Shotan Maru
Medium-sized ex-cargo freighter lying on an even keel at about 50 m between two ridges. Holds 1 and 2 are linked and contain trucks and ammunition; a truck that fell overboard lies at about 60 m. Soft-coral-covered stern gun and funnel attract trevally, dogtooth tuna and barracuda, and a pod of bottlenose dolphins joined divers on one of Thorfinn's dives.
Facts
- Region: Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon – Micronesia
- Area: Fourth Fleet anchorage (east of Dublon)
- Depth: 37–58 m
- Level: advanced
- Current: low
- Type: wreck
- Coordinates: 7.36778, 151.916515
- Highlights: trucks, ammunition, anti-aircraft guns, trevally, dogtooth tuna, barracuda, bottlenose dolphins
- Permit: A Chuuk State dive permit is required for every dive on the wartime wrecks (Chuuk Lagoon State Monument): US$50, valid one year, as listed by Odyssey Adventures, SS Thorfinn and the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop rate sheet (the older state-code text says US$30, so confirm when booking). Under the state code the permit is sold by the licensed dive shops/operators, who collect the fee for the state, and divers must go with a certified guide from a licensed shop. All Japanese ships and aircraft sunk before 31 Dec 1945 are protected monuments and war graves: taking or damaging anything is illegal (fine up to US$1,000 and/or six months in prison under the state code).
- Issuer / contact: Chuuk Visitors Bureau (CVB)
- Phone: +691 330-4133
- Email: executivedirector@visitchuuk.com
- Website: https://visitchuuk.com/contact-information
- CVB is the Chuuk State tourism office and is listed here as the official contact for visitor information; the permit itself is sold by the licensed dive operators (Chuuk State code Title 25 ch. 8, text at https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/mic79052.pdf). Operators (Thorfinn, Odyssey, Blue Lagoon) list US$50.
- Tips: Deep (about 50 m) and hard to hook on the mooring; the 'Matsutani Maru' name appears only in the operator's diary title; Pacific Wrecks' Matsutani Maru (1,999 t, 150 ft, two flatbed trucks, AA guns, 3-inch stern gun) fits the same description, but no source states they are the same wreck. Wrecks are war graves – look, photograph, take nothing. Some cargo (shells, mines, bombs) is unstable: do not touch it.