On May 29, 1944 DE-37 Greiner United States Navy
destroyer escort shelled and reconnaissance the island. Greiner
returned again on June 1, 1944 to shell again. The island celebrates
Liberation Day, on 8 September, marking the American defeat of Japan
on the island at the end of WWII.
Mt.
Omar
Japanese caves hidden in the jungle. Impressive
ruins on the connected island of Lelu date from around the 14th
century when Kosrae's chief's were the dominant regional power.
Though the outskirts of the massive royal city have been torn down,
the remaining ruins still give the feeling of being in an ancient,
hidden city, the kind of isolated setting you might imagine trekking
hours through dense jungle to find. Lelu Hill, the island's high
point, has a scattering of caves and tunnels used by the Japanese
in WWII.
Bunker
This bunker has thick concrete walls, with multiple
entrances.
Malim
The Japanese sites are along the coast, in
Malim. That was the site of Japanese settlement during the prewar
years until the Japanese surrender in WWII.
"The
Meeting Place"
The meeting place is completely subterranean,
an artificial concrete cave with two entrances (to the island
interior) and ventilation openings at the top. You would never
know the structure was there because the top is flush with the
ground.
Lelu Hill
The island's high point, has a scattering
of caves and tunnels used by the Japanese in WWII.
Lelu Harbor
One of Kosrae's greatest attractions is the
clear, clean ocean and living coral reefs that completely surround
it. Offshore the coral reefs slope steeply into the clear blue
depths. Both vertical drop offs and undulating profiles of cascading
corals appear before you as underwater visibility averages 100
feet plus, The reefs comprise hundreds of densely packed coral
species, attracting an abundance of marine life. A diver could
observe 30 to 50 species of fish in a single dive. Large numbers
of turtles inhabit the waters of this island paradise.
Kosrae has unspoiled coral reefs close to shore
suitable for both walk-in and boat diving. Underwater visibility
can easily be 100ft (30m), and in summer as much as 200ft (60m).
The Blue Hole in Lelu harbor coral heads, lionfish, stingrays
and barracuda. In the south, a nice spot is Hiroshi's Point, a
drift dive that takes in beautiful soft corals and hammerhead
sharks. There's an American search plane in about 60ft (20m) of
water at the mouth of Lelu Harbor. Also in the vicinity are two
Japanese boats and the remains of a whaling ship.
