Continental Air Micronesia has direct flights from Guam or you can experience the "Island Hopper" from Hawaii - with stops on many of the islands along the way. The airport departure fee is $15.

Find flights into TKK

History: It is not known when the islands of Chuuk were first settled, but, based on archaeological evidence, these islands had originally been settled more than 2000 years ago. It is not known with certainty where the original inhabitants came from. Based on archaeological evidence, it seems that, after about 200 AD, there was no continuous settlement until about 1300 AD. It is probable that people came from Pohnpei and Kosrae to the east, based on many legend and language similarities. As part of the colonial territory of the Caroline Islands, Truk was part of the Spanish, then German and the Japanese empires.

During World War II, Truk Lagoon was the Empire of Japan's main base in the South Pacific theatre. A significant portion of the Japanese fleet was based there, with its administrative center on Tonoas (south of Weno). Truk was the base for Japanese operations against Allied forces in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Due to its heavy fortifications, both natural and manmade, the base at Truk was known to Allied forces as "the Gibraltar of the Pacific".

Operation Hailstone, executed by the United States in 1944, culminated in one of the most important naval battles of the war at Truk. Twelve Japanese warships, thirty-two merchant ships and 249 aircraft were destroyed, although the larger warships had received advance warning and were already at sea.

Chuuk was one of six districts of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands which were administered by the United States under charter from the United Nations from the end of the Second World War to the early 1990s.

English-Speaking?: YES

Weather: We are only 7 degrees north of the equator and our climate is tropical. The trade winds provide cooling breezes and the rainy season gives us lush, tropical growth.

Customs/VISA: Dress is casual, shorts and t-shirts are widely acceptable on the resort grounds and of course on the dive boats. For women, local custom is to wear a skirt or wrap to cover the thighs when away from the resort. Light clothing is comfortable in our climate.

Lush vegetation and simple living punctuate the lives of the lagoon. Fishing, weaving and tending garden supplant the subsistence lives that many sustain on their individual islands. It is not unusual to see women waist deep in the mangroves hunting for a special delicacy or men walking the reefs by torchlight at night looking for baby octopus. Boat makers create vessels high in the hills of the inner islands and take them down to sea when finished. Open hearth fires are still used to cook the daily meals. Life here is close to nature and lived in conjunction with the land and the sea. Local carvers are also famous for using beautiful local woods to carve warrior masks and busts. And the Chuukese love stick is part of a legendary practice of courtship unique to this island group.

Currency: The currency in Chuuk is the US dollar. Major credit cards and travelers checks are also widely accepted.