Palau - March, 2018
Palau is a chain of islands in the western Pacific (about 900 miles east of the Philippines) and, with some of the best diving on the planet, it is often considered a Bucket List dive destination. My dive group decided to test this reputation by diving with the Aggressor II liveaboard out of Koror, Palau. A few of us arrived a couple of days early to acclimate to the time change. We stayed at the Palau Royal Resort (very nice, BTW) on Malakal Island. The resort’s location was perfect – right at the marina. We could see the Aggressor II and Rock Islands Aggressor moored just offshore. The day before we were to board the yacht, we did a sea kayak tour along the coast of Babeldaob island (the “Big Island”). We saw the wreck of a seaplane, cliff paintings, bats, a cave the Japanese used to hide seaplanes, and more bats! The next day we met our dive buddies aboard the Aggressor II, a yacht with a double hull, accommodating 18 divers and 8 crew members. The accommodations were spacious and clean; the food was not exceptional, but good and plentiful. The yacht had everything we needed, including a gift shop. All dives were made from one skiff, which was lowered into the water by an impressive hydraulic cradle. The crew was capable and efficient; they knew their job and did it well.
Because of the looming storm, our first dive day was at the protected Rock Islands. Visibility wasn’t great, but we did see some very colorful giant clams (see my picture below). The next dive day took us back to Malakal where we dove the cool and spooky Chandelier Caves – a system of five separate connecting caves, with stalactite formations. We had to turn off our dive lights to find the way out (looking for light from the entrance). We also found the elusive Mandarin Fish just outside the cave entrance. It was supposed to be mating season for the Mandarins, but I didn't see any funny business. ;) We were very close to Jellyfish Lake but the lake is currently closed due to the decline of jellyfish numbers, so we were not able to snorkel with them.
Palau is a mecca of World War II history, but we were only able to dive 2 wrecks – the Chuyo Maru and Helmet Wreck. The Chuyo Maru is well preserved and a very interesting dive, even with bad viz. The Helmet Wreck is named such because of the stacks of helmets still on board. You can also find live ammunition, gas masks, lanterns and old sake bottles on the wreck (see Scuba Thor below with the sake bottles). This was a good dive, with lots to see. We were disappointed that we were not able to do the land tour at Peleliu. We were told the crossing would be too rough because of the storm. Peleliu is the site of a savage WWII battle between the US and Japan and there are still many artifacts on the island. Diving at Peleliu would have been amazing, but seeing the history on land would have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
We made it to famous German Channel and dove several sites along the reef, including Ngemilis Wall, German Wall and Blue Corner. All good dives, but I am not sure we needed to do everything a 2nd time the next day. The Captain said it was to maximize our time on the reef…but I would have preferred to motor on to another dive site to maximize our Palau experience. We didn't dive the Blue Holes, which I had hoped to do. We never saw a manta at German Channel (manta cleaning station), but that’s Mother Nature. I suspect that may have been part of the Captain’s reasoning for staying at German Channel – trying to get us a view of some mantas. Oh well. If you want to see mantas, go to the Socorro Islands…guaranteed mantas (and dive with the Rocio Del Mar). One sad note - we saw a shark on our last day which was an obvious victim of shark-finning - his dorsal fin had been cut off. A sad reminder that the future of some ocean species are truly in peril.
The boat ride out to Blue Corner was very rough…for a skiff. At one point, we hit a wave and I was tossed out of my seat/tank holder. We actually considered aborting the dive because of the large swells and the logistics of getting in/out of the skiff. In the end, we all decided to DO IT and we were very glad we did because there were a lot of sharks and a friendly Napoleon Wrasse who liked to have his chin scratched and his picture taken. The current/swell had changed by the time we ended our dive, so while getting back on the boat was still a little tricky, the waves were not as intimidating. The crew later made fun of us later for almost aborting, but I believe in "safety first" on all dives.
In the end, despite starting our week with bad visibility, but it got better every day and by the last day, we were in awe of Palau. The reefs are healthy with an abundance of life - healthy sponges, soft and hard corals (including a huge bed of lettuce coral), large schools of fish, lots of sharks and more! We all agreed that we’d all like to go back to Palau someday…and we hope for better weather next time!
