Trip here was an adventure, last people to board the plane at Heathrow, then 13hr flight to Haneda airport in Tokyo.... lots of paperwork to submit then a 4 hour rush on the tube into central Tokyo, then back again so we can get the bus to the other airport for flight to Guam Buddy very nearly not allowed to board to get to Guam, as he had buggered up his ESTA.. They let him on at last minute saying it was Guams problem and not Japans. 3hr flight to Guam Again a small mountain pf paperwork, quick night in hotel, then the flight to Chuuk, Only 1 hr this time, BUT the plane tried to land twice, and bailed on both, due to wind gusts, at last minute, so we landed at Phonpei, then catching a flight around 3 hours later to try and land again at Chuuk (which we did), only to find that each of us had lost 1 bag, which is due to arrive anytime now, which is good as I have been in same clothes now since Monday, It’s Thursday, luckily all dive kit arrived. However is it worth the pain and cost? Oh Yes Just done 5 dives so far, Buddy done 3 and is full of flu, but so far done; Heian Maru 11,500T 511’ Largest wreck here I think, lying on Port side, Starboard propeller sticking up and out. Submarine periscopes lining the passageways as you swim along them Kensho Maru, This one a bit smaller than the first, but the engine room is well, AWESOME Small entry through a hatch, then turn left into a room with tiny tiles on the floor, turn right into passegway for about 10mtrs, then turn right again into a huge hall where the engine sits on the floor (she landed keel first so is upright), just stunning. Struggled with the final descent as too wide with my twins on, so not sure what I missed down their. 3rd wreck today was “Betty Bomber” a Japanese Mitsubishi twin engine bomber, Just imagine as you jump into the sea that is around 31oC and you look down and you can see the outline shape of the entire aircraft, wings still attached to fuselage, engines not as they where punched forward by about 20Mtrs when it crashed. Cockpit compressed, but fuselage just wide enough to swim the length of, but you can’t quite get out at the bottom, so you exit the side hatches which is where we think the gunners stations where. Round the back of the plane is a lone blade off the propellers, a seat frame and about 8 small cylinders which I assume where O2 tanks for the crew, all been carried out by divers and placed on the sand. The engines themselves are mainly intact apart from the cowlings, one of them is in its normal position, the other landed with the propellers face down, but still intact. Encrusted with life, but you know its an engine as you can see the pipes and cylinder heads. Back to the bomber itself and we got treated to a quick visit by 9 dolphins as we where coming up the shot line. Today I was diving with just the dive guide for company, Oh sorry forgot to mention, we are the only people on the boat. In fact according to the captain, we are the only ones in Truk! No other visitors at all! No one else on any of the wrecks, I mean it really is Nirvana So with Buddy down with flu, just me and the guide, so did a bit more penetration (Buddy wont do it) FujiKawa Maru first dive, best dive so far, so much life, Sharks, Baracudas, a turtle, lots of Octopus and wreck, missed the prop and rudder so will have to go back for them, but great swim through so, and penetrations deep into the wreck to see the bathrooms, Radio rooms and the like. Kiyosumi maru 2nd dive of the day, vis not so great, just 15mtrs or so, and not the greatest dive here, but still enjoyable Just finished the Unkai No6 maru, an ex British boat. So all these Marus are cargo ships that have been lightly armoured with guns fore and aft. No armour plate, often with wooden decking and multiple cargo holds, so when bombed or torpedo, the deck has peeled back like a tuna can, in some cases you can literally see it being rolled up. Some of the holds are empty, some are full of the instruments of war, Entire fighter aircraft,Torpedos, Unexpolded bombs!, Bulletts, periscopes, bicycles?, and this last one, Flip Flops, but they are giant size. Lovely look at the prop and barn door of a rudder, sat in position at around 40mtr. making it a point to get to the Stern of each ship if possible, More sharks, and some big grouper and bat fish, this usually means the locals have either not found the wreck or too far out as they spear, or dynamite the wrecks that they know have the big fish. So after 2 days, is it worth the money and the pain to get here. YOU ARE GOD DAM RIGHT IT IS! Best wreck diving I have ever done, Also so very very easy, no issues with Deco, twin set helps, but can be done on a single, No CCr’s out here, but then no people either, but getting sofnalime is a challenge, but you need to sell your grannies to get yourselves. I’d come out here again, but probably a different route. So its Christmas Eve now