706 Just look at all that SPAM. My dad ate a lot of SPAM when he was serving in the Pacific Theater during WWII and unlike many, he still loved it. SPAM and eggs were a treat for breakfast. The Hawaiian's add rice to that and I think that's also great.
712 Japanese weapons, munitions and plane and boat propellers on display at the Blue Lagoon.
713 Blue Lagoon rooms and landscape. Very nice.
718 The two main styles of Chuuk houses, sloped and flat roofs.
Oct 8 – Chuuk, Micronesia. Chuuk Lagoon, better known to US WWII buff as Truk Lagoon, is a sheltered body of water in the central Pacific. It's about 1200 miles northeast of Papua New Guinea, nearly in the middle of the Pacific and 7˚ north of the Equator. In other words hot and humid. It's part of Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia. The atoll has a protective reef almost 140 miles in circumference. The natural harbor this creates is roughly 49 miles long, 30 miles wide and has an area almost 820 square miles. The surface area of all the land in the atoll is just under 50 square miles and the population is just under 50,000. Truk belonged to Spain as it was part of the Caroline Islands colony. The German Empire took over after the Spanish-American War. Like Majuro, it became a possession of the Japanese Empire under a mandate from the League of Nations following Germany's defeat in WWI. During WWII, Truk Lagoon was the Empire of Japan's version of Pearl Harbor in the South Pacific. The Japanese had almost 30,000 naval personnel and 17,000 soldiers here. A large part of Japanese fleet was based here. Truk was the base for Japanese operations against Allied forces in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, where my father fought. Due to its heavy fortifications, both natural and manmade, the base at Truk was known to Allied forces as "the Gibraltar of the Pacific". The Japanese built roads, trenches, bunkers and caves as well as five airstrips, seaplane bases, a torpedo boat station, submarine repair shops, a communications center and a radar station. Protecting all this were coastal defense guns and mortar emplacements. At anchor in the lagoon were the Imperial Japanese Navy's giant battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, tankers, cargo ships, tugboats, gunboats, minesweepers, landing craft, and submarines. No wonder it is described as the Japanese Pearl Harbor.
During Operation Hailstone in 1944 the US undertook one of the most important naval airstrikes of the war here. 249 aircraft were destroyed, although the larger warships escaped having been moved to Palau just a bit earlier. Once the American forces captured the Majuro and the rest of the Marshall Islands, they used it as a base from which they launched an early morning attack on February 17, 1944 against the lagoon. Operation Hailstone lasted for three days, with an American bombardment of the Japanese wiping out almost anything of value - twelve Japanese warships, thirty-two merchant ships and 16 other ships as well as 275 airplanes were sent to the bottom of the lagoon. The Truk Turkey Shoot, as the battle is often called, made the Truk lagoon the biggest graveyard of ships in the world. Just one more reason it can be compared to Pearl Harbor in Oahu.
The attack ended Truk's threat to Allied operations in the central Pacific as well as preventing the reinforcement of other Japanese installations like the garrison on Eniwetok, the largest atoll in the world. The invasion of that island was greatly aided by this reality. Truk was isolated primarily by US forces as the Allies continued their advance towards Japan by invading other Pacific islands such as Guam, Saipan, Palau, and Iwo Jima. Cut off, the Japanese forces on Truk, like those in the Marshalls, ran low on food and faced starvation before Japan surrendered in August 1945
It was here that Jacques Cousteau and his team explored Truk Lagoon. In 1969 and his TV documentary about the lagoon and its wrecks in 1971 made this a wreck diving Mecca for people from all over the world. The wrecks are so well preserved that they are often referred to as the "Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon". Some of them are in absolutely clear water at depths of only around 50 feet. That's less than two atmospheres of pressure and makes for safe and easy repetitive diving. I don't know how they train divers lately but when I learned in the 1960s one of the open water diving requirements was that you be able to free ascend from depths greater than 45 feet. As you come up the air in your lungs expands as pressure lessens so you have to breathe out and ascend slowly or you could suffer and embolism. Key is, only go up as fast as the bubbles formed by the air you exhale. With the effect of Boyle's Law it's a very comfortable process and much easier than it sounds as long as you can control your emotions. Unlike many wreck locations the lagoon has almost zero ocean currents. With no surge to bother you it's much simpler to dive the wrecks than when you are fighting surge, current and darkness. There's still a lot of light at 50 feet.
