Chu'uk Lagoon

[stuart.mcdonald10]

Anyone been? If yes any tips / travel advice? Liveaboard or shore based? Duration? Cheapest options / flights etc.. etc..:)

[Alison Boler]

Hi Stuart
We have quite a few trip reports here
http://www.bsac.com/diverreports.asp?section=1245&sectionTitle=Australasia+%2F+Pacific

Its in country alphabetical order so scroll down to the Micronesia section for Chu'uk - there's about 5 or 6.

I think you'll find that the consensus is liveaboard for convenience and comfort but landbased if economy is paramount, although you have to look at the value for money of multiple dives/food etc offered on the boats. Flights - it's a very long way involving multiple flights. Continental most of the way seems the best option. If you go for 2 weeks, you get about 10 days in Chu'uk. Watch baggage allowance as some of the small planes on the final leg have a much smaller allowance than the longer flight operators - or they can do.
Anyway, the reports are pretty good and will give you much more.
It's worth it....

[johnskerry]

Went last year and stayed at the truck stop Hotel, they had Nitrox, Trimix and allowed twin cylinder decompression diving (Trimix is not cheap) , I carried out all my diving on air/nitrox and used a 80% deco where appropriate.
All the wrecks are easily assessable from the Truck Stop and the rooms have AC. During our stay the live aboard Thorfinn did not move, and apparently had not moved for several previous weeks. We meet the UK divers who stayed on the Thorfinn and the beginning and end of our week, they seemed quite happy with their accommodation and diving , however they told us they were not allowed to do any decompression diving and were only allowed to use a single cylinder. When we dived the San Francisco Maru (60 Mts) with about 25 minutes on and in the wreck, we went down into the hold to look at the zero fighters and through to the next hold both full of stuff. While decompressing the Thorfinn rib turned up they all got in went down the shot (apparently only to the deck) came back up and got back into their boat and left, we finished off our deco on the deco bar and came up ourselves after one of my Top 10 dives.

Generally speaking I prefer a liveaboard however I expect it to move to locations not easily accessible by a day boat. However in this case I was glade we stayed shore based (it was the cheapest option). The money saved more than coved the additional cylinder and gas cost.

If I was to go again I would hire a third cylinder each day so I could extend the morning dive.

I used independent 12+ litre cylinders with Nitrox for every dive possible except the San Francisco Maru which I used air in the independent twins with a side slung 7+.

Hope that helps

John

PS not a lot to see on the island, not on your own, so we mostly stayed in the hotel.

[jeffb]

Hi i dived in truk in feb 2007 stayed on ss thorfinn had 5 dive a day
and dived with the dive guides this was mint, food good weather was hot with rain some days but it is still hot had 3 days on truk nothing to do after
1st day but will go back soon.Have a good time and you must do the shark dive :D

[MattS]

Anyone been?2001...still seems like yesterday :D

If yes any tips / travel advice? Liveaboard or shore based? Duration? Cheapest options / flights etc.. etc..:)My top tip would be, don't try to do it on the cheap.

The livaboard we used was MV Odyssey. Nitrox > 30% was free. Twinset hire was free. 80% was expensive, and Trimix is available at extortionate cost and prior appointment. They had a very adult attitude allowing us to do largely what we wanted provided we were back on board for the set departure time, when they move the boat onto the next wreck. Food was constantly available, soft drinks included and beer too, provided you had finished diving for the day. They also have a skiff which can be used to split a boat between two sites. For instance 6 of us did an extended dive on the San Francisco while the rest of the boat were doing one of the shallower wrecks. I can't really recommend MV Odyssey highly enough.

I spent 3 nights in the Continental waiting for a connection to Majuro onto Bikini. There is not a great deal to do ashore. They were only offering 2 dives a day, whereas on the liveaboard we were offered 5 a day. By the time you have paid for meals, drinks and diving shore based probably is not that much cheaper.

[Drjon]

I go to Truk twice a year. Sometimes with the rebreather other times I use OC. Have used most airlines, and also shipped Sorb and RB via DHL to Truk. Here are a few pointers.

Best way is via LA, Honolulu, Guam using a Skyteam member airline (continental etc) as they have a more generous weight limit. Been via the East way stopping over at Dubai, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Guam, and finally to Truk. Takes too long.

At Truk (Moen Island WENO state). Popular liveaboards being Odyssey, SS Thorfinn and Truk Agressor. Odyssey is by far the best boat in my experience. Luxurious, spacious, has all mod cons, EANX, Trimix etc and travels around so you get to see some more of the lagoon. Well worth the cash. Thorfinn is again a large liveaboard. Again a good boat but only occasionally moves a few times ayear. All dives done from high speed Skiffs. Again a good setup, spacious, hot tubs, food, bar etc. Agressor. Not going into that as they are no longer rebreather friendly.

Stay most times at Blue Lagoon Resort. Personal favourite as the rooms are good, canoeing, sailing on offer in the resort and there is a good outdoor bar. Food is excellent, though you can go to the supermarket within the grounds also for daytime snacks when you are on one of the many small islands each lunch time. Diving is by high speed skiffs again and usually you have one to yourselves each day. Every day, you visit a different Island at lunch when you can eat, explore or snorkel the area, orrrrrrrrrrrrrrr just feed the sharks! Air, Nitrox etc available, stage cylinders also provided staged off the boat during deco. Some very knowledgeable guides also and a decent dive shop.

As far as the island is concerned. We go off with the dive guides in a 4X4. Seen countless gun emplacements, crashed US and Japanese Aircraft, bunkers, the hospital and lighthouse area. At night we've been off into the hills to the local night club and then back to the Truk Stop area for some UK/US chat (always plenty of US Marines etc around). Theres plenty to do if you want it and are prepared to ask.

