National Geographic Orion spent the night at anchor close to Weno Island in the eastern part of the Chuuk Lagoon. The nearby town of Weno, on Weno Island, is the capital of the Truk Province, which is one of four provinces that make up the country known as the Federated States of Micronesia. Chuuk Atoll, one of the largest coral atolls in the world, is centrally located in this island-studded country. Although the official modern-day Micronesian name is Chuuk Atoll, most of the outside world still knows it as Truk Atoll, since this was the name given it by German colonizers in the late 19th century. Germany lost its Micronesian colony after World War I and the Empire of Japan gained administrative control of the region under the South Pacific Mandate. Truk became world famous during WWII, because it was used by the Japanese military as a strategic and protected site for its Imperial Navy and subsequently played a major role in that great conflict. Following World War II, the atoll came under the control of the U.S.A. and was administered as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia in 1979.
This huge lagoon is actually the remnants of an extensive volcanic structure that is now almost entirely submerged, although there are numerous coralline islets and shallow reefs forming the narrow edge of the great lagoon. Inside the lagoon, a few ancient coralline/volcanic islands still rise above the surface. It is, however, the lagoon itself – now a divers’ mecca – that brought us here. The local waters provide an amazing concentration of sunken Japanese ships and wrecked airplanes resulting from the U.S. led ‘Operation Hailstorm’, which occurred on February 17 and 18, 1944. We devoted the morning to water activities and had groups going in all directions in order to SCUBA dive, snorkel, and enjoy the glass-bottomed Zodiac. The drizzly conditions didn’t seem to dampen our enthusiasm, since most of us spent much of the morning actually in the water. The divers went to explore SANKISAN MARU, a 110-meter long (367 feet) freighter of 4,776 tons. The snorkelers went to look at a different ship, in shallower water, followed by a visit to another site where they swam over a wrecked float plane. The glass-bottomed Zodiac guests went to look at an upside-down Japanese Zero fighter plane located near the old airstrip, and also had time to explore the beautiful nearby surrounding coral reefs. Everyone was back aboard by lunch, at which time we set sail from Chuuk to begin making our way westward for tomorrow’s destination.
