Rota day trip

Rota (Songsong Village)

An island you go to for the water: a rock-ringed natural pool

⚠ July typhoon: check ahead

Hours

Set by the flight timetable (see getting there)

Tickets

Light aircraft $165 one way online or $175 assisted, per the Star Marianas fare table

Address

The island between Saipan and Guam; main village Songsong

Thirty minutes from Saipan by light aircraft, roughly halfway to Guam, sits an island that has barely been developed. The Swimming Hole, a natural pool walled off from the sea by rock, is so clear the sandy bottom looks close enough to touch. Behind Songsong village in the south rises the tiered bulk of Wedding Cake Mountain, and on the east side the surf pounds the As Matmos cliffs. Fly out at 8:30am and back at 4:30pm and it works as a day trip.