Oxidized Mementoes in Micronesia
So we left Papua New Guinea on February 11 for a nine day
passage with up to 12 foot seas to Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). While sailing, as usual not having cell
service, a good friend was kind enough to send me updates by satellite messenger. I was most concerned about the Coronavirus
that was spreading through SE Asia, having recently left that area and soon to
be heading to Japan. The last update I received
before arriving (Feb 19
th) was that 25 countries had contracted the
virus, 73,000 cases at that point.
After anchoring Illimite we took our dinghy to shore to
check in with the authorities, we had dutifully called them on the VHF and did
not receive a response. It was February
20th 2020 and we did not have cell service for the last month so
were a bit behind in news. Very quickly
after our arrival the Police came, armed with face masks and disposable gloves
to escort us back to our dinghy, we were very surprised! We waited a couple hours for the crew of
Health Department, Customs, and Immigration to greet us. I wish I could of taken a photo of these 6 professionals
all donned in protective health gear strolling down the pier to inspect our
health, records, and passports. We had
checked out of Indonesia on January 23rd, and had proof that we were
out at sea with no other human contact for over 2 weeks. If we did not have this proof we would have
been quarantined on our boat or sent away!
The President of FSM had mandated a 14 day quarantine on all persons
trying to get into the country, at that time Guam was the place to stay for the
14 day period before entering into FSM.
The mandated quarantine had shut down their tourism industry. The plus side for us was that we got to
enjoy scuba diving on empty dive boats!
(As
of March 22nd, zero cases reported of Covid19 in FSM )
So why are we in the middle of the Central Pacific on a tiny
40 mile wide lagoon? Diving in the
largest graveyard of ships has been Gary’s dream since he was a child. He must have watched Jacques Cousteau Lagoon
of Lost ships. If you have not watched
this documentary I recommend it as he was the first to explore the deep wrecks
back in 1969, a quarter of a century after the US attack.
76 years ago Chuuk was the Imperial Japanese Navy bases for
WWII supporting campaigns against allied forces in Solomon’s and New Guinea. Having occupied this land after WWI they
fortified it with 5 air strips, sea plane bases, a torpedo boat station,
submarine repair shops, a communications center and a radar station. US Navy Operation Hailstone
(Feb 1944) was conducted via aircraft from carrier based planes. This 3 day operation was successful in sinking over 50
ships and destroying 275 aircraft in a 3 day period.
Shipwrecks we dove included:
- ·
Heian Maru, Submarine Tender, 511 feet
- ·
Kiyosumi Maru, Armed Merchant Cruiser, 453 feet
- ·
Kensho Maru, Auxiliary transport, 384 feet
- ·
Fuji Kawa Maru, Armed aircraft transport
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| Truk Anchorage |
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| Diving in Paradise |
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| Bow Telegraph |
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| Bones and Sake Bottles |
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| Dirty Dishes- Made in Japan |
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| WWII items on display including femur |
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| Medical Kit |
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| I wish someone would answer the phone |
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| Sailor Skull |
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| Sake |
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| Walking the bridge over the engine room |
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| Salvor USNS ( Navy Ship). We meet some US sailors and were privileged to a wonderful lunch onboard and tour of Salvor, thank you Captain Drew. |
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| Magur an atoll island outside of Chuuk. We anchored here for one night, we talked with the islanders the chief permitted us to anchor but apologized and said we are not to come ashore due to Covid19, their government had instructed them to not allow visitors. |
Scuba Video:
https://alohanoelle.blogspot.com/2020/03/federated-states-of-micronesia-chuuk.html
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