FSM experts requested .....................

Hello and gday

I am still in the planning process of an extented journey to and through the South Pacific and FSM sounds among other destinations pretty promising as a starting point to explore the "invisible continent".
My inquiries so far :

1. Is there really no possibility to fly from Yap or Kosrae - via Guam - straight to PNG / Solomons/ Vanuatu , i.e. strictly necessary to take the long/expensive route via Australia ?
2. I am above all interested in Yap and the outer islands - Fais/ Ngulu/ Ulithi : possible to go around by boat ? Homestays ?
3. Anyone knows something about the current situation regarding a boat going from Yap to Chuuk/ Pohnpei ? or even one going the way down to Nukuoro ?
4. Different "character"/ landscape/ nature of the four atolls ?
5. Any good advice about a decent hotel / homestay in Kosrae ?
6. Any recommendable travel guide ?
7. If possible, how to extend the 30day visa up to .......(oh, am on a german passport)

I apologize for the enormous amount of questions and many thanks for any reply in advance...................

Not an expert but did spend a year there. It was 10 years ago (wow- sad!) but let me give it a try.

1. Is there really no possibility to fly from Yap or Kosrae - via Guam - straight to PNG / Solomons/ Vanuatu , i.e. strictly necessary to take the long/expensive route via Australia ?
   Doubt that you an from Guam but you might give Manila a try. Or someplace else in SE Asia.

2. I am above all interested in Yap and the outer islands - Fais/ Ngulu/ Ulithi : possible to go around by boat ? Homestays ?
   There is a field ship which goes out to the outer islands but it runs irregularly. don't know about local boats going out. There are homestays but I don't know a lot about them. However, there are no hotels so that is the only thing there is.

3. Anyone knows something about the current situation regarding a boat going from Yap to Chuuk/ Pohnpei ? or even one going the way down to Nukuoro ?
   I believe that there is a field ship which goes from Yap to Chuuk. I am not sure how to get info on it but I'd look around the web site. There is a field ship that goes from Pohnpei to Kapingamarangi, stopping for a few hours in Nukuoro in one direction only. Since the next trip out would be about a month or more, that would be your only stop there.

4. Different "character"/ landscape/ nature of the four atolls ?
   Kosrae- picture postcard island with sandy beaches all around and mountains in the middle. Very religious from the 1900 invasion of the Methodists (? think it is Methodists). Everything comes to a screeching halt on Sundays. Pohnpei is a mangrove island with mountains, very rainy. The capitol of the FSM so there are all kinds of islanders there. Chuuk has some beaches and is not a mangrove island, lots of small islands around the famous lagoon. Difficult place in lots of ways. It has a reputation for being dangerous and violent. Yap has some beaches and is hilly, very traditional. People are very smart. The last island to have trqaditional shamans.

5. Any good advice about a decent hotel / homestay in Kosrae ?
   We used to stay at the Kosrae Village- they have great limeade.

6. Any recommendable travel guide ?
   Lived there- didnt have a guide book.

7. If possible, how to extend the 30day visa up to .......(oh, am on a german passport)
   I don't think it is difficult- go to immigration and ask. I could be wrong on this but I know that there are lots of people who are in the FSM for long periods of time. You might be able to negotiate it as you go from island to island.

Hope this helps some. You also should go to Palau- from Germany I'd start off in Manila and island hop from there.

I am not an expert by any means, but still can answer 2 of your questions.

I think you could fly from Manila to PNG on Air Niugini ($$$!), and from there to Solomons, then from there to Vanuatu.
Flying via AU, from where cheaper airlines serve all 3 countries, may in fact work out more economical though!

The only 2 travel guides to cover Micronesia in decent detail are the last editions of LP's and Moon's Micronesia guides - both now many years old.
They still contain much more info than that in the current South Pacific & Micronesia LP, which basically gives you the tourist office info you can also find online.

Hm- maybe if you take the Air Niugini flights Laszlo suggests you should consider starting in Hawaii and island hopping. Figuring out the most economical way of doing this is always an adventure. Alternately, start in Manila, island hop and end up in Hawaii. I think that there are flights that stop in several island groups on the way to Australia.

BTW, any idea how much the full island-hopper ticket from Honolulu to Manila costs these days, bought in the US?

