vjongene
Contributor
This is a belated report on a trip I took in June-July last year (2011) on the SS Thorfinn. Most of the relevant information is in the attached PDF, which I wrote as a kind of logbook during the long hours when the ship was going nowhere. Here is the short-short version:
I booked this very expensive ($8000) cruise on the expectation that we would be visiting many out-of-the-way Micronesian islands and dive pristine and unexplored reefs, on a comfortable ship. The cruise was to start in Palau and end in Chuuk. The reality was that the ship was in no shape to undertake such a long voyage, that we started in Yap, that we visited a limited number of islands because of idiotic FSM Govt rules, that the reefs were for the most part in abominably poor shape, and we spent most of our time stopped at sea or cruising at low speed instead of diving. The only saving grace was that we were offered reduced rate diving in Chuuk lagoon at the end of the cruise, and that i had had the foresight to push back my return flight by three days to take advantage of it (several of my dive buddies had not).
The lesson (if any): you may want to dive from the Thorfinn when it is anchored in Chuuk Lagoon, but make sure that you do leave the ship before it sails out of there.
Happy reading,
Victor
I booked this very expensive ($8000) cruise on the expectation that we would be visiting many out-of-the-way Micronesian islands and dive pristine and unexplored reefs, on a comfortable ship. The cruise was to start in Palau and end in Chuuk. The reality was that the ship was in no shape to undertake such a long voyage, that we started in Yap, that we visited a limited number of islands because of idiotic FSM Govt rules, that the reefs were for the most part in abominably poor shape, and we spent most of our time stopped at sea or cruising at low speed instead of diving. The only saving grace was that we were offered reduced rate diving in Chuuk lagoon at the end of the cruise, and that i had had the foresight to push back my return flight by three days to take advantage of it (several of my dive buddies had not).
The lesson (if any): you may want to dive from the Thorfinn when it is anchored in Chuuk Lagoon, but make sure that you do leave the ship before it sails out of there.
Happy reading,
Victor