I got home 4 days ago from 3 days diving out of Blue Lagoon Resort and then 2 weeks from the Odyssey.
Blue Lagoon Resort:
It has changed in the last year I(based on things I was told about BLR). At least one of the buildings was totally renovated. My room there was nice, spacious, with a nice bathroom, and yes, the bed did have a mattress. It was on the thin side and very firm, but it was not a box spring as some had led me to expect - it felt pretty much the same as the mattress I had later, on Odyssey. The shower had hot water. Wifi in my room, the lobby, and the dining room were all good. The Wifi did not extend to the dive shop.
CCR support at the dive shop was good. They had sorb, 3L steel cylinders for my rEvo, and BO cylinders in 40 and 80 sizes. And they had a dedicated room with plenty of workbench space where I could do all my work on my CCR and leave it in between dives. I don't know for SURE that they have trimix, as I only did relatively shallow dives with them, but I think they did.
The guides were good and after the first day (which boiled down to checkout dives), my buddy and I had a guide and a boat to ourselves and did some great engine room penetrations.
The dining room and bar at BLR were pretty much my only options for eating and drinks. No other restaurants anywhere nearby to the resort. The dining room and bar are only open certain hours - a window for breakfast, a window for lunch, and then a window for dinner. The food was pretty good. The prices were in USD and about the same as I'd expect to pay in a mid-level restaurant at home.
We dived the Nippo, Kiyosumi, Shinkoku, Fujikawa, Rio de Janeiro, and Kensho. (all Maru) None of the skiff rides were long enough to seem bothersome - but then, I've done a lot of NC diving with 90 - 120 minute boat rides, so take that for what it's worth. The guides and boat drivers were very accommodating. After the last dive of the last day, they drove us in the skiff from the dive site to where the Odyssey was docked, so we could transfer our (wet) dive gear directly onto the Odyssey, then drove us in the skiff back to BLR to clean up and check out, then take the Odyssey shuttle back to Odyssey.
I am told that getting a guide and boat for just myself and my buddy is a total gamble at BLR. We had it because they were not all that busy and we were CCR divers - the only ones apart from a group of 5 or 6 that were together and always had their own boat and guide just for them. I'm told that if I go back, it could just as easily be the case that the BLR dive shop was running at max capacity (of customers) and we would be on a skiff with several other divers (of varying ability), one guide, and be limitied to the least common denominator of diver skill and experience. The SAFEST bet for diving at BLR would be going as part of a group of 4 to 6, so you could reasonably expect to have a boat just for you, even if the shop were very busy.
Odyssey:
My first week on Odyssey was a "recreational" week. The second week was a "tech" week. I only had to get off the boat once, on the Saturday between the two weeks, for 3 hours or so, while they cleaned the rooms, re-stocked ship's stores, and a few rec divers left to be replaced by the same number of tech divers. They took us in the Odyssey shuttles to the nearby L5 hotel to hang out and have lunch during that time, then brought us back to the boat.
The diving was great, of course. There were 16 guests on board and 6 or so staff that worked as guides. They divided up the guests into 4 groups of 4 and each group had a guide assigned to them for each dive. You could choose to dive with a guide, or do your own thing. I dived solo for probably half the tech dives. I went with my team's guide for all the dives where we planned an engine room penetration. That meant, for every penetration, it was a guide plus the 4 members of my team. I have to say that was not as nice as being with a guide and only 1 other diver, as I was for my 2nd and 3rd days with BLR. When not needing a guide for a penetration, I prefered to go solo so I could shoot photos without worrying about anyone else.
Solo diving was really nice. The only limitiation they put on us was, IF the boat was going to move after the dive, they would tell us what time we needed to be out of the water. Otherwise, I could basically splash whenever I wanted and stay down as long as I wanted.
The Odyssey food was good. The bar was stocked with Sapporo, Modelo, and Heineken, for beers, as well as a full array of decent well-brand liquor. E.g. they had Cuervo Gold, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Jack Daniels, etc.. I think there was vodka, Scotch, and light and dark (Bacardi) rum also. And there was a full complement of various types of soda, sparkling water (including flavored ones), and diet lemonade and fruit punch.
My cabin was fine. Not "big", but I didn't feel cramped, either. My roommate and I had our own bathroom, which was also not "big", but not cramped.
The boat motored everywhere, so I never got into a skiff once I boarded Odyssey. All the diving was straight off the boat and down to the wreck. Odyssey has a diver's lift - i.e. an elevator - that was AWESOME for getting out of the water. It was also really nice for getting in when I needed to clip on a couple of AL80s for bail out and deco. They would lower us on the lift until the water was up to our waist, and then pass us our cylinders to clip on. If we wanted. You could do it on the boat, if you wanted. Or just splash and clip them on fully in the water. Whatever you wanted to do.
