Atoll hopping / exploration - any good places to start from?

Dear community,

I would like to do an explorer island hopping trip next November (for the whole month) on the Southern Pacific Islands (Samoa, Fiji, Cook Islands ...) and am looking for some input from the community, as my research on Google just led to resort, scuba diving, wedding, beach etc. type to trips.

Basically I am wondering whether you might be aware of a place that consists of a large majority of smaller atolls (as in really small) that are accessible without spending weeks on a boat? The dream scenario would be to have a place to fly in to, get a boat from there and spend 2-3 days each on several little islands or atolls. A plan B would be to at least be able to visit several such atolls on a day trip basis (e.g. staying overnight is not possible).

Hope some of you can share their thoughts on this.

Cheers,
Michael

Hello,

I may be wrong, but out of the countries you mentioned only the Cook Islands has actual atolls. I don't think Fiji has any, and (American) Samoa has only one - Rose Atoll, which is uninhabited and not that easy to get to.

Within the Cook Islands you can get to Aitutaki fairly easily via plane from Rarotonga. The other atolls are far away from Rarotonga and pretty expensive to get by plane. I found a boat schedule but you'd probably need to be very lucky with the timing or your trip or be open to staying over a month.

http://www.ck/shipping.htm

You could look into the Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu - those are "atoll countries", though boats and even planes (Minus Tuvalu which does not have domestic air service) often do not run to schedule.

Maybe French Polynesia is an option?

Forget Tuvalu if you want easily accessible atolls! :-)

Kiribati is an option, as would be the Marshall Islands... But for an easier though pricier atoll region, the Tuamotus of French Polynesia could be an option. Mind you, if you want to tour several atolls without spending much time on (and much more waiting for!) boats, you must stick to ones you can fly to.

Thanks for your reply!

Taking your hints into consideration, I have narrowed it down to Tonga, Kiribati and French Polynesia.
Regarding existence and access of/to mini islands/atolls, are there any key differences between those 3?
I figure French Polynesia is probably the easiest reachable, but the price tag does indeed play a role. I wouldn't be against using boats here and there, given the distances are all doable in a day or so.

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