I’m considering a trip to the South Pacific in late December/January. Never having been there I would appreciate advice from those who have (you can use the comment section below). Here are some things that I would like to be able to do there: snorkeling over coral reefs that grow up very close to the surface in calm water; beginner surfing lessons; bicycle riding on quiet roads and/or mountain biking on not-very-technical trails (not super hilly); meeting interesting well-educated locals and/or tourists; renting and flying a small plane or helicopter with an instructor; reading a book on a balcony or deck overlooking the water.
As far as practicalities go, I’d like to stay 3-5 days in any one place and not spend too much time transferring from island to island. It would be good to find some places with enough infrastructure to support comfortable mid-range hotels. I don’t want to slum it with the backpackers but I don’t want to spend $1000/day to sit on a beach either. From my cursory reading of the guidebook it seems that a lot of these islands are so underdeveloped that creating a Western-style hotel environment is very expensive.
Where to start, then, amidst the millions of square miles of the South Pacific?
I visited Fiji in November of 1996, and it was gorgeous.
However, don’t make the mistake of assuming that, just because you’re staying in a posh hotel, it’s OK to drink the tap water.
I did just that, and had awful diarrhea for the flights back to New York. Thank God I had an aisle seat.
Then again, I mostly sat on the beach and read, and this was before their coup.
i’d suggest reading Paul Theroux’s book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140159762/026-1957187-8066008
Philip
I would recommend that you to a quick stopover in Bangkok for the food, buy some thai silk for gifts and then grab a quick flight to phuket for about 5 days. From Phuket you can rent a boat to hit some of the smaller islands near by (like where the movie ‘The Beach’ was filmed) or even just go to some of the more remote beaches on the island. Best to also rent a jeep on the island, since the moped thing has a higher causality rate than walking the streets of Fallujah at night. I would stay away from Patong, unless you are looking for nightlife… I will be there for again for New Years. It’s been the best New Years I’ve lately, last two years, my current ex and I stayed in the amazing resort http://www.holiday.phuket.com/ and booked the News Years event party at the resort, lots of live music and food… It’s $350 a night, not cheap for Thailand… Maybe we’ll see you there… i’ll be in thailand and bali for two weeks over christmas and new years.. flights are getting expensive.. Lufthansa quoted me 10K for a coach ticket..
Here are some photos from my last 2 trips there….
http://www.blogman.net/gallery/thailand2002?page=1
http://www.blogman.net/gallery/album03?page=1
When I was in HS in the Marshall Islands the place to go diving was Pohnpei. I never did it myself – but I heard amazing things about the island.
Philip,
How about New Zealand? It covers most of what you want (drop into Aussie for the reefs, tho we DO have good diving up here – just very few coral reefs)
You can surf and stay near the beach at Raglan, which is around 2 hours drive from Auckland (largest city) – more info here: http://www.raglan.net.nz/ – as well as learn to surf – http://www.raglansurfingschool.co.nz/ – or just google for “raglan site:nz”. I’d expect a place to rent out there – assuming you can get one 🙂 – is around $750-1000 / week, $NZD (70c US = $1NZ at the moment – http://www.holidayhouses.co.nz/raglan.asp). We have a lot of mountain biking here to – Rotorua has very good single track. I’ve used these people (http://www.planetbike.co.nz/) and they are very good – guided and unguided. You can also do it around 45 mins drive north of Auckland: (http://www.bikepark.co.nz) tho it’s not guided, or as close to town as the Rotarua one is 🙂
I beleive you can fly (private, small planes) from the Ardmore airfield (http://www.ardmore.co.nz/) which is NOT Auckland’s international airport 🙂 It is the busiest airport in NZ tho, in take off’s / landings per hour. (the site may not be suitable, but they should be able to put you in contact with someone who can help 🙂 )
Fiji might also be a good idea, or maybe the Whitsunday’s in Australia, tho I’ve not been to either of them. Personally, I LOVE Bali, and you should be able to do pretty much everything except the flying – tho I’ve never looked into it, as I can’t fly 🙂
Cheers
Nic.
