For over 4 decades, the SS Thorfinn liveaboard has set the standard for wreck diving in Truk Lagoon. This rugged, purpose-built former Antarctic whaling vessel converted into a world-class dive cruiser offers something rare: genuine ocean-going capability paired with genuine comfort. Unlike temporary charters or modern builds with no history, the Thorfinn carries decades of local knowledge in her hull. From the moment you step aboard, you feel the difference. This is not a floating hotel. It is a dive operation refined by experience, operating in the world’s greatest collection of WWII wrecks.
Truk Lagoon delivers easy, forgiving conditions. Water temperature sits around 29°C, currents rarely challenge, and visibility consistently rewards. The Thorfinn liveaboard places you within minutes of the best sites. 2 swift, covered 32 ft tenders launch separate dive groups to different moorings. No crowding. No waiting. You visit up to 5 distinct sites per day, covering 30 or more wrecks across a single week. Each tender carries radios, sonar, under-seat gear storage, fresh water showers, and night-ready lighting. Local guides have been on the SS Thorfinn for up to 18 years. They know which holds still hold cargo, which ladders lead to gun turrets, and where natural light falls best for wide-angle shots.
Space defines the SS Thorfinn. Up to 15 staff attend just 20 guests. Individual dive crews look after your gear. Hostesses, chefs, deckhands, and engineers work quietly to keep everything flowing. A separate service table is dedicated entirely to rebreather divers, with easy access to storage and fills. For open circuit technical divers, the boat supplies banded twin cylinders in 7, 11, and 15 litre sizes, plus pony bottles and assorted rebreather cylinders on certain plans. The onboard oxygen generator produces 93% oxygen at 90 cubic feet per hour, backed by electric boosters for custom blends. Sofnolime and helium are available at cost. This level of technical support is exceptional anywhere. Inside a remote lagoon, it is remarkable.
Expect solid meals, cheerful service, and genuine hospitality. Chefs prepare international dishes with variety across the week, and special dietary requests are accommodated where local supplies allow. Cabins are practical and well kept; most have private en-suite bathrooms. Social areas give scuba divers room to spread out, review photos, or simply watch the lagoon settle at dusk. The Thorfinn liveaboard does not pretend to be a luxury cruise liner. It offers something more valuable: consistency, safety, and the confidence that comes from running the same waters since 1980. You sleep well because you have dived well.
While Truk Lagoon is famous for its submerged fleet of ships, planes, and a submarine, the Thorfinn can also run trips to pristine outer barrier reefs. Here the palette changes. Bright corals, eagle rays, sharks, huge schools of big-eyed jacks, batfish, and barracudas fill blue water. Shark feeding dives are offered at select locations for those who wish to observe these animals up close. Yet the true draw remains below the lagoon’s surface: engine rooms, cargo holds, bridge equipment, and the silent weight of history resting in warm, clear water.
Few liveaboards carry this combination of authentic experience, technical readiness, and local longevity. The vessel’s enviable safety record speaks for itself. Basic open water divers can explore many sites on single cylinders. Technical divers can push deeper with full support. Everyone receives the same focused attention. The SS Thorfinn is not trendy, yet she is proven. Secure your cabin and dive the Pacific’s most famous wreck collection from the boat that helped put Truk on the dive map.
The accommodations are located on C, D, and E decks, and each room comes with a vanity, TV, DVD player, and indirect lighting.
Standard Cabins: There are 9 air-conditioned standard rooms, each equipped with either a double or queen bed plus an adjacent single berth. Among these, 7 rooms have private bathrooms, while the 3 rooms on C-deck share adjacent shower and toilet facilities.
Thor's Lair: This exclusive luxury suite is situated on the main deck. It features a king-size bed, an adjoining bed settee, a 44-inch TV, a walk-in wardrobe, a PC table, a mini-fridge, and a large private en-suite bathroom.