The Odyssey has Starlink for Wifi, but you can only get a signal in the dining area - not in any of the cabins or other decks. The speed and latency were good. But, it also meant that every meal was a whole lot of people sitting there on their phones/tablets/laptops, because those were the only times they could catch up on email or make VoIP phone calls (e.g. Facetime, etc.).
My AT&T cell phone did not work anywhere in Chuuk and I don't think anyone else's US-based phone worked either. I believe I could have purchased a local SIM to use, but I didn't find a need for that. Hotel and Odyssey wifi were sufficient for my needs.
Thorfinn:
I haven't been on it. But, the comments other people have posted reflect what I heard while I was over there. We passed the Thorfinn several times. It never moved while we were there and I was told that it never does move and that the engine is actually dead.
I cannot imagine why anyone would choose to live on the Thorfinn for a week and be taken to every dive site in a skiff when you could stay at BLR and also be taken to every dive site in a skiff, but have much higher quality surface time in between dives. Especially at night. And maybe have better dives, too, if you are able or luck into having a whole skiff for just your guide and 1 buddy.
Summary:
If you're going to be on Odyssey, I would suggest arriving on Friday and getting yourself a room at the L5 hotel for the night, to board the boat on Saturday afternoon.
Or, you can arrive even earlier (as I did) and stay at BLR and dive with them until it's time to get on Odyssey.
If you're going to dive with BLR, then you can arrive whenever and go straight there, of course.
Almost everyone spoke English. Mostly pretty well, but I did have one dive guide at BLR that really did not speak or understand English very well at all.
Prices everywhere were marked in US Dollars and that was the only currency I saw in use. Power receptacles all worked with my standard US power plugs.
If I go back, I am 50/50 on whether I would do the Odyssey again or just stay at BLR and dive out of there. Odyssey seemed very expensive. But, I haven't run a spreadsheet to calculate what the all-in cost of BLR would be. BLR's diving was $150 a day for a 2-tank charter, which also seemed very expensive.
My gas bill for each week on Odyssey was roughly $350. I used trimix for dil some of the first week and pretty much the whole second week. I did not use any trimix for bail out or deco at all. Meaning, I did not carry trimix for bo/deco at all. I never had to actually go on bail out, so of course I never actually USED any of it.
A keg of sorb was $310 and lasted me the whole trip with a decent amount left over. So, my "extras" on the Odyssey worked out to about $1000 for 2 weeks, plus tip.
I have a ton of photos, so still a ton of editing to do, but here are a couple.
Blue Lagoon Resort:
It has changed in the last year I(based on things I was told about BLR). At least one of the buildings was totally renovated. My room there was nice, spacious, with a nice bathroom, and yes, the bed did have a mattress. It was on the thin side and very firm, but it was not a box spring as some had led me to expect - it felt pretty much the same as the mattress I had later, on Odyssey. The shower had hot water. Wifi in my room, the lobby, and the dining room were all good. The Wifi did not extend to the dive shop.
CCR support at the dive shop was good. They had sorb, 3L steel cylinders for my rEvo, and BO cylinders in 40 and 80 sizes. And they had a dedicated room with plenty of workbench space where I could do all my work on my CCR and leave it in between dives. I don't know for SURE that they have trimix, as I only did relatively shallow dives with them, but I think they did.
The guides were good and after the first day (which boiled down to checkout dives), my buddy and I had a guide and a boat to ourselves and did some great engine room penetrations.
The dining room and bar at BLR were pretty much my only options for eating and drinks. No other restaurants anywhere nearby to the resort. The dining room and bar are only open certain hours - a window for breakfast, a window for lunch, and then a window for dinner. The food was pretty good. The prices were in USD and about the same as I'd expect to pay in a mid-level restaurant at home.
We dived the Nippo, Kiyosumi, Shinkoku, Fujikawa, Rio de Janeiro, and Kensho. (all Maru) None of the skiff rides were long enough to seem bothersome - but then, I've done a lot of NC diving with 90 - 120 minute boat rides, so take that for what it's worth. The guides and boat drivers were very accommodating. After the last dive of the last day, they drove us in the skiff from the dive site to where the Odyssey was docked, so we could transfer our (wet) dive gear directly onto the Odyssey, then drove us in the skiff back to BLR to clean up and check out, then take the Odyssey shuttle back to Odyssey.
I am told that getting a guide and boat for just myself and my buddy is a total gamble at BLR. We had it because they were not all that busy and we were CCR divers - the only ones apart from a group of 5 or 6 that were together and always had their own boat and guide just for them. I'm told that if I go back, it could just as easily be the case that the BLR dive shop was running at max capacity (of customers) and we would be on a skiff with several other divers (of varying ability), one guide, and be limitied to the least common denominator of diver skill and experience. The SAFEST bet for diving at BLR would be going as part of a group of 4 to 6, so you could reasonably expect to have a boat just for you, even if the shop were very busy.
