First dive on a navel vessel

Back to two dives today, the first one was on the Hoki Maru, which was the ex New Zealand ship the Hauraki that was captured by the Japanese raider  Aikoko Maru in 1942. The 137m cargo ship, sitting upright in 50m of water. Much of the front end of the ship has been destroyed but what is left is very interesting, with holds full of aero engines and bulldozers, trucks and tractors in hold 5. The 2 hour dive was very pleasant with som of the best visibility that we have had all week at around 30m.

In contrast the second dive on the  Fumitsuki a 98m Destroyer and  one of the few navel vessels in the lagoon had very poor viability at around 10m, but this did mot detract from what is a very pretty little wreck. The front 30m has broken up and lies on its side but the rest of the wreck is upright. She is very obviously built for speed has very sleek lines and twin screws, well armed to as it is possible to see her guns and torpedo launchers. The ship was undergoing repairs when the Americans struck and unable to escape being sunk in Operation Hailstone.