Dive Review of
Truk Odyssey in
Micronesia

 Australia, Cocos Island, Caribbean, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mexico, Bahamas,
etc. 

Dive Conditions

[Unspecified]  

[None]  

Overall Rating

This was our third trip to see the wrecks of Truk Lagoon, our first trip on
the Truk Odyssey, now our liveaboard of choice. The sixteen of us had
plenty of room to roam; sometimes we had trouble finding each other! There
are two single rooms and seven doubles, six of which have single beds that
can be separate or pushed together as a king. Room #9, our room, has a
double bed and upper single berth, perfect for storing all that extra
stuff. Even though it is smaller than the other rooms, it’s still bigger
than cabins on many other boats.

The dining room has seating for twenty-four, four people at each of six
tables. Meals are served buffet style. Breakfast included cereals, fresh
fruit, juices, toast, and oatmeal, or you could order a hot meal off the
menu such as eggs, pancakes, or waffles. Lunches always included salad plus
a range of food from hamburgers to rice mixtures, and dinners included
salad, usually a choice of meat or fish dishes, vegetables, and dessert.
Cookies, candy, etc. are always available, as are soda, beer, wine, and
alcohol. The only rule is that once you started drinking, you stopped
diving for the day. Of course there are special snacks after morning and
afternoon dives. The food ranges from good to excellent. The last night we
were offered a choice of dinner off the boat or potpie and leftovers on the
boat; no one even hesitated—we all chose dinner on the boat, not only
because the food was plenty good, but also because no one wanted to get off
Truk Odyssey until forced!

There is a sundeck, which also has a shady area, a salon with TV, DVD, and
library, and of course the dive deck. Once you pick your spot above one of
the bins, it’s yours for the week—tanks are filled at your station so your
BC never needs to be changed unless you want to dump the water out of it
once in a while. Entering and exiting is easy off the lower platform and
it’s possible to climb up the ladder with or without fins. The hang bar at
twenty feet can give you quite a ride as the boat swings. We were able to
make up to five dives each day although most of us stopped after four
except for a couple of night dives, which were OK, but not great.

The wrecks themselves are fantastic; after 60 years they’ve become reefs
in the shape of wrecks and wrecks on the inside. We noticed more
deterioration in the past two years than in the previous twelve; so if Truk
is on your wish list, better go sooner rather than later. We were given
thorough dive briefings so we could find things on our own, and one or two
crewmembers were in the water on every dive for anyone wanting a tour. Many
of us purchased the set of wreck slates with diagrams of each wreck and
carried them underwater with us. Visibility ranged from 40-100+ feet and
there was little or no current. Water temperature was a heavenly 84
degrees!

Everyone was using Nitrox, which is included in the price, and larger 112
cubic foot tanks are available for the air hogs, which made them and their
buddies very happy. Technical diving equipment—doubles, oxygen, etc. are
available for an additional charge. Depth limits were suggested as far as
what would be interesting to see so as not to waste time and air, but not
enforced. We also did one shark feed, which was done in a location and
manner that no sand was stirred up to ruin photos.

Since we were going on to Kosrae after disembarking the Truk Odyssey after
breakfast the last day, we stayed overnight at the Blue Lagoon Hotel,
adequate but a bit pricey. The food in their dining room was quite good and
reasonably priced. You can relax, walk the grounds or arrange for a
half-day tour. This will also work if you are flying out on the 2:30 am
flight. Town is at least a twenty-minute walk; there are a few stores.

There’s nothing bad to say about our week on Chuuk except it went way too
fast! We’ll be returning again.
 

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