On Wednesday after lunch, we took a land tour of Eten Island. This 86 acre island, called Take Jima (Bamboo) by the Japanese, became a fixed aircraft carrier at the hands of the Japanese (and the Chuukese). Local labor was used to build a 3,283 foot long rubble seawall and square off the island, as seen in this U.S. Naval Archive photo of 5 February, 1944. Today, the devastated Japanese air base has returned to the jungle and the island has returned to its idyllic ways: jungle, taro patches, subsistence living of natives. There is no "infrastructure:" utilities, roads, etc., just the remains of the runway, buildings and aprons.

Imagine what the photo recon boys thought when they thought there was a 3800 foot long aircraft carrier in the lagoon!

We landed on the straight side of the island as show in this 1944 Navy photo. There is a dock about in the middle between the white cloud and the (blurry) taxi way. A hint of a dock may be visible in the old photograph.

Oh, yes, there are bombed buildings with the roofs partially collapsed. And there are pock marked runways and aprons. The high ground (dark black area in the upper left of the photo) is still there and the flat areas (everything else) are about the same. But it is overgrown and lovely. A cistern sits in the midst of taro and banana. A home in a clearing.

A "park," consisting of a lean-to in a clearing on the west (lower right in aerial photo) corner of the island shows the corner of the rubble sea wall which gives the island its unique square corners. The palm trees and other vegetation stand where many planes approached (on an north-east - about a 40 degree - heading).

When viewing the vegitation, remember, El Nino had plunged Micronesia into a drought. We saw parts of every island we visited (Yap, Chuuk, Guam and Palau) on fire due to the dry conditions!

The generator building still stands, despite near and direct bomb hits. Its pock-marked surface sharp contrast to the soft foliage which is engulfing it. The fact that it still stands after 54 years of neglect and significant bomb damage is a testament to the determination with which the Japanese built it in the 1930s.

An unexploded (presumably American) bomb lies next to one of the damaged concrete buildings. The Chuukese seem to be content to leave things as they were before the outsiders came through and trampled their island paradise.

On the southeastern (upper, to the right of the dark area) shore, a home stands with its cistern beside a small beach. One of our intrepid divers surveys the scene with two of the Chuukese boys who live on the island.

While the Chuukese have returned to much of thier simpler, subsistence living, Coke can be counted on to please the childern anywhere! These youngsters followed us around during our (hour or so) expedition and were rewarded with cold sodas. Here they are sitting on the edge of the dock as we return to our ship and more diving!

Continue the Truk Lagoon tour