Okay, here is my report
We arrived on Saipan literally hours following the departure of a Class 1 typhoon (the typhoon warning messages were still posted on the hotel reception counter when we checked in) that strengthened into a class 3 as it approached Japan, of course that meant storm surge coming at the WEST side of the island all week. Later in the week, another typhoon came in the day before our departure and ruined our final morning we had planned for shore dives (because the key locations all had high surf and 'threat to life' current warnings as a result of the incoming storm surge).
So, we originally wanted to shore dive day one, but nothing safe to dive, best I could do was go in to about 2 meters of water to test my BCD that had a new fitting on the inflator I installed. At least we got that checked out.
The next day we hit the Grotto, two things... HOLY CRAP what a great place to dive!!! HOLY CRAP!!! I hate 116 stairs carrying/wearing dive gear, I don't care what direction you are going, up or down. But it was unbelievable, we dropped out the #1 opening and swam out thru the rock openings to the wall, dropped down a little and looked at the great fans... due to the stairs, I only carried an AL80, and ran short on air, having to cut my dive short and make a quick return thru opening #3, then float inside the grotto and watch everyone else below.. dive 2 went better, more relaxed, even though I had to go back up the stairs for my second tank and back down again.... but we went out #2 and into a small cavern area that opened back up, stayed closer to the main wall and didn't drop down... I again was the gas hog and ascended and let my wife and Harry explore below while I bobbed my head in and out (left my snorkel in the car) and watched.. but the blue, my goodness that blue, and the dive is worth every penny ...
Next day was WRECK day... awesome day diving the "EMILY" a Japanese bomber some tag as a B-52 wreck, but known to be Japanese. I love wrecks, I loved seeing all the pieces of an aircraft on the bottom, with intact props and engines, the compass heading could still be seen in the cockpit (about 30 degrees off the actual heading), and there was a little coral head next to the underwater memorial that had nurse sharks hiding underneath.. good stuff, beautiful clear water and only 10m max on the dive, but it was 60 minutes of heaven.
Second dive was on the remains of the Chinsun Maru, a pretty beat up shipwreck also in the main lagoon area, it was destroyed by multiple torpedo blasts, and time has left it wide open to swim around.. no swimming thru any more as the ship has mostly collapsed on itself... vis was only 10m here, and a mild current, but still plenty of fun to follow my wife around who wanted to lead, and look under the steel plates... Harry showed us a 4 foot white tip reef shark hiding in there... also found a really cool looking nudi looked like a purple porcupine with long spiky looking tentacle things on its back.... me, I could just wander across a wreck like that for hours, as it was, I only had 60 minutes of air.
Day three led us to Naftan, the ocean surge was already picking up in advance of the typhoon, but Naftan had the best vis and potential for our limited choices as we were caught between the two storms... as it turned out, once we got close to the dive sight, the waves calmed down a bit, and it was near perfect to drop down to the 30m/100f wall off the reef for a relatively short 35 minute dive including the safety stop. No big stuff to see, but some good reef life and small stuff on the way down and back up. Just the vis sometimes is amazing... never mind my wife about attempted to find out how deep the Mariannes trench was.
Second dive on what would be our last day and 6th dive was at Obyan, what Harry called an "aquarium dive" because 1) it was shallow (16m/50ft) 2) there is a bunch of small coral heads that have little juveniles spread all over them 3) the white sandy bottom just makes you feel like the little diver dude in your parents aquarium. Pretty nifty dive, fun to float above the sandy bottom, to see tiny garden eels all over, to watch the little fish, and to just enjoy a casual dive with perfect vis 50 feet below the surface.
All in all, the diving was great even if we only got half what we hoped to do.
For the island itself, well, if you ever went to Hawaii in the 70s, that is Saipan today... I lived on Lanai in 1978, and that's what it reminded me of.. there are lots of 'locals', they own the place and they are wonderful to people who respect their heritage and their home. There are plenty of Chinese and their influence on the island as they visit in bigger and bigger groups. The Japanese and Koreans also use Saipan as a playground for beach and sea activities.
But, for me and the wife, we left feeling we have a little more to see, we didn't get over to Tinian like we wanted to, and we've also heard that Goat Island and Rota have some great sites, so we plan to go back to Saipan and the Mariannes to do a little more.
