Question Diving info for Guam in Nov.

[kkozin]

I am book on the Odyssey in Truk in Nov. but was looking to do a weeks diving before the boat. Have contacted Blue Lagoon and diving is all booked and Truk stop is not doing dive trips at this time and won't commit to the dates. I was thinking of just staying in Guam the week before and diving their. Looking for recommendations on a charter boat/shop, hotel and car rental on the island. I know the diving won't be as good as other locations, but I don't want to fly out to Palau or Yap. Thanks for the help.

 

[cozcharlie]

Someone else will chime in , but the big shops are MDA (Micronesian Divers Association) and Axe Murderer Tours . They are both kind of geared to locals doing self-guided dives on the buddy system from a charter boat as opposed to tourists taking DM guided dives. Obviously they do get some tourists using a Divemaster , but my guess is that is probably 20 percent of their volume with locals generating the 80 percent. I have heard of MDA forever (and it is the bigger outfit ) but I dove with Axe Murderer since at the time it seemed they might be more tourist friendly. I dove with them in late 2019.

Axe Murder accommodated me fairly well , but I think I was grouped with 3 other divers with fairly limited experience each day plus the divemaster. One day we were on a charter boat with 8+ locals and another day we were the only divers on the boat. I kind of served as assistant divemaster. Given we were the only tourist divers( who were paying for a DM as opposed to self-guided) on the boat it kind of was what it was. Only alternative would have been to request a private guide in advance (and obviously pay for them )

I think there is also decent shore diving there if you are with a local (but some of it is fairly unprotected, so you kind of want someone who understands the weather/currents ).

 

[kkozin]

Someone else will chime in , but the big shops are MDA (Micronesian Divers Association) and Axe Murderer Tours . They are both kind of geared to locals doing self-guided dives on the buddy system from a charter boat as opposed to tourists taking DM guided dives. Obviously they do get some tourists using a Divemaster , but my guess is that is probably 20 percent of their volume with locals generating the 80 percent. I have heard of MDA forever (and it is the bigger outfit ) but I dove with Axe Murderer since at the time it seemed they might be more tourist friendly. I dove with them in late 2019.

Axe Murder accommodated me fairly well , but I think I was grouped with 3 other divers with fairly limited experience each day plus the divemaster. One day we were on a charter boat with 8+ locals and another day we were the only divers on the boat. I kind of served as assistant divemaster. Given we were the only tourist divers( who were paying for a DM as opposed to self-guided) on the boat it kind of was what it was. Only alternative would have been to request a private guide in advance (and obviously pay for them )

I think there is also decent shore diving there if you are with a local (but some of it is fairly unprotected, so you kind of want someone who understands the weather/currents ).

Thanks so much for the information. Can I ask what hotel you stayed in and did you get a rental car?

 

[cozcharlie]

Thanks so much for the information. Can I ask what hotel you stayed in and did you get a rental car?

I have Hyatt points so I stayed at Hyatt. I am not 100 percent certain but I most likely used Hertz. Taxis on Guam are way more expensive than they should be, I think taxi from airport to Hyatt is $30ish dollars for 3 miles plus or minus . EDIT: I thought maybe I had used Uber on my last trip , but looking on internet I don’t think they have Uber (have something called Stroll that gets iffy reviews ).

 

[Polarorbit]

Someone else will chime in , but the big shops are MDA (Micronesian Divers Association) and Axe Murderer Tours . They are both kind of geared to locals doing self-guided dives on the buddy system from a charter boat as opposed to tourists taking DM guided dives. Obviously they do get some tourists using a Divemaster , but my guess is that is probably 20 percent of their volume with locals generating the 80 percent. I have heard of MDA forever (and it is the bigger outfit ) but I dove with Axe Murderer since at the time it seemed they might be more tourist friendly. I dove with them in late 2019.

Axe Murder accommodated me fairly well , but I think I was grouped with 3 other divers with fairly limited experience each day plus the divemaster. One day we were on a charter boat with 8+ locals and another day we were the only divers on the boat. I kind of served as assistant divemaster. Given we were the only tourist divers( who were paying for a DM as opposed to self-guided) on the boat it kind of was what it was. Only alternative would have been to request a private guide in advance (and obviously pay for them )

I think there is also decent shore diving there if you are with a local (but some of it is fairly unprotected, so you kind of want someone who understands the weather/currents ).

MDA has more trips and locations than AMT. MDA will pair you with someone else if you don’t have a buddy. AMT requires you to have your own buddy or else pay for a dive master. Pick what works for you. I like the people at AMT but I usually find it easier to go with MDA. There are also local dive masters and instructors who will take you on shore dives. I highly recommend doing this as some of the site, like Gun Beach, can have brutal rip currents if you go at the wrong time.

 

[Polarorbit]

Thanks so much for the information. Can I ask what hotel you stayed in and did you get a rental car?

Typhoon Mawar messed up the island and it has been a slow return to normal. Hotels and rental cars have been difficult and expensive to get. I used to frequent the Hilton but for the past couple years I’ve stayed at the Westin because the Hilton seems to always be full. I’ve used Avis, Hertz, and Sixt for cars. Island cars tend to be pretty basic and often a bit rough but you take what you can get.

 

[Tim Clark Diving]

Ax Murder is currently going through some changes so you should call ahead to see if they are still running boats. They will require you to pay for a dive master to go with you which jacks the price by quite a bit.

MDA has regular boat dives and tend to be the easier option - Boat Schedules | MDAGUAM. MDA also leads free shore dives on the weekends (Shore Dives | MDAGUAM), and I think they are doing night dives from shore on Wednesdays. Call the shop to confirm.

A lot of the boat diving is on wrecks or reefs in the harbor. They will go out of the harbor, but it is very weather dependent. I tend to prefer the shore dives. Gun beach is great with lots of turtles, and it is in Tumon where all the hotels are located. Piti Tunnels is a tunnel under the road and is a great place to find nudibranchs at night.

Water temperatures are starting to drop in November and could be getting below 85. I tend to start wearing a hooded vest about then, although if your used to colder weather you could probably get by with a rash guard.

 

[LI-er]

What do you mean Blue Lagoon is "all booked". You already scheduled some dives there and don't want to do more or there is no availability? I just dived Truk last month- if interested see my full trip report posted on this forum including dives on Odyssey and at Blue Lagoon. It wasn't all that busy when we went in December, we scheduled all the diving that we wanted there, they've got plenty of skiffs and a lot of workers sitting around not doing all that much. Also in my trip report was a mention of Truk Stop, from what I understand the place is under new management and in decline, the dive shop is probably closed either temporarily or for good.

Are you going through Manilla? There's some diving there but you gotta travel a couple of hours to get to the decent stuff.