Divers: Gary, Ben, Youri, Puspendu, Jarad, Spike, Vikki & Mark
Surface Support: Denise

Some of the team were returning to continue a journey that they had started some years previously, some were starting a new journey – all of us will remember our time diving the wrecks of Truk Lagoon!
We started out diving some of the easier swallower wrecks, just to get prepared for what was to be some deeper and absolutely fantastic wreck diving. It didn’t take the team long to sort out our equipment etc and we were soon into a routine that had us doing one dive in the morning with a 2nd dive after lunch, with perhaps a 3rd in the afternoon depending on what site we had dived.
With 2 boats we headed out to a variety of sites that had been selected the night prior and agreed upon by the team, ‘Mac’ MacKensay was our head guide, with his 30 years experience on these wrecks, he knew exactly what the divers wanted to see and was able to assess the teams ability to allow him to give us maximum enjoyment on every dive. With over 20 dives done in such a short time its difficult to write about every wreck, how ever the stand out dive for most was the Oite, a site Aquability spent quite a bit of time relocating several years ago, and having given the GPS marks to the local dive shop they are now able to dive it on a regular basis. All the dives here are something special, some are better than others, but as Mac says when asked which is his favourite wreck – “all good” with a smile.
Spending time in Truk Lagoon (or Chuuk which is its traditional name) is an eye opener, we soon learn that the lunch menu is just a guide as to what you could eat if they had the food, but they don’t, the lay back style of the locals soon becomes our way of life too, as there is no point worry about what you can do change and nothing is going to happen in a hurry. Although it rained every day it was mainly at night and had little effect on us, the temperature was about 30 – 35 degrees each day with the water temperature usually 29-31 degrees. Visibility varied from 30 – 50 metres and there is no current to worry about.
I’ve been on a lot of overseas trips over the years and I think the most important thing with these trips is not the destination, although that does help a lot and Truk is a special kind of place, to me, more importantly that the destination is the people on the trip, that’s what really makes the trip, so I would have to say this is the best trip I’ve been on for a long time!! Everyone working in well together, helping each other out and no one not wanting to be apart of the team – thank you to everyone on the trip.
With so many great dives, it was almost impossible to put together a video of the highlights that is short enough to put on Youtube!

Mark