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Palau, renowned for its beautiful lagoons
and thrilling marine action is also the resting-place for the
"Lost Fleet of the Rock Islands". |
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Vol.3 No.1
Features
Palau Wrexpedition
Diving into History
Photos & Text by: Tim Rock
Sixty years ago, during WWII, Palau was a major Japanese military
base. On March 30 and 31, 1944, U.S. Navy bombers and fighter planes
raided the Japanese fleet and sunk more than 60 ships and seaplanes
in and around the lagoon.
Today, Palau, renowned for its beautiful lagoons and thrilling marine
action is also the resting-place for the "Lost Fleet of the
Rock Islands". Covered by lush marine growth and now protected
by law from salvage, divers recently discovered the beauty and diversity
of Palau's wrecks.
Fish 'n Fins the pioneer dive shop in Palau, and Ocean Hunter,
Palau's most exclusive live-aboard invites you to join the 4th
Annual Wrexpedition to explore the popular wrecks of Palau and rediscover
forgotten ones.
More than a decade ago, Klaus Lindemann and Francis Toribiong set
off on a mission. They wanted to find and document the sunken shipwrecks
of the Palau Islands. Toribiong, a Palauan, had worked in his youth
as a helper to his uncle salvaging some of the old WWII wrecks. He
was now curious of what remained of these historical hulks. Lindemann
had written the book 'Hailstorm Over Truk Lagoon' and
wondered if a similar fleet held exciting finds and new discoveries.
Together, with just their skills and limited resources, they set out
to find out the fate of the fleet after nearly 50-years beneath the
sea. After a couple of years of successful hunting, many new wrecks
were found and the book 'Desecrate One' was produced.
In the years that followed, Toribiong sold his interest in his pioneer
dive shop Fish 'N Fins and moved to Oregon where his children
where in high school and college. Lindemann's health turned
poor and he succumbed to brain cancer in 2001.
Marking their historic efforts, Fish 'N Fins has hosted an annual
"Wrexpedition" for the past four years. This year it is
being held from June 5th to 10th.
Normally, Palau isn't thought of as Micronesia's shipwreck
haven but in truth, there are more sunken ships here than in the famous
Truk Lagoon. While some WWII casualties have been salvaged, others
are located in the Rock Islands, full of marine life and old artefacts.
Japan took control of the Micronesian islands in 1914 and ruled them
until the end of World War II. They built the islands in the Palau
archipelago into progressive and productive communities that specialized
in mining, agriculture and fisheries. When the war came, the islands
were also heavily fortified militarily. The islands of Angaur and
Peleliu were the settings for fierce battles; the one on tiny Peleliu
lasting for three bloody months.
Desecrate One
Months prior to Peleliu, a two-day air-strike on March 30 and 31,
1944, designated as 'Desecrate One', sunk a major part
of the Japanese fleet. Most were freighters, but small destroyers
and many aeroplanes went down in the battles. Seaplanes were sunk
at their moorings or while trying to escape.
Many war remnants still exist today on Babeldaob, in Koror town, on
Peleliu and in Anguar's jungles. For the diver, weeks and even
months of exploration above and below the sea are available here.
A week of Palau wreck diving opens doors to more exploration and can
be very addictive. The most recent find, a United States Navy ship
the USS Perry, was found by current Fish 'N Fins owner Navot
Bornovski off the tip of Angaur. It is a deep, technical dive but
unique as a wreck dive. In the upper reaches of Velasco Reef, 100
miles north at the far tip of the archipelago, is the ship sunk by
ex-U.S. President George Bush Sr. In between are ships with wonderful
marine creatures in odd and unusual diving settings. Some are located
in channels, others in river outlets, others in secluded Rock Island
coves and there are quite few around the main harbour.
Most ships in Palau are in relatively shallow water at 45 to 120 feet.
But the ocean still hides their easy location. Dubbed "The Lost
Fleet of the Rock Islands", this group of ships still enjoys
very little diver pressure today.
One of the ships found after a lot of work by Toribiong was the Chuyo
Maru. The discovery of this wreck came when the Francis and Klaus
Lindemann had been looking, searching, identifying and exploring and
were at the end of their week and the end of their safe diving time.
Lindemann was scheduled to fly out the next day and decided to let
accumulated nitrogen purge itself from his system. So when they took
a morning spin to the old anchorage site near Koror to check out the
bottom with the echo sounder, it was Toribiong who elected to dive
down to check out an echo that looked like a large wreck on the screen.
The trouble was, as far as Toribiong could recall, no one locally
had fished there, and so the possibility of there being a wreck so
close to a major population centre was pretty remote.
"I dived down and down and was almost at the bottom and still
there was no ship", remembered Toribiong. Resigning the sighting
to some sort of phantom, he decided to ascend. "I picked up
the anchor line and turned around and there it was".
This ship is still in fine shape and is covered in coral and a home
for fish. The bridge is in 70 feet of water and it is 90 feet to the
deck. The top of the mast, the crosstree, is a garden of coral, sponges
and fish. There is a resident school of barracuda that especially
like the bridge aft areas. There are also many lionfish here that
like to hide in the black coral branches and feed on the tiny fry.
The intact masts also attract various shoals of fusiliers. Cock's
comb oysters are thick on this wreck. The forward mast is especially
nice with a great cluster of anemones and clownfish.
The bow is full of marine life and there can be a current running
off the bow making it a good place to look for shoaling fish. The
anchor chain stretches down sharply into the sand. Farther back, forward
of the bridge on the port side, a large anchor lies on the deck.
Other ships that may be better known include Teshio Maru. This ship
sunk while underway and now rests on its starboard side. It is one
of the fishiest wrecks in Palau, with shoals of barracuda and Skipjack
Tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis).
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The Jake floatplane, an Aichi E13A or Jake
type reconnaissance seaplane, is one of the most intact aircraft
wrecks in Micronesia. |
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Jake floatplane
The Jake floatplane, an Aichi E13A or Jake type reconnaissance seaplane,
is one of the most intact aircraft wrecks in Micronesia. It sits mostly
upright with wings and one float still intact in shallow water not
far off the Meyuns seaplane ramp.
The Ryuko Maru is near to the city, almost a snorkel from the Palau
Pacific Resort along the northwestern shore of Ngargol Island. Covered
in black coral trees and full of marine life like skipjacks and lionfish,
the ship is a pleasant swim and there are parts that can be easily
penetrated.
One ship full of artefacts is still unidentified. The Helmet Wreck
was obviously being used by the Japanese for the war effort, but does
not appear to be Japanese built. It is known as the Helmet Wreck after
its cargo of helmets that are now fused together from being in the
ocean for nearly six decades.
One of Palau's most popular wrecks is the large freighter Iro
Maru. It is beautifully overgrown with many forms of sessile marine
life. Its sister ship, the Sata lies close by, upside-down, deep and
basically undiveable on air.
"A wreck is like a house left abandoned. Each has a story to
tell. You have to look at it, figure it out ... find out its past",
Lindemann would say.
The dive-shop has developed a series of 3D computerized images of
the wrecks. Called a D-Log, it is the first interactive CD-ROM of
the Palau fleet. Divers can do a virtual dive on every wreck before
entering the sea and actually doing the dive.
Wrexpedition is a great way to learn the history of Palau, the Pacific
and WWII.
For details and bookings: Fish 'N Fins, P.O. Box 142, Koror,
Palau 96940. Tel: 680-488-2637.
Email: fishnfin@palaunet.com,
web: www.fishnfins.com.
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