Dive Review of Blue Palms in
Micronesia/Rota

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Blue Palms: "Rota", Apr, 2018, by David Cook, TN, US ( Reviewer 4 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 10451 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Rota is a small island 40 miles north of Guam and 80 miles southwest of Saipan. Accommodations are very limited on island – there is the Valentino Hotel, the Bayview Hotel, which are both in the village of SongSong, and the Rota Resort and Country Club, which is between the airport and SongSong. I recommend the Bayview, as breakfast is included and the Blue Palms Dive Services shop is only a five minute walk. Blue Palms is a great dive service. Megumi Taka runs a tight, full-service operation that includes lunch and 3-4 dives each day. They will provide transportation from the airport to the hotel and are very accommodating. Our group has made this trip several times so Megumi and her staff know us and our diving abilities, which makes the dives all the more enjoyable. The dive service has on-site secure storage where you can leave your gear overnight. The next day, the Blue Palms team sets up your gear and has it ready for you to dive as soon as you arrive at the boat. The only shortcoming is they do not have nitrox available anywhere on island, so be prepared to use regular air, even on deep dives. Most of the Rota dive spots are within a 10 – 15 minutes boat ride from one of the two small harbors. There are a number of signature dives on Rota, with the most memorable being the Senahom (Rota) Cave. One aspect to be careful of are the currents – there can be particularly strong southward currents along one side of the Wedding Cake peninsula, but Megumi does a good job during the dive brief of warning divers and then keeping them close to the wall to keep them safe. Because Rota is relatively sparsely populated and remote, there is very low pressure on the fish population so large schools of trevallies, tuna and other fish abound. SongSong has only three restaurants and two general stores, so make sure you pack what you need. We usually bring a cooler with steak and shrimp that Blue Palms prepare for us – usually the last night we are there. This has become somewhat of a tradition for our group and provides a great end to what has always been a fantastic dive trip.
Websites	Blue Palms
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Guam, Okinawa, Thailand, Oman, Yap
Closest Airport	ROP	Getting There	Usually must connect through Saipan
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	choppy, currents
Water Temp	80-83°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dive within recreational limits.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Plenty of great opportunities for underwater photography. From the wreck of the Shoun Maru with thousands of garden eels, to sea fans at Pona Point to schools of bream and lobsters at Senahom cave to giant grouper at the Harnom drop off, we were never bored.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Blue Palms in Micronesia/Rota

Blue Palms: "Rota", Apr, 2018,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Blue Palms in
Micronesia/Rota