YAP & PALAU - UNITED GIVETH & UNITED TAKETH AWAY

[jorgie6]

I haven't been diving in both places, but I'll be in Palau this December & will miss Yap (not in my radar up to this moment). So please point me out what makes Yap diving so much better than Palau?

There are several good Yap threads on this site. We've "done" Yap three times...our family lived on Guam for 7 years..so we really dived just about every location in Micronesia more than once, sometimes 3 or 4 times. It was always our kid's favorite destination. We always referred to Palau as the "Disneyland of diving"....it's gotten way overdeveloped. The diving is still great, don't get me wrong. We loved the peace & quiet of Yap and the great service at Bill Acker's Manta Ray Bay. Home The diving on Yap is sublime...you'll spend lots of time waiting for the manta sightings in the channels...but don't miss spectacular dives like Yap Caverns.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

That stinks. Is the Island Hopper (what used to be Air Mic) gone? Hono-JA-Kwaj-Majuro-Ponepei-Yap-Palau-Guam

It's still there Frank (as far as I know), but known as The Pineapple Express. But the route never included Yap or Palau. It was Honolulu-Guam with stops, as I recall, in Kwaljelean, Kosrae, Phonpei, and Truk.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

I also like to see the famous old (century ago) Yap currency

From this year:

 

[Nukakola]

United reworked a bunch of their flight schedule in Micronesia it appears. The 230 AM Monday return to the US from Truk through Guam/Hon no longer exists, and has been moved to 330 AM Sunday, and goes through Tokyo. Interestingly the fly time is significantly shorter, showing at about 23 hours. Unfortunately, with the current live-aboard schedule on the Odyssey, that means you would miss the Saturday dives. The other flight options later Sunday or Monday involve nasty 12-15 hour layovers in either Guam or Honolulu.

 

[drbill]

Based on personal experiences and recent news stories, I decided never to fly United again. I guess this will greatly reduced the opportunity of joining Bill Akers in Yap if I ever get to dive again.

 

[ManBearPig]

We are on Odyssey as well in January and this has messed us up too. Still plan to dive Saturday but will keep it shallow and make out with some 50% on the hang bar for a bit.

 

[boulderjohn]

Well, I blundered into this thread a couple weeks after finalizing our plans for Yap and Palau this coming spring. We checked, and, sure enough, our flight was canceled. We had not received any notification from United. We are in the middle of trying to figure out what we can do. It doesn't look good. Everything will have to be changed.

 

[boulderjohn]

BTW, United told us not to make changes too quickly--they might change their minds.

 

[Wookie]

BTW, United told us not to make changes too quickly--they might change their minds.

Ummm. That's helpful?

 

[boulderjohn]

Ummm. That's helpful?

Not so much.