Diving in Truk Lagoon

3/1/2023 This is a beach in Guam. I stopped here on the way to Truk and scattered some of Connie's ashes here.	3/1/2023 Guam beach	3/1/2023 Guam beach
3/1/2023 This is in the lobby of the Blue Lagoon Resort (AKA BLR) in Truk. These are the main shipwrecks you dive in Truk.	3/1/2023	3/1/2023 - Dive 1 - Fujikawa Maru While I never dove any actual reefs in Truk, some of the shipwrecks had extensive coral and anemones growing on them.
3/1/2023 A case of 'with flash' ...	3/1/2023 ... and 'without flash'. At depth the water absorbs red light from the sun, and many bright red objects appear brown without lights.	3/1/2023 And here is a case of color, or...
3/1/2023 ... or black and white. Many of the images in this collection are shown in black and white when the water was murky, or the colors were mostly gone anyway. B&W can make things much clearer when there is a lot of silt in the water.	3/1/2023 Memorials	3/1/2023 - Dive 2 - Heian Maru Traffic passing by
3/1/2023 Into the hold of one of the ships.	3/1/2023	3/1/2023
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3/1/2023 That is a Japanese periscope - in fact it is an attach periscope which is smaller to leave less wake. This shipwreck was a submarine tender with spare parts.	3/1/2023 All the divemasters carried spare air tanks for long decompression stops if someone ran short. Even the shallow dives here are fairly deep. You can expect to hit 90 foot or deeper.	3/1/2023
3/1/2023 Ryan Luther. We dove together for five days, and I got several pictures of him.	3/1/2023	3/1/2023
3/1/2023	3/2/2023 Nightfall at the Blue Lagoon Resort	3/2/2023
3/3/2023 - Dive 3 - Shinkoku Maru	3/3/2023 Shower facilities	3/3/2023 Toilet facilities
3/3/2023 Operating table. Those are some arm and/or leg bones on there.	3/3/2023 Nice big anemone.	3/3/2023
3/3/2023 The wrecks were commonly littered with big sake bottles. These are larger than your average beer bottle.	3/3/2023	3/3/2023
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3/3/2023 Soft coral	3/3/2023 Soft coral	3/3/2023 Divemaster and turtle
3/3/2023	3/3/2023	3/3/2023 First of a sequence of shots where I'm trying to keep up with the other divers, already disappearing inside. When you dive these depths with a single air tank, you don't want to waste bottom time hanging around outside the wreck if you plan to go in.
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3/3/2023	3/3/2023 All the wrecks had objects found inside placed in little displays around the ship. It's illegal to remove objects, so they stay on/in the ships.	3/3/2023 - Dive 4 - Fujikawa Maru
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3/3/2023	3/3/2023 There were a lot of machine gun bullets in this hold. The Japanese guns of the time used long clips rather than belts. Divers have collected some of the bullets and laid them out for display.	3/3/2023
3/3/2023	3/3/2023	3/3/2023 Remains of a truck chassis.
3/3/2023	3/3/2023 - Dive 5 - Fujikawa Maru	3/3/2023
3/3/2023 Diver below using a rebreather. A spare tank hangs by his/her side.	3/3/2023	3/3/2023
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3/4/2023 This hold has lots of sake bottles still in crates, though now tipped on their side as the ship is resting on its side.	3/4/2023 Hard to tell, but the divemaster is pointing at several Japanese machine guns, or what is left of them.	3/4/2023 WW-2 Japanese machine guns
3/4/2023 With strobes firing, the camera can see a lot. But most of the time we are basically diving with a flashlight.	3/4/2023 When the strobes aren't firing, this is a lot more what it is like diving inside these wrecks.	3/4/2023 Fellow diver Mike is below with his double tank setup.
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3/4/2023	3/4/2023	3/4/2023 I took a number of shots like this, sort of 'follow the leader' so you can see what it's like to navigate in these wrecks.
