TRUK LAGOON REPORT

"LUST FOR RUST 08"

Truk LAGOON July 08 “Lust for Rust” trip posted by John Dryden

Truk LAGOON July 08 “Lust for Rust” trip

One of the biggest misconceptions of diving Truk is the fact that all the wrecks have been dived to death. This couldn’t be further from the truth! On a recent trip to Truk Lagoon in July this year, 23 tech divers (22 rebreathers) embarked on an amazing trip of discovery. This was my first trip to Truk and having been a keen diver for many many years, Truk has been on the top of my hit list of “must do” dives. It only took 18 years to get there but what can I say; it was well worth the wait. The trip was planned and organized by Pete Mesley, a Zimbabwean living in New Zealand for the last 14 years. How we got onto the trip was a mate of mine Leigh Bishop was heading up to Truk with Pete so we joined him and another 13 keen divers from the Northern Hemisphere.

It took us 2 days traveling from the UK to get Chuuk (Truk) from London Heathrow we flew to Kuala Lumpa, Malaysia then onto Manila in the Philippines. Another flight then took us onto Guam and then Chuuk in Micronesia. Pete had already been in Truk Lagoon for a week before we arrived with some Kiwi and Aussi divers. He had also taken time to prepare all our mixes, gear, tanks and sofno lime requirements. I have to say that this was one of the best-organized trips of this magnitude I have ever been on. I mean, for a rebreather diver traveling halfway around the world things can be made stressful by airline companies even before you get there, so it was a result Pete had figured everything out the other end for us. Operators don’t understand about rebreather divers and when we got there it was basically a breathe of fresh air. Pete had supplied all the cylinders so that also saved us quite a bit in excess luggage.

We were diving out from the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop and stayed at the on site Blue Lagoon resort. They set aside a dedicated rebreather area where we could get geared up and sort our units in peace. Proper rinsing areas for breathers and cameras alike. A max of 6 divers to a boat and one boat per wreck was the order of the day. What Pete’s philosophy of these trips was, really related to all rebreather divers. We wanted to dive these wrecks without having the restrictions of normal operators. And that we did. We all planned our diving around the 2-3 hour runtime each morning when we were diving the deeper wrecks and shorter 2 hour dives on the shallower wrecks in the afternoon. Now for a breather diver - that’s what I call real luxury!! It was without a shadow of a doubt the best diving I have ever done. Nothing even comes close to the diving in Truk Lagoon and I have dived shipwrecks all over the world.

We had a full briefing on the island, history and wrecks by Pete, Leigh and a special appearance by Gradvin Aisek the son of Kimiuo Aisek who gave us his direct accounts of his fathers recollections of actually being there when Operation Hailstone hit Chuuk in 1944.With 23 rebreather divers and one Spaniard open circuit diver were on the trip (who I felt sorry for when he got his gas bill at the end of the trip). We were poised to do some amazing diving.

To make such a trip happen I have to mention the massive efforts of Pete Mesley. Leigh Bishop was our UK trip coordinator and had covered all logistics of people traveling from the Northern Hemisphere. This trip was 18 months in the making and I know Pete and Leigh communicated across the world on a daily basis to ensure everything was in place by the time we got there. Pete had to ship just over ¾ of a ton of sofno lime, purchase and ship most of the breather tanks from the UK & the states, bring in 40 odd stage tank set ups, but most of all he worked really closely with Gradvin (the Blue Lagoon Dive shop owner) to ensure that everyone on the trip was looked after and had the best diving ever. We had differing groups of experience and with the flexibility of the boats everyone had the best time they possibly could. No one was disadvantaged with differing training and experience. All the gear that Pete shipped into Truk is now stored their ready to go for future annual trips Pete will be running to Truk. I for one am already planning to go back with Pete and Leigh to continue exploring many of the wrecks that I didn’t get to dive.

We were focusing on spending time on the deeper, less frequently dived wrecks like the Oite, Katrusigasan Maru, Amagasan Maru, Nagano Maru and the Aikoku Maru. Averaging around 60 minute bottom times on these wrecks with depths round the 60 odd meter mark ensured we got to see most of the wrecks we dived, the engine rooms holds accommodation, well just about everywhere really. But what really hit me was that the shallower wrecks just blew me away. Again spending 2 hours inside these wrecks with hardly any deco needed was what really did it for me. Such quality dives every day consistently impressing me. I didn’t have a camera but some of the pictures taken by the boys were absolutely breathtaking. Of course Leigh, as per usual, produced some of the best pictures I have ever seen of the wrecks of Truk. I think he is working his way through almost 5000 images he shot to prepare the best ones for publication. Pete had also taken many images and you can have a look at them on www.petemesley.com/truklagoon.htm

The thing that I would recommend to people wanting to go on Pete’s Truk trips (or by yourselves) in the future is to do your research on the wrecks and history. We didn’t do enough but I managed to get hold of Dan Baileys book WWII Shipwrecks of Truk Lagoon (there are links to get this book on Pete’s site). The most comprehensive data on the wrecks and history I have ever read. Diving different wrecks every dive; they all seem to blend into each other not remembering what was on what. It got to a point that we were diving the “Morning Maru” and “Afternoon Maru”!!! So having good ideas of what you are in for will again increase your enjoyment.

One wreck that really stood out was the San Francisco Maru. They call this the Million-dollar wreck for good reason! Bombs, bombs and more bombs!! Hemispherical limpet mines, aerial bombs, ammunition, small arms, detonators, small mountains of cordite, tanks on the decks, antiaircraft guns mounted on the bow and stern areas, simply astounding. What made me laugh was the fact that on one occasion we were decompressing after spending exactly one hour on the San Francisco Maru and a boatload of single cylinder divers turned up bombed down the line all over the place and half of them were coming back up 4 minutes later. The remainder spending another brave 3-4 minutes or so extra. The San Francisco Maru was awesome and has to be one of he best wrecks in the world I have ever dived and that was just one wreck out of the 60 in this famous Lagoon!!!!

My favorite wreck was the Oite a Japanese destroyer, the viz on the wreck was brilliant, the bell was still on the wreck and Human remains on some of the other deeper wrecks really brought it home to you the history of what happened there.

Food was great; people were great company, viz was a little patchy down to 15meters some days but inside the wrecks was awesome. Sharks had their daily visit as we decompressed and out on the edge of the lagoon on some of the deeper wrecks that get dived less often the Viz was amazing and sharks came out in the dozens! On days we did not dive (OTU’s time out) we headed out into the Jungles to source relics of war left behind by the Japanese, one or two evenings we headed out to small Islands and took BBQ and beer, when I mean small I mean an Island that you can walk round in two minutes and has 6 coconut trees! Water temperature hovered around 29-30 degrees!!!!!

Can’t wait to go back.

Check out some of Pete’s Pictures on his website www.petemesley.com/truklagoon.htm anyone wanting to go out to Truk living in the Northern Hemisphere I strongly recommend you contact Leigh Bishop through his shipwreck and deep photography website www.deepimage.co.uk

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