As I go past 250 "countries", I'm left with some that are too dangerous for the moment (Yemen, main Somalia) -- for which I guess I just have to wait -- and others that are a pain to get to, or time-consuming beyond their visit value. However, these latter places might be reasonable if a number of people went together.
Example: Tokelau. You start in Samoa; you might or might not get on a really uncomfortable boat for a long ride. If islanders show up and take all the places, you're stuck in Samoa despite your "reservation". If you do get there, you can really only visit one of the island groups for a day or two until the boat gets back, unless you want to be stuck there for weeks. Then there's the return risk of no boat space. Then a really unpleasant boat return (so I hear).
If I had a number of people, I would investigate hiring a seaplane out of Apia. I would leave early one morning -- it's not far, the flight would only be a couple of hours at most -- spend the full day on one island group, spend the night. The next morning, I would head to a second island group, spend the day, then say after dinner would take the plane back to Apia. A more fulfilling visit in a fraction of the time.
Next: Niue. There is a once-a-week flight on Air New Zealand to/from Auckland for this island of 1000 people. It's got nice caves and a few other things, but from what I hear, not really worth a full week. I'd hire a regular small plane one-way from Apia to arrive there a couple of days before the ANZ flight, enjoy the place, and leave on ANZ. I've investigated the cost of this, and it's on the high side, but if divided by a number of people, could be reasonable.
There are few other places in this category. Have any of you guys ever done this? Interested?
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Yes, got my 70 (Iwo Jima) and 75 (Pearl Harbor, which I had planned to attend until a conflict intervened) confused, I was booked on that Wake one as well, though hadn't flown out and had booked a fully flexible UA award so was not stung as bad as many others.
Well, the Iwo Jima 75th will be in 2020 :) , but the Ogasawaras are another place I considered flying to if I could get folks together (there's a light plane airfield on Chichijima). Of course, the annual Military Historical Tours trip to Iwo Jima eliminates much of the hassle. Unfortunately, last year I found myself on Guam with a group of TCC Germans and Lee Abbamonte, sitting around and waiting for an MHT flight to Wake that never happened.
Anyway, back to the Tokelau discussion. Maybe I should begin inquiries about the availability / price of chartering a seaplane in Apia for 2 days, then see how many folks we can interest in this.
It is as early as Oct and as late as end Dec. Australia national parks puts up 2-3 sets of projected dates each year. and a few weeks out, depending on the rains, they know if that set will happen or not. A few years in a row I have tried to time it right. This year would have been perfect except my wife was arriving in Brisbane (from NY) on a Sat morning and the only flight option would have gotten me to Brisbane that Sat night. I do enough travel to curry her wrath to not leave her for a day waiting in Brisbane.
David, many who should be members are not, some don't see the value since chapters are inconsistent in their activity, some are anti-establishment, some are whatever, this is an electic hobby. One guy I met on the Iwo Jima 75th got to the South Pole yesterday and I believe has not successfully gotten to Tokelau. A number of people like that.
Excellent... although not sure if many non-TCC members have even heard of Tokelau! As to Christmas Island, during migration they close many of the roads, but even during non-migration the red crabs are absolutely everywhere. You have to swerve around them on the roads and step around them in the woods. (Too bad they're not edible!)
Count me in as interested on Tokelau. It is not worth it to me to deal with the boat. Please email me at stefan@rapidtravelchai.com and we can get a discussion started with non-TCC members who may also be interested.
Niue I will go one on the twice weekly, probably ahead of Christmas and combine with Chathams and if I succeed on the timing, Christmas Island for the red crab migration and Cocos Island.
Yes, you can get all documents down via email for Tokelau, but the tricky thing is you have to get booking confirmation of boat (which done be the same staff) before processing permit. Get a chatter is a good idea for us but I don't know how about these islanders, everything is very slow there. Why don't try and count me.
Great about Niue, I didn't realize there were 2 flights per week in high season, problem solved. But my Tokelau suggestion stands. Even more so, since as you point out, mine is the only way to visit a second atoll, so on the second day I'd visit one that doesn't get many visitors. Can all the documentation be gotten by email through that liaison office in Apia before you get to Samoa?
2. Niue, is much easy. There are 2 flights from Auckland every week during high season, so just check Air Newzealander website, you may even get great discount. If you dive, it really worth to stay a week, if not 3 days is minimum.