3/4/2023	3/4/2023 Fellow diver Russ below with his rebreather, camera and spare tank of Nitrox.	3/4/2023
3/4/2023 Fellow diver Jennifer.	3/4/2023	3/4/2023
3/4/2023	3/4/2023 Fellow diver Fred	3/4/2023 Fred in B&W
3/4/2023 - Dive 6 - Heian Maru	3/4/2023	3/4/2023
3/4/2023 That is the warhead of a Japanese Long Lance torpedo	3/4/2023 Awkward shot of my dive computer. It says 88 feet deep, 7 minutes into the dive, 2234 psi of air left (started with about 2900), and I have a planned deep stop at 44 feet for a minute.	3/4/2023 This is an attempt to show some of the damage that sunk this ship. I believe this is from a torpedo near the bow.
3/4/2023 Big torpedo hole in the hull. I strangely like the composition of this image.	3/4/2023	3/4/2023 More dive computer. 108 feet deep, 11 minutes into the dive, 1972 psi left (of about 2900) and a planned deep stop at 54 feet for a minute.
3/4/2023	3/4/2023	3/4/2023 A Japanese Long Lance torpedo.
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3/4/2023 That's Russ in front with a scooter and a camera. Becca is getting a fin tow. It's useful to have a scooter when using a rebreather as they can only take up so much carbon dioxide per minute. it's possible to swim too hard and overwhelm the rebreather, leading to unconsciousness.	3/4/2023	3/4/2023
3/4/2023 Divemaster found some object and is cleaning it a bit.	3/4/2023 Divemaster finds a porthole.	3/4/2023
3/4/2023	3/4/2023 Hole in the ship with bubbles coming out.	3/4/2023
3/4/2023	3/5/2023 - Dive 7 -	3/5/2023 Becca left that spare air tank there in order to go into the engine room while there were four other divers in it at the same time.
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3/5/2023	3/5/2023 Per my tradition, I had a beer for the first week out of the country. This trip I ended up having three. Felt I earned an extra one. And speaking as a mostly non-drinker, I'm amazed they sell this stuff considering what it does to you Never thought much about it before, but a beer really hits me these days.	3/5/2023
3/6/2023 - Dive 8 - Yamagiri Maru Ship on its side, typically murky.	3/6/2023	3/6/2023
3/6/2023 Now this is more interesting than old barrels! These are large (14") artillery shells for either battleships or cruisers or very heavy shore guns.	3/6/2023 Unexploded ordinance everywhere in Truk...	3/6/2023 After going inside a rather large, open and un-intimidating hold, we thought we were going back out.
3/6/2023 But the divemaster, having seen us dive for several dives now, signaled to see if we wanted to go inside the ship? We said yes, or Ryan (pictured) and I did, while Fred declined. I just posted pretty much all the shots I took inside the ship on this trip, just so you can get a better idea of what it was like. Almost all of the shots were taken with the camera level, very often with the diver in front of me visible as I followed in the rear.	3/6/2023 Following diver	3/6/2023 Following diver
3/6/2023 Machinery off to one side	3/6/2023 More ship's machinery	3/6/2023 And more stuff. I don't think the camera was tilted here, but the ship was.
3/6/2023 Follow the diver. (See the light?)	3/6/2023 Follow the diver	3/6/2023 Follow the diver
3/6/2023 Follow the diver	3/6/2023 Machinery off to one side	3/6/2023 Stuff off to one side
3/6/2023 More ship stuff	3/6/2023 Follow the diver. (Did you see him?)	3/6/2023 Follow the diver
3/6/2023 Follow the diver. Spots like this are why you come out with rust stains on you.	3/6/2023 Big pile of ship stuff off to one side.	3/6/2023 More ship bits to one side.
3/6/2023 View off to one side	3/6/2023 Follow the diver	3/6/2023 Yes, go behind that.
3/6/2023 Ship stuff	3/6/2023 More ship stuff.	3/6/2023 This is one of the few shots I took looking up. You can tell by the bubbles.
