Chuuk Lagoon -Micronesia-2008

Feb 2008
The winds dictated our destination so we ended up in Chuuk Lagoon Micronesia on 25 Feb 2008. It was formally known as Truk Lagoon. This is where there are 50 odd ships and planes are lying on the bottom after the bombing of the Japanese Fleet during "Operation Hailstorm" during WWII.

We anchored at the Blue Lagoon Resort area which was very picturesque and were fortunate enough to have the use of some of the Blue Lagoon Resort facilities. They had a very slow Internet connection that for some reason would not allow us access to Hotmail! So it was a bit frustrating.

(Remember to click on the photos to enlarge them)

There were a number of other vessels anchored near us including a 60' Danish yacht, a 45' Swedish yacht, 85' motor cruiser from Alaska as well as the 110' Dive charter boat. The American motor cruiser MV Westward was a 85' wooden vessel built in the early 1920's and the motor was an amazing thing built in 1923. The engine room was something to behold!

We were thrilled when our friends from Keturah caught up with us as we had lost contact with them after leaving Choisuel.

We met some interesting folk from the boats as well as the divers from the resort. Tom did a lot of diving but Fran choose not to. We celebrated our birthdays with a fun group of cruisers and divers. We also had afternoon sundowners with the group at the small outdoor bar where we could watch the sunsets. A Canadian couple had a different martini every afternoon!

Our regular sunset view from the small bar.

Our yachts were much photographed as they added interest to sunset photos.We were very thankful that we had our water maker, washing machine and bread maker as it saved so much hassle. The local bread was sooooo sweeeeet!

One day we were lucky enough to go with our friends from Keturah for a guided tour of the US Navel Ship Salvor. This was a very interesting outing as were able see all over the vessel. The boys, Tom and Francesco loved the big machines! "Boys and their toys again!"

Chuuk on Woen Is is a beautiful island spoilt by neglect and Micronesian "anything goes" attitude. When we traveled around we would see derelict building which must have been spectacular in the "glory" days. It reminded us of Jamaica. The roads were a series op deep potholes, crevices and mud holes and the cars were all bombs.When we caught a "Taxi" we were usually sharing with a local family so we were all squashed in together with our parcels as we crawled and bumped along the so called roads. The kids loved us and asked lots of questions. However, we always seem to make it to our destination. Though we often wondered how! Lots of yachts avoided Chuuk because the word was out that the locals were unfriendly. Our experience however, was very different. The locals went out of their way to help us, offering us rides in their beat up cars and trucks. We even had a ride to town in a garbage truck and in a building supply truck on another day!

The only drawback for us was that some of the Customs Officers were corrupt and the Port Authority charged for anchoring even though there were no facilities. We had to pay US$10 a day anchorage plus an extra US$30 overtime for Customs (even though it wasn't their lunch time). We spoke about this corruption to the Tourist Information Officer and the fuel man who was also on the Chamber of Commerce. We also documented our experience. Our friends from Keturah also documented their experience as they were ripped off too. Hopefully something will come of it.

Another incident that now makes us wary of Chuuk was our "stolen/lost dingy episode" (Refer to the story in "Tall and not so Tall Tales" on the sidebar )

Despite everything we enjoyed our time in Chuuk  and would go back again if we didn't have to pay such outrageous anchoring and harbour fees. However, Chuuk is really a divers mecca though so unless you are interested in diving then it's not really a tourist destination. For a wreck diver it is "paradise".