flybigjet
Contributor
Well, I'm turning 50 this year and my wife finally cleared me in hot to plan the dream dive vacation I've been lusting over for 25 years. I just got the vacation for the proper time period approved from my company, so I'm deep into planning and am looking for suggestions and advice. I've been around the pacific a fair bit, but have never made it to these two particular islands (although I'm sort-of-maybe considering taking a job over there that would allow me to fly between Guam, Truk, Palau, Yap and a bunch of other orphans regularly).
We are headed to Palau and Truk from 04-24 January 2017. Here's how things are setting up so far:
To get there: Fly Denver to Narita to Guam. Spend a few hours in Narita waiting for a flight, then layover in Guam.
Query: Any suggestions on an inexpensive but not scuzzy "crash for a day or so" hotel in Guam? Somewhere you'd take your wife that wouldn't break the bank?
Fly Guam to Palau. Stay at the Palau Royal Resort and do a week of diving with Palau Dive Adventures. Things we'd like to do (in addition to diving) are kayak the Rock Islands and take a tour of Peleliu battlefield (for me at least-- I'm interested in WWII and military history. My wife? Not so much-- she'll do a "spa day" when I go to the battlefield).
Fly from Palau to Guam. We'll need a layover hotel again.
Fly from Guam to Truk. Diving off the Odyssey for the week. We'll need a hotel for a day or so at the end-- probably stay at the Blue Lagoon? I'd like to look at some of the WWII sites on the island, but I'm not sure that there's much there (except the wreck of a seaplane base).
Fly from Truk to Guam to Narita to Denver. Any suggestions for a dayroom hotel in Narita? It's going to be a long day, but I have some time constraints at the end-- I need to get my wife back to Denver for her grad school classes and I need to get back to work.
Qualification-wise, I've been diving off and on for about 30 years in various places in the world-- Master, Nitrox, Wreck, Deep, yadda, yadda, yadda. No Tech (although I'd love to) simply because with what I do for a living and where I live, I've never had enough time to dedicate towards it-- there's no way I could stay proficient. Besides, the "dive to fly" surface interval time restrictions do NOT work well with what I do for a living!
My wife used to dive about 10-15 years ago when she lived in Hawaii, but hasn't since. I'm planning on kitting her out, getting her a refresher course locally in Denver, and then taking her down to Roatan for a week in August so she can get back "in the groove" and get her Advanced and Nitrox certs. She's super-athlete girl, so I've no doubt that she'll get back to speed quickly. Additionally, I intend to use Roatan as a testing ground for new equipment and a GoPro camera setup. Basically a test-run for all of our kit.
So. Advice? War stories? Recommendations on places to stay? Places to eat? Good or bad things to say about the Palau Royal Resort, Palau Adventure Divers, the Odyssey, or anything else? Hotel recommendations in Guam or Truk? Recommendations on who to kayak with for the Rock Islands? How to take a tour of Peleliu? Dayrooms in Narita? Anything else I might be interested in knowing before I go? Reading random things on the internet can only take me so far and I'm putting forward a significant amount of my retirement to make this happen-- I want to be prepared and have the best experience possible.
ALL COMMENTS VERY, VERY GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED!
Thanks, all!
R.
We are headed to Palau and Truk from 04-24 January 2017. Here's how things are setting up so far:
To get there: Fly Denver to Narita to Guam. Spend a few hours in Narita waiting for a flight, then layover in Guam.
Query: Any suggestions on an inexpensive but not scuzzy "crash for a day or so" hotel in Guam? Somewhere you'd take your wife that wouldn't break the bank?
Fly Guam to Palau. Stay at the Palau Royal Resort and do a week of diving with Palau Dive Adventures. Things we'd like to do (in addition to diving) are kayak the Rock Islands and take a tour of Peleliu battlefield (for me at least-- I'm interested in WWII and military history. My wife? Not so much-- she'll do a "spa day" when I go to the battlefield).
Fly from Palau to Guam. We'll need a layover hotel again.
Fly from Guam to Truk. Diving off the Odyssey for the week. We'll need a hotel for a day or so at the end-- probably stay at the Blue Lagoon? I'd like to look at some of the WWII sites on the island, but I'm not sure that there's much there (except the wreck of a seaplane base).
Fly from Truk to Guam to Narita to Denver. Any suggestions for a dayroom hotel in Narita? It's going to be a long day, but I have some time constraints at the end-- I need to get my wife back to Denver for her grad school classes and I need to get back to work.
Qualification-wise, I've been diving off and on for about 30 years in various places in the world-- Master, Nitrox, Wreck, Deep, yadda, yadda, yadda. No Tech (although I'd love to) simply because with what I do for a living and where I live, I've never had enough time to dedicate towards it-- there's no way I could stay proficient. Besides, the "dive to fly" surface interval time restrictions do NOT work well with what I do for a living!
My wife used to dive about 10-15 years ago when she lived in Hawaii, but hasn't since. I'm planning on kitting her out, getting her a refresher course locally in Denver, and then taking her down to Roatan for a week in August so she can get back "in the groove" and get her Advanced and Nitrox certs. She's super-athlete girl, so I've no doubt that she'll get back to speed quickly. Additionally, I intend to use Roatan as a testing ground for new equipment and a GoPro camera setup. Basically a test-run for all of our kit.
So. Advice? War stories? Recommendations on places to stay? Places to eat? Good or bad things to say about the Palau Royal Resort, Palau Adventure Divers, the Odyssey, or anything else? Hotel recommendations in Guam or Truk? Recommendations on who to kayak with for the Rock Islands? How to take a tour of Peleliu? Dayrooms in Narita? Anything else I might be interested in knowing before I go? Reading random things on the internet can only take me so far and I'm putting forward a significant amount of my retirement to make this happen-- I want to be prepared and have the best experience possible.
ALL COMMENTS VERY, VERY GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED!
Thanks, all!
R.
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