Reef Fish <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
(snips)

> I've always HEARD wonderful things about diving Truk, but I've not yet
> found a wreck that I liked (of the dozens ... in Palau, the Cayman
> Islands, the Virgin Islands, Barbados, Bahamas, Aruba, etc., etc.,
> and the supposedly 'one of the best' Eagle wreck in the Florida
> Keys).  I guess I just have an inate dislike of diving for inanimate
> objects compared to animate objects, especially the LARGE fishees
> like sharks, rays, etc.

Whilst I've never been as specific about what I want to dive, I can
understand your point of view. I can even more readily understand that
there is no wall to gradually go up on those deeper dives on a
shipwreck - most are not near a wall.

I was in Truk (on the Thorfinn in my case) in October '92 and did 43
dives ranging in max depth from 11.6 metres (38 ft - the Sutsuki) to
50.6 metres (164 ft - both the Aikoku Maru and San Francisco Maru)
which, I believe, are the deepest wrecks there regularly dived. In
both the latter instances the maximum depth can be greater than that
if you really want, but then you're on the sand rather than on the
deck. Deck beats sand pretty well most of the time.

My observation on Truk (I totally share Wade's enthusiasm) is that it
is the soft coral capital of the world. Stands to reason, it's a
lagoon and so very protected. Against that, there are virtually no
pelagics in the lagoon although I was told that the surrounding reef
is pretty good. IIRC I saw one shark in the lagoon - fleetingly,
pretty small.

Wade, does the Aggressor still tie into the wrecks or are they now
buoyed? I'd imagine that they've finally got around to buoying them?
I'd also imagine that the locals have finally stopped dynamiting?

It was interesting to go back to my Log Book of that time. It made me
realise that the times I (later) dived PNG wrecks, most were
significantly deeper than those of Truk. In PNG I averaged 54.6 metres
(179 ft) on four consecutive dives (two days) on the S'Jacob where the
deco is almost, maybe even more so, as wonderful as the wreck because
of all the schooling fish around the (underwater) buoy. My Log Book
says "Deco: Clouds of Batfish, Columns of Jacks, Huge School of
Barracuda, sharks (guitar?) circling on patrol and a particularly
inquisitive black and yellow banded sea snake". I then achieved (?)
71.2 metres (233.5ft - and got a not bad shot of Roger at that depth)
on the Yokohama Maru near Lae. However in PNG you also have all those
wonderful reefs.

At one point on one of the trips (I didn't log it), Barbarian tied
stern to PNG and bow out at a spot they'd never been before (it was
Barbarian's first Lae to Alotau trip and we were in "foreign", read
Alotau, territory). I would have done about four consecutive hours in
less than 7 metres of water (23 ft) and only surfaced to change film
and tanks, mostly film and I promise I didn't swim far at all - no
need. Eventually they dragged me, kicking and screaming, back aboard
and kept me there because we had other places to go, things to see. I
will never forget those dives, it was just awesome stuff.

Sorry, seems I'm getting a little carried away.

Cheers,

Christian