Chuuk 2012

[aue-mike]

Recently returned from my second trip to Chuuk. While I was primarily shooting stills, I did manage to capture some video of the shallower wrecks on my little Contour HD camera. I mainly put this together to refresh my video editing tool set...
For those not on Facebook, I will be adding a bunch of still images to the AUE website in the next few days. I fortunately got some nice shots of the deeper wrecks like the AIKOKU and OITE...

Shipwrecks of "Operation Hailstone" - Truk Lagoon - YouTube

Cheers,
Mike
KCDO!

 

[Kevrumbo]

Very nice Mike! For those of you always wanting to see the famous Truk Lagoon Wrecks as they are, the time to go is now. . .!!!

Just finished watching again the 1969 documentary episode, "Lagoon of Lost Ships", from the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau DVD set, about the re-discovery of the WWII wrecks of Truk Lagoon . . .and seeing how "pristine" they were to dive on just over 40 years ago.

I've been going to Chuuk every year since 2007 (returning again this Oct '12), and in those four years even I have noticed the wrecks rapidly deteriorating condition. They're all nearly 70 years old, and according to veteran dive guides (like Chenny over at Blue Lagoon Dive Ops), they are in the end stage of final collapse and are becoming very treacherous to penetrate --they won't be intact much longer beyond ten years from now.

 

[aue-mike]

Agreed. The wrecks looked quite a bit different than our last trip in 2008, with a lot more collapsed areas and ambient light trickling into the engine rooms and other interior spaces. It's not just Truk though, as many of the WWII wrecks are reaching critical mass and dramatically collapsing here in the States too (e.g., Florida, North Carolina, etc.). It's inevitable I suppose....

 

[Doubler]

Great video Mike. Got the wife and I pumped up for our 25 March Oddysea charter.

 

[TSandM]

Beautiful video, and the music is perfect. I really appreciated the quick sidebar of the periscope -- to me, wrecks are often uninteresting because I don't recognize what I'm looking at, so when folks do things like that in their videos, it adds to the enjoyment enormously for me.

The ending sequence, with the gauges and then the small fish and haunting music, really conveyed the sadness of the ship's death.

Very well done.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Beautiful video, and the music is perfect. I really appreciated the quick sidebar of the periscope -- to me, wrecks are often uninteresting because I don't recognize what I'm looking at, so when folks do things like that in their videos, it adds to the enjoyment enormously for me.

The ending sequence, with the gauges and then the small fish and haunting music, really conveyed the sadness of the ship's death.

Very well done.

Yes . . .Periscopes! (on the submarine tender Heian Maru). . .

Cruising the Companionway at 50' deep. . . - - ScubaBoard Gallery

 

[aue-mike]

I have finally added some still images to the AUE website:
AUE: ASSOCIATION OF UNDERWATER EXPLORERS

Cheers,
Mike

 

[jketron]

What is the best way to experience Chuuk, live-a-board or stay on the island? I've never been there and I want to go bad

 

[Kevrumbo]

Best recreational tour is with a liveaboard (Truk Odyssey) with 3 to 5 dives per day;
Best technical support for mixed gas deco diving is the land-based Truk Stop Hotel. . .

Checkout this four-part news piece "Ghost Ships of Truk Lagoon" from ABC San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area affiliate KGO from 1986 (excellent historical report & interesting archival film on Truk wreck diving from 25 years ago):

Ghost Ships Of Truk Lagoon Part 1 of 4 - YouTube