If you only have two weeks might I suggest the following:
I did the EC tour and was quite happy with it:
http://www.globusjourneys.com/Default.aspx?tabid=401
2.5 days on each island: one days has planned activities (part of the tour), one day is free (but they give you a list of optional things you can sign up for), and half a day is spent traveling to the next island.
Once you’re done you can spend a couple of days extra there (the tour ends on Maui) to use up a full two weeks of vacation.
Very well organized (my tour leader way Julie), good food (if you care about that) and the accommidations were excellent (stayed at Sheratons).
If you want more info plug my full name into Google to get my contact information.
I can also highly recommend New Zealand for most of the listed activities. I spent a month there in Dec 1997 and biked, flew, hiked, hiked, hiked, ate, swam, met glowworms, bungee-jumped, etc. I stayed in excellent places at reasonable prices. I *think* I visited every aviation museum in the country, but I intend to return to make sure 🙂 This was all before the Lord of the Rings boom, but I imagine that can’t have spoiled the place *too* bad.
Tsk tsk. James sounds like he has some unresolved issues. Maybe he’ll elucidate some beyond nothing?
It has been some time since I was in the South Pacific, but I recall with great pleasure the excursion we took to the coral reefs off of Tahiti. Tahiti is probably worth a day or two – it’s a good place to recover from West-bound jetlag. New Zealand and Australia, while not necessarily on your itinerary, would nevertheless be quite lovely in their summer. Just the name – Surfer’s Paradise (in Queensland) – suggests that it might be a good place to learn.
Fiji is also worth a visit – again, a nice intermediate stop on the way back.
If you’re interested in taking in small sovereign countries, then Vanuatu and Nauru could be worth a stop. Nauru’s environmental situation is quite dire, however.
A cursory glance at Michener’s “Tales of the South Pacific” (a rare multi-word title from him) may suggest some other ideas.
Bon voyage,
– Claiborne Booker –
Palau (http://redstroke.com/galleries/palau2004/) allegedly has some of the best snorkeling and diving in the world. I was there for work and did some snorkeling for a day, but I’m not the best to speak from first-hand experience. Most of the tourism there comes from the Japanese, and you’ll find everything written in both English and Japanese.
The hotel I stayed in, the Palau Pacific Resort (http://palau.panpacific.com/), I’m told was actually built by U.S. Marines after we and the Japanese bombed the country away during WWII. I was very satisfied with it, though I can’t speak for the accommodations at other hotels on the island.
And if you fly there via Guam, you have the fun experience of stopping off in Yap on the way and being locked in a jail cell with all the other passengers while the Yap government searches the plane for “contraband.”
Palau has a very developed infrastructure, standard American road signs, and even uses American dollars as their official currency. The selection of restaurants and such is more than wide enough for your stay, but not extremely spectacular. You certainly won’t spend $1000/day, but it won’t be near hostel prices either.
Theroux’s book, definitely! Really funny, but what a sourpuss!
Spent a little time wandering around a year ago.
I suggest there is a big difference in “feel” between Polynesian & Melanesian populations.
For the latter Vanuatu is very pleasant, wonderful close to the surface snorkelling/ diving if you want it, lots of resorts, good food, reasonably happy populace. I tried the snorkelling at Hideaway, and loved it. Take rock boots.
For the former, Western Samoa (haven’t been to American Samoa). Lovely climate, lovely people.
Stay away from New Guinea, no matter what you are told. Solomon Islands is also risky (haven’t been there, but talked to cosuins who have been there with the peace-keeping forces).
(Old post but new info!)
Maybe you’d like to check out the Bay of Islands up in the north of New Zealand. Nearby there’s some great diving – down in tutukaka you can get a boat to the Poor Knights Islands (rated by Cousteau as some of the best in the world), there’s the sunken wreck of the Rainbow Warrior, and some great surf spots further up the coast. The backpackers are tidy and clean, not slummy! and there’s plenty of small appartments for rent if you prefer that route:
http://www.bayofislands.net/accommodation/
Hope that helps!