Budget Travel to Micronesia, Can It Be Done?

[JSDIVER]

My girl friend and I will have the month of September off and want to do a budget dive trip. At first we planned on doing Vietnam, but reports are that the diving there is not good due to dynamite/acid fishing. So I decided we should do the "dream" trip and island hop: Palau, Truk (chuuk), Yap, for the diving, then on to Guam for some dry land travel and sightseeing. Can this be done on a budget or is this a pipe dream?

We would start off from Denver, CO and utilize Micronesia Continental Air. Can you get budget accomodations on the islands and go with local dive shops? Other than diving from Palau/Truk/Yap, are there things worth seeing on the islands that would keep us there for more than 3 or 4 days? Any recommendations on finding accomodations and diving outfits, ie. with or without the use of travel agent(s)? How safe, primarily for our equipment is it to do it the budget/packpack way? Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated. I'm hoping that we could get away for a couple of grand for the month: accom/food/travel costs. I have the lonely planet book for Micronesia, but that really doesn't make it look to promising. I know nothing about Guam and also need to know if that is worth it; things to see and do, and how much time we would allot of the month to do in each place? Thanks

 

[Cacia]

check with Cindy at MDA, she is in Guam I think. I met her in Palau and some guys told me she has some good packages.

You might consider not trying to get to so many places. Palau diving is not boring and there are budget places to stay.

The air fare is the killer because Continental's Air Micronesia has a monopoly.

There are some ways to get mileage flights throughout Micronesia for 20,000. miles or something if you are flexible.

Look at paying from LA to Guam and then using miles. The flight from Guam to Koror is the pricey one if I recall correctly.

I think Diver Dennis knows a crafty way to go through the Phillipines.

If you can go native, Palau is not expensive food wise particularly.

The diving is about 100/ day and there does not seem to be any way around that, unless you want to get creative and hire a local captain after you get there. (I have considered that, but enjoy the group thing)

You might want to check out Bali, way less expensive, diving wise.

 

[robint]

you know, I would try a travel agent like www.ultimatedivetravel.com and see what kind of deals they can come up with for you first. I bet they could find a killer deal on airfare and let you know what would be best that time of year. For the south pacific, I think agents get way better deals on airfare and it more than makes up the difference in price for the rest of the packages. You might be able to book just air through them also.
I have heard that Bali and Philipines are really inexpensive dive destinations once you get past the airfare. Plus there is lots to do topside.