Our trip to Chuuk was a real adventure. This route stops at the islands of Majuro, Kwajalein, and Pohnpei before arriving in Chuuk. The reason scuba divers come here is because it's known as the holy grail of wreck diving. These are not the stripped down, purpose sunk wrecks you see at many sites, but World War ll wrecks sunk during Operation Hailstone in February of These ships and planes are still much the way they were when they went down.
The majority of their cargos are still onboard, including trucks, airplanes, tanks, mines, bombs, machine gun bullets and thousands of other artifacts, including Noritake china. Human remains can still be seen on some of the ships, reminding us that these are sacred places, to be treated with reverence. It's unlawful to remove anything from the wrecks, so the artifacts can been seen for years to come.
But, these aren't the only things to see. Since these wrecks have been on the sea floor for over 75 years, they're covered with hard and soft corals, sponges, anemones, and other marine growth. There is also an abundance of fish life including schooling fish and sharks. It's almost like diving on ship-shaped coral reefs.
There are over 20 wrecks within recreational limits, and more for technical divers. On the outer barrier reefs, you're able to dive on sheer walls covered in beautifully colored corals. Topside activities are somewhat limited, but you can explore lighthouses, some large gun installations, and military cave networks. We stayed at a resort that has a small museum dealing with the history of Truk Lagoon. The people are friendly, but the culture is male dominated and women should be sure to dress modestly.
Accommodations and restaurants are limited, but keep in mind that this is a really remote island and you should limit your expectations. We found everything adequate and kept in mind that we came for the scuba diving and not vacationing.
There are few souvenirs to be had, in the way of handicrafts, like woven items, handmade casual jewelry, and carved wood. Each one is unique and has a wonderful story of courtship behind it. Bottom line: This is a place best suited for divers only, with modest accommodations and restaurants. Any shortcomings can be excused because of the world class wreck diving. Truk is the place for WWII wrecks.
I had always thought the wrecks were deep, though, and thus more accessible by technical divers. However, when BlueWater Photo ran their recent trip, I knew we would be going to those wrecks mostly accessible at recreational diving depths.
Yes, the wrecks we visited are often at the ft depth. We had calm conditions with mostly clear water. The dive guides took us inside engine rooms, wheel houses, hulls and compartments. If you do not wish to penetrate, though, there is lots to see on the outside of the wrecks.
There are all kinds of artifacts, some which have been brought up on the decks of the wrecks. Bottles, china, telegraphs, gas masks, engine machinery, trucks, tanks, dozers, airplanes, bullets, torpedoes, and more.
Photo opportunities include both wide angle and macro. Be sure you have strobes, focus lights, and dive lights it is dark inside. We had some fun with external lighting, too.
The wrecks are full of coral growth and fish life. Checking out the masts and kingpins are a beautiful way to dive at more shallow depths and get a scale of the size of the wrecks. We dove from a dive liveaboard. We visited a small museum with information, pictures, and artifacts of some of the wrecks. It made me realize how many more wrecks there are beyond the ones that we saw during our week of diving. Truk Lagoon is not known for it's marine life, but obviously the shipwrecks. It's possibly the number 1 wreck diving spot in the whole world.
I dove it this summer and can totally see why! First of all, I usually go on trips to see an exotic shark species. That is what draws me in. And, I actually did get to dive with my 8th shark species, a zebra shark, during my trip at Truk Lagoon. But, I also knew that I had to dive the number 1 wreck diving spot even if I wasn't promised a shark.
Some of the other marine life included spotted eagle rays, jellyfish, eels, and nudibranches. Again those were not the cause of your breath being taken away. It was the magnitude of the ships, the ammunition left behind, the gadgets found in the ships that would've been used by the crew, and just the sobering reality that you are diving a gravesite.
So, for me seeing the skull embedded into the ship was quite the experience. Not only do you have to swim up into a somewhat small, dark, secluded area to see it kinda made me a little claustrophobic, and I'm not usually like that , but again knowing that was a life just made it a little bit surreal.
Now scientists have developed models to predict when structural failure may occur — and how to prevent that environmental catastrophe, preserving the lagoon and some of the most beloved wrecks in diving.