All the cabins have:
- Air-conditioning (thermostat control)
- Room table fans
- Private bathroom with hot water shower, toilet, hand basin (except C deck rooms)
- Toiletries, towels, hairdryer, bathrobe & mirror
- Portholes, skylights & windows
- Private balcony / hot tub
- Reading lights
- Daily housekeeping
- Minibar fridge (in custom luxury "Thor's Lair" room only)
- Wardrobe, shelves & bedside cabinet
- 24-hour, 110V/220V electricity supply
- European/US-style 2-pin plugs (mostly US 2 parallel pin types; adaptors suggested)
- Fire alarm, life jackets & fire extinguishers
- Storage space for luggage
- Bedding
No. of bathrooms / showers - 11 / 10 - hot water
Truk Lagoon (8 Days / 7 Nights - 21 Dives)
Trip highlights: great macro life/ marine diversity
Diving environment: advanced divers, off the beaten track, wreck diving
Dive sites and activities: Truk Lagoon: Fujikawa Maru, IJN Fumizuki Destroyer, Yamagiri Maru, Shinkoku Maru, Nippo Maru, Heian Maru, San Francisco Maru, Gosei Maru, Hoki Maru, Rio de Janeiro Maru, Submarine L169, Mitsubishi G4M Betty Bomber
Day 1
From the moment you step aboard the SS Thorfinn liveaboard in Chuuk Lagoon, the rhythm of dive vacation life takes over. You will settle into your cabin, and then join a thorough dive briefing that covers the wrecks, the currents, and the routines that make this operation tick. The rest of the afternoon is yours to set up gear on the boarding deck, check cylinder fills, and watch the lagoon turn gold as the sun drops behind the high islands. A welcome dinner in the dining lounge ends your first evening, with the promise of 5 dive sites tomorrow.
Core Days
Diving from the SS Thorfinn feels different from any other liveaboard. You wake not to a long steam across open ocean but to the sight of a wreck already beneath your keel. The vessel moors inside the lagoon, close to the finest sites, and each morning 2 covered tenders depart for different destinations. This approach gives you up to 5 dives per day across 5 separate sites (package dependent), a pace that suits both recreational divers and tech-minded guests running trimix or rebreather setups.
The wrecks of Truk Lagoon rest mostly upright, their cargo holds still packed with wartime artefacts. On the Fujikawa Maru you will find fighter aircraft fuselages, wing parts, and Zero engines stacked inside darkened holds. The San Francisco Maru, deeper at around 50 metres, carries tanks, trucks, and mines across its forward deck, a site reserved for experienced divers or those breathing helium blends. The Shinkoku Maru sits in shallower water and has become a reef in its own right, draped in soft corals, sea fans, and anthias. Swim through the engine rooms, peer into the bridge, and notice how the light falls through shell holes punched into the hull decades ago.
Lesser known wrecks offer their own quiet rewards on the SS Thorfinn liveaboard. The Hoki Maru features bulldozers and construction vehicles scattered across the sand beside the wreck. The Nippo Maru holds a lonely tank on its stern, its turret pointed toward the surface. The Betty Bomber and Emily Flyboat rest in broken pieces on the lagoon floor, their engines and propellers still recognisable among the coral. Between wreck dives, the tenders may stop at reef sites or shallower bommies where turtles, barracuda, and reef sharks patrol the drop-offs. The diving is not a race but a steady rhythm: dive, surface, swap stories on the tender, then descend again.
Final day
On your last morning you will wake early for one final dive, often at a site chosen by the group to end the week on a high note. After breakfast the tenders return to the mothership for the last time. You will pack personal gear, square accounts at the bar, and say goodbye to the crew before transferring to the airport. The SS Thorfinn will remain moored in the lagoon, ready for the next group of wreck hunters to arrive.
[Information is best estimate in ideal circumstances and subject to changes beyond our control. The itinerary is a guide only and may be adapted to best suit the weather, tides, currents, availability and other prevailing events. Price is for the cruise, not for an exact number of dives].
Most meals are served in the D deck dining saloon. But when the group feels right and the weather holds, the crew fires up an aft deck BBQ party. That shifts to a buffet format on the main C deck lounge, still under the sun canopies. Those evenings are relaxed, informal, and often the most memorable. Life on a wreck diving trip runs on a rhythm of tides, nitrogen, and appetite.
When you book a cruise on the Thorfinn liveaboard, you are signing up for more than just legendary wrecks. You are stepping into a floating operation where every meal and every dive slot fits together with a practised, easy-going precision. The SS Thorfinn is not a luxury liner. It is a working dive vessel with character. And that character shines through in the food, the schedule, and the simple pleasure of kicking back between deep penetrations into history.
Before the sun climbs over Truk’s green peaks, the first coffee appears in the main lounge. Early risers grab a mug and a biscuit, often chatting through the morning dive plan. By 7 am, the dining saloon, a snug 22-seat space on D deck, fills with divers working through a full American breakfast - eggs any style, bacon, sausages, pancakes, fresh fruit, juices, and toast. No skimping.
At 7:45 am, everyone gathers in the main lounge. The smart TV fires up a visual dive briefing for the first of 5 scheduled sites. By 8 am, the first launch departs. You return around 9:30 am, swap stories, refill your tanks, rinse your camera gear, and grab a snack, often something freshly baked.