Not a clue I'm afraid. You can often get deals in Manila but haven't looked of late. I do know that the fares to Palau from US are high right now- as high as I've seen them. so much for a brief break in the islands. Although strictly speaking Catalina and Victoria Islands are both Pacific Islands-yes? Those I might be able to get to.

No deals in Manila - hard to get even a standard fare on Economy class!
I had local friends ask for me...

Doesn't Conti hace a toll-free US number to ask? ;-)
Their website is just about totally useless for realistic Micronesia fares.

First of all thanks very much indeed for the replies and advices - thank you for the comprehensive report, 5W......................

Getting well founded infos about that area and in particular about flights and fares seems really easier said than done.
As I will fly in from Europe I obviously have to start from manila/ guam. The local Conti office told me that the air pass starting from guam with up to
5 stretches/ stops should be around 900 U$ + taxes. Reliable ? But as memory serves me right they didnt mention Honolulu as final destination.
Its irritating and time consuming to wait till somebody is on the line who is familar with the micronesia air pass thing - and no toll-free number at all.

Well, island hopping from yap to kosrae sounds interesting if going by boat/ vessel isnt practicable due to various reasons.
BUT : is there really no "connection" from kosrae - either "shipping" or any "obscure" airline - to the Solomons/Vanuatu/Aus/ or even Kiribati
apart from flying in a roundabout way via Honolulu or back via guam ???? Clinging to a false hope ???

Definitely no connection from Kosrae to those countries - far too small to warrant it. So it's probably back to Asia to proceed to the SW Pacific!
You might still be able to connect from Majuro via Nauru though.

I think the type of air-pass offered to you is the one limited to 4 (or 5?) destinations WITHIN Micronesia (hence no Hawaii) and 30 days, right?
Not ideal...

Kosrae landing strip is a single shot on the water, just barely large enough to land a plane. Have many times seen planes have to abort a landing and try again. These places are small. As in really tiny. I wouldn't imagine that there would be more than 4 or 5 people a year who would want to go that route. They can't even keep much going from Palau which although small has a much larger tourist population. So yes- clinging to a false hope.

I am surprised Laz that there are no cheap tickets in Manila. Used to be that there were lots of bucket shops that had good discounted fares. Since the Manila to US route is very competitive. And with some fancy chatting you could get a route that would allow you to stop, for small additional fares, in lots of the islands on the way.

Oh- also- FSM is in northern Pacific. Just a fine point. seems like the north and the south pacific are as friendly s the north and the south US used to be.

Just checked, and it seems that Our Airline (aka Air Nauru) no longer serves Majuro. So with the exception of flights from Guam, the closest places to head South from Micronesia are now from Manila, Hong Kong, or Hawaii.
Really, these islands are much easier and cheaper to combine with Asia or North America than with the South Pacific. I just wonder how Marshallese students studying at the USP in Suva get there - maybe they simply don't.
OP: If you want the shortest/cheapest (but not fastest!) way from Micronesia to Melanesia, look into flying from Palau via the Philippines, or from Guam straight, to Indonesia, then crossing the land border between West Papua and PNG. This may well involve spending some time getting a PNG visa in Jayapura though.

I think cheap flights from Manila must be going non-stop to the US these days!
It was even hard to get a decentish fare for the basic MNL-ROR-YAP RT route, and most annoyingly, once such a fare was offered in Manila by Conti itself, I couldn't even ask my friend to buy the ticket for me, and the airline's office over in Indonesia claimed they could not find the same fare in their computer which was only throwing up business class ones! That's how my Micro trip got cancelled last year...

Now I am thinking the best way to see these islands might be trying to get the all-in island-hopper from the US end. The 30 day deal would be all but useless to me. :-(

Ah the joys of AirMike! At one point I could get a round trip Manila-US mainland-Manila flight with stops on several islands cheaper than I could get a ticket from Manila to Yap. Go figure.

Thanks again for all the trouble and effort.............

Laszlo, you are absolutely right, the local Conti office offered me an air-pass for up to 5 destinations within Micronesia. Not interesting for me due to the
limited 30days validity - not at all. And the mentioned "full islands-hopping ticket" Manila-Honolulu, well apparently here they dont know anything about
the existence of such a possibilty.
So do you think that it could be a problem to buy the flight tickets to Chuuk/Pohnpei/Kosrae on the spot after arrival in Yap ?

