Main Menu
Join Undercurrent on Facebook

The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975 | |
For Divers since 1975
The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975
"Best of the Web: scuba tips no other
source dares to publish" -- Forbes
X
 

Dive Review of Sleeping Woman Divers - Kosrae Village/Kosrae Village in
Micronesia/Kosrae

Sleeping Woman Divers - Kosrae Village/Kosrae Village, Aug, 2009,

by Jeanne Sleeper, CA, usa (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 5150.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 1 stars
Snorkeling 2 stars
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments Kosrae Village is an eco resort on a small out of the way island. If you dream of sleeping in a woven mat wall, thatched roof hut next to the beach - this is it! Live simply and sustainably with Katrina and Bruce, the owner-operators. In a world where "resort" usually means luxury, at Kosrae it means purposeful simplicity. Fly to Hawaii then take an island hopping Air Micronesia flight and get off at the 3rd stop. The staff picks you up in their personal car and you take a 30 minute drive on the one road that follows the coast around most of the island. The mountainous interior is a rainforest that reaches to the shore. The resort is in the forest, at the beach. The resort has a dining hut and serves 3 meals a day. Luckily the food is varied, good and fairly priced as there are few other places to eat on the entire island. Lettuce and some vegetables are island grown and fresh fish is locally caught.

Beginning to tech divers will enjoy Kosrae. My visit began with a bit of surge from a recent storm and over the 10 days went to flat and still. The best diving is on the resort's side of the island. Their dive boats tie up a 2 different small harbors to shorten the boat run time to your planned dive site. You leave the resort at 9 am by car, go to the harbor, load the boat and are efficiently on your way.
Ben, Jerry & Gordon do all the work, including setting up your dive gear after you show them once how you like it. You are on vacation!

The weather is similar year round - hot and humid. It is an excellent opportunity to oopen your pores and exercise your sweat glands. The water is 80F+. My trip's visibility ranged from 60 to 150 depending on the day and location. But what will knock your fins off is the coral - acres and acres of huge, healthy, hard corals.... so many kinds, in perfect or near perfect condition. When you jump in the water and see the expanses of coral it takes your breath away - every day! Mooring balls & lots of drift diving preserve this amazing place. The fish range from Napoleon wrasse to small fire dart fish. Schools of big barracuda and snapper cruise the wall which starts at 80 or so feet. The wall top edge to the shore is a hard coral covered slope. The anemones and their clowns are varied. Not much soft coral or many nudibranchs or eels. The locals spear fish so targeted species are wary. Other fish included butterflys, wrasses, damsels, puffers, unicorn, sweetlips, hawkfish, parrot fish, anthias, turtles, eagle rays, giant clams and one shark off in the distance in the blue water.

A normal dive day is 2 dives with lunch on the boat during a long surface interval. You might get back at 1:30 or 3:30 depending on where you went or how much you played with dolphins riding your bow.
They offer a 3rd dive or night dives by special arrangement, but after 2 60-90 minute dives I was ok with just 2 dives. That is not normal for me, but was ok on this trip. The drive back to the resort was an island tour evey day and Jerry the driver patiently stopped for me to take pictures along the way. I needed images of 10 ft tall taro plants, orchids, bananas, ginger, kids, dogs, beach scenes, clam aqua culture farm etc.

The friendliness of the locals, their gentle, smiling ways was refreshing. Most speak very good English. Plan to go to church here - even if you do not at home. Guys need long pants and ladies need a dress with sleeves. Given in the native language you won't understand a word. But the congregation singing will lift you in worship. No piano or organ - just pure harmony of voices. Drop a $10 in the collection plate (which looked like a spaghetti colander to me)- everyone on Kosrae uses USA money - as it will be appreciated.

Kosrae is a beautiful island. It's a boat diving trip as the shallow coral-dotted waters make beach diving nearly impossible. The resort is very basic. It's hot and humid. Dive, kayak, hike in the rainforest, eat, sleep and take pictures - that's it. Except for the time you spend siting on your hut's porch in a rocker watching the sunrise over the water. But if you want clean, clear water, pristine coral, a safety-minded, accommodating dive operation with few divers and to unplug from complexity of daily life - this is a perfect spot. I can't recall when I've had the luxury of only 2 divers on a boat and a crew whose primary goal was to be sure I had a perfect day.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Pacific, Caribbean, USA, Australia, Red Sea
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 81-84°F / 27-29°C Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility 60-150 Ft/ 18-46 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Dive your computer, plan no decompression dives, long safety stops, tech diving allowed if trained and equipped properly. Long dives are ok. No time pressure from a schedule.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins Schools Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics 3 stars

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 2 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities 1 stars
UW Photo Comments The dive boats are small flat top pontoons. They are perfect for the local waters, but have no camera area. The crew are very respectful of cameras and patient with photographers. How you set up your camera at the resort in the morning is how you dive it for 2 dives. I would not consider opening a housing on the boat.
Was this report helpful to you?
Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here
 

Subscribe Now
Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 468 dive reviews of Micronesia and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

 
Featured Links from Our Sponsors
Interested in becoming a sponsor?
Reef & Rainforest, Let our experience be your guide -- Reef and Rainforest
Reef & Rainforest
is an agency for travelers that scuba dive. Looking for sharks, wrecks, kayaking, tropical islands? We specialize in adventures to Micronesia.

Want to assemble your own collection of Micronesia reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

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.

Undercurrent Home


Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email.
And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent

Free Undercurrent Issue
Get a free
monthly email and
a sample issue!


Find in  

| Home | Online Members Area | My Account | Login | Join |
| Travel Index | Dive Resort & Liveaboard Reviews | Featured Reports | Recent Issues | Back Issues |
| Dive Gear Index | Health/Safety Index | Environment & Misc. Index | Seasonal Planner | Blogs | Free Articles | Book Picks | News |
| Special Offers | RSS | FAQ | About Us | Contact Us | Links |

Copyright © 1996-2024 Undercurrent (www.undercurrent.org)
3020 Bridgeway, Ste 102, Sausalito, Ca 94965
All rights reserved.

Page computed and displayed in 0.13 seconds