Here is a follow up to Roger's report from our trip over 29 April/16 May
For our trip to Micronesia we were able to fly direct from Salt Lake
City to Honolulu on Delta where we overnighted, then took Continental's
island hopper flight the next morning. Our first stop was a week in Pohnpei
where our plan was to dive for 4 days then go in land to see the
island. We arrived in Pohnpei on a Saturday afternoon in pouring
rain. The rain was to become the theme for the week as it rained
everyday. Based on other reviews we decided to stay at the Village
Hotel. The staff greeted us at the airport which was nice.
The Village is approximately 7 km out of Kolonia and sits up on a
point. It is a set of 20 or so thatched roof bungalows and is very
environmentally friendly run hotel as all of the materials are from
locally cut and sawed trees. Our room was spacious and very open so
that breezes would pass through. No air conditioning just fans. The
beds (which are waterbeds) are covered by mosquito netting or as my
wife liked to call it " The fairy princess cave." The staff would come by
each evening with fresh towels and turn down netting for the evening.
For the first two days we ate all of our meals at the Village. The
food and the wait staff were excellent. The ladies served breakfast
while the young men served dinner. Breakfast and dinner's were a good
value for the money and always tasty. The lunches which they packed
for each day's diving where a bit sparten for the money. $6.50 got you
a tuna sandwich and an orange. Another $1.50 for a coke. On the third
day we skipped diving and went into town and bought a few groceries to
supplement our lunches. For the third day of diving we bought one
lunch split it between the two of us and then on the last day just
brought our own.
We ate all of our dinners at the Village except one where we went into
town and ate at Japanese's buffet the was a great deal for the
money.
Because the Village is a ways from town they will let you store food
and drinks in their refrigerators. Which is a really good idea as one
night I unknowingly dropped a couple of M&Ms which resulted in a
great ant convention in our room. Fortunately, by morning the goods
were gone so they left.
Now for the diving. We did 8 dives over the 7 days we were there. We
had planned to dive for four days when take a break for three days
before going over to Chuuk for another week of diving. However our
plans got changed when we were informed that a group of 16 people
would be coming in on our second day and that we would have follow
their schedule as they were going to be allocating all of the their
boats to accommodating this group. I asked about at least splitting
the group up so that we would not all be diving the same location at
the same time. He said we could not as he had only one dive-master
(the others were dive guides with just OW certs) and was renting a
boat just to handled the tanks. This was partially true as they did
rent another boat for the tanks but then had "Kenny" who was a dive
instructor from Japan for I believe the Pohnpei Dive Club join us. As
consolation we were asked if there was any particular place we wanted
to dive on our first day because it was going to be just us and three
other divers. I immediately said Ant Atoll. They said it might be
possible but normally they did start going over until mid May when the
seas were calmer. We arrived 29 April.
The next morning we got out to Ant Atoll. We left at 9:30am which is
their standard departure time with just one other diver Simon; from
Hong Kong, Stamp; the dive-master, and a dive guide. The ride out is
about 8 miles of open water and was a bit rough but not bad. The total
boat ride time was 1.5 hours. We did one dive on the inside of the
atoll and the second going from outside back inside the atoll through
the one navigable pass. Both dives were great dives with a nice variety of
pristine coral and sea life including some reef sharks. Coming back we
got caught in a wicked rain squall which reduced visibility to about
100' and the ride was pretty bouncy. The cost was $110 per person.
We decided to see how the group coming was and choose to dive the next
day. This was a mistake. They came in late (2am) from Chuuk and were
rather disorganized. We were ready at 9:30 but we did not leave the dock
until 11am because they were still getting themselves organized. Also
because they were such a large group Simon who we dove with us the day
before could not dive because their boats were full so he was out for
the day which we thought was rather rude because he was not informed
of this until that morning. The other thing that was rude was the
group was passing a cold around and the person who had it got on our
boat one day. Just what my wife and I wanted was the chance of getting
a cold just as we were beginning our trip.
The two dives for the day were on Poahloang and Dawahk Passes. Both
were nice drift dives to the inside of the atoll that surrounds
Pohnpei. Diving in mass was fine until on the second dive when Kenny
the instructor mentioned that on rare occasions Scalloped Hammerhead
sharks had been seen. So naturally, there was a gang bang on the
corner of the passage for 5 minutes before people gave up. We drifted
pass instead to get away.
The next day we skipped diving and went into town and hiked up Sokeh's
Mountain which was several gun placements built by the Japanese during
WWII. It was a nice hike of 3 hours with some great views. We also
visited one of the waterfalls, Kepirohi just outside of Kolonia. It
was okay but nothing spectacular and I was certainly glad that I did
not pay the $5 photo fee. back in town we also found a few stores one
of which sold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Naturally I bought a six pack which
surprisingly was only $8.50.
For our third day of diving we joined the group again the next day in
hopes that it would be better. We left promptly at 9:30 and headed out
to Manta Road and Mwand Pass. Manta Road though with poor viz 40'
yielded two mantas around the cleaning station. After lunch at the
site of a Japanese Sea-plane Base we dove Mwand Pass which again turn
into a bit of the circle jerk when Kenny decided to turn the drift
around after about 5 minutes to go the other direction. The dives the
with group were $85 per person.
