Truk Lagoon, known as Chuuk – a group of tropical paradise islands in the Federal States of Micronesia – offers adrenaline-junky scuba divers a cool yet creepy underwater adventure in shark-infested Pacific waters while wreck diving the mysterious Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon.
More than 50 major shipwrecks from WWII litter the seabed, making the undersea wonder of the world the best shipwreck diving destination on the globe. In 1944, Americans launched Operation Hailstone, which has been called the Japanese Pearl Harbor, and the bombardment lasted for three days. The attack wiped out 60 ships and 275 airplanes, sinking them to the bottom of the lagoon, so that now it is the biggest ship graveyard in the world. Most of the wrecks were left untouched for nearly 25 years since people feared setting off the thousands of sunken bombs.
Many of the shipwrecks in the scuba diving paradise have full cargo holds full of fighter aircraft, tanks, bulldozers, railroad cars, motorcycles, torpedoes, mines, bombs, boxes of munitions, radios, thousands of various weapons, human remains, and other artifacts. More than 3,000 people were thought to have been killed and some divers swear that the wrecks in Truk Lagoon are haunted.
Destination Truth conducted an underwater ghost hunting expedition in Truk Lagoon. While diving at the Hoki Maru, the divers recorded sounds of running engines in the cargo hold full of trucks. Here’s a virtual adventure with wreck divers who explored and photographed the Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon. This is underwater awesomeness! We love these pics!
Diver gh0stdot captured amazing underwater images in the ghostly wreckage.
Let’s back up and show you where you are with an aerial shot taken while flying over Chuuk in south western part of the Pacific Ocean. Chuuk is the new name for an island group which formerly were known separately as Truk, Ruk, Hogoleu, Torres, Ugulat, and Lugulus. Chuuk is part of the Federated States of Micronesia. Photo #2 by Matt Kieffer
This photo is of Truk Blue Lagoon Resort. The beautifully clear blue Pacific water beckons to the curious to visit the underwater museum, whispering to wreck divers to descend to one many wrecks littering the seabed which makes this a wreck diver’s paradise. Photo #3 by Matt Kieffer
Matt Kieffe captured this shot of corals on the mast of the Sankisan Maru. Besides the massive graveyard of WWII shipwrecks, Truk Lagoon offers divers a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes of hard and soft corals. There are also diverse and eye-catching marine life in the shark-infested waters. Photo #11 by Matt Kieffer
Skull of a Japanese sailor inside one of the wrecks of Truk Lagoon from Fujikawa Maru. Josh Gates of Destination Truth took his recorded underwater ghostly noises to Jay and Grant of Ghost Hunters . . . adding weight for some to the claim that the Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon is haunted. Photo #14 by Apiquet
There are all kinds of beauty waiting on divers at the undersea wonder of the world Truk Lagoon. Anemone Fish on the deck of the Yamagiri Maru. Photo #19 by Matt Kieffer
Photographer Matt Kieffer noted that this was from the “Kiyuzumi Maru – resting almost evenly on her port side about 600 yards from Fefan Island.” Fefan Island is the third largest inhabited island within the Truk Lagoon in the Federated States of Micronesia. Photo #22 by Matt Kieffer
Commemorative plaque on the deck of the Fujikawa Maru. Photo #23 by Apiquet
Sunset on Chuuk. We hoped you enjoyed this surreal virtual wreck diving adventure at Truk Lagoon, Micronesia. A special thank you to the amazing photographers who allowed us to show off their photos. Photo #33 by Matt Kieffer