don'tpanic_it'swater
Registered
how long is your time off?
i've dove in guam, yap, and pohnpei. depending on how many washington-area dives you get in before leaving, you might want to hang out in guam for a few days (like 4-5) to get over jet lag and try some easy dives here since the infrastructure is good for it. also, you may need to fine tune your skills diving in tropical water without that unnecessary 5-mm wetsuit business.
if you want solitude, yap and pohnpei are rad.
yap: most people i've met (who went to yap) stay and dive thru the manta bay resort, but if your goal is to stay away from other divers and tourists, you can also opt for moon rize in the northern village of wacholab. pathways hotel also offers hut-type accommodations if you want to go for something more rustic (and lovely porches where i could just chill for days), but still in kolonia with its marginally more numerous restaurant offerings than wacholab. that being said, "staying away from divers" is relative, given that yap easily gets fewer than 500 visitors a year. i thought the diving offered, skill-wise, was pretty easy.
pohnpei: also gets fewer than 400 visitors a year, and you can easily avoid people if you want. some tourists stay at the village, which offers dive tours as well--and is away from kolonia. you might want to hit up "deveyn" on scubaboard since that user lives in pohnpei and could be pretty forthright about the options there (also check out photos here: Flickr: deveynn's Photostream). i WOULD say, don't go to pohnpei unless you're going to commit to getting out to one of the islands 5-10 miles off the main island... there are spectacular walls out there, 300+ visibility, and very healthy reefs.
one of the other things about pohnpei, which i didn't get to do, is that it offers some killer hiking and waterfalls. so if you got sick of diving, you can do other nature-oriented things.
i almost always travel alone. my first trip solo was across china and russia, so i sort of skipped that whole "breaking it in" build-up. if you need to socialize, you'll always be able to find other people, particularly since you have these scuba activities built into your itinerary. otherwise, i would say that it's unique to be able to truly be alone in this noisy day and age--so, if the chance comes up, jump at it. bring on the boredom. you may be surprised at how "productive" it becomes.
i've dove in guam, yap, and pohnpei. depending on how many washington-area dives you get in before leaving, you might want to hang out in guam for a few days (like 4-5) to get over jet lag and try some easy dives here since the infrastructure is good for it. also, you may need to fine tune your skills diving in tropical water without that unnecessary 5-mm wetsuit business.
if you want solitude, yap and pohnpei are rad.
yap: most people i've met (who went to yap) stay and dive thru the manta bay resort, but if your goal is to stay away from other divers and tourists, you can also opt for moon rize in the northern village of wacholab. pathways hotel also offers hut-type accommodations if you want to go for something more rustic (and lovely porches where i could just chill for days), but still in kolonia with its marginally more numerous restaurant offerings than wacholab. that being said, "staying away from divers" is relative, given that yap easily gets fewer than 500 visitors a year. i thought the diving offered, skill-wise, was pretty easy.
pohnpei: also gets fewer than 400 visitors a year, and you can easily avoid people if you want. some tourists stay at the village, which offers dive tours as well--and is away from kolonia. you might want to hit up "deveyn" on scubaboard since that user lives in pohnpei and could be pretty forthright about the options there (also check out photos here: Flickr: deveynn's Photostream). i WOULD say, don't go to pohnpei unless you're going to commit to getting out to one of the islands 5-10 miles off the main island... there are spectacular walls out there, 300+ visibility, and very healthy reefs.
one of the other things about pohnpei, which i didn't get to do, is that it offers some killer hiking and waterfalls. so if you got sick of diving, you can do other nature-oriented things.
i almost always travel alone. my first trip solo was across china and russia, so i sort of skipped that whole "breaking it in" build-up. if you need to socialize, you'll always be able to find other people, particularly since you have these scuba activities built into your itinerary. otherwise, i would say that it's unique to be able to truly be alone in this noisy day and age--so, if the chance comes up, jump at it. bring on the boredom. you may be surprised at how "productive" it becomes.
