Meet Wilden!

Wilden James only wore fins for the first time in December - and now he is a PADI Advanced Open Water Nitrox diver, with more than 40 dives!

He's busy learning all of the different jobs that go on at Truk Lagoon Dive Center, including meeting guests at the airport, boat driving, tank filling, and he's also getting familiarised with our wrecks.

So if you're travelling alone and need a reliable, knowledgeable dive buddy while you're here - Wilden's your man!

Aussies Dive Deep!

Technical Instructor Chris Law bought a group of Australian rebreather and doubles divers with him for a 12 night stay in January 2011.

Their mission was to dive the deeper wrecks here in the lagoon, along with their favourite shallower sites for the afternoon dives. After visiting Truk for a brief familiarisation trip in July 2010 Chris decided to bring his group to Truk Lagoon Dive Center as he knew we could support them with the type of diving they wanted to do.

The group used Helium on their deepest dives (max depth recorded was 113m on the outer reef wall/64m on the wrecks), and their dive times averaged 120 minutes.

After preparing their gear each morning they had a leisurely breakfast before heading out for their deeper dive of the day. As well as diving all of the wrecks at the Fourth fleet anchorage they also dived the Oite which they described as 'awesome'.

Following a relaxed lunch on the patio the group headed out again for a shallower afternoon dive, where they enjoyed the soft corals and schools of fish and significantly less deco time!

Evenings were spent enjoying a beer or two on the patio, or shooting pool up in the Hard Wreck Cafe. On their last night they enjoyed a BBQ feast with Rob in charge of the grill!

And it wasn't all about diving on wrecks. On a calm day they took a trip to the outreef where they were surrounded by silvertip and grey reef sharks. On another day they snorkelled with 5 mantas that were feeding inside the lagoon. Grey reef sharks, eagle rays, schools of big eyed jacks and barracudas were regularly seen throughout their stay.

Congratulations to Rebecca for achieving her TDI Adv Nitrox/Deco Procedures and Normoxic Trimix certifications during the trip.

Thanks to Dave Hurst for letting us use some of his amazing photos, and we look forward to welcoming the group back in December 2011!

Sites dived:

Heian Maru, Hoki Maru, Kansho Maru, Seiko Maru, Unkai Maru, Amagisan Mau, Sankisan Maru, Shotan Maru, Fujikawa Maru, Aikoku Maru, Yamagiri Maru, Oite, Shinkoku, Outreef, Gosei Maru, San Francisco, Nippo Maru, Nagano Maru, I-169 Submarine, Hokuyo Maru, Shark Dive

Spanish Technical Divers Invade Truk Lagoon

Gregorio H. Jensen, who goes by Yoyo, and his business partner Felipe Ayoso Quenedc, aka Pipi, own Buceo Profundo, a dive training and travel company in Spain. In February of 2008 they brought a group of 14 technical divers to Truk Lagoon for 9 nights and 7 days of diving and had such a great time, they returned with another group of technical divers.

Yoyo’s group traveled from Madrid to Honolulu via Newark and then on to Chuuk via the Continental Airline Island Hopper and after short 45 minutes stops in Majuro, Kwajalein, Kosrae & Pohnpei, arrived September 22nd. Their dive plan – 10 nights at the Truk Stop Hotel and 8 days of exploring the world’s greatest wreck diving destination with the professional staff from the Truk Lagoon Dive Center.

There were 7 rebreather divers in this September 2009 technical group and 1 diver using twin cylinders. In the rebreather group, 6 used Evolution rebreathers and 1 used a Megalodon unit. The Truk Lagoon Dive Center provided a number of its own rebreather cylinders for the rebreather group which made their travel easier and less expensive. And, because of their previous trip in 2008, they had a good idea of what they wanted to do and the previous trip had helped them prepare for this one.

Following are the divers who traveled to Truk with Yoyo & Pipi on this September/October 2009 10 night/8 dive day trip.

