Eight Days in Chuuk - Day One

Another overnight journey – two short flights and a several hours at Guam airport – and another time zone changed left us a bit tired again. However, as the plane came in to land and we circled over the outer reef and the blue seas sparkled it was enough to give us a boost. A real tropical island paradise!

Landing was exciting…coming in over the sea…wondering if the runway will appear before the wheels hit the water, but it’s just another regular landing at Weno Island. And as a small international airport is very quick to clear immigration and customs, we were soon out in a taxi making our way (slowly) to the Blue Lagoon Resort. Recent rain and serious potholes in the road meant winding around pools of muddy water but we were soon at the resort where we were to be collected by the tender from SS Thorfinn. The rain started again which meant a slightly wet journey across the lagoon to the ship – but despite being soaked the welcome was very warm as we were introduced to Hayley, shown around the boat, had time to change and finally went down for lunch.

SS Thorfinn

We were offered a dive immediately – the others onboard were about to go out for the 2pm dive, but we were still a bit tired and felt we needed a chance to get sorted out. So spent a while unpacking the dive gear and getting set up for the later dive. So Dive 1 was on Friday at 5pm on the Futagami, a Hashima Class salvage tug - just a little shakedown dive to 27m. It was covered in life with interesting holds to look in, but as it started to get dark, the others started to ascend so Nick and I followed, despite his reluctance to get out the water.

Back on board we showered and changed ready for dinner. As it was Friday, it was BBQ night as a final farewell to the current group of divers, four from a club from Battersea and a pair from Hong Kong. Nick and I struggled to keep our eyes open after a sleepless night so retired to bed early.