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Dive Review of Pohnpei Surf n Dive Club/Mangrove Bay Hotel in
Micronesia/Pohnpei

Pohnpei Surf n Dive Club/Mangrove Bay Hotel: "Reefs in Decline", Sep, 2023,

by Donald Brown, WA, US (Reviewer Reviewer 6 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 12687 has 1 Helpful vote.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 2 stars Food 2 stars
Service and Attitude 2 stars Environmental Sensitivity 4 stars
Dive Operation 3 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 1 stars
Beginners 1 stars
Advanced 1 stars
Comments I won't spend a lot of time on this.
The biggest reason I gave this a low rating is that the fringing coral reefs are in terrible shape, and the marine life is in severe decline.

Secondly, the island has not recovered well from the economic disaster of Covid. The infrastructure, accommodations, and tourism are in poor shape.

I visited Pohnpei back in 1999 and the reefs were very good, but now 24 years later they have seriously declined. The main purpose of my trip was to re-visit the Ahnt Atoll which I hoped would still be in pristine condition, but due to weather conditions and the reluctance of the dive operator, my group never got to make the trip there. We spent 5 days hoping to do some kind of decent diving but it was never any good. I would not recommend stopping there on a trip thru Micronesia.
Websites Pohnpei Surf n Dive Club   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Everywhere but the Red Sea
Closest Airport PNI Getting There United Airlines thru HNL, GUM

Dive Conditions

Weather windy, rainy, cloudy Seas choppy
Water Temp 82-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 30-70 Ft/ 9-21 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions [Unspecified]
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? no

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles None Whales None
Corals 1 stars Tropical Fish 1 stars
Small Critters 1 stars Large Fish 1 stars
Large Pelagics 2 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 1 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 1 stars Shore Facilities 2 stars
UW Photo Comments The boat crew did make an effort to put a freshwater rinse tank on the boat after the first day. They were good about passing the camera in & out of the water. But there were very few photo opportunities underwater.
Was this report helpful to you?
Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Subscriber's Comments

By Randall S Preissig in TX, US at Apr 24, 2024 11:29 EST  
Thank you for the update. My first and only trip to Pohnpei was over 40 years ago (!) when Continental Airlines Island hopped the mail and passengers were an afterthought. We often had the entire plane to ourselves. Sadly, my experience at that time reflects yours, at least the Scuba part. We were never taken to the "good reefs" and were simply dropped off on the nearest one. And we were limited to 2 dives a day for obscure reasons. I realize that such poor customer service/value is often due to the staff manning the boat wanting to get home early or the owner not wanting to spend money for gas; this was a common practice in Cozumel and elsewhere 40 years ago, but competition has made this go away in any place with significant tourism/scuba. This is a great example of the true value of Undercurrent--you would never get this information anywhere else.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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