* Gregorio H. Gensen (Yoyo) * Felipe Ayoso Queuedc (Pipi)
* Francisco Candeca (Paco) * Francisco Dorado (Paco)
* Juan Bermejo (Picha) Jose Luis Riquer (Robin)
Marcos Cabeza Joaquin Guilabert
* Return divers to Truk Lagoon from the Feburary 2008 Yoyo & Pipi trip

Kelvin and Anabel Davidson, the business and operational managers of the Truk Lagoon Dive Center, had prepared well in advance for this technical group and had more than enough snofolime for the rebreathers as well as an unlimited supply of 99.8% pure medical grade oxygen. Medical grade Helium for Trimix was available and had been used during the 2008 trip but not requested by Yoyo’s group this time.

The divers started each day in the Truk Stop restaurant and enjoyed excellent food and great coffee before opening up their dive lockers to suit up for the days diving. They departed the Truk Stop Hotel’s private dock each morning around 9:00am for their first dive of the day and returned to the hotel about 12:00 noon – in time for a nice lunch in air conditioned comfort and a little rest.

They departed again each afternoon for their 2nd dive of the day about 3:30pm and were back in time to shower up, have a nice dinner, enjoy a cool beverage in the Hard Wreck Café & Bar, or a relaxing 90 minute massage from the hotel’s in-house massage therapist before retiring for the evening. While they rested and slept, Kelvin, Anabel and their local dive staff blended cylinders for the next days diving.

The group made a total of 16 dives during their stay this time and each diver spent about 1,551 minutes underwater exploring the Japanese World War II vessels sent to the bottom of Truk Lagoon in February of 1944 during Operation Hailstone. If you do the math, each diver spent about 25 hours underwater and according to Yoyo, their average dive lasted about 100 minutes, their longest dive was 130 minutes, and their deepest dive was 62 meters (201 feet).

Following are the Truk Lagoon wrecks that Yoyo and Pipi’s group dove during this trip.
Fukikawa Maru (twice) Heian Maru San Francisco Maru
Rio De Janerio Maru Shinkoku Maru Momokawa Maru
Kensho Maru Hoki Maru Nippo Maru
Sankisan Maru Kiyosumi Maru Amagisan Maru
Yamagiri Aikoku Fumitsuki

Gregorio H. Jenso (Yoyo) and Felipe Ayoso Queuedc (Pipi) are both recreational and technical instructors who make a number of dive trips like this each year and they plan to make diving the world famous Truk Lagoon an annual event. You may view their website at http://buceoprofundo.net/ to learn more about them and their company.

Truk Lagoon Dive Center

The Truk Stop Hotel & Dive Center is a PADI Resort offering great accommodations plus a full service dive center for both the recreational and technical diver.The Truk Stop Hotel inventory of rooms includes apartments, suites, plus deluxe ocean view and standard rooms. Apartments are one bedroom, fully furnished units with kitchenette. Our suites and rooms have balconies, private bath, refrigerator, and TV/DVD player. All are well air conditioned.

The Truk Lagoon Dive Center offers up to 4 dives a day. Our private dock, dive lockers, rinse tanks and shower make diving with us easy and convenient. We have Bauer Compressors and use a Haskell for blending Nitrox and Trimix. Our expatriate PADI certified instructors take care of the technical and recreational diver with equal care and consideration.
Our hotel Restaurant serves international, western style and local food daily from 6:00am till 10:00pm. We offer inside dining in air conditioned, smoke free comfort or outside on our patio. Our guests enjoy wireless broadband internet connection in the restaurant or on the patio - for free!

The Hard Wreck Café & Bar is a favorite hangout for resident expatriates, divers, and the business traveler.. It is a great place to enjoy a friendly game of pool, your favorite beverage, karaoke with friends, or just rest up for your next dive or business meeting.

Other services available through the hotel include a relaxing massage at The Body Shop, fresh breads, cakes and desserts from our Bakery, handicrafts & souvenirs from our Gift Shop, u-drives from our Car Rental fleet, and business services at our well equipped Conference Facilities.

For more information on us, please visit our website at:

http://dive-truklagoon.com/main.php