Choice is yours really. Enjoy.

[ChristianG]

This is maybe a little late, but anyway.

The point of the Thorfinn is that there are designated tenders that go to several destinations, thus there are not a billion divers on what you consider to be your patch.

Yes, the Odyssey is good. However the Odyssey promised the authorities, when they first came to Chuuk that they would put down dedicated moorings adjacent to the wrecks. Unfortunately they have still to do that, some 15 years later I point out, and I do not, not at all, fancy the idea of a 500 ton boat hanging off a WWll wreck. For that reason alone I will not book the Odyssey.

As for the Aggressor, the name says it all and I simply can't come at a dive boat with such a name. I may be cutting off my nose to spite my face, but there you go.

Shore based? Not in my book, Moen is a place I could get bored with in half an hour, to put it mildly, it's hardly like a resort (not that I'm enamoured of those) and, more importantly, it seriously limits your diving.

[johnskerry]

This is maybe a little late, but anyway.

The point of the Thorfinn is that there are designated tenders that go to several destinations, thus there are not a billion divers on what you consider to be your patch.

Yes, the Odyssey is good. However the Odyssey promised the authorities, when they first came to Chuuk that they would put down dedicated moorings adjacent to the wrecks. Unfortunately they have still to do that, some 15 years later I point out, and I do not, not at all, fancy the idea of a 500 ton boat hanging off a WWll wreck. For that reason alone I will not book the Odyssey.

As for the Aggressor, the name says it all and I simply can't come at a dive boat with such a name. I may be cutting off my nose to spite my face, but there you go.

Shore based? Not in my book, Moen is a place I could get bored with in half an hour, to put it mildly, it's hardly like a resort (not that I'm enamoured of those) and, more importantly, it seriously limits your diving.
There maybe not much to do on shore, but how does that limit your diving ?

[Kev W]

A small group of us are travelling to Chuuk in March 2010 (liveaboard Odyssey) we want to take our rebreathers.and we are travelling the USA route for the extra baggage allowance.
Any advice/tips on getting sofnolime there ie; how long in advance should we be looking to send it so as to be sure it gets there before us.should we also consider sending our cylinders or do they have a stock for hire.
I have been before in 2000 and was liveaboard on Thorfin but used OC.

[johnskerry]

There were a couple of re-breather divers at the truck stop when we were there; I seem to remember they shipped the sofnolime there around six months earlier. The dive master there was talking about getting some in, he certainly had helium at that time.

[MattS]

...I point out, and I do not, not at all, fancy the idea of a 500 ton boat hanging off a WWll wreck. For that reason alone I will not book the Odyssey.They did not anchor into the wrecks while I was diving with them. The boat was moored/anchored a short distance away and we swam over to the wreck.

Never saw a million divers either. IIRC I did three dives out of 22 as a group with the other 15 divers aboard. The rest of the time the group split itself by experience/interest and it was just me and my buddy.

[ChristianG]

There maybe not much to do on shore, but how does that limit your diving ?
By the fact that Moen Island is rather far away, relatively, from most of the wrecks, that you go on a relatively small boat and therefore that you are limited in the number of cylinders that you can take with you for multiple dives.

It is often pointed out that the Thorfinn doesn't move much, but she doesn't have to, she sits slap bang in the middle of the wrecks which are rarely more than a maximum twenty minutes away by her tenders. So you can go there, come back, climb aboard, get your tank/s replenished, stretch the legs, have a drink and a snack and, golly-gosh, surface interval is already over.

Try doing that on a banana boat from Moen. Oh, please, nobody now point out to me that banana boats are no longer the preferred option.

[gordon mackie]

Blue Lagoon, Truk Stop and Thorfinn are all good, no experience of Odyssey other than having a drink on board - looked very efficient and American and was booked up about 12 months in advance.

[johnskerry]

There were five of us on twins with deco cylinders, plus two re breather boys the dive guides crew and spare cylinders, no problem at all !

And no excessive travel time either !

We meet the guests who were on the Thorfinn who said they had a great weeks diving, but they did say they were only allowed single cylinder non decompression diving, maybe that not the norm, but its what they said!

Certainly anyone who would like to carry out any decompression mixed gas diving should confirm that it is available before booking.

The fact is shore based is the chepest option and you can still get all the diving in.

[glug]

Kev, You get the extra bagage allowance going east about also. As long as you ticket through Guam which counts as USA for weight limits.

[Drjon]

A small group of us are travelling to Chuuk in March 2010 (liveaboard Odyssey) we want to take our rebreathers.and we are travelling the USA route for the extra baggage allowance.
Any advice/tips on getting sofnolime there ie; how long in advance should we be looking to send it so as to be sure it gets there before us.should we also consider sending our cylinders or do they have a stock for hire.
I have been before in 2000 and was liveaboard on Thorfin but used OC.

Leaving Truk today. This time I packed the unit into its peli case with 1 extendair cartridge and both cylinders with valves removed (past experience and in any case i do my own O2 cleaning). I did not take any sofnolime with me, only using ExtendAir cannisters with the adapter kit, and carried in a pack of 4 in hand luggage. These are readily available in the USA, mine came from Florida, more expensive but widely available and hand luggage sized. They are also a lot easier to breathe through and cannot be over/under packed as they come in a sealed cartridge case.

Draegersorb is available in Guam as is Slime if you order it in advance, both work anyhow. You will be staying there overnight so collect it there if you want to minimise baggage charges.

If sending by DHL, allow a couple of months to be certain, and have it delivered to Blue Lagoon Dive Shop. Same goes for cylinders.