TRUK and YAP in March

[pilot fish]

I'm in the process of firming up a trip to Truk & Yap for this March. I plan on staying at Blue Lagoon on Truk 8 nights, and diving with them, and Manta Ray on Yap 6 nights and diving with them. I did a search and read thru some of the posts on the Board about these islands and hotels and see some positive and negative stuff, mostly positive. Any additional stuff you guys could provide would be greatly appreciated.

It's a once in a life time trip for me so I'd like to maximize it, if I can. I have great reverance and interest in WWII stuff so this trip has an added bonus for me. I fear that while on Truk for 8 days, doing only two dives a day, I'll get a bit buggy. Is there ever a third dive? I think I'll have less of a problem on Yap since I'm meeting a friend there.

Oh, do I need special innoculation? I'm from the US

 

[CARHILL]

While in Truk (Chuuk) I would do a liveaboard 4 to 5 dives perday. The island dosent have much to see, Just some old guns in bunkers islad is very run down.
Yap is great good beer at Manta Ray Bay.

Dale
Still on a little rock in the Pacific

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

After your first dive at Truk you are going to realise that 2 dives a day isn't going to be enough. The wreaks are fantastic, and some are still great after 2-3 dives.

Theres absolutely zip all to do above surface (bring a good book or two) so the idea of doing nothing all afternoon with all those wreaks waiting out there isn’t going to be fun.

The 2 dive limit sounds strange: maybe recheck with blue lagoon. When I dived with Truk Stop a few years back I did 3 dives a day, while the live aboards allow you to dive you heart out.

Hep A, Hep B and Tetanus jabs are always useful to have. Theres no malaria or JE. Typhoid is recommended for Micronesia –but personally I think you only really need it if you are going to be eating and drinking off the beaten track. There good info here

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Scared Silly]

I will second that ... there is very little to do on Chuuk. You do not even really want to be out at night in the town area. The Blue Lagoon Resort is nice enough but they did not have any TV reception when we were there in May.

The Dive guys at Blue Lagoon were very nice. I would bet that you can get more than two dives a day with them. We did two one day with them before getting on the Odyssey. If you want to maximize your diving a live-a-board is the only way to go. While Blue Lagoon will be great, your butt is going to be sore from the long rides out to the wrecks.

 

[pilot fish]

Thank you guys for the great info. After reading this I'm rethinking 8 nights on Truk. Maybe I should do the reverse of my plans and do just 6 nights on Truk and 8 on YAP? Not liking what I'm hearing about Truk. It seems that it might not be worth the long trip there from US?

Is Palau a better place, all around, than Truk? Maybe Palau and Yap, rather than Truk and Yap?

 

[pilot fish]

I will second that ... there is very little to do on Chuuk. You do not even really want to be out at night in the town area. The Blue Lagoon Resort is nice enough but they did not have any TV reception when we were there in May.

The Dive guys at Blue Lagoon were very nice. I would bet that you can get more than two dives a day with them. We did two one day with them before getting on the Odyssey. If you want to maximize your diving a live-a-board is the only way to go. While Blue Lagoon will be great, your butt is going to be sore from the long rides out to the wrecks.

How long are the rides out to the wrecks ?This is starting to sound grueling: long rides to wrecks, no TV reception, unfriendly island, don't go into town at night. hmmm, maybe Palau instead of Yap?

 

[sharkbait13]

friend and i are doing truk yap kosrai and palau in april and yes we are def. doing a liveaboard in truk where we can maximize our diving up to 5 dives a day if we want too bad about that nitrogen formation heh?

 

[pilot fish]

That sounds like a great trip, heh. When you travel alone liveaboards mean sharing a cabin with a stranger or renting a cabin alone, which means twice the price.
Can anyone speak about Palau's strong points, vs Truk's?

friend and i are doing truk yap kosrai and palau in april and yes we are def. doing a liveaboard in truk where we can maximize our diving up to 5 dives a day if we want too bad about that nitrogen formation heh?

 

[Scared Silly]

Pilot Fish, the ride from Blue Lagoon out to Yamigiri Maru was 15 minutes. We also did "shark island" which is a really cool as it is a shark cleaning station. This was about a 25 minute ride. There was a bit of chop and the boat bounced so after 20 minutes I was done. But given that it was one day I could deal with it.

I guess this is my take for 3-4 days I would go land based. If you have a week live-a-board is much better. I would say give both the Odyssey and Thorfin a call and see what they have available you never know.

As for Truk versus Palau - not sure but Palau is on my list of places to visit.

 

[+Jon+]

I have recently dived both truk and palau on liveaboards and loved both. Truk is VERY diffrent from palau, truk is all wrecks as you probably know *doh* but the soft and hard coral growth on the wrecks is fantastic, if you dont own a underwater camera buy one both places offer great photo ops i did 78 dives in total for the trip, dived my brains out and loved every second....dont worry about the room thing if you go on the thorfinn your almost certain to get your own room, its a big ship and hes not to busy, i was with 1 other for the whole time i was there, in palau i shared a room with a american, which was ok the only time youre in the room is to sleep so i dont see the problem....youre there to dive and sleep after all.
hope you have a great trip. chuuk is amazing