There are a multitude of artifacts visible on and in the wrecks, ranks of aircraft; tanks, construction equipment, armament and ammunition are all still there. One special wreck is the I-169 submarine the Shinohara. I took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor only to be sunk at the Japanese 'Pearl Harbor'. The reefs (wrecks) have a wide variety of marine life, sharks, rays, turtles and coral. Almost 399 species of reef fish have been seen here.
Media Excess and Stupidity Note: In 2011, an overzealous and under informed ABC (The 'A' is for Australian not American, but it could have been either.) reporter for their "Foreign Correspondent " program produced a segment on Chuuk Lagoon equating an impending massive release of tens of thousands of tons of oil from the rusting Japanese warships into the coral reef to that of the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. The report alleged that since the ships are classified as a Japanese war grave, requiring Japanese government involvement in the eventual clean-up, the disaster was not only imminent but unavoidable. Calmer scientists and historians do not believe this is the case. They maintain that the risk of oil damaging the environment of the lagoon was greatly exaggerated. The three oil tankers at the bottom are known to be basically empty of cargo oil. The other ships are about 50% coal powered and have no oil to leak. Of the remaining ships, it is very unlikely that much oil was in their bunkers due to the poor state of the Japanese war effort in 1944. Even a cursory amount of research by the so-called journalists would have produced a much less inflammatory and much more accurate report. However, today impact and immediacy is more important than accuracy and integrity. Apparently that's now true of journalism worldwide.
As we sailed into Chuuk, the island of Weno in specific, it was raining pretty hard. Visibility was not very good. At times Weno was easy to see at other times it was almost invisible. We sailed past the airport. It's easy to spot because they've built it totally on landfill at one point of the island's irregular coastline. That was absolutely necessary because the island has no natural flat or even nearly flat spots. The runway is pretty short and begins and ends about 2 feet from the rocks that surround the land fill and the lagoon is only about 12 feet past that. Unless you are flying a very small plane indeed you'd better touch down at end of the runway if you intend to stop prior to getting wet.
Our arrival was scheduled for Noon and we only missed it by a few minutes. We were supposed to tender onto the island but at the last minute the captain and port officials decided that the pier available was suitable for docking. So we started moving again and in about 20 minutes were safely alongside. To say that the port is small would be to overstate its size. Our ship is not huge and it is overhanging both ends of the pier. Just to the right of the bow is a capsized and 4/5 sunk island freighter. Against the seawall just beyond our pier was another smaller ship laying on its side with only a few feet of it visible above the water. In the bay the shelters the harbor there are two WWII Japanese wrecks partly above the water. One is completely turned-turtle and the stern portion of the keel is above water. Impossible to tell from what you can see what type of ship it was or how big. It was not huge and most probably a freighter. The other WWII wreck has part of the superstructure above the water, just a sort of crow's nest and a few feet of the mast and ladder attached. It's not too small and could have been the forward observation post on a small warship.
After we were securely moored and the captain satisfied with the lines he cleared us to go ashore and the parade was on. It was raining pretty hard and the 50 yards to the port gate was through rough ground with lots of large and deep puddles. From the port gate you walk about 100 yards to get to the main street and then either way you go is pothole city. Some so large they look like swimming pools. We headed right toward what I believed to be the center of town, a Yamaha dealer (outboards, cycles and ATVs), a store and a church. We went into two stores. Shigeto's Store was the largest. They had an impressive display of SPAM in both quantity and types including two other brand's copies. Neither of the stores had any post cards or other mementos.
Undaunted, we kept heading away from the pier. We came to a Bakery and the smell of baking bread was absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately when we got inside they only had loaves of bread, no pastries at all. The small case that probably held breakfast items was totally empty. This is understandable since we arrived so late. The lady who was running the small store said that postcards were available at the hotel just a little further down the street. You have to understand that the 'street' was really a large collection of fair sized puddles and pretty large lakes with much of the area in-between the two consisting of mud. By now we are soaked to the skin but it is warm and not much wind so it actually feels better than roasting in the blazing sun and, now that I think about it, not much wetter.
