Truk Lagoon

Divers traveling to Truk Lagoon (aka Chuuk) will find two different underwater experiences: Yes, those with the proper training can dive doubles, penetrate and see all that their experience allows. However, roughly 65 percent of travelers who descend upon this World War II hallmark destination are recreational divers, staying shallower than the 130-foot limit.

Odyssey liveaboard, operating since 1999, caters to both. For tec divers, the biggest attraction—the San Francisco Maru—is also one of the deepest. Known as the Million Dollar Wreck, it’s loaded to the hilt with tanks, trucks, mines, ammunition, aircraft bombs, torpedoes and depth charges. However, Odyssey devotes just one dive to this site, ensuring guests see plenty of the other 60-some divable wrecks. Ships like the Shinkoku Maru are arguably as famous as the San Francisco, but much more accessible. One route through, available to recreational divers, enters the ship through a massive hole in the engine room, caused by a torpedo. Divers wind through the crew quarters, officers’ quarters, the aft deck and then the bridge.

“The next thing you know, you’re in 30 feet—you’ve just done an hourlong dive but you’re not in deco,” says Nelson Riollano, business manager for Odyssey. It’s the kind of dive that converts people. Even if someone treks to Truk to accommodate a history-buff spouse or friend, the wrecks’ coral cover and the reef life tend to wow. So, too, do the briefings, recounting tales of each ship before its tragic demise. “The Shinkoku gives you intrigue, great history and great penetration opportunities,” says Riollano. “And if all you want to do is look at pretty fish, it’s got those too.”

Need to Know Diving Truk Lagoon

When to Go Year-round. The driest months are January to March.

Water Temps Water stays between 82 and 86 degrees.

Don’t Miss The Fujikawa Maru offers a good mix of war artifacts and encounters with marine life, from eagle rays to reef sharks. The deck is at a 60-foot depth, allowing for considerable bottom times. Moreover, it sits in the northeast part of the lagoon, which enjoys the best visibility.

Contact Truk Odyssey (trukodyssey.com)

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North Carolina

North Carolina has the holy trifecta of wreck diving. Ask a wreck diver what kinds of sites they like, and some say they’re there for the history. Some for the artificial reefs, which offer clearly defined profiles that look how we imagine ships to look. Others simply enjoy the marine life—the bigger, the better. The Outer Banks delivers it all. The primary historic draw is undoubtedly the U-352, a German submarine sunk in 1942. But it’s far from the only war relic downed off Morehead City. “People come to see the sub and say, ‘Wow, I didn't know you had something else,’” says Bobby Purifoy, owner of Olympus Dive Center. One of his favorites for its history is the USS Schurz, a 255-foot former German cruiser commandeered by the U.S. Navy and sunk in 1918 due to a collision with the steamship Florida, which had been running at night without lights to avoid detection by the Germans. “This is not like the Spiegel Grove,” says Purifoy, referring to the fact that the ship’s wood is long gone, and the site doesn’t look like a ship anymore. “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle in that you need to know what you are looking at.”

Standing in the sand are the ship’s metal ribs, the boilers, the stern and steering quadrant, all still intact. Down for more than 100 years, the site is now a rich, thriving ecosystem—sometimes to the dismay of the dive guides. “Sometimes we can’t find the anchor line because the visibility is limited by baitfish,” says Purifoy. Thick clouds of scad and tomtates hunker down on the bottom, trying to hide from the predatory jacks. They’ve been so present that the guides have started using wreck reels to keep track of the anchor line. “They’re not a bad thing, just as long as you’re prepared,” says Purifoy.

Need to Know Diving North Carolina

When to Go May to October. Note that the sharks are present year-round.

Water Temps In the summer and fall, water warms to 76 degrees.

Don’t Miss To see the famous sand tiger sharks, drop in on the Caribsea in late summer. Two of the best intact ships are the USCGC Spar and the Aeolus—both excellent shark dives as well.

Contact Olympus Diving (olympusdiving.com)

Statia

In 2003, the government of the island of St. Eustatius spent one dollar and changed the island’s underwater landscape entirely. The 328-foot Charles Brown, a former AT\&T cable-laying ship, had been bound for the scrap heap when the government intervened. After ample prep work, the wreck was sunk off the island’s southwest coast, where the visibility is such that, on good days, divers can see the entirety of the ship as it lies on its side. Like many wrecks surrounded by sand, this one acts as an oasis, drawing in fish life of all sizes. Big schools of horse-eye jacks flow over the deck, riding the currents. So, too, do passing reef sharks, attracted by the smaller schools clustering around the ship. But the dive is about more than just marine life. “Even if you don’t see any turtles and fish, the ship is impressive—it’s intact and just so big,” says Mike Harterink, owner of Scubaqua, a PADI Instructor Development Center on the island.

Drop in on another of the island’s wrecks, the Chien Tong, and if visited at night, find it packed with turtles wedging under railings to tuck in for the night. “Don’t be surprised if you see a dozen of the big boys and girls,” says Harterink. The density of marine life is one of the island’s biggest draws, as is its history. In the 1700s, Statia and its harbor belonged to the Dutch West India Company, but it changed hands 22 times over the next 200 years as sugar and tobacco were traded at the port. Over the course of all that shipping, more than 200 anchors were lost underwater. Some of the biggest remain and can be seen at the sites Double Wreck and Triple Wreck, settled in the sand alongside cargo of rum bottles, wine bottles and cannons.

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Need to Know Diving Statia

When to Go Year-round.

Water Temps Water stays warm year-round, from 79 to 82 degrees.

Don’t Miss The Charles Brown. “It’s like a good bottle of wine—it’s getting better every year,” says Harterink.

Contact Scubaqua Dive Center (scubaqua.com)

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