judypots
Registered
My husband and I went to Truk (then Yap, then Palau), in late December. We stayed at the Blue Lagoon for 5 nights. I waited to see if someone would report on the death that occured on the Thorfin liveaboard while we were at the Blue Lagoon, but since I haven't seen anything, I thought I'd post it here. About mid-way through our stay, we heard about a middle aged man who had a heart attack while on the boat (not while diving, as far as we could tell). The other passengers on the Thorfin spent the rest of their time at the Blue Lagoon. We were told that the Thorfin had no defibrillator and noone trained in CPR. I don't know if they notified anyone (either at the Blue Lagoon, or the Oddysey, the other liveaboard at Truk) in a timely fashion. The information was somewhat confused on that score. By the time the Odyssey did get to the Thorfin, there was nothing that could be done. It sounded like a complete lack of basic safety equipment and procedures on the Thorfin. I also heard from some of the folks that had been on the Thorfin that even aside from that awful event, it was not otherwise a great experience.
With respect to our experience at the Blue Lagoon and Truk, the "resort" grounds are beautiful. The rooms stink (literally) - mold and mildew. Plumbing didn't work 100% of the time, either in the room or at the restaurant. (I had some pretty embarassing situations, having to report non-flushing toilets on more than one occasion). Towels were like drying yourself with a sheet. The food was more or less edible, but the service was slow and they were often out of certain foods, such as reef fish!!! (We couldn't have it once during our stay). The grounds are overrun with tiny emaciated cats, which was particularly disturbing to me as an animal lover. The people at the resort were uniformly friendly and pleasant. It just seemed as though the owners weren't putting a dime back into the place for maintenance other than to mow the lawns.
The diving was fun, although the dive boats were basically a row-boat with a canopy tacked on. A couple of times we were offered a cup of water after a dive, but nothing else, and not all the time. The dive master seemed to know what he was doing, and as I said, we had fun and saw some interesting stuff. My husband and I both agree that we are reef divers and not wreck divers so much, so we will not be returning to Truk, but I know a lot of you guys just love it. I would recommend going with the Odyssey when you go. We met some folks who had spent their week their, and they all loved it.
With respect to our experience at the Blue Lagoon and Truk, the "resort" grounds are beautiful. The rooms stink (literally) - mold and mildew. Plumbing didn't work 100% of the time, either in the room or at the restaurant. (I had some pretty embarassing situations, having to report non-flushing toilets on more than one occasion). Towels were like drying yourself with a sheet. The food was more or less edible, but the service was slow and they were often out of certain foods, such as reef fish!!! (We couldn't have it once during our stay). The grounds are overrun with tiny emaciated cats, which was particularly disturbing to me as an animal lover. The people at the resort were uniformly friendly and pleasant. It just seemed as though the owners weren't putting a dime back into the place for maintenance other than to mow the lawns.
The diving was fun, although the dive boats were basically a row-boat with a canopy tacked on. A couple of times we were offered a cup of water after a dive, but nothing else, and not all the time. The dive master seemed to know what he was doing, and as I said, we had fun and saw some interesting stuff. My husband and I both agree that we are reef divers and not wreck divers so much, so we will not be returning to Truk, but I know a lot of you guys just love it. I would recommend going with the Odyssey when you go. We met some folks who had spent their week their, and they all loved it.
