No bars, no restaurants, no natives selling carvings, no t-shirt shops, no nothing. The airport has no bar, no restaurant, no news stand. No nothing.

With a whole day to kill at the Blue Lagoon, Larry and I decided to take the “island tour” of nearby Dublon. We started off from the dive shop in one of their skiffs accompanied by two Asian tourists. After a fifteen minute gut-pounding ride across the channel, we arrived on Dublon. (After experiencing the alternative, I was grateful that we had opted for a liveaboard, rather than land-based diving.)

Four of us piled into the back of a small, Japanese pickup truck, taking seats on the spare tire. Our seats were soon upgraded to fiberglass bucket chairs (like you might find in elementary schools). Soon enough, we were driving around the island on a dirt road that runs through the palm trees, near the beach. Being Sunday morning, we came upon lots of women and children on their way to (or from) church. They were always friendly, and waved to us—tourists being a bit of a novelty on Dublon. We soon learned that our Asian fellow-travelers were not Japanese, but rather Taiwanese—from Southern California.

We made several stops along the way, seeing the Japanese seaplane base, an elementary school, a native church, and the Japanese command post, high atop the island. Along the way we were treated to roasted bananas and freshly picked coconut.

Back at the Blue Lagoon, we took a nap before dinner and our late-night flight to Guam. At dinner, all sixteen of us sat down to dinner together in the dining room at the resort. I don’t know if that means that the personal chemistry and friendship within the group was good—or if there was no place else to eat—but I prefer to think the former.