According to this summary of a GAO report (links to the full PDF on gao.gov), “Development of the GPS-enhancing Wide Area Augmentation System took six years longer and cost $1.5 billion more than it should have, the GAO said, largely due to ineffective coordination among various offices of the FAA that were working on the program”.
I’m considering a trip to the South Pacific in late December/January. Never having been there I would appreciate advice from those who have (you can use the comment section below). Here are some things that I would like to be able to do there: snorkeling over coral reefs that grow up very close to the surface in calm water; beginner surfing lessons; bicycle riding on quiet roads and/or mountain biking on not-very-technical trails (not super hilly); meeting interesting well-educated locals and/or tourists; renting and flying a small plane or helicopter with an instructor; reading a book on a balcony or deck overlooking the water.
As far as practicalities go, I’d like to stay 3-5 days in any one place and not spend too much time transferring from island to island. It would be good to find some places with enough infrastructure to support comfortable mid-range hotels. I don’t want to slum it with the backpackers but I don’t want to spend $1000/day to sit on a beach either. From my cursory reading of the guidebook it seems that a lot of these islands are so underdeveloped that creating a Western-style hotel environment is very expensive.
Where to start, then, amidst the millions of square miles of the South Pacific?