Sure enough just down the street we found the Truk Stop Hotel & Hard Wreck Cafe. Of course, just as you'd suspect the logo for the Hard Wreck is almost exactly like the Hard Rock Café's iconic design. It also has the promised gift shop that not only stocked post cards but also woven articles and our first encounter with carving. Much of the carving was the usual dolphins, fish, rays, etc. but a small collection of long thin short-sword like carvings caught my eye. Each was about 16-20 inches long and only 1.25 to 1.5 inches wide. The tooth-edged blade and handle are carved from a single piece of wood. Two kinds of wood are used banyan and breadfruit. I figured they were some sort of fishing spear or weapon but they are not. They're Love Sticks. Every young Chuukese man carves one. They each have a distinctive design and decoration. They carry them around on special occasions so that each stick will become known in their area. When they decide to get serious about a girl they sneak up to the hut at night and push their love stick through the wall into her bedroom. Since she recognizes each local boy's stick if she decides that he's a good catch she pulls the stick through the wall and sneaks out to meet him. If she's not interested she pushes the love stick back out through the wall and the boy knows he's not the one.
It's raining pretty steadily but at time the downpour is torrential. There's not much wind so the rain is mostly vertical but occasional strong gusts will push it almost horizontally usually during the strongest rain. What I'm saying is that having an umbrella is almost worthless but 90% of the people are still carrying them, often inside out due to the gusts. The ship has a large tub of clear umbrellas at the gangway so at least the wind isn't damaging much personal gear. Diana's got on a poncho but it's so warm that I feel better totally wet. The only time it was briefly uncomfortable is when we walked into an air-conditioned place. The initial blast of cold air was bracing to say the least.
As we were leaving the Truk Stop I asked the man in the lobby if there were taxis available. He said that with the ship in port it would be difficult but that he might be able to drive us around the island for an hour or so in the Truk Stop car. His name is Harry and he was born in Chuuk but lived for 10 years in Salem, Oregon same place that our tablemates Dan and Kathy live. He went in to clear the trip with his boss, the hotel's owner. The owner came out to meet us. His name is Bob and he's an ex-federal agent who was sent to this area to do some training with the Micronesians. He met and married a Chuukese lady and stayed. He built the Truk Stop 32 years ago and is the owner/operator.
Harry is his Major Domo. I'm at a loss to describe his job. He serves as bellman, Wi-Fi consultant, chauffer, handyman, dive coordinator and other functions. I think the easiest to sum it up is to say that if it doesn't involve the selling, front desk, housekeeping or accounting functions, he does it.
Bob approved our trip because Harry had some down time. Harry pulled the hotel's car, a Toyota Rav4 of undeterminable age, up to the carport and we were on our way. Every few minutes the car would stall and Harry would have to crank it back to life. He said that until it was warmed up this was going to happen. Sure enough, after a while it ran very smoothly. He could have kept it running if it had been a manual transmission but, alas, it was an automatic. Because it has a fairly high ground clearance and 4-wheel drive in a small vehicle it's ideally suited to life on Chuuk. Hitting the pot-holes doesn't usually scrape the frame on the ground. Harry was able to use his local knowledge to avoid the really deep ones. Problem for the uninitiated is that when they're full of water you can't tell how deep they are. In Mombasa Kenya, while driving in the, shall we say, less traveled by tourists part of town (we had to get off the highway because an accident had it blocked for miles) just after a rain, we saw a VW old beetle in a pot-hole underwater to half way up the windows. It had to be someone from out of town.
Harry drove us south along the western coast of Weno toward The Blue Lagoon Resort at the southern tip of the island. We passed through the town of Mwan on the way but I would not have known it if I hadn't had my map. Housing here seems to fall into one of two categories, concrete rectangles with 2-gradient, sloping corrugated steel or tin roofs and an enclosed lean-to porch across the entire front of the house or concrete squares with flat roofs and verandas on one or two sides usually front and left if it has a second one. The latter type seems to be the newer design as it usually includes many more decorative architectural features than the former.