Exploring the shipwrecks in Chuuk, Micronesia, is a bucketlist trip for many scuba divers. Thousands of lives were lost; today close to 60 wrecks rest on the bottom of Truk Lagoon. This is our story. The Wreck Doctor Through our work as corrosion engineers in the oil and gas industry in Perth, we became acquainted with Dr. Ian MacLeod, an Australian electrochemist internationally known for his expertise in shipwreck research and conservation. His work has brought to life the stories of many forgotten ships.
Our plan was to make a documentary about his work in shipwreck conservation. His interest stemmed from the threat of oil pollution. These ships were laden with wartime fuel supplies, and an unknown volume of oil remained. Because steel corrodes freely in seawater, with time, loss of containment is inevitable. A study presented at the International Oil Spill Conference estimated that between million and 6 billion gallons of petroleum product might still be contained in shipwrecks worldwide.
In comparison, the Exxon Valdez disaster spilled 11 million gallons, and the Deepwater Horizon leak released an estimated million. Over the years, MacLeod has surveyed dozens of shipwrecks to develop a corrosion model that is used to predict shipwreckdegradation rates. This helps quantify when loss of containment could occur — as well as structural failure, potentially affecting the safety of divers — and can be used to justify the timing of remediation programs.
Co-author Chris Selman ascends with an oil sample recovered from Shinkoku Maru that was found to be missing, damaging heavy hydrocarbon chains present in most WWII era wrecks; the sample contained live bacteria that might be capable of breaking down those chains.
If DNA sequencing and testing confirm that bacteria are able to break down those hydrocarbons, this presents a potential bioremediation solution that could be applied to any shipwreck around the world. Accidental Volunteers Finding out MacLeod could no longer dive due to health issues, we volunteered to re-survey the Chuuk wrecks so he could complete his corrosion model.
MacLeod enthusiastically agreed — no scientist ever turns down the offer of a new data set — and he trained us in his laboratory. Before we knew it, we had completed test dives on local Perth wrecks, packed up the survey gear, dive equipment and cameras, and were on the hour journey from Perth, Western Australia, to Chuuk, Micronesia. Surveying the Shipwrecks We surveyed 12 wrecks. The process involved recording the pH, voltage, depth, temperature, water salinity and thickness of marine-growth concretion a hard layer formed by the calcification of marine growth.
Readings were taken along the length and depth of each ship. Liveaboards to Chuuk Truk Lagoon will have countless wrecks to choose from. The Truk lagoon was once referred to as the "Ghost fleet of Truk lagoon" as many thought the souls of the people who died here were haunting the area and it definitely adds to the eerie but impressive feeling of the dives.
Along with the wrecks themselves, many of their cargo holds were completely filled, so you will see things ranging from tanks to bulldozers, motorcycles, boxes of ammunition, weapons, and even smaller things such as cutlery and other personal belongings.
After so many years of being submerged, they have all created their own little marine ecosystems with sponges and corals growing left, right, and center.
You will not be the only ones swimming around this area as Grey reef sharks are often spotted here. Along with them, multiple other marine species are spotted from time to time including stingrays, eagle rays, turtles, jellyfish, and schools of colorful, tropical fish. Chuuk is located in the Caroline Islands within the Federation of Micronesia, and the capital city of the state of Chuuk is Weno where a third of the entire Chuuk state population lives.
Weno has an international airport called Chuuk International Airport. There are only three airlines that fly to Chuuk, with the main route being via Guam from Honolulu with United Airlines. They are not multiple flights a day so you definitely need to check flights so you are not stopping over in Guam for lengthy layovers. Once in Weno, our Micronesia liveaboards offer itineraries which will also spend some days in the area, and then you can visit many of the sites.
But please do remember to check any requirements for a liveaboard trip. Diving Truk Lagoon in October on the Thorfinn.
Diving Truk Lagoon in January on the Thorfinn. Diving Truk Lagoon in December on the Thorfinn. Calm, warm, waters. Made it very comfortable to exceed previous depth limits as you weren't fighting the current there is none.
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