The others I requested were the Suzuki- smaller, somewhat crushed and shallow, not much on it to see although it's got an interesting location atop a steep reef, you can swim down the hill to depths of about 75' to the sand, from about 45' at the lowest point of the wreck at the stern, and find wreckage that's made it's way down the embankment over time. One of only a few Japanese Zeros made a nice surface interval between dives. And it's free! They recommended snorkeling it. No WAY. Use what's left in your tank from dive 1, I had 500 psi, breathed it down to 150 psi and had a nice 20 minute dive on it in depths of about 25', it sits upside down and is mostly covered with corals on a beautiful hard coral reef but again hardly any fish. The Momokawa Maru- similar to many of the wrecks we did on Odyssey. A cargo ship laying on its side, with deep holds with some ammo and artifacts retrieved and placed on the deck by other divers including lanterns and bottles.
My favorites of the trip were:
Kensho Maru- Between BL and Odyssey I dived this wreck 3x. But if I had to dive a wreck 3x this would be one of them. Massive open engine room with catwalks and lots of gauges and artifacts to see.
Shinoku Maru. This was my favorite dive as it has everything. Lots of artifacts, and a long penetration through the stern where a torpedo blew a hole creating awesome damage that is easy for a diver to visualize and get a feeling for what it was like on the day of the Allied bombing of Truk Lagoon in February 1944. This penetration must be done with a dive guide, we were deep inside the wreck on multiple levels, left and right turns, U-turns, etc far beyond the reach of ambient light. In addition, the bow is covered with beautiful hard corals, sea anemones and more fish than any other wreck although again marine life is mostly large schools of tiny fish. Makes for a good night dive- in fact it's the only wreck of the week that was worth doing a night dive on.
You cannot penetrate these wrecks at night, because if you do, you can easily get disoriented and trapped. Once inside a hold or a compartment it's literally impossible to know which way is out, there is no ambient light to guide you and the exit looks no different than a corridor to a more interior space. I asked one of the guides about using a wreck reel, the answer was "they don't do that here" but no good reason was provided. I suppose there's nothing from stopping you. Anyway, since no penetration, if there's no marine life or pretty corals, it's not worth doing a night dive on most wrecks. Again my opinion, but it's largely shared by the Odyssey crew and most divers opted to do a "dusk to night" dive before dinner, if they did one at all.
Heian Maru- the largest weck in the Lagoon. I found my one and only skull! I went on this trip hoping to see all sorts of bones, skeletons, skulls, etc. The whole idea of looking at remains is now frowned upon by the guides, despite countless books, magazines and websites showing numerous photos, it's suddenly considered disrespectful so they won't point them out even if they're right there in front of you. Plus the Japanese have removed most of them, and the ones that are left are either in hard to find places or they're buried in silt, or they've deteriorated beyond recognition. So you put all this together, and you can lower your expectations about seeing a bunch of skeletons. On this wreck as I said there was a skull in the engine room, and it was literally fused to the metal it was sitting on (please don't ask me how I know this), thats probably why it's still there.
Hoki Maru- Despite being a deep and relatively short dive in rather tight easily silted compartments, the old trucks parked against the bulkheads as well as a bulldozer and other machinery are really cool to see. You want to be the first group on this particular wreck even if it means bribing the crew.
Don't forget there's a "cash only" $30 per person Truk Airport departure tax so bring a few bucks, Truk is US territory and uses US dollars. I didn't know that and had to ask the Odyssey Captain to help us with a Credit Card/Cash exchange so we wouldn't be held hostage on Truk.
To summarize my experience, I'd say that Odyssey is good for first timers who have no clue about which wrecks to dive, who want the convenience and all inclusive aspects of a liveaboard, and who seek a more educational, historical experience, who are in large groups traveling together, those who like or require the ease and convenience of easy in and out of the water, and especially tech divers who will require extra tanks and special gas mixes that would drive up the dive prices at BL, if they can even get everything they need there.
Blue Lagoon may be better suited for returning divers who might prefer to pick their own sites the next time around, who might not want to do 20+ dives in less than 6 full days, who travel with non divers or those who won't dive much, and who travel in smaller groups, who prefer to dive on uncrowded wrecks and who may want or need to save a few bucks.