The next day the group had all of the boats and was going to to Nan
Madol early in the morning then doing an afternoon dive. We had had
enough of the group and we had hoped to sea kayak around Nan Mandol
but that was not possible because all of the boats were for the
group. So we decided to go into town and visit the local wood carvers
then rent a car and see Nan Madol on our own by foot and wading. The
local wood carvers do traditional carving of sea animals while the
women doing weavings that utilize coconut leaves, shells, and the
carvings. One carver invited us into his woodshop and was very
friendly. After getting a car at Budget for $45 for 24 hours we headed
out to Nan Madol. The road leading to it is not marked but the locals
were very friendly in guiding us the place. The fee was $4 person as
you cross private property. We walked then wadded to several of the
structures that we built on small islets using columnar basalt. Quite
interesting but the ruins are pretty beaten down. On the way back to
our car we noticed the local family had caught a turtle and had it
hold up. Though illegal to catch it is still done and we figured the
poor guy was going to be dinner that night. Rather sad this was the
only turtle we saw one our trip.
After Nan Madol we visited another water fall, Liduhduhniap which was
truly ideal. We paid $3 each as it is also on private property. There
was still plenty of day light left so we drove around the island. The
drive took about another 1 hour and 20 minutes before we got back to
Kolonia where we had dinner at the Japanese buffet.
The last day of diving the group was gone so it was just us. Yeah. We
started at Areu Wall and then headed back to Manta Road. This day we
went out with just two guides (no dive-master). So the thing about one
dive-master and sending them with divers was smoke. Areu Wall was
great Nudis to Reef Sharks. At Manta Road we did not drift like last
time and just dove down to the cleaning station. Our reward was 11
Mantas several of which were at the cleaning station. We sat our butts down in
the sand and enjoyed the view. The cost for those two dives was $100
rather than $85 because we "only" two people that day. After putting
us with the group on their schedule we did not think much of this.
In summary, the diving is worth the stop especially if you can get to
Ant Atoll. A couple of days of local culture is also worth while.
However, Pohnpei is on map and if I were to do this again I would do
the same except I would check to see if a group scheduled to dive, if
so I would skip it if there is more than 8-10 other divers. Unfortunately
when I made the comment that I wish the staff at the Village would
have told us a head of time of the group so we could at least plan
better they were hesitant do so.
On a side - the dive guides who have just an OW cert. told us that
they learned to dive when an instructor came through and The Village
exchanged dive classes for a room and meals. The guides seemed vey
interesting in obtaining more formal dive training. So any instructors
out there might inquire about this.
Next stop was Chuuk. We arrived on a Saturday and boarded the Odyssey
Sunday at 5pm. Because we had all day Sunday and were already over any
jet lag (one advantage of overnighting in Honolulu and doing the
Pohnpei stop) we decided to dive that day with Blue Lagoon. We
requested a local wreck and to go out to Shark Island. Our dive guide
said no problem. So we dove the Yamagiri which is probably one the
better wrecks in terms of growth and things to see. But the highlight
that day was really seeing Shark Island. Even before we got in the
water a few sharks showed up (habitated by some other people feeding
which is totally unnecessary). By the time we reached the cleaning
station there was around 14 white and black tip reef sharks
around. The cleaning station was really cool as the sharks would come
in flare out, hover, and slowly sink as the wrasse went about their
job. We watched for approximately 15 minutes while 4 sharks got
cleaned. A big thanks to Tim Rock for providing the information on
Shark Island.
That evening we boarded the Odyssey. Not much can be said about the
Odyssey and Truk Lagoon as it deserves every bit of the reputation it
has. All very positive. We did 20 dives on 13 different wrecks over
the course of six days. The only dive we skipped was their reef dive
where they do a shark feeding for entertainment. Both my wife and I
object to this and prefer to see sharks a natural so we stayed on
board. Others thought the dive was contrived as well while one thought
it was the best dive of the trip.
The diving was very good. With lots of rain the viz at some sites was
not very good. Though the day we dove the San Francisco Maru is was
great. It was especially cool to see a Spotted Eagle Ray sailing by
just as we hit the fore deck.
Perhaps the only non excellent comment we had was that the food was
though very good it was very Americanized. I could have skipped the
steak night and the chili mac for lunch one day. Also though dinner
Saturday is not provided there were plenty of leftovers to dig into
so no one left the boat Saturday night and went into town. Also we
thought it strange the the two instructors/deck crew on board, Nick
and Charlie, both Brits ate with the guests, but the two dive guides,
Kent and Sam, both Chuukees, did not. We were not sure if they did not
like the guest food or because of some sort of crew division. All of
the crew were good.
The flight back on the island hopper was not too bad although two
people who we dove with on Chuuk were denied boarding because they put
too much fuel on board and had cargo to fly. So they were off
loaded. I would have been pissed had this been us.
One other comment as Roger noted the local dive outfits do not use a morning but
anchor to the wrecks whereas the live-a-boards have morning that are 15'-20' under
the water. Even the day we dove the San Fransisco the Odyssey skiff did the same - anchor
to the wreck. I believe this is because if above water mornings were used for the small crafts
there would be even more thefts from the wrecks. So by not having visable mornings it
helps preserves the wrecks. I might be blowing smoke here but this IMHO.
