Anyone been here?
I have so many questions so it would probably be best to just say everything about it if youve been
How do you get there? (From europe possibly)
What do you do there?
Where do you sleep?
How do you move from island to island?
How are the locals?
How does money function there?
How is the sea/ snorkeling?

>>2790588 (OP)
I've been to East Timor, Niue, Nauru, Fiji (very short time) and Palau.

>How to get there
Flights. Fiji Nadi airport is usually a connection for many island countries. It's expensive to travel around.

>Sleep
...hotels? Bnbs? There aren't really hostels. I met some girl who had been reaching out to people via Facebook for homestays and was paying like $10 a night in Palau or something, but I couldn't be arsed. Fiji is mostly resorts.

>How are the locals
Friendly but wouldn't really go out of their way to ever help you out. You're seen as a bit of an interesting novelty, but kind of an inconvenience. Actually, I only felt that way in Nauru. Every other place people were pretty chill, and even in Nauru I met some nice folks.

>Money
Many places use USD or AUD or NZD (Niue). Some have their own currencies.

>Sea?
Palau has amazing, world-class diving. Nauru, no one can be fucked to get you a snorkel and there's no dive shops. Bring your own mask and snorkel if you wanna go there. Niue had some awesome diving too. Holy shit, so many fuckin sea snakes. Big suckers too.

>Do?
Nothing a lot of the time. Quiet nights. See some nature, swimming, diving during the day. Nauru has bingo twice a week or so. Nieu has some amazing beautiful sights and short forest hikes to do. Beauty of a country.

>>2790588 (OP)
Been to: New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands
>How do you get there? (From europe possibly)
Micronesia: from Korea and Japan to Guam/Saipan, then the only option is island hopper flight Guam to Honolulu that stops on all main islands
Melanesia: Most flights are from Australia. Fiji has flights from China, Singapore, USA, maybe some other Asian airports. New Caledonia has flights from Japan I think.
Polynesia: flights from Aus and NZ, or via Fiji. From Tahiti there are flights to the USA West Coast too.
>What do you do there?
Explore the islands, visit beaches, snorkel/dive.
>Where do you sleep?
There are hotels and Airbnbs, not even that expensive on most islands. The most expensive islands are Nauru and American and NZ islands.
>How do you move from island to island?
By plane only. Flights are infrequent and VERY expensive, can be like $1000 per segment.
>How are the locals?
Nice people, very lazy
>How does money function there?
Same as anywhere else
>How is the sea/ snorkeling?
Palau is famous for snorkeling, also Saipan. Polynesia not so much.

>>2790588 (OP)
>Micronesia Polynesia Melanesia
one of my life dreams to follow James Cook first or second tour
but traveling around is really expensive

>>2790615
>Niue had some awesome diving too. Holy shit, so many fuckin sea snakes. Big suckers too.
No joke. Niue was the only Pacific island I've ever visited (unless you count NZ) and it's pretty much as close as you can get to a raw island experience. There are less beaches but plenty of awesome rock formations, caves, and swimming spots. Plenty of sea snakes and sea cucumbers taking huge shits everywhere. This was years ago and back then, you can obviously tell that the infrastructure wasn't catered to tourists yet. I wonder how it looks now.
Also I'm going to Fiji & Tonga to swim with whales & I'm quite excited to do it soon

>>2790758
Why not cut to the chase? Sail to Hawaii with your buddies, start shit with the natives, and get killed in a melee.

>>2790588 (OP)
Are these divisions of the islands actually accurate or just meme shit?
Seems Hawaii and New Zealad being treated the same is utter utter bollocks.

Surely there's a more accurate grouping of cultural regions?

>>2791613
Yes it is correct, it's based on language families. Hawaiian and Maori (NZ) languages are in one family. The closest language to Maori for example is th language of Cook islands.
Basically Polynesian people travelled to the East gradually, and in the end some turned North (Hawaii), some South (New Zealand), and some continues East to Easter island and possibly even reached South America.

>>2790588 (OP)
most people just go to one of those islands and spend their whole time there lol. unless you own a good boat and are experienced with open sea travel

>>2790615
How was East Timor? Did you get out of Dili much?

>>2791769
East Timor was kind of shit. There wasn't much of anything to do. I went to Maubisse (I think it was?) and hiked to the top of Mt Ramelau. That village was tiny tiny. I rode in the back of a pick-up truck with some locals. One dude was carrying his chicken the whole way, and I got to the town, I got to see some cock fights. That was all pretty cool. The nature wasn't particularly incredible. It was all kind of dry green/brown. But hiking up Ramelau was cool as fuck.

I also went to the island near Dili. I forget the name, but you can take a speedboat to it where there's an eco resort. It was really beautiful and peaceful there, and if I had more time, I'd spend it there.

>>2790588 (OP)
papua new guinea is wild