We had originally arranged for two dives a day, but after our first two this morning we were hooked. We knew that each wreck had its own personality and stories. So, we signed on for the afternoon dive, our third dive for our first day.
After our first two dives, we returned to the resort by 1pm, stripped off our wet suits, hung them in the dive lockers, rushed to the room, had a quick (cold--one downside, not much hot water) shower, a quick lunch, put our swim suits back on, returned to the dive lockers and put on our wet wet suits. We were off again by 2:30.
Some interesting observations we made during our first two dives:
In the US and elsewhere in the world Dive Masters are required to provide a pre-dive briefing before any divers enter the water. The briefing includes the dive depths, probable bottom times, an orientation of the dive site and a review of the underwater hand signals. Its a bit different here. Once we reached the dive site, our Dive Master, Namy, would put on his mask, jump in the water, locate the buoy which is generally 5-10" under water, tie the boat and come up to tell us how deep the wreck sits and which way we would swim. That was it, we were on our own!
None of the wrecks are marked with surface buoys. The dive guides just seem to have an uncanny sense of their location. There is no such thing as a GPS. Additionally, there is no such thing as a VHF radio, life vests or any safety equipment except one styrofoam float ring.
Namy, whose full name is Namason Aisek, is the nephew of Kimiuo Aisek, the founder of the resort and dive operation. Namy has been diving these wrecks for 24 years. He dives with no weight belt, rarely wears a wet suit and has no inflatable BC (dive vest). Just Namy, his air tank and a mask.
For our second dive he chose the HEIAN MARU, a former luxury liner cargo ship converted for military use as a submarine tender. It is 510' long and sits in 120' of water. We saw a photo of it in some old black & white photos taken before the war. It was a beautiful ship. Now it is the Lagoon's largest wreck. She gained fame in the 1970's when Jacques Cousteau showed her off on TV with her Japanese name and English name still visible on the bow. Today only a potion of the English lettering is visible. There are numerous visible submarine parts including a disassembled periscope obviously being transported (the corresponding photo is not real clear) and there is a photo of the long passenger corridor that made a great swim-thru. It had a huge propeller and a moss covered landing platform.
We entered the water at 3:14, and stayed down for 44 minutes reaching a maximum depth of 79'.
These ships are fascinating. I can't wait to see more. I only wish we knew more about the history of each. We do know that over 2000 Japanese sailors, 150 Truk civilians and 30 US service men lost their lives. For years after the raid, the remains of the Japanese were left untouched in their resting places. In 1984, the bones of the Japanese were collected and the families of those who died, came to the Lagoon to have a massive memorial during which they cremated all the remains.
Our first day was a real education. We took lots of photos so, after surfacing, showering and changing, it was time to get the photos from the camera into the iPad. Unfortunately, I can only show a few of these on the blog.
Great diving!
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