Palau & Micronesia (Yap & Chuuk): 1 March 2009 - 31 March 2009 This last part of our South East Asia trip was a last minute decision. We had never even heard of Palau & Micronesia until we ran into some travellers who had been there and raved about the diving. Micronesia & Palau are located in the western Pacific Ocean, with the Philippines and Indonesia just to the west. Palau is famous in the diving world for its shark populations (130 species). In Micronesia, the island of Yap is famous for its manta rays and the island of Chuuk for [View Full Entry]

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Kosrae Got our first glimpse of a tropical island paradise approaching the airport on the nw coast of Kosrae (ko-shry’), the easternmost of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). A car from our lodging, the Kosrae Village Resort, picked us up at the tiny air terminal. The immediate impression of the island is of exuberant plant life - every inch is bursting with greenery, from mosses and ferns to giant trees. Very little traffic on the peripheral road, which nearly circles the island - the only road of any length. The 5,000 or so residents mostly liv [View Full Entry]

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Dear all, After Dan and I left Palau we began our long journey to Chuuk in Micronesia. First we flew from Palau to Yap and then on to Guam. In Guam we changed planes, stuffed our faces with Burger King and then flew on to Chuuk!! We arrived here in the morning having missed a whole night of sleep...but according to the immigration lady we still looked like Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio!!!! We were staying on the island of Weno. Our hotel was nice but very hot and had nothing around it. No restaurant and no taxi's to go [View Full Entry]

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At first it was no more than a dot on the horizon, a dark speck amid the vast blue of the Pacific Ocean, possibly no more than a trick of the eye. A few minutes later the dot had grown and filled itself with a colour that was unmistakably different from the only other one that could be seen in this landscape: it was the green of vegetation growing on an island. Soon our 9-seater missionary plane was circling Fais, a tiny raised atoll in the Outer Islands of Yap, the westernmost state of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). We [View Full Entry]

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Yap, the island of stone money (that's probably why there is no ATM), cultural dances, topless women, men's houses, land crabs, beetle nuts, and manta rays. It 's located 45 minutes flying to the east of Palau. We stayed a week on this island and it was quite an experience for many reasons, one of them was because Lennard decided to book a homestay for this location in stead of an hotel. Arriving at the airport, we saw our first topless women and were offered flowers. The owner of our homestay, DJ Bungalow, was supposed to pick us up from the [View Full Entry]

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Saturday, March 15, 2008 Today we arrived at Yap Island, the Land of Stone Money, at approximately 6:00 am only to find that the pilot boat- this is a local person(s) that helps direct you through the harbor and to the dock. In this case they did not arrive at the ship until after 7:30 am. They work on Yap time which is apparently similar to Lake City, Colorado time - at your own slow pace. We were supposed to anchor out in the harbor and then use the tenders to go to shore. This is a slow process and you [View Full Entry]

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Think about your first imaginings of a romantic Pacific island and you are probably seeing Yap. It lies low in the water, surrounded by a reef and lagoon. It is not dramatic like Hawaii or Bora Bora but it so natural and beautiful it’s like you are Robinson Caruso landing on a deserted island. The island is part of The Federated States of Micronesia, a republic, but legislative decisions must be approved by the tribal chiefs, there are fourteen, and by the head chief. Movements to open the islands to development have so far been resisted by the Chiefs. Only the [View Full Entry]

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Friday, March 14, 2008 Today was another sea day so the activities calendar was filled to the brim. It is always a matter of pick and choose since there is really too much to choose, let alone try to do everything. The day began like most by going to Mass, exercise class and finally breakfast. I ate with some folks I met on Cruise Critic - that has been really great meeting, or getting to know people on cruise critic and then travelling with them so you get to know them even more. I have had a good time getting to [View Full Entry]

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The people of Guadalcanal are smaller in stature to the people of PNG. Beatle nut is still chewed in PNG and young men’s teeth are just stubs. Older men have none at all and many of the women and children chew. The UFO (unidentified floating object) was identified as a marine tracking device, perhaps tracking tuna or whales. The most seriously injured passenger from the scaffold collapse was a very, very heavy 48-year-old man who is on dialysis. He will be disembarked at Guam. His cabin is not handicapped equipped; the doorway is not wide enough for a wheel chair so [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday and Thursday, March 12/13, 2008 On these two days we were at sea travelling to Yap Island in the Federated States of Micronesia. On Wednesday night at about 11:00pm we passed over the equator and if you haven’t had the opportunity to do that on a ship it is quite the ceremony. Of course the joke on the ship was to go out at night and watch for the bouys that designate where the equator is - I doubt anyone would fess up to going out on deck to look, but I bet a few folks did it. Both days [View Full Entry]

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