Half day to Nan Madol

I'm planning on taking the island hopper route on Continental later this year; one option is to spend the night (~13 hrs) in Pohnpei, arriving 12:30AM then flying out the same day at 1:20PM. Is there enough time in the morning to go visit Nan Madol and make it back to the airport?

Hope you are young and small- young because otherwise you will not have the energy after that very long flight, and small because that way you might have been able to sleep some on the flight. Someone has been posting here who is in Pohnpei who will probably be able to tell you if it is even possible. Me? I think it sounds nuts, but I am no longer either young or small.

5Waldos is right, you probably will be exhausted. BUT, if you are anything like me you still won't give up the opportunity, but it will cost you. You can contact The Village hotel and see if they can arrange a short-version personal tour for you OR, if you are really brave and experienced and willing to take the risk, rent a car and drive 1/4-way around the island directly to the Nan Madol docking point (there's a sign for a dirt road on the left). The drive will probably take about 1 hour each way. Right before the deck there is a house. Stop there and ask they guys if they can take you across to Nan Madol by boat. I think one of them is the son of the chief of the area. I'm not sure about the technicalities as one of my friends arranged this for us, but you can probably cross the water walking, albeit waist high. You'll have to pay for the entrance to Nan Madol and the boat, but it's not too pricey.

Keep in mind that the island does not "open" before 8 or even 9 in the morning.

Good luck!

I did not mean to discriminate or promote one over the other… Another TT poster mentioned the Pohnpei Surf Club as another option for arranging trips. I’d check them out as well.

Not so young or small :) but no worries being exhausted, I'm used to fast paced travel. I'll be staying at the Cliff hotel and they said they maybe able to arrange a trip out to the ruins.

You will be in the islands on island time. Nothing is fast paced there. When is the next plane? You might want to check just in case.

I was able to rent a SUV in Kolonia for $55/day and took about an hour to drive to the ruins.

So- did you have a wonderful time? Where else did you go? What did you do? Tell all! It is cold and snowy here- I want to hear island stories!

Well, it was a rushed trip but I think worth the visit. I was upgraded on Continental for the Guam to Pohnpei leg, I was one of the first ones off the plane but then had to wait ~20 minutes for them to get the luggage conveyor belt working!

The Cliff Hotel agent picking me up at the airport asked if I wanted to rent a car, $55 for the day. He said a taxi to Nan Madol would probably run about $80. We arranged the car on the way to the hotel. By the time I checked in it was nearly 2AM so fell asleep for ~5hrs.

I was on the road by 7:15AM driving through the rain. Pohnpei was very green and lush, parts get upwards of 400" of rain a year. The road is paved all around the island and was in good condition, just twisty and went through small villages. Took about an hour to get to the turnoff for the ruins (there is a sign off the main road). The local families there have capitialized on their location, I had to pay $1 to drive down the turnoff that went past one house, then $3 at the end of the road to walk down the trail to the ruins. The trail was a bit muddy at first but then became a crushed coral path through the mangrove swamp. There are bridges over the canals. It was a peaceful 5 minute walk through the swamp, with birds singing and mudskippers splashing around.

Finally came out in the open and the main part of the ruins was there, surrounded by a waist-deep moat. I waded across (had worn my swimtrunks and sandals) and spent about an hour or so in the ruins. Huge 20' high walls built of hexagonal basalt columns. Three outer walls surround the inner chamber.

I drove back to town, saw the Spanish Wall, Japanese Tank and Sokeh's rock, by that time it was time to head to the airport already. So it would have been nice to spend more time, but I did well with the time I had.