3/6/2023 Follow the diver. Backstory here. The exit was visible from where Ryan is, and I could see the divemaster from there. But I didn't think I could squeeze though, and I wanted to backtrack a bit. But Ryan didn't see how to backtrack so took the lead here. I followed, carefully fitting my camera rig through first.	3/6/2023 And there is the final exit - to freedom! This was the first extensive wreck penetration for either Ryan or me. We were both out of our comfort zone, but adapted.	3/6/2023 Ryan and I were happy to be out again!
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3/6/2023 - Dive 9 - Kansho Maru We saw a few gas masks. Some diver has found one and left it on this coral head.	3/6/2023 Following Ryan into another wreck. He is following the divemaster.	3/6/2023
3/6/2023	3/6/2023	3/6/2023 Pretty sure those are human bones there.
3/6/2023 Ryan and Fred are following the divemaster into this wreck.	3/6/2023	3/6/2023
3/6/2023	3/6/2023 Backstory: OK, right about here I got stuck for bit in some rails I tried to go under instead of around. There is Fred disappearing in the distance. By the time I free myself, I can't see him.	3/6/2023 Now at this point I can't see where they went, and I'm following a trail of silt hoping to catch up. I'm about 80 feet deep.
3/6/2023 I went along down the corridor and came to this. At this point I'm pretty sure they went down there, but I wasn't about to go poking around looking! I knew how to backtrack, so I turned around and went back to the point I got stuck coming in.	3/6/2023 And as I returned to the scene of a stuck-under-railing incident, I see the divemaster coming up out of a hole in front. Turns out they had gone down the corridor, then backtracked directly underneath me, coming up in about the same spot. I waited until they passed by and joined back on to the end. Like nothing happened.	3/6/2023
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3/6/2023	3/6/2023 In another hold, we see the remains of a bicycle. (Better picture later on from another dive.)	3/6/2023 As we came out of the wreck, Becca was there to get our picture!
3/7/2023 - Dive 10 - Nippo Maru	3/7/2023 That is a WW-2 Japanese tank, though the gun barrel is gone. These 2-man tanks were quite small.	3/7/2023
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3/7/2023	3/7/2023	3/7/2023 It's hard to tell, but that is a Japanese field artillery piece.
3/7/2023 Another Japanese field artillery piece.	3/7/2023 I scattered some of Connie's ashes at this spot in Truk.	3/7/2023
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3/7/2023 You may have noticed several aging concrete structures around the shoreline of the Blue Lagoon Resort. These are old WW-2 Japanese pillboxes.	3/7/2023	3/7/2023
3/8/2023 - Dive 11 - Shinkoku Maru	3/8/2023	3/8/2023
3/8/2023	3/8/2023 You can see the water through holes in the side of this ship.	3/8/2023
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3/8/2023	3/8/2023	3/8/2023 That's fellow diver Ryan F in this image. Ryan L left for Palau after 5 days, but we (Fred and I) ended up diving with Ryan F for the next 5 days. And then Ryan F left for Palau...
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3/8/2023	3/8/2023 The ship's telegraph, used to send engine speed signals to the engine room.	3/8/2023
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3/8/2023 Ryan swims near a big deck gun.	3/8/2023	3/8/2023
3/8/2023	3/8/2023	3/8/2023 This is a porcelain sink from (apparently) Toyohashi, Japan. I could not find any information about the company that made this, though I think I found another image of this same sink on the internet.
3/8/2023	3/8/2023 The divemaster plays with Clownfish in an anemone.	3/8/2023
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3/8/2023 Those colors are real!	3/8/2023 - Dive 12 - Heian Maru	3/8/2023 A Japanese Long Lance torpedo. I think those are naval mines below it.
3/8/2023 Torpedo propeller	3/8/2023	3/8/2023
3/8/2023 Divemaster plays with a Long Lance torpedo.	3/8/2023	3/8/2023 As we came up, we passed through the ship's rudder by a propeller blade.
