Can Rec divers enjoy Truk ?

[Chuck S]

I'm thinking of diving Truk but the more posts I read makes me think Truk will be a disappointment. I would like to stay on a liveaboard but I don't want to limit myself or other divers by my Recreational status. I'm Advanced cert. and I was planing on taking a Nitrox class but it sounds like that wont help. Some of the posts are saying 160-180' dives on 100 cuft tanks are possible for "Touch Dives" but would'nt that be the end of the day? How do the Liveaboards work, do the guides help with dive plans, can I trust my computer to keep track of NDC limits or Deco stops? I was hoping to use the Odyssey and I realize the wait is long but if I find an opening I want to be ready to go. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.....

 

[paddler3d]

I just looked at Odyssey's website and looked at the dive site. They range in 35' to 200'. Almost all of the ones listed are somehow diveable at 100'. An AL80 may make for a short dive, but doable. 100' dives are the norm for NC. If they have AL100's, all the better.

Nitrox is always a good cert to have and you could dive EAN32 out there, no problem.

Before Nitrox, I'd make sure you have some deep diving experience.

You can trust your computer to do the math for you to track your NDL and any deco obligations.

If you don't know how to manage your gas though, that could be the making of a disaster.

So great, you've got 8minutes of 'deco', but do you know how to calculate if you have enough gas to do that? I'd worry more about learning that!

Also, I wouldn't put sole trust in any Guide or any Divemaster. No 'trust me dives'.

I would love to go there one day!

 

[Gatorshark]

Speaking from experience, Truk is definitely divable and enjoyable by a non-tec diver. I dove with Blue Lagoon and they had two boats running, one with Tec divers, the other with non tec divers on the 3 days I was there.

On a side note I would definitely suggest Truk via liveaboard. The topside non diving activities on Chuuk are EXTREMELY limited, though the people are friendly!

I personally would look at Palau if your spending the money to get out to this region. Palau, IMHO is unbeatable dive experience with a ton of stuff to do topside

 

[NCadiver]

I used the Odyssey and most of the divers were in the recreation level. 65 to 130ft just make sure you are not on a tech trip then their will be deeper and longer dives. Do get your nitrox cert it will help with your bottom time, they were using 28% mix and they have a hang bottle as well. For the San Francisco Maru I used air and carried a 50% mix. The other half of our group went to the Betty bomber a swallower dive.

Bring a second computer just incase but you do need a computer. The guides will help you and they will be diving with you. If you want a 100cu just ask for one and they will set you up.

As paddler3d said get some deep diving experience it will help.

Ship Name Highlights Length Depth Range
Fujikawa Maru Lush coral growth. Zero airplane fuselages and wing sections. 439’ 0’-120’
Yamagiri Maru 18" diameter artillery shells of Battleship Musashi. 437’ 60’-120’
Nippo Maru 2 man tank and artillery guns on deck. Photogenic wheelhouse. 353’ 50’-150’
Heian Maru Torpedoes and submarine telescopes. Massive size. 510’ 35’-100’
Sankisan Maru Lush soft coral growth on mast. Machine gun ammunition in hold. 200’ 0’-100’
Hoki Maru Trucks, bulldozer and tractor in hold. Massive destruction of bow. 250’ 45’-150’
Unkai Maru Photogenic bow gun. Good coral growth on masts. 360’ 30’-130’
Rio de Janiero Maru Awesome size. Photogenic propellers. Large engine room. 461’ 40’-120’
Hanakawa Maru Lush soft and hard coral growth. 363’ 10’-100’
Fumitzuki Destroyer Bow and stern guns, torpedo launcher. 320’ 80’-120’
Betty Bomber Japanese small twin engine bomber. 60’ 50’-60’
Momokawa Maru Aircraft parts, truck frames and artillery shells. 380’ 80’-150’
Shinkoku Maru Lush coral growth. Fantastic marine life. Excellent engine room. 500’ 30’-130’
Aikoku Maru Massive destruction of bow. Photogenic stern gun. 270’ 100’-200’
San Francisco Maru Tanks on deck. Trucks, mines, bombs and ammunition in holds. 375’ 160’-200’

 

[Warren_L]

I spent a week aboard the Odyssey as well, and I would agree that there is lots to see in the recreational range, though there are some really cool wrecks to see in the tech range which you would not be able to do if you stick strictly to recreational depths. You should make sure that you are not with a tech group as they will generally want to do the deeper stuff.

I do find that the Odyssey was not the best for technical range diving as they did not have helium (unless they changed their policy recently). This meant that tech dives would be run on relatively higher narcotic mixes (air) which I personally do not like. Nonetheless, there are lots of wrecks that will go down below recreational limits, but still have lots to see within recreational range as well. But if you do get a spot on the Odyssey, that would be a great way to do Truk. I spent a week after the Odyssey at Truk Stop, which was ok, but definitely a lot more work hauling gear back and forth.

For topside stuff, there really isn't a whole lot to do. We did an island tour which we did in a few hours one afternoon.

 

[denniscloutier]

We just got back from a week aboard the Thorfinn. We did push our depth limit a little farther than we strictly should have by going down to about 140'. However, on all but one or two dives you could have stayed above 130', and usually shallower than that. We stayed out of deco the whole time as we were not trained for it, but most of the other divers were doing small amounts of deco. Obviously the bottom times were pretty short on the deeper dives. We were on AL80s and air was never the issue on the deep dives. The computers were telling us to go up well before we got short on air.

There was a real tendency for most of the divers to do do "trust me" dives by doing penetrations etc., but there was always an option to avoid them, fortunately.

So, we definitely enjoyed ourselves as recreational divers. I'll second (or third or whatever) the comments about nitrox. We couldn't use it on the first dive as it was the deep dive, but it definitely made it easier to avoid deco on the later dives in the day.

Our trip was Chuuk, Yap and Palau. Palau was great, but we enjoyed the week in Chuuk the most of the three.

Hope that helps.

 

[TheCanuck]

Interesting, I was just wondering the same thing.

 

[Chuck S]

Thanks to all for the quick replies! This is just what I'm looking for. I'm getting more excited with each post !!

 

[MurkyRockDiver]

We just got back from a week aboard the Thorfinn. We did push our depth limit a little farther than we strictly should have by going down to about 140'. We were on AL80s and air was never the issue on the deep dives. The computers were telling us to go up well before we got short on air.

Maybe I misunderstood you and I did chop this quote up to make my point but are you saying you went to 140' on an AL 80.

If so I would not be giving that advice to anyone.

If you or your buddy was to have a failure you were both in major trouble to say the least. Single tank diving to non-recreational depths with no deco training is asking for an accident.

I for one will not dive an AL 80 past 80 feet, my rule of thumb is to not pass the cubic feet value in feet of sea water. But that's me.

 

[Krazytomdiver]

I agree with "Gatorshark" If you are going all that distance,dive Palau. There's five or six easy wrecks,plus the best dive sites IMHO in the world. Ulong Channel is magestic,Blue Holes/Corner world class,Peleliu Cut/Express mindblowing. Koror is not a big partytown but it's super clean & safe. I'm not much of a wreck diver or liveaboard junkie but as a ex-dive guide in Palau (500+ dives) it's no.1 in my 30+ tropical island guiding experience.

"living life without a hard bottom"
KT