Odyssey:
My first week on Odyssey was a "recreational" week. The second week was a "tech" week. I only had to get off the boat once, on the Saturday between the two weeks, for 3 hours or so, while they cleaned the rooms, re-stocked ship's stores, and a few rec divers left to be replaced by the same number of tech divers. They took us in the Odyssey shuttles to the nearby L5 hotel to hang out and have lunch during that time, then brought us back to the boat.
The diving was great, of course. There were 16 guests on board and 6 or so staff that worked as guides. They divided up the guests into 4 groups of 4 and each group had a guide assigned to them for each dive. You could choose to dive with a guide, or do your own thing. I dived solo for probably half the tech dives. I went with my team's guide for all the dives where we planned an engine room penetration. That meant, for every penetration, it was a guide plus the 4 members of my team. I have to say that was not as nice as being with a guide and only 1 other diver, as I was for my 2nd and 3rd days with BLR. When not needing a guide for a penetration, I prefered to go solo so I could shoot photos without worrying about anyone else.
Solo diving was really nice. The only limitiation they put on us was, IF the boat was going to move after the dive, they would tell us what time we needed to be out of the water. Otherwise, I could basically splash whenever I wanted and stay down as long as I wanted.
The Odyssey food was good. The bar was stocked with Sapporo, Modelo, and Heineken, for beers, as well as a full array of decent well-brand liquor. E.g. they had Cuervo Gold, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Jack Daniels, etc.. I think there was vodka, Scotch, and light and dark (Bacardi) rum also. And there was a full complement of various types of soda, sparkling water (including flavored ones), and diet lemonade and fruit punch.
My cabin was fine. Not "big", but I didn't feel cramped, either. My roommate and I had our own bathroom, which was also not "big", but not cramped.
The boat motored everywhere, so I never got into a skiff once I boarded Odyssey. All the diving was straight off the boat and down to the wreck. Odyssey has a diver's lift - i.e. an elevator - that was AWESOME for getting out of the water. It was also really nice for getting in when I needed to clip on a couple of AL80s for bail out and deco. They would lower us on the lift until the water was up to our waist, and then pass us our cylinders to clip on. If we wanted. You could do it on the boat, if you wanted. Or just splash and clip them on fully in the water. Whatever you wanted to do.
The Odyssey has Starlink for Wifi, but you can only get a signal in the dining area - not in any of the cabins or other decks. The speed and latency were good. But, it also meant that every meal was a whole lot of people sitting there on their phones/tablets/laptops, because those were the only times they could catch up on email or make VoIP phone calls (e.g. Facetime, etc.).
My AT&T cell phone did not work anywhere in Chuuk and I don't think anyone else's US-based phone worked either. I believe I could have purchased a local SIM to use, but I didn't find a need for that. Hotel and Odyssey wifi were sufficient for my needs.
Thorfinn:
I haven't been on it. But, the comments other people have posted reflect what I heard while I was over there. We passed the Thorfinn several times. It never moved while we were there and I was told that it never does move and that the engine is actually dead.
I cannot imagine why anyone would choose to live on the Thorfinn for a week and be taken to every dive site in a skiff when you could stay at BLR and also be taken to every dive site in a skiff, but have much higher quality surface time in between dives. Especially at night. And maybe have better dives, too, if you are able or luck into having a whole skiff for just your guide and 1 buddy.
Summary:
If you're going to be on Odyssey, I would suggest arriving on Friday and getting yourself a room at the L5 hotel for the night, to board the boat on Saturday afternoon.
Or, you can arrive even earlier (as I did) and stay at BLR and dive with them until it's time to get on Odyssey.
If you're going to dive with BLR, then you can arrive whenever and go straight there, of course.
Almost everyone spoke English. Mostly pretty well, but I did have one dive guide at BLR that really did not speak or understand English very well at all.
Prices everywhere were marked in US Dollars and that was the only currency I saw in use. Power receptacles all worked with my standard US power plugs.
If I go back, I am 50/50 on whether I would do the Odyssey again or just stay at BLR and dive out of there. Odyssey seemed very expensive. But, I haven't run a spreadsheet to calculate what the all-in cost of BLR would be. BLR's diving was $150 a day for a 2-tank charter, which also seemed very expensive.
My gas bill for each week on Odyssey was roughly $350. I used trimix for dil some of the first week and pretty much the whole second week. I did not use any trimix for bail out or deco at all. Meaning, I did not carry trimix for bo/deco at all. I never had to actually go on bail out, so of course I never actually USED any of it.
A keg of sorb was $310 and lasted me the whole trip with a decent amount left over. So, my "extras" on the Odyssey worked out to about $1000 for 2 weeks, plus tip.
I have a ton of photos, so still a ton of editing to do, but here are a couple.
