Divers: Warren, Phill, Mick, Mossy, Paul, Peter L, Diane, Matt, Chris, Allan, Youri, Puspendu, Keith, Pete P, Vikki & Mark

Our first challenge was to get our dive gear through the check in at Cairns International Airport with as little grief as possible. Anyone who has travelled through Cairns Airport will know just how hard it is to get common sense to prevail. However, with a minimum of fuss we get our bags through & we settle down in the departure lounge to a cold drink and an opportunity to meet our fellow divers while we wait for our plane to board. 16 divers, some from as far away as Eastern Victoria, Tassie & WA will be diving the world famous WWll wrecks of Truk Lagoon. Some are here for the 3^rd or 4^th time but for most, this will be their first trip.  As always, everyone has their own goals to achieve, the seasoned divers are looking to explore the wrecks in more detail than previous trips have allowed, the photographers that will record the trip for all to see, then there are the young bucks who what to take on some of the deeper more challenging sites like the San Francisco, the Aikoku and the Oite.
Ten hours after taking off from Cairns we land at Truk and are met by the staff of the Blue Lagoon Resort, our home for the next 11 days. No time to waste, the boys are out diving on day one and the smile on their faces as they return to dock tells the story of their dive. We are doing 2 -3 dives a day with the dive teams finding their own level of enjoyment. Just like a fighter pilot Ace, Puspendu marks a cross against the ships on his T shirt each time he conquers a new site, while others record their victory on film or maybe just a few notes on a log book page. Whatever way the dives are remembered I’m sure each & every diver is coming away from the trip with some fantastic memories, some exciting diving under their belts and best of all some fantastic new friends. Fortunately the weather has been kind to us, although it has rained on most days the tropical rain belts down for an hour then disappears as quickly as it came. I for one cannot wait to get back here and once again dive the wrecks that are the result US military operation Hailstorm.

Mark