After a good breakfast it was time to head out for a full day of diving. Our guide Hensen took us the Shinkoku Maru. The Shinkoku Maru was a larger Oil Tanker. The bridge sat at 40’, main deck at 70’ and the bottom was at 125’. There was everything from communication equipment to china bowls to medical bays and engine rooms. Unfortunately I didn’t get to explore the inner parts of the wreck so I’m hoping to do that later this week. The outside of the ship was over grown with a coral reef. Plenty of fish swam around as we explored the top deck. Truthfully, I was a little bored. The reef is nice but not what I was hoping to spend the dive doing. I was really looking forward to going down the decks into the engine room and medical bay. I’m not too worried, as I know I’ll
get back there since this is one of the top wrecks to dive.
After eating a club sandwich, it was time to head back out to the Heian Maru. As my dive buddy Chris put it, “Dude you have a smile from ear to ear, you need to calm down.” I spoke to our guide Hense and explained I was more interested in wreck penetration than exploring the reef. He did not disappoint. We went through our first cargo hold and came across giant shells of ammunition over 6ft tall. We moved onward to explore another connecting passageway to find torpedo’s with the propellers still intact. I was like a little kid in a candy shop. We continued through the different hallways exploring more rooms. We came across china bowls and teacups. It was like a giant obstacle course and exactly what I wanted. Some of the holes we crawled through were only a foot taller than my body, which made it thrilling and exciting. Nothing compares to being in complete darkness inside of a shipwreck and seeing light peaking through the exploded sides of a ship.
After returning and pinching myself a few times to make sure what I just experienced was real, I took a stroll down the beach. I came across a fallen tree with a spring coil hanging out the bottom. Our crazy American (Brandon), who is a bombs expert, explained that it was an unexploded landmine. Across from the tree was a bunker. I had to walk through the bush to reach the entrance. It was no bigger than 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide. I couldn’t resist a once in a lifetime opportunity and crawled right on in. It was very warm inside with little circulation. You could tell locals partied in it by the left over bottles and cans. It was only about 4.5ft tall so you could not fully stand. The looks out holes were not even half a foot wide and was right on the ground overlooking the beach. It would have been near impossible to shoot anyone that was inside.
I opted to go join the more experience/intense guys on a night wreck dive. We went back to the Heian Maru. I didn’t think I could top the first time around. Boy was I wrong. I was squeezing into spots no wider than my body with tanks. We penetrated roughly 4-5 decks. We started off in the engine room and worked our way down the narrow passageways. This dive pushed me to my limits. One thing I will say, is if you are ever not comfortable, just say no. Today I got very close to saying “Hell no, I am not squeezing through there.” Ultimately I decided to continue because I was right behind the guide and close by were highly skilled divers who I knew could get me out of there in the event of an emergency. I’m glad I continued on with the dive. We came across a skull and half a jaw just lying amongst the rubble. It was very chilling to see but reminded you to treat the wreck with respect, as it is technically a naval gravesite. We were later greeted by some lobsters, which were very cool. As we made our way through more narrow passageways we came across a medical box. It still contained all its tools, vials and syringes. We passed through the living quarters where beds were flipped from the bombings and everything was scattered. We came across a whole wall stacked with Sake bottles and then a pile of empties on the floor. I thought the Irish could drink, but the amount of sake buried with these wrecks has me second-guessing who’s the bigger drinker. Words really do not give this dive justice. I still can’t believe what I just experienced and know that I’ve truly spoiled myself. Due to the dive pushing me to my limits, I didn’t record any video. it would have task loaded me and pushed me well beyond my comfort zone and limits. Ultimately the safety of the dive takes priority over any video/pictures no matter how great it would have been.
I am exhausted so I’m heading to bed to catch some Z’s and have another exciting day of diving ahead of me tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!
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Justin Steele
The Green Ranger