In a few places the road was almost perfect, but very few. The one mile ride to the Blue Lagoon took about 20 minutes, barely a brisk walk. Harry was a great conversationalist and his 10 years on the mainland put his English several levels above the Chuukese that had never left the island. He was open about the life on the island. He said that employment was very spotty for most of the people but that if they lived the traditional life it was not hard. Native food was plentiful and free for the picking. Items like breadfruit, taro, bananas, mango, papaya and coconuts were all over the island. The staples like sugar and coffee had to be purchased but even part time employment would provide for that. Everyone helped everyone and life was pretty stress free. The main reason he returned to the island after being in the States for so long. He said he was much happier here. He did admit that when he first got to Oregon the low temperatures were a huge shock to him. But he also said that after being there for so long the hot, humid weather on Weno had been just as big a shock. We really liked Harry and were glad we met him.
We stopped at the Blue Lagoon to look around for a while. Diana went to their gift shop; it was smaller than the one at the Truk Stop. I walked around the beautifully landscaped grounds. Right on the water, with tall palm trees and groups of tropical flowers scattered in, it was a very idyllic place. Rather than a hotel like structure the rooms were in separate buildings, 4 rooms each. Some were placed along the lagoon others were around the large circular palm tree lined drive. The buildings were two toned, both green. One was a darker forest green the other a slightly paler middle green. They didn't distract you from the landscaping but rather blended in nicely. If you were a visiting diver with a non-diving spouse, this would be the place to come.
One contrasting feature was a small patch of sand out toward the water in which they've mounted two Japanese anti-aircraft guns, an airplane propeller with the hub attached, two ship propellers and assorted munitions for artillery. All of them showed signs of having spent significant time underwater so I assume they were salvaged from the many wrecks that dot the lagoon. The reason that the display is such a contrast is that everything in it that's Japanese is painted red and white. These artifacts share the space with some giant clamshells and a large turtle shell in their natural colors.
Lots of people were sitting and standing on their porches watching the parade of strange, soaked to the skin, tourists plod through town. Pick their way through town be a better description of the movement. You had to be careful to plan your route to not get stranded on a bit of high ground with nowhere to go but back the way you came. It was a lot like solving those maze puzzles we did as kids. Between the deep puddles, mud flats and just plain streams of water selecting a successful path could be a challenge for some. Did I mention that the concept of a sidewalk is completely unknown on Weno? They're really not totally clued in on the concept of a road.
Everyone I talked to was warm and friendly and more than helpful if you asked a question or needed directions. We passed a church with fenced grounds on the left, Chuukese boys were playing basketball on one of the courts. I was wondered what kind of church it was until I saw the largest group of young Mormon missionaries I've ever seen in my life, nine of them, standing in a loose group, every one of them in a short-sleeved white shirt, dark slacks and tie. When I waived to them they all waived back. The missionary closest to the road was the first black Mormon missionary I've ever seen. I know that some years ago they church accepted black members. I've just never met one before.
We asked Harry if he had time to take us all the way back to the ship and he said that he did. He couldn't get into the port so he dropped us off at the gate for the short walk to the ship. As we entered, 7 of the 9 members of the cast were just outside the gate. Six were in the back of a Nissan pickup heading downtown and the seventh, Corrina was taking their picture and waiving adios. On the way to the gangway I took Diana's picture in her plastic poncho and pink had with the ship in the background. I also stopped to get some photos of the wrecks I mentioned earlier.
Our entertainer for the evening was Mariusz. He's a cellist and plays a skeletonized electric cello. He grew tired of traveling with his classical cellos. Several times one has been misdirected and feared lost. So now for ship concerts he uses the electric. It sounds great for solo work. He has some of the fastest fingers I've ever seen on a cello, no music and he never looks at the bow or his fingers. Most of the time he plays with his eyes closed. He's very good and the smallish crowd was very appreciative. It's amazing how limited some people's view is of entertainment. I mean, I love steak but I don't want it every day. Like I said, amazing.
We have one day at sea and then we invade Guam.
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