Need Info on Truk Lagoon / Palaus

[Mark Y]

Next April (2004) I'll be diving Truk & Palaus and would like to hear what experiences others have had diving Micronesia. What to bring, what to expect, good times & bad, I'd like to know. Thanks.

[javelindan]

I'm jealous! Haven't dived Micronesia yet but I've looked into it... hopeful to get there in the next 1-2 years. Here are some links on Truk Lagoon that you may find interesting:

[Mark Y]

Thanks for the links.

I'm also looking for personal accounts, such as 'don't drink the water', 'you gotta dive this and that', 'make sure you bring bug-spray', etc.

[doxiepb]

You will definitely enjoy diving in Truk! My recommendations would be to do the Shinkoku Maru as a night dive. It was absolutely beautiful at night! Another suggestion if you want a deep dive would be to do the San Francisco Maru. When we did the dive there was a school of thousands of jellyfish in assorted sizes and colors. The school started around 60 feet down to the wreck at 160 feet, the entire wreck was engulfed in them. It was like being inside a video game trying not to touch them. You just kept your arms crossed and slowly descended in a zig zag type pattern, very surreal. A couple divers got stung but nothing too bad. It was a fascinating sight and I look at the video often just to remind myself how much fun this dive was.
Another wreck to dive would be the Betty Bomber. This is a shallow dive and good to do for the second dive of the day.
The Sankisar Maru was a good one for fish life and bullets. There's also trucks onboard.
The Kensho Maru is a good penetration dive. You can go through the engine room and galley areas. Excellent dive!
The Nippo Maru is a beautiful ship, mostly intact. You can look at china cups and plates, footwear, gas masks, old telephones and many other personal items that have been collected and gathered into piles. She is mostly intact and lots of good history to look at. There's also a huge lionfish that makes it's home here.
The Fujikawa Maru is good for soft corals and many other exotic fish.
Don't drink the water, we didn't need bug spray even on our treks through the jungles. If you get a chance to go to shore and take the hike through the jungle to see the Japanese bunkers etc, do it. It's a fascinating place to see and visiting with the local people and seeing how they live is interesting. We also got to see the Red Cross in action giving the local children their yearly vaccinations in the school house. If you see little plants that look like soft ferns, touch them and they instantly curl up, fun to watch.
Keep in mind that this a very much third world country and you are not going to have the amenities available that you are used to. If you walk downtown and have a digital camera, take pictures of the kids then show it to them. They are fascinated seeing themselves and will follow you for more. Watch out for the dogs that run through the village on Moen, they will bite! A diver in our group, which was a doctor, got bit just walking by one. He called the states and there are no known instances of rabies on the islands, so you don't have to worry about that, but infection can be a major problem there.
If you want more information, feel free to write me and I'll tell you what I can.

[Mark Y]

Thanks a bunch, doxiepb! That's exactly what I'm looking for. . .

A few questions: did you dive dual-tanks (the San Fan Maru)? What type of 'big animals' did you encounter? How many people did you dive with - was it crowded? Lastly, what did you do when you weren't diving???

Thanks ~ Mark

[doxiepb]

Nope, didn't do doubles on the San Fran. We had hang tanks, but didn't need them. We got 16 minutes on the wreck itself, with 28 minutes of deco time.
As far as big animals, only a few huge eagle rays, no sharks, dolphins etc. There were dolphins in the area because you could hear them and see their fins break the surface now and then, but no luck when we were diving.
In the off time we walked downtown, took a tour of the island and just generally got to know the area. We stayed at the Truk Stop, which is a short walk from town. If you stay at the Blue Lagoon, you will need a taxi ride to town. When go back I will stay at the Blue Lagoon. Beautiful white sand beaches, palm trees, grass, great snorkeling, dive shop on premises, much better food etc. We only ate our morning and evening meals at the Truk Stop. The boats would pick us up early and would take us to the Blue Lagoon for lunch, then we would do our afternoon diving. We had 1 box lunch (which was not good at all) and never chose this option again. If you do a night dive, keep in mind that they do not use any type of lights on their boats. After the dive you are cruising across the water in complete darkness. A storm had come up while we did out night dive, water got extremely rough and I really don't know how the guides navigated back to the island, but somehow we got there in one piece with our diving equipment on. Didn't want to take it off just in case we capsized. It was a hairy experience and one that I don't care to repeat :o