Palau is a chain of islands in the western Pacific (about 900 miles east of the Philippines) and, with some of the best diving on the planet, it is often considered a Bucket List dive destination. My dive group decided to test this reputation by diving with the Aggressor II liveaboard out of Koror, Palau. A few of us arrived a couple of days early to acclimate to the time change. We stayed at the Palau Royal Resort (very nice, BTW) on Malakal Island. The resort’s location was perfect – right at the marina. We could see the Aggressor II and Rock Islands Aggressor moored just offshore. The day before we were to board the yacht, we did a sea kayak tour along the coast of Babeldaob island (the “Big Island”). We saw the wreck of a seaplane, cliff paintings, bats, a cave the Japanese used to hide seaplanes, and more bats! The next day we met our dive buddies aboard the Aggressor II, a yacht with a double hull, accommodating 18 divers and 8 crew members. The accommodations were spacious and clean; the food was not exceptional, but good and plentiful. The yacht had everything we needed, including a gift shop. All dives were made from one skiff, which was lowered into the water by an impressive hydraulic cradle. The crew was capable and efficient; they knew their job and did it well.
Because of the looming storm, our first dive day was at the protected Rock Islands. Visibility wasn’t great, but we did see some very colorful giant clams (see my picture below). The next dive day took us back to Malakal where we dove the cool and spooky Chandelier Caves – a system of five separate connecting caves, with stalactite formations. We had to turn off our dive lights to find the way out (looking for light from the entrance). We also found the elusive Mandarin Fish just outside the cave entrance. It was supposed to be mating season for the Mandarins, but I didn't see any funny business. ;) We were very close to Jellyfish Lake but the lake is currently closed due to the decline of jellyfish numbers, so we were not able to snorkel with them.
Palau is a mecca of World War II history, but we were only able to dive 2 wrecks – the Chuyo Maru and Helmet Wreck. The Chuyo Maru is well preserved and a very interesting dive, even with bad viz. The Helmet Wreck is named such because of the stacks of helmets still on board. You can also find live ammunition, gas masks, lanterns and old sake bottles on the wreck (see Scuba Thor below with the sake bottles). This was a good dive, with lots to see. We were disappointed that we were not able to do the land tour at Peleliu. We were told the crossing would be too rough because of the storm. Peleliu is the site of a savage WWII battle between the US and Japan and there are still many artifacts on the island. Diving at Peleliu would have been amazing, but seeing the history on land would have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
We made it to famous German Channel and dove several sites along the reef, including Ngemilis Wall, German Wall and Blue Corner. All good dives, but I am not sure we needed to do everything a 2nd time the next day. The Captain said it was to maximize our time on the reef…but I would have preferred to motor on to another dive site to maximize our Palau experience. We didn't dive the Blue Holes, which I had hoped to do. We never saw a manta at German Channel (manta cleaning station), but that’s Mother Nature. I suspect that may have been part of the Captain’s reasoning for staying at German Channel – trying to get us a view of some mantas. Oh well. If you want to see mantas, go to the Socorro Islands…guaranteed mantas (and dive with the Rocio Del Mar). One sad note - we saw a shark on our last day which was an obvious victim of shark-finning - his dorsal fin had been cut off. A sad reminder that the future of some ocean species are truly in peril.
The boat ride out to Blue Corner was very rough…for a skiff. At one point, we hit a wave and I was tossed out of my seat/tank holder. We actually considered aborting the dive because of the large swells and the logistics of getting in/out of the skiff. In the end, we all decided to DO IT and we were very glad we did because there were a lot of sharks and a friendly Napoleon Wrasse who liked to have his chin scratched and his picture taken. The current/swell had changed by the time we ended our dive, so while getting back on the boat was still a little tricky, the waves were not as intimidating. The crew later made fun of us later for almost aborting, but I believe in "safety first" on all dives.
In the end, despite starting our week with bad visibility, but it got better every day and by the last day, we were in awe of Palau. The reefs are healthy with an abundance of life - healthy sponges, soft and hard corals (including a huge bed of lettuce coral), large schools of fish, lots of sharks and more! We all agreed that we’d all like to go back to Palau someday…and we hope for better weather next time!