Your Guide to Diving Micronesia
Including Palau, Truk (Chuuk), Yap, Bikini Atoll & Marshall Islands and Kosrae

Diving Micronesia Overview

Diving Micronesia, especially Palau and Truk, is near the top of most divers' lists. Most divers head to Palau, where big fish abound. The Blue Corner is among the world's best high voltage dive sites. Visibility can exceed 200ft (60m), while currents range from nil to dangerously strong -- so use a reef hook and bring your safety sausage. Long day-boat rides to the best diving weave through calm waters and past magnificent rock islands, but there's the potential for rough seas on the outer edges. Most divers prefer liveaboards. Marine biodiversity is among the greatest in the world, but coral bleaching and commercial fishing are taking their toll. There's WWII wreck diving in the lagoon at Koror, but visibility can be poor.

Wreck diving mavens head to Truk (properly called Chuuk) and the world's most diverse wreck diving on a Japanese freighter fleet sunk by Americans during WWII.

Most wreck dives, other than on the superstructures, exceed 80ft (24m) deep, but they're great even without penetration. The wrecks are starting to suffer, and many artifacts that should have been left alone have been purloined, but the ships are festooned with coral, and most all the unique reef fish of the Pacific have made them home.

When diving Truk expect calm water, occasional poor visibility, and hot weather. Both destinations are such a long haul that divers usually stop at a second island to amortize their trip costs. Yap has been the traditional stopover, known for manta encounters, but the diving in Kosrae and Pohnpei may be better choices.

If you want to dive a fleet of obsolete wartime naval ships sunk by an atomic blast in 1945, get to Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Every vessel there has a history and the USS Saratoga is upright and the largest diveable aircraft carrier not intentionally scuttled.

Micronesia Seasonal Dive Planner

Air temperatures uniformly remain in the 80°F (29°C) year-round. For land travel, there's little difference between the wet and dry season, although January through March is considered the most comfortable season because of lower humidity and slightly cooler temperatures. Although visibility is slightly reduced by run-off during the July through October monsoons, the wind is also milder during this season, producing flatter seas. Water temperatures remain around 85°F (29°C) year-round. Typhoons are most frequent between August and December but are rare in Palau.

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Diving Micronesia Reader Reports and Feature Articles

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Latest Reader Reports from Micronesia from the serious divers who read Undercurrent All Reader Reports from Micronesia	All 10,000+ Reports
Manta Ray Bay Report in Micronesia/Yap "Over promised and under delivered" filed Nov 30, 2024 by Lynn A (Experience: 501-1000 dives)
While I have dove in Micronesia a few times, I had not had the pleasure of diving Yap and I was excited to experience this area. We... ... Read more
Palau Aggressor II Report in Micronesia/Palau "THE MOST LOGISTICALLY DIFFICULT PALAU TRIP I'VE EVER HAD" filed Nov 26, 2024 by Ken Kurtis (Experience: Over 1000 dives, 21 reports, Sr. Contributor )
This could also have been titled "Persevering Against Every Trouble That Could Have Been Thrown at Us". Read all about it in my (very l... ... Read more
Pearl Fleet Report in Micronesia "Great Accomodations and Diving off of the Black Pearl" filed Apr 14, 2024 by Paul Barrett (Experience: 251-500 dives, 11 reports, Sr. Reviewer )
The Black Pearl is a very well appointed live aboard cruising the waters of Palau. Each cabin has a full en-suite bathroom with a showe... ... Read more
Sam's Tours Report in Micronesia "Why did we wait to return to Palau for 12 years?" filed Apr 6, 2024 by Camilla J Goble (Experience: 501-1000 dives, 3 reports, Reviewer )
[None]We had not been back to Palau for 12 years because of covid and diving other locations (Maldives, Raja Amat, Belize and Wakatobi)... ... Read more
Fish 'n Fins/Palasia Report in Micronesia/Palau "Pleasant Return to Palau" filed Feb 1, 2024 by Wayne B. Batzer M.D. (Experience: Over 1000 dives, 4 reports, Reviewer )
This was our first trip back to Palau since February 2020, just before the COVID lockdown. We were again quite pleased with the profess... ... Read more

Editor's Book Picks for Scuba Diving Micronesia
Including Palau, Truk (Chuuk), Yap, Bikini Atoll & Marshall Islands and Kosrae

The books below are my favorites about diving in this part of the world All books are available at a significant discount from Amazon.com; just follow the links. -- BD

Reef Creature Identification: Tropical Pacific
by Paul Humann and Ned Deloach

Paul Humann and Ned Deloach have done it again, releasing a definitive identification guide to 1600 extraordinary reef creatures of the Tropical Pacific. with this 500+ page softbound guide, you get upwards of 2000 exceptional photos of shrimp and crabs and stars and worms and lobsters and nudibranchs and slugs and squid and bivalves . . . well, all those invertebrates that move along the reefs of this region without fining, so it seems. There are several photos of some creatures to help you identify them during different life stages, and about ten percent of the book is descriptive copy so you can tie down your identification. Even if you have no plans to go to the tropical Pacific, just to thumb through the pages, gawk at the complexity and uniqueness of these animals, and read a thumbnail sketch will give any serious diver vicarious thrills for endless hours.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Reef Fish Identification: Tropical Pacific
by Gerald Allen, Rodger Steene, Paul Humann, & Ned Deloach

At last, here's a comprehensive fish ID guide covering the reefs of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The generous 500-page text, displaying 2,500 underwater photographs of 2,000 species, identifies the myriad fishes that inhabit the warm tropical seas between Thailand and Tahiti. The concise text accompanying each species portrait includes the fish's common, scientific and family names, size, description, visually distinctive features, preferred habitat, typical behavior, depth range, and geographical distribution. This is an essential book for every diver traveling westward. 6x9 inches.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Dive Sites of the Great Barrier Reef
by Neville Coleman.

With 2900 reefs in 220,000 square miles, the enormous Great Barrier Reef has incredible dives -- and some very ordinary ones. If you're contemplating a trip, Neville Coleman's Dive Sites of the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea will help you ensure you pick the best. This 176 page book, with good maps and scores of colorful photos, describes the significant sites, the topography and the critters, then rates and ranks them so you can pick the best. Don't even consider a trip to Australia without consulting this. $24.95

Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide
by Gerald R. Allen, Roger Steene.

I was trying to pack light for a change. Surely the Solomon Sea would have good identification books aboard. Not so; the only book on the boat belonged to a fellow passenger. It was one that I had not seen before, the Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide, by two of the best fish guys around, Gerry Allen and Roger Steene. The problem was this fellow passenger kept it in a plastic baggie most of the trip and I had to beg to see it. Great book, good traveling size, and it covers everything from fish, shells, marine plants, mammals, corals, and invertebrates to sea birds and more. Now I've got my own, and it won't do you any good to beg me to borrow it. This is one of two books that I will not travel to the Pacific without. Good for travel to the Red Sea, East Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldives, Andaman Sea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Hawaii, it has 1,800 color illustrations in a 6x8 1/2 paperback format with 378 pages. $39.95.

There's a Cockroach in My Regulator
by Undercurrent

The Best of Undercurrent: Bizarre and Brilliant True Diving Tales from Thirty Years of Undercurrent.

Shipping now is our brand new, 240-page book filled with the best of the unusual, the entertaining, and the jaw dropping stories Undercurrent has published. They’re true, often unbelievable, and always fascinating. We’re offering it to you now for the special price of just $14.95.

Click here to order.

You might find some other books of interest in our Editor's Book Picks section.