Second dive briefing starts at 10:45 am, with the launch away at 11 am. When you climb back aboard, lunch is waiting. No hanging about. Expect hearty single-choice plates: spaghetti with a rich sauce, lasagne, proper meat pies, or substantial salads with hot or cold sandwiches. After eating, you have time to snooze on a deck lounger under the large solar canopies. The lagoon views and cool ocean breezes make that short rest feel like a small holiday in itself.
Third dive briefing kicks off at 1:45 pm. Launch at 2 pm. Return for afternoon bakings: cookies, peanuts, maybe a slice of cake. Then fourth dive briefing at 4:45 pm for a lighter adjacent dive at 5 pm.
Main supper is served in the dining saloon at 7 pm. Dinner runs to a single-choice menu, but it is a proper meal. Soups and salads to start. Then roast beef, turkey, hams, or pork loins, always with mixed vegetables, potatoes or steamed rice. Desserts change daily: ice cream, fruit with toppings, pies, cakes, jelly, or various puddings.
If there is demand, a fifth night dive launches around 8 pm. Otherwise, you sit back with a beer from the bar (reasonable prices for alcohol and soft drinks) and let the day sink in.
The SS Thorfinn crew runs free tours to adjacent islands when conditions allow. Occasionally there is a beach BBQ, though the aboard version tends to be more reliable and just as enjoyable. Between dives, deck loungers and chairs invite you to do nothing at all, which, in Truk Lagoon, is its own kind of reward.
Coffee, tea, potable water and ice are always free. The bar stocks beer, soft drinks, and spirits at genuinely low figures. No one is here to empty your wallet.
A week on the Thorfinn liveaboard is not about white tablecloths or rigid schedules. It is about solid food, smart dive planning, and a crew that knows how to keep you fed, rested, and underwater where you belong. The wrecks do the heavy lifting. The boat handles the rest.
MORE TRIP DETAILS
Notes: 'Standard Dive Package' is 3 dives per day. 'Dive Intensive Package' is 5 dives per day and includes free nitrox.
In the event of cancellation by Thorfinn for any reason, there will be no reimbursement so the operator states that it is mandatory for all guests to have travel insurance coverage for this event.
Dive experience: Advanced Open Water (or equivalent) with a minimum of 25 logged dives is recommended.
Cruise price per person includes: Cabin accommodation, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, drinking water, soft drinks, hot drinks, dives (as detailed in the trips above), roundtrip airport/hotel transfers to boat, port fees, 3 experienced English-speaking divemasters, nitrox fills for enriched air certified divers (Dive Intensive Packages only), 12-liter aluminum tanks (DIN and yoke compatible), weights and weightbelts.
Cruise price per person excludes (mandatory, unless customer provides own): 5% sales tax on cruise price, scuba equipment rental (BCD, regulator, dive computer, mask, fins), park fees (USD 50 valid for one year, payable onboard), dive and travel insurance. Unless otherwise stated, all the listed items need to be paid on arrival (credit card or USD cash).
Optional extras: Alcoholic drinks, upgrade from Standard to Dive Intensive package (USD 12 +5% tax, per night), nitrox fills for enriched air certified divers (Standard Dive Packages: USD 12 per tank), 15 liter tank, torch, full tech diving support and rebreather support (price on request), camera rental. Unless otherwise stated, all the listed items need to be paid on arrival. Note: prices of items purchased onboard are subject to change.
How to get there: The SS Thorfinn liveaboard departs from the dock at Blue Lagoon Resort, Weno Island in Chuuk State, Micronesia. Guests fly into Chuuk International Airport (TKK), a 10-minute drive from the dock. Thorfinn arranges airport transfers for all inbound and outbound guests, regardless of flight times. If you are already on the island, then a hotel pick up will be at 10 am. The first dive is scheduled for the following morning after a safety briefing. Guests disembark according to their flight or hotel reservations. The last dive of the trip is decided by each guest, but the operator recommends you wait 24 hours before flying after diving.
For more details, including airlines, see our Chuuk tourist information section.
Non-diver rate: Usually 40% off the regular fare.
Single supplement (if you do not want to share accommodation): This is optional - single travellers may choose to share a cabin and pay the regular price, or pay a supplement of USD 35 +5% tax per night for their own cabin.
Dive clubs and group discounts: Pay for 5 guests and 1 additional person can join free of charge. Pay for 13 guests and 3 extra persons can join free of charge.
Whole boat charter rate (per night): Quoted on request, but discounted from a full ship group fare.
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