Marshall Island Trip Report 2015

I recently came back from the Marshall Islands after spending about 3 weeks there for a work-related project. I must make a disclaimer before proceeding here - while I have not been to every Pacific Island country/territory, I have been to a decent number, and the Marshall Islands was easily the worst for me.

The reason it was the worst for me comes from a variety of factors including - the local people, food (Atoll countries tend to have limited food options due to the soil, but I'll go into this further below), and culture.

Getting There:
Majuro is the capital and everybody enters via there unless you are a member or relative of somebody in the U.S. military in which case you can enter at Kwajalein.

I came from the mainland U.S. via Hawaii to Majuro. A flight from the west coast will cost between $1,600 - $1,700 USD roundtrip as of this post. United has a monopoly on this route and so prices do not fluctuate nor come down from what I have seen.

Also note that if you are coming from the U.S. (Or Canada, etc) the flight from Honolulu to Majuro leaves early in the morning, meaning you will either have to book a one night layover at a hotel in Honolulu or sleep outside the airport.

You can also come in on United from the west via Kwajalein and the FSM (Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk). This route is likely best for those from Asia as you can go from Manila or Tokyo to Guam, and board the island-hopper to Majuro via the FSM.

Nauru Airlines also know as Our Airline also services Majuro from Kosrae, Tarawa, and Nauru. A potential route for those from Australia/New Zealand and other portions of the southern Pacific.

Logistics:
At the far western end of Majuro Atoll is Laura.

The far northeastern portion of Majuro Atoll lies Rita.

These are the two furthest points one can get via car/vehicle.

The airport is roughly located between the two. Going west of the airport it is significantly less densely populated whereas going east leads you eventually towards "downtown" which houses the hospital, government building, and grocery stores/restaurants.

The beach at Laura is probably considered the top attraction on Majuro by most, but in my personal opinion the Rita end is better. Yes it's more populated and thus has some pollution, but if you get to the end of Rita you can walk across channels at low tide (Be very careful doing this!) to a number of small islands which are stunning and offer good snorkeling on the lagoon side. Be careful with the tides and also potential currents.

I was not impressed by the snorkeling at Laura though the beach was indeed very nice. The small islands at the end of Rita offer better snorkeling in my opinion.

Transportation:
Most "public" transportation operates from the airport and all portions east of it. Going west beyond the airport towards Rita is not common and it will be rather difficult to find a ride to/from there. You could end up waiting quite some time and your best option may be hitch hiking if you go west of the airport.

There are three options for transportation:
- Hitchhiking - Just stick out your thumb and wait for somebody to pick you up. You'll usually be able to get a ride this way if you try.

• Taxi vans - Most rides will cost you about 50 cents.

• Taxi cars - Most rides will cost between 75 cents - $1 USD

Getting to and from the airport from where the hotels are located should be around $3-5 maximum.

The taxi's will only fit in as many people as there are seats so you don't have to worry about it being crowded. If it starts to rain hard it does become difficult to get a ride as they fill up fast. For the most part though, they are good and have air conditioning which offers a nice break from the heat and humidity at times.

I am not sure about motorcycles/scooters. I saw some on sale in stores but not many on the road.

The road conditions are good. A well built road though after a strong rain it can be flooded for a while, or even up to a day which makes walking around a pain. If you do hire a car you should drive at a slow speed and keep an eye out for pedestrians.

Hotels

I was provided a company apartment in the downtown area so I cannot comment on the condition of hotels or prices. Basically from what I saw there are three options.

1. Marshall Islands Resort
2. RRE (Robert Reimers) which is located at the Tide Table Restaurant
3. FlameTree Backpackers (Opposite Marshall Islands Resort)

That is likely the ranking from best to worst, and from most expensive to least expensive.

FlameTree is by far the cheapest however there is a bar/dance club there so I heard it can get very noisy. Also the "resort" name is just that - merely a name. It's not on the level of what one thinks when the word "resort" is mentioned - however it does appear to offer nice views over the lagoon.

All the places are going to be overpriced for what you're getting but that's what happens when there is not much competition and a good number of foreigners coming in for various purposes.

Continued (There's a 2000 word limit)

Culturally

Woman (And men to a certain degree) should not show their knees - hence most women wear long dresses called "guam dresses" or muumuu's. I often saw females, both local and foreign, swimming in these dresses. If you get out to more remote portions (The small islands off of Rita) you can somewhat get away with wearing whatever you want.

From a cultural standpoint, this place has been decimated. You won't find any sort of traditional homes on Majuro, and even in the outer atolls they are rather rare. Most homes are either cement or plywood.

You'll hear just as much English rap music as you will local music.

There aren't really many cultural activities, or meeting houses, etc like on other Pacific Islands. The biggest event(s) are likely Christmas, and the kemem or first birthday of a child. The kemem's consist of large feasts and songs and dance. They were alright, nothing too interesting though.

On other islands people will dress up in traditional wear every now and then for festivals and other occasions, but in the Marshall's - nothing.

Many people I spoke to were rather "proud" of these cultural changes, saying they had entered modern times. The reason I know things have changed a great deal is because I saw images from the early 1980s and earlier and it during that time it was a very different place.

Use of alcohol and drug consumption is also common both among youths and adults. Begging also was far more common than I've seen on other Pacific Islands - again both from youths and adults. It's uncommon to go a day walking down the road without being asked for a quarter. Often times a friendly chat with the locals asking about the country would lead towards them asking for money at the end, which irritated me. I understand they do not have much money, however I'm not exactly a walking ATM and it is not fun to be hassled when you are trying to genuinely make a friendship to be viewed as such. I was also asked to ship people goods from back home including cameras, laptops, and other expensive items.

