majuro and kwajalein diving

[funscuba]

Hi, I'd like to know how's the diving on these islands, cheapest place where to stay and diving centre available, and that would be from march 2011.
I've read that Kwajalein is only accessible for military people, is it correct ?

 

[DennisS]

Kwajalein is a military base with controlled access. The diving is great there.

http://www.smdc.army.mil/rts.html

 

[funscuba]

Ok, but is it accessible for evbody, or the island is only restricted to military staff ?

 

[DennisS]

You can't get on kwaj unless you have a permission letter. We came in on a govt research ship and had a chinese scientist on the ship. He wasn't allowed off the ship until his plane left two days later, then he was escorted to the plane. It is a tightly controlled base.

There is a island next to Kwajalein where anyone can go called ebeye, I wouldn't recommend it as a vacation destination.

 

[Gilldiver]

About 10 years ago a operation tried to start up on Ebeye but it never took off. There are just too many restrictions in getting to Kwajalein and from the airport to Ebeye. The US Government and Army do just about everything they can to discourage visits by tourists.

As for the operation, I had a few friends stay on Ebeye while waiting for a plane to Bikini and they said that to get anything out of the suit cases you first made sure the lights were one, then gave some time for the cockroaches to head for the dark corners, then quickly opened your bag, got what you needed, and shut them before the roaches came out again. This was some of the better comments.

Also, if you have any problems and need any services from the military base, you will get it and an escort to the next airplane off the island. As I said, they don’t want you there.

The only lengthy diving I know of in the past 10 years or so was done by a fully ship based expedition run by Jonathon Byrd and he had a lot of hoops to go through to do it.

 

[Gilldiver]

Here is Byrd's site on the expidition.

The Silent Wrecks of Kwajalein Atoll

 

[funscuba]

What about Majuro, no problem to get there ? How's the diving, expensive place ?

 

[grafvonhattn]

Hi,

there are only few operators in Majuro, if there´s any at all. Forgot the name of the one close to the Reimers Hotel downtown, don´t know if that was a dive operator. Maybe contact the Reimers, they should know. We chartered a boat there for filming.

Be careful with Ebeye. There´s a new string of TB, there´s no vaccine and no medication for that.
Same goes for Majuro when going out.

 

[mhoneth]

Hi, I am living on Majuro, halfway in on a 2-year contract, and will be here in March 2011. Majuro is accessible, but the only commercial carrier is Continental (either through Hawaii, or Guam).
There are a couple of hotels here which are quite decent. I usually tell new arrivals that 95% of the beauty of the Marshall Islands is underwater, and it is tru of Majuro.
The only remaining dive operator on Majuro is Japanese, catering almost exclusively to Japanese charter operations, but there are lots of divers and a couple of instructors on island always willing to assist in arranging tanks and boats. Currently Majuro can only provide air fills (no EAN or tri-mix), and you can borrow tanks. A tank fill is about $5. Gear is difficult to get here, so bring your own. There is also a functioning decompression chamber on island now!
Both lagoon and ocean diving is amazing and accessible from shore. The lagoon has a number of pinnacles worth visiting by boat, a few WWII and modern wrecks, and the Calalin channel is a popular destination. Since we are an atoll, the reef drop-off is steep, dropping to 6,000 feet and beyond within 1,000 feet of shore.

 

[funscuba]

Thanks for the infos, I'll keep them.