Broadly speaking there are 2 main options for diving in Chuuk, shore-based or liveaboard.
It's very much personal preference some people love liveaboards and they do have some advantages. They are usually all-inclusive so you don't need to budget for your accommodation food and diving, there may be some extras like nitrox or trimix and alcohol but most of the other stuff is taken care of. Normally you get to move around and see lots of dive sites, this works great in places like the Red Sea but isn't so much an issue in Chuuk. While the lagoon is very large, the ships were mostly sunk in a few main anchorages so you don't really need to move too far, there are a couple of exceptions like the Oite but that's for another post. They can be a bit regimented meals are communal and if there are large groups on they can be cliquey.
Chuuk now has 3 liveaboards operating the Lagoon. The Odyssey, the Truk Master, and the oldest one there the Thorfinn, which is a bit of an oddball. Both the Odyssey and the Truk Master move around the lagoon and will typically moor over one of the wrecks for a number of hours and after a briefing to allow the divers to either dive as buddy pairs or with a guide. This works well as it usually means there are limited numbers on the wreck at any one time and groups with different dive plans are not limited to the time of the single tank divers. The disadvantage of this is for the deeper wrecks which are mostly only accessible by technical divers are not always visited if there are mostly single tank recreational divers on the boat.
The Thorfinn is the oldest boat in Chuuk and was originally a whaling ship built in Norway in the 50s. Unlike the other liveaboards that move the Thorfinn is permanently anchored and the diving is carried out from two large inflatable, RIB, tenders. This does give a bit more flexibility if there are both recreational and technical divers in the group. The boat can accommodate 22 guests of all skill levels but it is an old favorite among technical divers as the staff have years of experience diving in the lagoon.
The Odyssey is over 20 years younger than the Thorfinn and built originally as a small cruise ship used around Fiji converted to a luxury liveaboard in 1999 now accommodates only 16 divers so the diving groups are small. Unlike the Thorfinn, they do move around the lagoon at a very leisurely maximum of 8 knots. The boat can also accommodate both recreational and technical divers. Having talked to people who have been on the boat I understand the food is superb and really 5 stars so expect to lose any weight on your dive trip.
The Truk Master is the newest boat to arrive in the lagoon and like the Odyssey caters for up to 16 guests.
Built in 1975 as a cruising yacht this rich man's toy was converted in 2016 to serve as a dive charter vessel in Truk Lagoon. Like the other two boats, the Truk Master will happily accommodate divers of all skill levels but they do run a couple of exclusive technical charters every year. One interesting feature of the Truk Master is its not always in Chuuk and one of the very few vessels that also does charters to Bikini Atoll another very exclusive wreck diving destination. Bikini is a purely technical diving location as many of the wrecks are around the 50m plus depth and very few dives are in the recreational ranges.
One vessel sadly missing from this list is the Truk Siren sister ship to the Palau Siren seen here.
This luxury dive sailboat was sadly wrecked in 2015 when Typhoon Maysak ran it onto a reef in the lagoon.
If you like to keep your feet on dry land occasionally there are two options in Chuuk for shore-based diving. The Truk Stop and Blue Lagoon.
Sadly I don't have any photos of the Truk Stop which is situated close to the main town of Weno about 10 minutes from the airport. They offer a variety of rooms both budget and suites with a kitchen, Kingsize beds, and a private balcony. The hotel itself is well equipped with all the usual facilities such as a restaurant, gift shop, and wifi.
The onsite Truk Lagoon Dive Center is well equipped and can accommodate recreational and technical divers both open circuit and rebreather. They can also facilitate dive training both PADI and TDI which is a technical dive agency if you need to brush up on your deep diving skills. Diving is carried out from small skiffs so the groups diving is always quite small so groups of similar abilities can be kept together. Because the hotel is closer to the town it does mean that the trips to the wreck sites are slightly longer than the other shore-based location at Blue Lagoon which is at the other end of the island.
One thing I can vouch for is the restaurant, the burgers there are amazing, and the bar has a couple of pool tables if you fancy chilling out in the evening.
The other shore-based location is the Blue Lagoon Resort. This resort is at the other end of the island from Truk Stop and located at the former Japanese Seaplane Base. I think it is the oldest diving resort in Chuuk and has hosted many very famous people including JFK, yes that one. It takes about 30 minutes to get there from the airport not because its that far but the road is absolutely crap once you're out of the town it is full of deep potholes and ruts so your shuttle bus goes really slowly.
Blue Lagoon Resort has a couple of two-story accommodation blocks with mostly twin bed rooms and a single-story main building with a reception, lounge, and restaurant. The open-air bar is in the grounds and a great place to watch the sunset and have a few beers or rums after a hard day diving.
Free Wifi is available too but like everywhere in Chuuk its a bit slow once you have a few people on it. If your there I can recommend the blackened tuna sashimi but take care with the wasabi it really is kickass stuff.
This older resort is very well established and even walking around the grounds there are relics that have been recovered from the ships and planes sunk in the lagoon.
The grounds are very extensive around the resort and its good to just stroll around this real tropical paradise, its hard to imagine that in 1944 it was a battle zone.
There is also a small museum on-site with both some history of the Chuuk islands and artifacts from the wrecks. It's a very interesting little tour if you ever get the chance to go there.
BLR has an onsite dive center and dive shop with a large stock of rental gear as well as spares if something breaks, which can happen during your stay.
The dive center is very well equipped for Technical Rebreather and open circuit but be warned, gas prices can be expensive if you are doing deep mixed gas OC diving. Recreational divers are also well covered and many of the wrecks are well within recreational depths. Like the Truk Stop Dive Center, the Blue Lagoon can also carry out recreational and technical dive training if you want to learn or just brush up your skills.
Diving there is similar to Truk Stop and the use of twin outboard small skiffs with a max of about 6 divers a guide and a boatman. With the number of skiffs, they also try to limit the numbers going to any one wreck so you very rarely have a large number of people diving with you. The resort is also much closer to the main anchorages where most of the ships were sunk so the boat rides are much shorter, sometimes only a few minutes and rarely longer than 30 minutes.
Well, that's about it for now Hivers next time I'll cover some of the diving and start looking at some of the famous wrecks of Truk Lagoon. I really can't wait to get back diving there but that is probably going to be next year now.
I think perhaps I could only afford to stay on the boats in the last photo and only if nobody knew I was in one
I'm sure you would love the diving there, perfect place for old school twin hose
it's getting close to beer times
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