Truk or Vanuatu?

[JustAddWater]

Last night, my wife and I discussed plans for our next big vacation. We went to the Cook Islands last year, and loved it, and were thinking of heading to the South Pacific again.(My wife thinks I do a mean fire dance) :fire: Tahiti comes to mind, but I have heard that it is pretty expensive. We decided to look into Truk (Chuuk) or Vanuatu. We both dive, but I'm the scuba-addict in the family. I'm interested in opinions from those who have been there, and would appreciate any info.; diving and non-diving related those destinations.
Thanks,
JAW

 

[donacheson]

Originally posted by JustAddWater
Last night, my wife and I discussed plans for our next big vacation. We went to the Cook Islands last year, and loved it, and were thinking of heading to the South Pacific again.(My wife thinks I do a mean fire dance) :fire: Tahiti comes to mind, but I have heard that it is pretty expensive. We decided to look into Truk (Chuuk) or Vanuatu. We both dive, but I'm the scuba-addict in the family. I'm interested in opinions from those who have been there, and would appreciate any info.; diving and non-diving related those destinations.
Thanks,
JAW

I dived both Vanuatu - Espirito Santo and the Coolidge - and Truk.

At the time (January 1997), the Bougainville Resort was one of the most delightful places I'd ever stayed - lovely grounds, good service, fine dining, and very nice accommodations. Diving was limited to the Coolidge (It's a shore dive.) since the dive operator's boat was disabled. Not imp[ortant since I went there to dive the Coolidge anyway. Two dives per day and they're deep dives usually requiring decompression. (The wreck lies on its starboard side with it's bow at 60 feet and gooes down to 200+ from there.)

IMHO, Truk should be dived from a liveaboard. I've been on the Thorfinn and the Aggressor there and was satisfied with both. I read good things about the Odyssey, too. While the deepest wreck regularly dived there (San Francisco Maru) is 205 feet to the sand, other wrecks are shallower and many are relatively intact and upright and can be dived from bottom to mast top without getting into decom.

I enjoyed diving in both Vanuatu and Truk and I'm glad I did both. They're very different.

Regardless of your choice, enjoy!

 

[akate]

Hi

Can't help with a comparison as I've only been to Vanuatu but
I did only get back 2 weeks ago so my info is recent.

I loved Vanuatu - well, most of it. Spent 3 days on Hideaway Island (Port Vila) - the diving was good (reef) but the accommodation was very average. From your location options, I'm thinking you're after wreck diving? So bring on the Coolidge! From Hideway we flew to Santo. (Hint..... avoid the Kava bars.... really!)
Our accommodation was at the Deco Stop Lodge - absolutely great - really friendly, food good, beds comfortable, nice pool ........... We dived the Coolidge with the Allan Power operation - really professional (but I have no comparison with the other operators, can only say I was really happy with ours). The Coolidge was absolutely magic. Viz was not great as we were there at the end of the wet season and considerable amounts of rain had fallen. Dives are deep - our deepest was 58 metres - I think that's about 175 feet? Emphasis is on safety with long stops and I didn't really notice the depth due to the warm water.

In short, Vanuatu is great - if I can help you with more detailed
info, let me know.

Kate