In February of 1997 Doug, Penny and Karen visited Mike and
Lynn in Guam. While in Guam they dove on two wrecks, the Tokia
Maru and the SMS Cormoran which are actually touching each
other in about 120 feet of water. The Cormoran is a WWII German
raider with a rich history which started off as a Russian ship
and ending with a sinking to avoid capture by the American forces.
The Tokia Maru is a Japanese freighter that was caught by attacking
US forces and sunk actually hitting the Cormoran. The Cormoran's
propeller cut the hull of the Tokia Maru and today they lay within
reach of each other.
After several days in Guam, Doug, Penny, Karen and Mike flew
to Truk, now called Chuuk (See: Truk
History)and met the S.S. Thorfinn for a week of outstanding
diving and fun. It was impossible to dive as often as the crew
offered. Doug had a strobe failure after one dive on the sub
I-169 and had to use available light to get most of his underwater
pictures. Mike was enjoying the dive beyond description and elected
to leave his camera behind and just look and the wrecks. Most
of these pictures were taken by Mike the few times he did take
pictures.