Truk Lagoon

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Amber Waves Photography Galleries » Truk & Palau » Truk Lagoon

Known for the 67 wrecks from the WWII 4th Japanese Fleet sunk by Task Force 58 during Operation Hailstone, this 400 sq. mile lagoon surprises divers with the amount of growth on the wrecks. There's something for everyone here.

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1-32 (of 45 found)

Plaque This plaque was placed on perhaps the most famous of the Truk Lagoon wrecks, the Fujikawa Maru, to comemorate Operation Hailstone which sunk these ships from the 4th Japanese Fleet.

Plaque

GasMask Gas Mask from the Fujikawa Maru wreck. Obviously been placed at some point in the past on this coral, but the eerie feeling makes for a stunning image.

GasMask

Oxygen-2 Oxygen tank near the gas mask in the hold of the Fujikawa Maru.

Oxygen-2

BeamAnemone The life on these wrecks is amazing. This anemone was growing in the hold on one of the cross beams on the Fujikawa Maru.

BeamAnemone

TireLadder Coral growth everywhere. This tire and ladder are found on the deck of the Fujikawa Maru.

TireLadder

Stanchion Another bow shot on the Fujikawa Maru. This time of the stanchions (the posts used to secure ropes for docking and similar actions).

Stanchion

GunCoral Silhouette of the bow gun on the Fujikawa Maru with coral and sponges in the foreground.

GunCoral

FishShoot Reverse view of the bow gun from the Fujikawa Maru. I call this

FishShoot

GunPlateClose Over the years, divers have kept clean some of the historical details on the various ships. This is the gun plate from the bow gun on the Fujikawa maru. Notice the 1899 date - the date the gun was originally cast.

GunPlate Wider angle view of the gun plate - the growth around it is astounding.

GunPlate

Shells The Sunkesan Maru is known for one hold being littered with tens of thousands of machine gun shells. This is a tiny example of those shells. Thankfully, artifact hunters have left most of the items such as this on the wrecks and they're well preserved for new divers to come discover.

Shells

Tires From the bow of the Sunkesan Maru - 3 tires were lined up along the railing for some reason. Silhouette of the dive boat in the background

Tires

BottleBox Another sought-after sight on the Sankesan Maru is this box of Japanese Medicine Bottles. It's hidden down in one of the holds.

BottleBox

TallBottleBox-2 Another view of the medicine bottles... with a sake bottle conveniently placed nearby for perspective.

TallBottleBox-2

BrightCoral The deck areas have become so encrusted it's hard to tell what the original structure was. This is from the deck of the Sankesan Maru.

BrightCoral

DeckDiver When you can find areas without growth, as in the side of the Sankesan Maru here, you can see a fuzzy rusted texture. But even here you can see the coral is working to cover every possible surface.

The bubbles in the foreground are from divers down in the hold of the ship.

DeckDiver

TowerDiver Diver in silhouette at the top of the Sankesan Maru.

TowerDiver

SoftCoral Safety stops are often a bit boring for divers. Not so here! This soft coral was photographed during a stop on the ascent from the Sankesan Maru.

SoftCoral

TowerDivers Just can't resist the shots of the ship structures - this one is from the deck of the Shimkoku Maru.

TowerDivers

ShimkokuTowerDiver Another angle on that structure on the Shimkoku Maru. Good timing on the diver swimming by.

ShimkokuTowerDiver

Ladder There are several different levels on the top deck of the Shimkoku Maru, meaning lots of ladders. This is a typically encrusted one. Gorgeous growth! I could spend an entire day just looking in amazement at how the ladders have grown so much life.

Ladder

Shimkoku Fish Sometimes, the schools of fish come out of nowhere on the wreck. This was on the Shimkoku Maru.

Fish Ladder Another Shimkoku Maru ladder. I couldn't resist.

Fish Ladder

Batfish How did I train the batfish to pose right there? Lots and lots of luck. From the Shimkoku Maru.

Batfish

HorizontalLight This light on the Shimkoku Maru fascinated me. The growth is just growing up around it.

HorizontalLight

BrightLight Liked the way it almost seems like the light itself is glowing here.

BrightLight

VerticalLight Different perspective on that light from the Shimkoku Maru.

AnemoneDiver Sometimes, if you didn't know you were on a wreck, you'd just think you were in a fabulously healthy reef in the South Pacific. There's enough here to keep any type of diver/photographer happy - the wreck shots or the sea life. This was taken on the Yamagiri Maru.

Pillars One of the most notable features of the Yamagiri Maru is the bow. This shot is taken down in the hold of the bow, where a torpedo blew out most of the sides. All that remains are the support beams, encrusted with these soft corals.

Pillars

Artifacts An artifact on the Yamagiri Maru - I believe this was an air vent cover. While much of the wrecks have been well preserved (cases and cases of sake bottles for example on another wreck), some divers can't resist moving things to new locations. And there are lots of sake bottles around to be used in this way. Do know I didn't move anything or ask anything to be moved... but wanted to document what was there now.

Artifacts

TomatoVertical Sometimes you just need to take another shot of an anemonefish. Even with a gorgeous wreck all around you.

TomatoTop Maybe two pictures... from the Yamagiri Maru.

TomatoTop

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