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Lau Lau Beach
on Saipan Island, C.N.M.I.
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Click here to see reviews of this divesite
at ShoreDiving.com
5)
Click here to see reviews of this divesite at ShoreDiving.com 5) |
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Lau Lau Beach
on Saipan Island, C.N.M.I.
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| Recommendation: Excellent Notes: Depths top off at 95'/31m. No bathrooms, no phone, no manmade facilities of any kind. The only changes made from nature, here, are the posted security guard, the dirt road, the trodden-grass parking lot, and a handful of large concrete blocks at the left side of the beach. It would therefore be a GOOD idea to bring water, first aid kit and cell-phone, and be sure that your vehicle is 4WD all-terrain with a good spare tire and lots of gas. A typical rent-a-car is not capable or insured for roads like this. Go to Obyan or Grotto instead, if your car is average-strength or less. Fun bits: This area is home to Dangerous bit: Did I mention the jet-sk |
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| 1) | How
to dive it: Getting down there is rough...or was, back when I dove there in the mid- to late-90s. With a little luck and a lot of labor, the road leading to LauLau is paved now. If you're only as lucky as me, though, you're facing a long rough road made of washed out coral dust. It's a dirt road made slippery, with large stones and steep steep hills. Since the rent-a-car agencies would either laugh or cry if you tried to take a rentacar down there, you're best off tagging along with a diveshop van, a local friend with 4 wheel drive, or the next invading army/navy team. Once you get down to the right beach, park in the grass and in the forest, not actually ON the pebbly beach, or you may be killing unseen turtle-eggs. Besides, it's a rare car that can get out of the soft sand once it's dug in. Try to park on the concrete pad pictured in the map, or at least near the security guard so your things won't become someone else's souvenir, while you're underwater. (The guard's mostly there to protect cars and the property within, while you're diving. He's not, as far as I know, lifeguard-trained.) |
| 2) | Do your dive
briefing on the beach before putting
on hot, heavy scuba gear. Be sure the car's locked as long
as it's out of your line-of-sight. The water's not usually clear
enough to see the bottom terrain, but you can at least see the two most
popular entry points, in shallow water near the shore. With luck,
you'll see others making their entries and exits, easing the burden of
explaining how it's done. Note that you have the option of doing
walk-in, back-roll, or giant-stride entries here. It's a VERY
forgiving, inviting site, except for its extreme lack of manmade
conveniences ! Now's a good time to choose your entry point. The generally accepted exit point is at the rope, but it's a bit boring to see that place twice. Good idea to see it twice if you're teaching a SCUBA lesson here, so students get used to its murky rope-road through dark, misty valleys. If you're just fun-diving, though, use one of the sports entrances to the left of the ropeway. The sports entrance nearest to the ropeway is the easiest and most direct route to the prettiest, most popular part of LauLau, so let's assume that's your entry point. |
| 3) | Gear up almost
fully at the car. Leave your mask in your fin's
footpocket (unless it's a prescrption lens that you need to see above
water), and let the chest-strap on your vest hold the fins (pass the
strap through the fins' heelstrap), leaving your hands free. Turn
your
air on fully, and mostly-inflate your BCD so if you fall, you're
cushioned and will float. Be sure your fins aren't the
built-in-shoe
kind because if you're walking barefoot or finned out to the entry
point, it's rough going, walking over stones and coral.
Felt-tipped
"tabi"reef-walker boots are best. Put your weight belt on
now, too, and do your buddy-gear-check now, before you lock up the car
again & start walking in hot, heavy gear down to the beach. |
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