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In January 2009 Leanne and I made our way to the South Pacific. Our first stop was just over a week in Chuuk where we were diving the wrecks of Truk Lagoon. This is where the Americans sank about 50 Japanese ships during World War II. Most of these ships are at safe sport diving depths, and now they have become a fascinating tourist attraction for divers from all over the world. The best feature of these wrecks is that somehow they still have most of the artifacts that sank with them. This includes tanks, tools, guns, ammunition, ceramics, bottles and just about anything else you could imagine people needing on a ship. Finding all of these items on the ships gives a real feel of what it might have been like to be on them,  and sometimes the horror of the attack that caused them to sink.

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The view from Fanamu island, a tiny island a few miles from Weno, where the dive shop has a little cabin. We stopped here for lunch on our last day of diving.

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An anemone on the side of the Kiyosumi Maru.

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A gas mask inside the Kiyosumi Maru.

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Here I am with grinning away after my dive down to the San Francisco Maru. A rather deep dive (I maxed at 48 metres) where there was more time spent in decompression than on the wreck. Even so, it was a worthwhile wreck to see with two tanks on the deck and trucks in the hold.

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Leanne walking along the beach on Fanamu Island.

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The view from the hotel room at the Blue Lagoon Resort across the lagoon.

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The Blue Lagoon Resort from the boat as we arrive back one afternoon.

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A tank on the deck of the Fukikawa Maru.

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Various ceramics found on the Kiyosumi Maru.