3/9/2023 - Dive 12 - Kansho Maru In another hold, we peeked through a small-ish hole to see stacks of large artillery shells jumbled about.	3/9/2023 Rusticles?	3/9/2023 Ship's wheel and compass.
3/9/2023 Follow the diver	3/9/2023	3/9/2023
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3/9/2023	3/9/2023 Interesting fact. You see Ryan F ahead of me, closely following the divemaster on these dives. Ryan did not have a light, nor did he have a dive computer on any of these dives. He was anticipating renting them in Truk, but there were none to rent.	3/9/2023
3/9/2023 The famous bicycle is easier to recognize in this shot.	3/9/2023 Safety stop at the end of every dive.	3/9/2023 - Dive 13 - Betty Bomber On this dive we went to the Betty Bomber. (Betty is the US nickname for that aircraft type, a carrier-based bomber.) When this one crashed, the engines ripped loose and carried on some distance in front of the rest of the plane. This is one engine.
3/9/2023	3/9/2023 The other engine from the Betty Bomber.	3/9/2023 The remains of the Betty Bomber, in murky conditions.
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3/9/2023 Ryan F - a Delta Airlines pilot - poses inside the remains of a Japanese WW-2 Betty Bomber.	3/9/2023	3/9/2023
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3/9/2023	3/9/2023 Someone had constructed another monument of some sort near the Betty Bomber.	3/9/2023
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3/9/2023 A selfie	3/9/2023 Outside the WW-2 museum at the Blue Lagoon Resort.	3/9/2023 Outside the WW-2 museum at the Blue Lagoon Resort.
3/9/2023 Outside the dive shop at the Blue Lagoon Resort.	3/9/2023 Outside the dive shop at the Blue Lagoon Resort.	3/9/2023
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3/10/2023	3/10/2023 - Dive 14 - Shinkoku Maru A pesky Batfish is photo-bombing us!	3/10/2023
3/10/2023 Grouper	3/10/2023	3/10/2023
3/10/2023 Octopus on deck.	3/10/2023	3/10/2023
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3/10/2023 - Dive 15 - Fujikawa Maru	3/10/2023	3/10/2023
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3/10/2023 Inside the hold of the last shipwreck we dove were the remains of Japanese Zero parts.	3/10/2023	3/10/2023
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3/10/2023	3/10/2023 Ship's telegraph	3/10/2023 Deck gun
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3/10/2023 My beer, and my attempt to make it easier on the staff to bill that beer to my room.	3/10/2023	3/10/2023
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3/11/2023	3/11/2023 A view from a beach on a $50 'tour' of the island. Glad I went as I at least saw something, but wouldn't do it twice.	3/11/2023 A couple of ferries wait in the harbor.
3/11/2023 The stately branch office of the Bank of Guam.	3/11/2023 Water tanks (?) in the harbor. Or fuel tanks.	3/11/2023 On the island tour, we stopped at small park called Rachel's Beach, paid $3 each, and saw a small pool with several turtles and two sharks. It was a nice place to visit.
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3/11/2023 I don't know what this is, but it doesn't seem WW-2 related. I think it is a kind of swim shelter. Rachel's Beach.	3/11/2023	3/11/2023
3/11/2023 Interesting transport.	3/11/2023 The height of the island trip was a visit to the cave of the big Japanese gun. They didn't tell me I had to climb through humid jungle to get there. And the entry fee went up to $10 each...	3/11/2023
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3/11/2023 This is an inside joke, thinking of the speed of the food service at the Blue Lagoon Resort. Lucky if it's fast...	3/11/2023	3/12/2023 Ah - flying home, from Guam after overnighting there on the way home from Truk. I bought comfort on this trip, which included a pillow and blanket from Saks Fifth Avenue, lay-flat seats and 6' 4" of room when lying flat. I needed the rest, for the Honolulu experience to come...