Liveaboard Tips - Chu'uk Odyssey

[mjh]

You will have a great time. There is a trip report (with suggestions), gallery and multi-media show at our website Aquablue Dreams. If we had to do again I would get on a opposite schedule as most of my fellow shipmates. Sit out the first dive and go in when they start coming out. That way you have the wrecks and guides to yourself.

 

[RJP]

Arrive in Chuuk a few days early if you can - if only to rest up before boarding the boat. I arrived on Friday AM and just lounged about that day and then dove Saturday and Sunday with Blue Lagoon Resort (where the Odyssey moors up) and really enjoyed it. See my review here...

Truk Blue Lagoon Resort (Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia) - Hotel Reviews - TripAdvisor

 

[ncchuck]

All good advice given thus far. I lived on the island for 4 months and my adivce is be careful and don't do anything you are not comfortable doing. Some dives are potentially really deep. You can have a great time at most wrecks at 110 feet or less and many at 60 to 80 feet. Without a computer, some of your dives will only be a few minutes. I wouldn't consider diving there without one and never saw a diver without one. As suggested, many people carry two. Get one, learn to use it, practice with it, set alarms and enjoy this unique place. The wrecks are crumbling quickly and most won't be nearly as interesting in another 20 years or so.

 

[scubafanatic]

Make sure your equipments are in good working order & bring some spare parts. The boat doesn't have rental gear although they got tool box for basic repairs.
Enjoy your trip!

....interesting that the boat doesn't even offer rental gear.....yeah I know the typical diver profile for this trip is 'hardcore' and it's par for the course that any diver 'up' for this will have all their own.......with lots of 'tech' stuff......and probably expensive gear too.......that being said, the airlines/puddle-jumpers grow ever more 'hostile' to 'excessive' weight......with high fees or even flat out max weight limits at any price...so I'm wondering for those travelers who might even just want the option of renting gear on the boat, aren't at least offered that option, due to the airlines policies ?

 

[deepstops]

....interesting that the boat doesn't even offer rental gear.....yeah I know the typical diver profile for this trip is 'hardcore' and it's par for the course that any diver 'up' for this will have all their own.......with lots of 'tech' stuff......and probably expensive gear too.......that being said, the airlines/puddle-jumpers grow ever more 'hostile' to 'excessive' weight......with high fees or even flat out max weight limits at any price...so I'm wondering for those travelers who might even just want the option of renting gear on the boat, aren't at least offered that option, due to the airlines policies ?

We're talking about Chuuk and as far as I know, the island is served by a single airline (Continental Micronesia) using modern 737s. Unless you've over-packed, the only open circuit divers that can't make the weight restrictions are pretty much the photographers.

 

[RJP]

We're talking about Chuuk and as far as I know, the island is served by a single airline (Continental Micronesia) using modern 737s. Unless you've over-packed, the only open circuit divers that can't make the weight restrictions are pretty much the photographers.

Yeah, I went in the spring and flying first-class was allowed three seventy-five pound bags. Hell, I could have brought my own TANKS if I wanted!

 

[ncchuck]

Before I stick my foot in my mouth, I'd like to know what akdeepdiver means when he talks about a computer going dead versus waiting for a system to clear. If a computer needs clearing, it would seem that someone made a mistake. Diving again ignoring the computer results would seem to be a potentially dangerous proposition. Assuming the backup computer was also on the same dive and is not needing any sort of adjustment, that probably makes things a little safer but I'd still wonder what happened.
I tend to agree that DECO is not necessarily a bad thing, but 50 dives is not a lot of experience to begin with. Just make sure you really understand the DECO theory as well as your computer. This is rarely taught even in advanced classes. If you can't take any classes on Deco diving, at least do some substantial reading and practice exercises. Some dives in the lagoon where you enter a deco situation can mean sitting in open water for several minutes at various depths doing absolutely nothing and that's something a lot of divers have never done. I'm not trying to scare you but please realize this diving can be much deeper than you are used too. You'll love the wrecks and want to stay and enjoy them but pay attention to your computer(s).
Fortunately, most of the wrecks can be enjoyed at depths of 80 to 110 feet. As long as you have decent air consumtion, you should have a great time.
Enjoy the wrecks while they are still in decent condition. They are deteriorating quickly.

 

[akdeepdiver]

Dead: When your computer goes legs up. I.E. - Battery dies, computer floods, someone drops a weight on it. Ect. On our trip we had one person that had the computer battery die mid dive. They only had one computer, so to be safe they had to sit out of the water for 24 hours.

 

[JackConnick]

Mine amped out after 2 deco dives one morning. It had me on the hang bar for 30 mins at 10' with no intermediate stops, even though I did them anyways. It's brand was "Oceaxxc". I had a nice nap, cleared it and it actually behaved itself afterwards. Then completely died when I got home.

So yeah, it happens.

 

[Kevrumbo]

We're talking about Chuuk and as far as I know, the island is served by a single airline (Continental Micronesia) using modern 737s. Unless you've over-packed, the only open circuit divers that can't make the weight restrictions are pretty much the photographers.

Tech Divers can't make weight as well:
28kg and 22kg for the check-in baggage; and 15kg for the carry-on backpack, of which 8kg mass is in five regulators 1st & 2nd stages with brass spg's . . .(I just got burned $100 on overweight baggage charges)

btw, the wrecks are showing current signs of instability and collapse: Kiyosumi Maru --lying on port side, the bridge superstructure is splitting away from the hull; Fujikawa Maru --superstructure main support columns inside engine room showing fresh large cracks & fissures; San Francisco Maru --stern poop deck has fallen/pancaked down into hull; rotted crates of hemispherical mines in hold #1 about to fall into lower 'tween decks with potential detonator explosion (i.e. you don't want to be floating underneath them on a dive. . .)