There are a few restaurants on Majuro which serve decent food, both local and western inspired. It's not bad, at around $10/person per meal.

The locals tend to eat horrible food. It is not their fault as the soil is not that great and so they have to live with what is on the shelves of grocery stores - which is sadly, rubbish. Canned and processed meat such as spam, donuts, cakes, soda, cheap noodles, fried chicken, hotdogs, tons of white rice etc. It's no wonder the obesity and diabetes rates there are so high.

On Majuro it's actually not common to see locals eating fish or seafood related dishes, even at parties and celebrations. I remember going to one kemem party and there not being a single dish from the sea, despite it literally being in their backyard - fried chicken was the featured dish though. This is in stark contrast to other islands I have visited, including other atoll countries.

In the local restaurants you will find tuna (Excellent) however along with other things like pizzas, hamburgers, sandwiches, etc. Restaurant food is clean, tastes fine, and fairly well priced.

There is some "street food" which is basically white rice with a piece of fried chicken or a piece of fried fish and some canned corn that comes in clear plastic trays. It's only $1 or $2 but I would avoid it. I ate it a few times and did not get sick, but it probably has the potential to do so considering it's the heat and the fact that you don't know how long it's been out there. Once or twice I also noticed dead flies inside the tray.

Connectivity:
You can purchase a local sim card to make/receive phone calls. Local calls and texting are cheap. I cannot remember the rate but it's not expensive at all.

International calls will make either you or the person calling you poor real quick. It's free to receive calls but extremely expensive to dial out or be called from abroad.

The is internet offered at the two most popular restaurants (Tide Table and one at the Marshall Islands Resort) - it costs $5/hour. I forgot the 24 hour rate.

My suggestion would be to go to a grocery store called Payless. If you go to the back there is a counter where you can get wifi for one hour, all you have to do is buy something. You can buy the cheapest thing in the store (Maybe 25 - 50 cents), and you will still get a little coupon code for one hour of usage. You can do this over and over again - everyone does. You have to remain in their while you use it, but it has pretty good speed and there are food court type benches set up for people to sit at.

I did not really see any sort of internet cafes, though I think the Tide Table Hotel/Restaurant has them for use at a fee.
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Highlights:
There is no tourism. No tour guides nor tour operators outside of a dive charter or two. No people trying to sell you souvenirs, t-shirts or anything of that sort though you can buy such things at the local grocery stores if you look around.

Laura Beach - It's a nice sandy beach with beautiful water and a barrier reef out further. Currents were very strong when I went though.

Snorkeling is fairly good on the lagoon side at the small islands at the end of Rita. Stay on the lagoon side as it's more sandy. The ocean side is dangerous due to the very sharp coral, strong waves and potentially dangerous sharks which the locals often mentioned. The lagoon also has sharks at times, and I saw some myself, but I only saw harmless reef sharks. The coral is pretty good, among the best I have seen. So if you're coming from snorkeling/diving (Which is the only reason you should come unless you have relatives or work there) it's not a bad trip at all.

There is diving run by a company called ReyCrew/RayCrew. I am not sure what the rates are but if you mention it people will know where to find them (They have a room at the Marshall Islands Resort).

Outer Islands -
You can access the outer islands either via plane (Incredibly unreliable) or boat (Also very unreliable). If you're going to an outer island I would suggest you plan for at least a one month trip as the only domestic airline is "Air Marshall Islands" and it can often be under repair for literally weeks at a time. The only have 2 planes and it's not uncommon for both to be grounded. I never flew with them as they were down pretty much the duration of my trip.

I went via boat.

My outer island trips were short so I can't give a ton of advice other than give yourself a lot of flexibility in order to get there and get back to Majuro. The outer islands were much cleaner, without a paved road and sometimes even without cars. It was far more green with lots of coconut trees.

No real tourism there outside from a guest house to sleep in, but no real activities or excursions organized.

Food-wise it was basically white rice, canned meat or boiled fish - three times a day.

It was different from Majuro in that it was not paved but the homes and such were essentially the same. Nothing interesting from an architectural standpoint.

Conclusion:
All in all, I would not recommend going there. The diving/snorkeling is great so if you're into that it's worth a trip perhaps but if you're into literally anything more I would give it a miss. Plus you can get that snorkeling/diving in a number of other countries while having a more interesting cultural experience and eating better food. It's not the most expensive place but certainly not the cheapest either.

If I were in the region I wouldn't mind making another trip, but I wouldn't ever fly out just to visit there only. Outside of the tropical landscape, it didn't feel like I was in a foreign country or experiencing anything different or unique in this world. The people were not the most friendly or welcoming either, though when you look at the historical circumstances of the place I don't really blame them and much of the issues there are not their fault. It's definitely not a place where you're likely to be invited into people's homes though you may get engaged in a conversation. There were some very good people of course, but overall I did not find it to be a very friendly or happy place overall.

Please feel free to ask questions. I read this forum often so even if this post has been up for months or years there's a good chance I will see any replies and be able to chime in.

Thanks for the detailed post!

No problem Laszlo. I've used a number of your posts/trip reports to help plan out some of my other trips so I'm happy to be able to finally contribute something here.

In the coming days I'll try to make it a bit more concise and see if I can add in more information about the price(s) of things.

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