A less dived wreck the Seiko Maru

Bit of an unplanned dive yesterday our group were scheduled to dive the Unkai Maru but just as we arrived the Odyssey which is one of the Truk Lagoon liveaboards was just dropping her divers in on the at wreck so we asked out Guide Tryvin for an alternative and what a good choice it was. The Seiko sits upright in 50m a few miles from the Unkai so it did not take long to get there. But the Seiko was a real treat, not much cargo in the holds, just a few long lance torpedoes stored upright in no 1 hold and some wheels and oils drums in no 4,  but lots of marine life. 

She was a relatively modern ship when she was sunk in 1944 and was power by a steam turbine and coal powered boilers in an all aft engine room which was still accessible. The mid ships officers quarters are entered with a bit of a squeeze with a rebreather and bail out cylinder, but one in bathrooms, galley and radio room were all easily identified. The bridge was open and still had the telegraph and steering position but the wooden wheel had obviously rotted away. The bow has an interesting jury rigged old field gun encrusted in coral, rather than the normal fixed guns we been seeing on some of the other wrecks. 

There was no diving for anyone in the afternoon with the Lust4Rust island barbecue, which kept us all entertained with beer, wine, food and crab racing. The island also had a small nursery of young black tip reef sharks from about 30cm to 1m long so it was quite entertaining watching them harass the schools of small fish in the shallows.