Did some research so far :
1. Laszlo, the mentioned Majuro hint sounded interesting and maybe is still useful. Although OurAirline cancelled the Majuro link due to financial problems
according to their website, there is an other airline serving Majuro - Kiribati. I received today a reply from Air Marshall Island [http://www.airmarshallislands.com/] and they "confirmed" that they are flying to Tarawa,although no fixed schedule but should be once a week
or at least once of two weeks according to their details. Believable ? Kiribati wasnt so far in my mind but why not and to connect it with the Solomons/
Vanuatu is possible as far as I know ( via Fiji with Air Pacific).
2.As well I received an other mail today - btw, both replies surprisingly prompt and informative - from the Yap tourist office and they told me that this summer
there will be for sure a passenger ship coming down from Chuuk State to Yap and return back to Chuuk and continue onto Pohnpei - further
infos when available. And even provided a kind of "schedule" of the PMA plane which is serving the outlying islands around Yap.

Well, just collecting informations right now ..........and thanks for any stimulation

There you go - the Marshalls' link to Fiji!
But be prepared that going to Melanesia via Kiribati and Fiji, although interesting, might prove very expensive. I still think via Asia is cheapest.

Don't plan your trip around that "passenger ship".
Such things should only be believed when seen with one's own eyes - or better still, once you have reached your destination on them.

Apart from the fact that the Majuro - Tarawa - etc.trip sounds tempting and inviting for me, well, according to the AIR CONTI website just the one way
air fare from Kosrae back to Guam - to connect with the south sea - is more than 700U$ !! And fares from Guam to wherever you have still to add !!

And the one way ticket Tarawa - Honaira or Port Vila via Nadi/Fiji is - according to their online booking system - less than 700U$. And I hardly believe that
the Majuro - Tarawa flight is that expensive - well, if possible on the spot at all.

Oh, I am not planning around such a "passenger ship" my journey and I can image the condition and "furnishings" and all that - and after an
incredible horror trip with a local "passenger boat" from madagascar to the comoros now 8 yrs ago I have sworn never again but who knows...........

Well, you had better sort out all that, as ALL Pacific islands want you to have an onward ticket in your hands before they let you enter them in the first place!

And buying a ticket in Yap will be an experience- there is NO reason for them to discount anything. And I agree about the ship- if you don't mind waiting around for a month or so it might work, and I think it would be wonderful! But remember that you will have a few hours on the outer islands, no longer. Don't get me wrong- I'd do it in a minute. But it is a nasty ship whose toilets often are not working, there is no food or water on board. At least it was. But a fasinating trip. And it will be very very inexpensive. But it will run on island time. And if you do it- you have to bring back stories and pictures!

Thank you very much for all your input.

There is one point I am still worried about : When it comes to the demanded onward ticket I am not able to work out any solution
for the FSM / Marshalls yet.
Really strictly required on the ground in your experience ? A return ticket to Europe - from an other place though - isnt sufficient ?

And re the boat so yes am really keen on trying it................

I have no experience with Micronesia, but in the rest of the Pacific immigration officers tended to be quite strict about this. Thing is, they are really only used to people flying in and flying out - unless they come on their own yacht, or on a cruise ship.
I would say get all your air tickets in advance, and try and refund the unused ones later if you happen upon that boat.

Can't say- we were always stopping for a long time.

Whatever the Yap Visitors Bureau say about boat and PMA schedules can't really be relied on, especially the boat which seems to be permanently broken down and often runs months late! PMA will fly if they have enough cargo and passengers to make it worth their while, and this might not happen until a while after the date they tell you by email. If you have enough time to hang around in Yap waiting for the flight though Ulithi and Fais are well worth it. Council of Tamol (where you get your Outer Islands permit from) can organise homestays

I'm absolutely not an expert but I do live on Kwaj now and I thought this might help a little with your flight scheduling, if you're still planning the trip:

http://www.airlineroutemaps.com/USA/img/Continental_Micronesia.JPG

The route that jumps across the middle of the map is the continental micronesia route- hono to majuro to kwaj to kosrae to pohnpei to chuk to guam.

Any travel agent should be able to book a flight along that route for you as long as you know how long you want to stay at each location. Or you could try booking flights as you go. Because it services Kwajalein (a military base) it's very reliable and on-time. But unfortunately, not cheap, because it's the only one that flies this route regularly (Air Marshall Islands has been flying through here again, but I've heard they're not always reliable.
Hope this helps!