Pick the state by what you came for, because each one is its own flight. Divers go to Chuuk, based on Weno, where some of the 1944 wrecks sit within recreational depth. Pohnpei is the history: Nan Madol on the southeast coast and a rainforest interior among the wettest on earth. Kosrae is the quiet one, with the walls of Lelu and a strict Sunday. Yap has manta rays all year and stone money in use, on separate flights from Guam. A week covers one or two states. Book the dive days first.
Fun fact
Nan Madol stands on more than 100 artificial islets of basalt and coral off Pohnpei, begun in the 800s and raised around 1200 as the seat of the Saudeleur dynasty. UNESCO inscribed it in 2016 and put it on the In Danger list the same year, as mangroves grow through its walls.
Stereotypes, sorted out
The realityBoth. The region takes in Palau, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and more. The country is the Federated States of Micronesia: four states in the Caroline Islands, with 607 islands between them. The name is a 19th-century coinage from the Greek for small islands.
The realityIndependent since 3 November 1986, when the US-run UN trusteeship ended, and a UN member in its own right. The Compact of Free Association blurs the line. The US handles defence, Micronesia receives US assistance, Americans can live and work there without a visa, and the currency is the dollar.
The realityPlenty of it is within recreational range. The Fujikawa Maru, Zero fighters still in its holds, has its main deck at about 18 metres. The San Francisco Maru, tanks on deck at around 62 metres, is a technical dive. Pick wrecks by your qualification. The chamber in Chuuk is generally not working.
The realityOn Yap it is still in use. Rai, limestone discs quarried on Palau some 450 kilometres away, change hands in marriages, land deals and compensation. The stone stays where it is and the new owner is declared in public. The largest, on Rumung, is 3.6 metres across.
The realityFour states, four histories and four main languages (Chuukese, Pohnpeian, Kosraean and Yapese), plus the Polynesian languages of Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi. The rivalries are real. Chuuk, the most populous and poorest state, has pushed for secession. Each state runs its own immigration check.
Cultural notes that actually help
- Kosrae keeps Sunday for church. Selling or drinking alcohol that day is against the law, and swimming, diving, fishing and work are strongly discouraged, so book dives for Monday to Saturday.
- In Yap, public drunkenness is a felony, not a fine. Drink at the hotel and leave it there.
- Dress conservatively away from the water. Australia’s travel advice tells women to cover their knees, and the swimsuit stays on the boat or the beach.
- Land is privately owned, ruins included. At Nan Madol the landowners and the paramount chief each collect a small cash fee on the way in, so carry small notes.
- The wrecks are protected. Taking anything from a sunken ship or aircraft is illegal, and unexploded wartime ordnance still turns up in Chuuk and Yap, so leave it alone and report it.
- Sakau follows rank. Of the four stones used to pound it at a ceremony, one is kept for the Nahnmwarki, the paramount chief, or his representative, and the first four cups have their own name, nohpwei. Follow your host’s lead on when to drink.
- Taxis are shared. Few drivers take a single fare and some overcharge visitors, so agree the price before you get in or book through the hotel.
- Every state is its own border. You clear immigration again on arrival in each one, even off a domestic flight, so keep the passport in your hand luggage.
- The urohs, the appliquéd and embroidered skirt Pohnpeian women wear, is the island’s signature dress, and it gives Emelihter Kihleng’s poetry collection its title.
Names behind Micronesia
Tosiwo Nakayama
Mau Piailug
Emelihter Kihleng
John Haglelgam
David Panuelo
Wesley Simina
Kimiuo Aisek
Larry Raigetal
Oliver Sacks
Kerson Hadley
Debra Daniel
Must-try Micronesian food
Kón
Breadfruit boiled, then pounded hot on a wooden board until smooth. Chuuk’s staple.
Mwatun
Kón made richer with coconut milk. Emesefich, also with coconut, is kept for chiefs.
Fafa
Kosrae’s pounded giant swamp taro, worked by two people at one board.
Mwaa
Breadfruit pounded, fermented and rinsed. The outer-island Yap staple, eaten on Ulithi.
Kehp
Pohnpei’s prized yams. With pigs and sakau, the prestige gift at a feast.
Karat banana
Pohnpei’s beta-carotene banana. Gone from markets by 1998, State Banana by 2005.
Uht kekihn
Pohnpeian banana balls: banana peeled, grated, boiled, rolled and cooked in coconut milk.
Kosrae tangerines
Seedless, sweet and green when ripe, because the heat never turns them orange.
Mangrove crab
Kosrae’s favourite catch, sweet-fleshed, pulled from the mangroves around the island.
Sakau
Pohnpei’s kava, pounded with stones, squeezed through hibiscus bark, drunk at ceremonies.