Dive Review of Odyssey in
Micronesia/Truk Lagoon

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Odyssey, Sep, 2003, by Russ Snyder, Cleveland, United Kingdom . Report 715.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Getting to Truk is difficult and time-consuming. I left the UK on a Tuesday and arrived Truk Friday AM. I would recommend a day of rest when you arrive as jet-lag is an issue – especially as long flights can result in dehydration. I dove with the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop (BLDS) on Saturday and Sunday. The DM’s are great and have an uncanny knack of pointing to a direction when instructing the boat drivers and bingo you’re on top of a wreck. The boats are fast and since there were only six of us in a ~25 footer room was not an issue. The rides are a bit rough which is OK for a couple of days but I would not want to do a weeks worth of diving off these small boats. Nothing stays dry on the boats and camera equipment is in peril. The boat seating area is painted with an orange material that will come off on your clothing so wear stuff you don’t mind getting ruined. The Odyssey trip started on Sunday evening. In general this is a great boat. The food was terrific and there was always a cooked-to-order breakfast of your choice each day. Snacks were plentiful and tasty. I had one of the single rooms up front and it was as big as some double rooms I have had on other live-aboards. The DM’s were fine with one British guy as the lead and two locals who were outstanding. They even put your fins on your feet on the dive deck – doesn’t get much more convenient than that! The camera table is big – always an important consideration for us photographers. They use 112 cubic feet aluminum tanks which means that unless you are a total air hog you run out of time way before you run out of gas. The Odyssey uses 30% nitrox as standard which covers the ranges I was diving albeit at a PO2 of 1.6 on my Cobra and Stinger. Tours were available if you wanted them or you could do your own thing. There were 11 divers on this trip and all were well-experienced. Comments on the diving: Truk is a fascinating place to dive. The wrecks are the obvious attraction as otherwise the dives would be boring. During the eight days I was there I was able to dive on the Fujikawa, Shinkoku, Sankisan, Heian, Kansho, Rio DeJaneiro, Yamagiri, Hanakawa, Fumizuki Destroyer, Unkai, Gosei, Betty Bomber (one to miss in my opinion), Nippo, and the Seiko. The Fujikawa and the Shinkoku are the premier wrecks and they are awesome but my favorite was the Nippo. The tank on the deck is a great photo op although it means going to about 130 FSW to get an upward angle. The bridge is also quite impressive. I was able to get in the water first on that dive and after making a quick visit to the tank headed for the pilot house at about 90 FSW. As I entered the room I could hardly see the telegraph for all the bait fish but I aimed where I thought is was and hit the flash. A huge Napoleon Wrasse must have been hidden from view as he darted away (thankfully) from me. On the second dive on the Nippo I was in front of the pilot house and witnessed a feeding frenzy by a school of yellow and black stripped Trevails. Not sure what set them off but something was dead for sure after that event. All the while the Napoleon Wrasse was calmly moving around gulping down scraps. The visibility during the week I was there varied from OK (60 feet) to awful (20 feet). It rained off and on all week so less than ideal conditions were to be expected. Bring your macro outfit for those low-vis days. The diving in Truk is deep and the profiles are flat. Most of the dives were over 100 feet deep or more. The divers on the boat usually stopped for a minute or more at half of the maximum depth and then did a six to ten minute safety stop. This may be old news but Truk now has a recompression chamber. It’s been in operation for about six months and as of this writing has seen no customers. The final day: On Sunday a number of us from the Odyssey went on a land tour of Dublon – the main island for the Japanese forces. It’s a good way to kill a few hours on an otherwise wasted day as the flight to Guam and onward does not leave until ~02:00 Monday morning. Bring a rain coat and something soft to sit on as the “tour bus” is a Toyota pickup truck and everyone climbs in the back. Overall the Odyssey and the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop were well run operations.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Caymans, Red Sea, Cebu, Hawaii.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	rainy	Seas	calm, noCurrents
Water Temp	84-86°F / 29-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	20-60 Ft/ 6-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No restrictions.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	The camera table on the Odyssey is large and well appointed. Lighting is good and the three levels of the table allowed for plenty of room.

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Dive Review of Odyssey in Micronesia/Truk Lagoon

Odyssey, Sep, 2003,

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):

Dive Review of Odyssey in
Micronesia/Truk Lagoon