and I have missed the last dive with ear trouble, but done 2 more wrecks this morning. The routine is Get up about 06:30, have fresh coffee and pastry made by the cook, breakfast at 07:00 you can pick how you want the cook to mess up your eggs, dive brief about 7:45 and set off at 08:00 for first dive. We are diving off a smallish skiff made of Aluminium, with large foam filled tubes, kit is loaded on board for us, and we just have to load ourselves and then put the twins on, twin S80’s which Is plenty of gas, I’ve not surface yet with less than 120bar. Skipper motors out to the wreck site and then has to hunt for the submerged buoy to anchor to, they are kept submerged to stop the locals from hitting them as they all have small out board driven boats (like we have cars), but no lights, no navigation kit at all, some use a torch, but most seen so far don’t bother and if the buoys where on the surface they would get snagged. Then we chuck ourselves in and meet at the shot line on the bow. Drop down and do the dive, stops at 18, 9 and 6th are the rules, we sort of ignore the first stop, but do what is needed on the rest Surface and swim to rear of the boat. It then gets interesting, as no lift and no real way of de-kiting and passing kit up We take fins off and pass them up between the twin engines, then we have to climb the steps that are about 18” wide sitting between the 2 engines, there are some aluminium tubes each side to grab, but they are ever so smooth so pulling yourself up with twins on is hard work, plus I tend to get stuck or jammed as I progress. Lifting twins with just one leg is a bitch. After first dive, we headed back to the boat for coffee and whatever the cook has produced (doughnuts today, almost edible), do logsheets, write up notes and chill for couple of hours. Then repeat, then lunch Longish break till 3rd dive of the day, We limit ourselves to 3 dives a day to stop the rapid build up of deco it works for us, they are happy to do 4 or 5 a day if you can cope with it Dinner is served around 19:00, and here a bit of a warning, lower your expectations, No, your still too thinking high, Food is delivered every 3 weeks from Guam, so very little fresh produce, but cook is useless. Order eggs in the morning and lucky if edible, thought we had it cracked with poached egg on toast, got it perfect first time, but that was pure luck. Guy was supoesdly a “chef” from a high end restaurant, nah useles. anyway after dinner we would return to top deck, sit out side listening to the little boats running around like bee’s then if lucky we might make it to 20:00 hrs before falling asleep! New day, just done the famous one, San Francisco Maru, 60mtrs to the sea bed, 50Mtrs to the deck, warned we don’t get long on her, but with tanks, mines and torpedos on her we can’t resist. So first correction , deck is at 49.9mtrs, I know I sat on her with computer on the deck watching Buddy take photos of tea pots, saw the 2 tanks almost on top of each other as we came down the shot line, and blimey that’s a long way down, took an age to get to the deck, swam along the port side towards the stern to find the other tank, now these are mini tanks for operating in the jungles and small islands, 3 Japanese soldiers per tank. No chance, they are as small as an original Mini. Got a photo somewhere of some idiot posing against one. after that not much more time before we had to start the ascent, 1@12, 3@9, 5@6 plus 5 mins safety stop, all for 12 minutes on deck, but what a stunner, well worth doing. Lost the final day of diving due to ear trouble, but my Buddy went ( top gear rules) and did the submarine and the Heiko again. The sub is over 100Mtr long, and was sunk by the crew who accidently dived with the hatches open. Killed the crew in control room but rest of crew sealed water tight doors and where alive, Japanese tried to lift her, but the cable snapped when the Subs turret got above water and this meant the rest of the crew suffocated on board as they ran out of air, not my cup of tea anyway. Return trips went a lot smoother, although the final flight from japan home was a sod, Due to the war with Ukraine, Russia is a no fly zone, so we few the other way rounbd, which took us over the date line, so back in time by 12 hrs, which I think gave us another New years eve, total flight time 15.1/2 hrs Diving was beautiful,easy, deepish but not dangerously so. and lots and lots of first class diveable wrecks. SS Thorfin, near never again and to be honest you don’t need to be on a live aboard, small fast boat and working A/C would be far better. Flights where an adventure, but next time id get to Guam faster and stay there for at least 2 nights, bit more safety if a flight delay and Guam looked interesting… Imagine a big US city but not. Might look at routing though Hawaii. Don’t go without me! Richard
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