Dive Review of Odyssey Adventures in
Micronesia/Truk Lagoon

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Odyssey Adventures, Mar, 2013, by S Lori Brown, WA, US ( Sr. Contributor 22 reports). Report 6924.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	It was a long haul from Seattle to Truk via San Francisco, Honolulu, and Guam. Odyssey Adventures staff met us at the Truk airport late at night and shuttled us to the Blue Lagoon Resort (a misnomer) where we hopped on a boat for the ride to the Odyssey. During a flyover of Truk Lagoon in 1944, American pilots came across an unexpected trove of Japanese vessels including warships, tankers, and cargo ships. The Japanese spotted the American plane and began bugging out but American torpedoes (and in some cases bad luck) sank dozens of vessels in the lagoon. The dive briefings given by Capt JJ and Dive Guide (instructor) Kim were always excellent: detailed and complete. They included what was known of the ship’s history as well as the ship wreck’s history. Because JJ and Kim have been diving these wrecks for nearly eight years, they had insight into the changes. This effectively gave the impression of the wrecks evolving and changing over time. Each briefing was accompanied by a diagram of the ship and details on points of interest. On our six day trip, it was clear that the daily schedule was well planned so that each dive seemed better than the last, with our final destination the deepest dive of the trip (San Francisco Maru). Some sights on the wrecks included the engine rooms, gauges, tanks, bullets, torpedoes, rolls of chain link fence, warheads, trucks, airplane wings, lanterns, guns, gas masks, periscopes, a medicine kit with ampules presumed to be morphine, and some human remains. When staring at a gaping hole torn into a ship by a torpedo, you have an understanding of the power and wrath of the US military and the ugliness of war. Mundane objects like a bicycle, clocks, bottles (saki), broken china, and blue shirts were strewn throughout the ships. Some of the ships were encrusted with coral, sponges, anemones, and all sorts of marine life. There was a build up to the final day and dive of the “Million Dollar Wreck,” the San Francisco Maru which sunk upright and was at a depth of 165 ft on the deck and down to 200 feet at the ship’s propeller. The San Francisco had three tanks on the deck and a bow gun with an anchor sitting next to it. For me, one of the best dives was on the Rio de Janeiro which had been a cruise ship taken over by the Japanese and used as a cargo ship and then for transport (of soldiers). I dove alone on this ship and sometimes when you are alone with just the sound of your breath and a 460 foot wreck towering over you, you get a feeling for the immensity of what happened in the spring of 1944. I didn't see any Japanese sailor’s ghost hell bent on revenge but the light was sometimes eerie and a little spooky. More routine considerations, our room on the Truk Odyssey was small and just tinged with a mildew odor. The bathroom was hardly large enough to turn around and more than just tinged with a mildew odor. The food on the live aboard was very plain: just adequate. The trip ends abruptly at 8am on Sunday morning and divers are transported over to the Blue Lagoon Resort to wait for fifteen hours until the trip to the airport. We booked a day room at the Blue Lagoon and shared it with numerous cockroaches of varying sizes. On the penultimate day of the trip we had a grim reminder. An unconscious diver was lifted from the water onto one of the day boats that carries divers to the sites and from all appearances, even if there had been a nearby decompression chamber (if that was the problem), it would have been too late.
Websites	Odyssey Adventures
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington (Puget Sound), Bonaire, Cozumel, Fiji, Indonesia (Irian Jaya, Sulawesi, Bali, Komodo, Raja Empat), Jamaica, Papua New Guinea
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy, cloudy	Seas	choppy, no currents
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	25-50 Ft/ 8-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Allowed divers to dive own profile, deco diving was acceptable (and necessary), solo diving acceptable, pretty much left diving up to the divers
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish	N/A
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	A table for photographers, fresh water in reserved wash tubs for cameras, advice on good subjects.

Subscriber's Comments

By Ms Lynda Durfee in VA, US at Mar 27, 2013 11:25 EST

It's not clear from the review whether the diver was doing technical diving. What blend was used for the last dive to 165+ feet?

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Dive Review of Odyssey Adventures in Micronesia/Truk Lagoon

Odyssey Adventures, Mar, 2013,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Odyssey Adventures in
Micronesia/Truk Lagoon