Saipan Day 1-3 Grandvrio, Garapan, Marine Sports

S.A.I.P.A.N 

DAY ONE

Can’t believe it has been two years since I last updated the blog O.O

And can't believe I have more free time now that I am working compared to when I was studying Masters. At least now I have complete 'me' time after work (not bringing any back!) whereas during Masters I have to slave day and night.

So I went to Saipan with XW for 6 days in November.

At first I wasn’t too keen to go Saipan. Mainly because I’ve never ever heard of it outside of Japan which made me assume that it’s not really that beautiful and probably hyped by the travel companies in Japan to generate $$$. You know, like how the big companies somehow managed to convince the whole Japanese nation to believe that chocolate is a must during Valentine’s Day and KFC chicken is a tradition during Xmas. It wasn't until XW showed me some photos of Grotto, a cavern with cobalt-blue seawater, that I became fascinated.

It takes about four hours from Tokyo and we arrived at around 3pm. You would think the process would be quick since it's a pretty small airport and we didn't even check in any luggage. But we only managed to clear the immigration and got out around 4:30pm. There's no public transportation so we grabbed a taxi to Garapan, the main lively(?) area in Saipan where our hotel is. The taxi drivers are not as aggressive as some other countries' which I am really grateful for. Nothing can damp your holiday mood more that being shouted at the moment you step out in a foreign land.

First impression of Saipan? It reminds me of Malaysia particularly the rural area of Miri -rainy and greenish 😂😂😂. No beach in sight for some time. It' s an hour quicker here in Saipan btw! First time in a timezone faster than Japan's.

*photo from google 

XW searched and found Grandvrio Resort Saipan which is just by the beach. The reviews about this hotel (and all other hotels in Saipan) were horrible. Like old, dirty etc. So just to be on the safe side, we booked Crystal Tower which is in the medium price range of the three towers available in Grandvrio (cheapest&oldest being Main Tower, there's also Taga Tower, the most pricey one).

I have no qualms. The room is spacious and the bathroom is squeaky clean as well. Maybe the people had too high expectations for resorts.

Our mini balcony.

The beach by our hotel.  

 Wind was very strong. We would find out that this is due to the typhoon the next day XD.

So-so dinner at nearby Korean restaurant we came across.

After resting we went to Sunshine Live Casino, the biggest casino in Saipan, which is conveniently located just across the road from our hotel. Not a coincidence. The reason why XW decided on Saipan (out of all the other islands like Hawaii, Guam, Bali) in the first place was because it's the only one with casinos. Makes sense to just book a hotel near by it no? The casino is quite good. The biggest merit is that they don't have dress code so you can just wear beach sandals and short pants. There's free drinks - no free food like the big casino in Seoul (lucky seven or something).

--

COST:

Delta Air flight round trip: 61000yen/person
Grandvrio Resort Hotel: 120 USD/room/per night
Taxi from airport to Garapan: 30 USD

DAY TWO

There's a shop/stall offering marine sports and rides to Managaha Island (must-go island ten mins by speed boat ride) at the beach by Grandvrio. We found out that we wouldn't be able to go Managaha Island for a few days because there was a typhoon. 

Lunch at Dolphin Restaurant which is inside our hotel. The paranoma ocean view is awesomeee and the price is around 10USD like most meals in Saipan. We also had an awesome entrance because we were the first customers of the day and the staff & cooks were in standing in a row waiting to greet. What slightly irked me was that they would only let us sit in this seat although there are better seats available just because they wanted to reserve for people in larger group. I would understand if it was a busy time but there was no one else but us in the restaurant. 

My udon lunch

In the afternoon, we did banana boat and jet ski with Ichiban Marine Sports which we found on the brochures. It's pretty easy to book stuff here. Just call and decide the time together and they'll come pick you up from your hotel. I regretted not bringing along the brochure though cos when I tried to confirm the price, the staff was like 'ya..but actually that is really super cheap price and......'. I'm like ?? Are they trying to say that price is just for show on the brochure but the actual price is different? Anyway, at least we got the price without any complications.

Banana boat was exhilarating. Especially at first when I was preparing myself to be flung into the sea unexpectedly like they do in Sabah. Turns out they don't do that here. Secretly relieved haha though I'm sure XW would prefer to have the banana boat be overturned from time to time. After that, we each rode a jet ski on our own but were only allowed to go in large circles. The instructor would use his whistle to warn us if we stray too far. I was surprised their concept here is more similar to Japan than to Malaysia - where everything is safety first (less fun) and not as cincai. Jet ski was pretty hard to control for me. I couldn't grasp how I fast I can go or how sharp the turn I can make before it overturns. The fastest I went was only 20mph while XW went till 50mph. 

Overall, Ichiban Marine Sports was not too bad. At least they didn't insist on charging us the snorkeling they recommended us to do which we tried for like 5 minutes but gave up. The water was murky from the strong winds and we couldn't see anything at all. But it was a good thing that we didn't have to waste money snorkeling there cos the corals there could hardly compare to Redang's. 

--COST:
Banana boat: 15 USD per person
Jet ski: 30 USD per person for 20 mins

DAY THREE

Day three looked like this as well so we stayed put and planned out what to do for the remaining days. Not all places offer diving at Grotto for people without diving license. We settle for Mei Dive because the instructor, Rie, seemed confident in bringing people without experience to Grotto and her reviews were great. Plus she's Japanese so it made me feel more safe and XW can understand better too. We went to her shop which was just located less than ten minutes from Grandvrio to book our dive for the next day. She gave us a bunch of recommendations for food around here which made our food experience here sooooooo much better.

Photos of street views around Garapan.

Mama store. Recommended by Rie for the cheapest souvenirs. Which I found is true. They have the lowest price for dried mango (famous souvenir here) among the shops I saw so far.

 Dinner! Death Burger at Wild Bill's Bar & Grill recommended by Rie.  Not spicy. Tastes awesome!

Wild Bill's Bar & Grill

I noticed a lot of non-tourist caucasians coming here to dine with their family.