Obyan Beach is not a hangout you can classify as “someplace to drop by for a few minutes”. It is out of the way, accessible by driving through a rough, pot-hole filled road that winds through thick foliage but the time you spend in going there is worth it.
Obyan Beach is one of the top diving sites on Saipan, but non-divers and non-swimmers like me can still enjoy idling on the sand.
I went to explore this beach one afternoon last week with two buddies, and save for a family with a couple of kids, the place was deserted. During weekends, I’ve heard the beach is populated and the best spots are taken as early as 7 in the morning! But like other nocturnal persons, there’s no possibility of me vying for the best spot at that time, though.
This is a place where you can pitch a tent for the day and swim, dive, snorkel, barbeque, eat, comb the beach for shells, dip your feet in the warm and clear waters, sit on the sand or just hang around.
I guess privacy is something you enjoy when you go there in the afternoon. You have the place to yourself as everybody leaves for home.
Obyan Beach has the basic necessities—a paved parking lot, picnic tables, barbeque facilities, and bathrooms.
I was told that a few meters away from the beach are some pieces of history— Japanese WW11 era pillboxes and ruins of a stone latte house dating back to 1500 BC but that is something I still have to find out.
We stayed just long enough to watch the sunset and hurried before it got too dark for us to avoid the potholes on the road.
To get there, just follow the road at the back of the airport until you reach a crossing with a small sign that say “Obyan Beach.”
