Diving in Micronesia in April or May

[LB Diver]

It's been a couple of years since I posted on here but thought I'd give it a try since it seems a lot of people post here and I'm likely to get some response. My husband and I are looking to do a dive vacation in late April to early May. So my questions are:

1) Is this a good time to dive in any of the Micronesia islands (considering weather, viz, marine life, etc.)? Any other time of year better?

2) Which island or islands are the best to go to? And can anyone recommend any good dive resorts? We don't care for luxury (though it's a nice add-on) but we do want a good dive op, a clean bed/room to sleep in and healthy/passable food. Friendly and knowledgeable staff is a major plus.

3) We're looking at going for 10-14 days and wouldn't want to go to more than 2 islands on the trip. One would be fine if there's enough diversity to keep us interested. As far as budget, we know we're going to spend a pretty penny going out there, which is fine, but still looking to keep it reasonable. We prefer all-inclusive because it keeps it simple, but are open to non-packaged vacation options.

Suggestions anyone?

 

[robint]

Would you consider a liveaboard?

Palau is AWESOME diving - sharks, mantas, fabulous reefs with sheer walls and ripping current. Shark mating season is from end of Dec to March but there are huge numbers of sharks there year-round. The sealife there is beyond words. We had 7 mantas on 2 different dives! And we had a school of 40+ sharks swirling around in front of us for another dive while we were hooked in (with reef hooks). Awesome, awesome diving!

Doing Palau by liveaboard is the way to do it. If you are spending $$$ for airfare, you want to get in as many dives as possible. We got in 25 dives in the week on the Eco Explorer (I think the sister boat Big Blue Explorer is there now). The Aggressor also has a liveaboard there as well as the Ocean Hunter(?). Anyhow, all of them are anchored out at the dive sites so you take a skiff out to the sites 5 minutes away from the mothership, then back to boat to eat, and repeat all day long.
The land-based hotels and dive ops are on the island of Koror which is about 45 minute average boat ride from the great dive sites...... so those people only get in 2 dives per day! They leave hotel around 9am and return 2-3pm each day after those long boat rides to the sites. Not my way of doing a vacation.

Check out some of my videos of our trip, and our trip report is here:
Palau on the Eco Explorer - Dec 2007

robin

 

[dbeitz]

Hi LB Diver, I'm happy to help answer your questions. I own & operate Kosrae Nautilus Resort in Micronesia, so my answers will mainly apply to Kosrae, which is still a rather unknown destination, & is therefore lacks the normal crowded dive boats.

Firstly about visiting in April/May. The tradewinds normally blow until Late May & sometimes into June, so half of the ocean is relatively rough, whilst the south-western side is calm due to the protection from the 2000' high mountains. This takes nothing away from diving all year round here, as some of our best sites are located in this wind shadow. As for rainfall, the rain comes & goes all year long in Kosrae, hence it's lush green vegetation & regular comments that it looks like Tahiti. As for visibility, divers from all over the world constantly comment how good it is here all year round. There are 58 mooring buoys located around the island, so it very easy for us to move onto the next mooring if the visibility is down a little somewhere. Average visibility here is 100', with 150'+ not at all uncommon. From June to November when the winds subside is my favorite time, as when the ocean is calm it is easy to spot our resident spinner dolphins half a mile away, & I can't help myself but take a side trip to play with them. We even played with a baby (12') whale shark one day, but I make no guarantees of finding them on a regular basis.

As for your second question, my answer would obviously be very biased, so I suggest that you visit our online guestbook at kosraenautilus.com/guestbook.html & take 5 to 10 minutes to read what some of our previous guests have to say about the island, our hotel & dive operation.

Your third question - You are correct in not visiting more than 2 islands in 10 to 14 days. The trip out here is long & the first day you aren't completely with it. If you won't have dived in a few months before you arrive, Kosrae is an idea warm up for the deep dives required in Chuuk Lagoon, or the fast currents in Palau. Here you will enjoy short boat rides, gentle drift dives with the divemaster towing a surface float, so the boat is always waiting for you at the end of the dive. Water temp is 82 to 84 degrees, excellent visibility, some of the healthiest & largest hard coral you will any where on the planet, & a huge variety of marine life.

I hope this information is helpful, & if you would like more information on prices/packages etc, please feel free to contact me directly through our website.