Palau - Black Pearl Vs. Ocean Hunter

[ScubaGil]

Hi,
I'm planning a Palau trip for end of October, and I'm debating between these two boats. I was on the Ocean Hunter about 10 years ago and it was great, but the new and shiny is beckoning me .

From what I can see the OH has been there for ages and knows everything there is to know about diving in Palau and they have some land excursions which we might partake of.

The BP is a bit cheaper and it will be my 5th full cost trip with Explorer Ventures so it will be worth a free trip later on next year. However putting costs aside I'm just wondering if the BP team has the depth of knowledge about diving in Palau that the OH team has.

Any advice will be more than welcome.

Thanks,
G

 

[Carlos Diver]

Was on the Black Pearl in Feb. Meant to do a review but got lazy.
It was a nice boat. Crew is good and friendly; food is good and served hot. Rooms are nice. Large bathrooms with huge open showers (no wet heads). Mattresses are hard, but I slept fine on them. AC in the rooms is COLD, which I love. Boat is huge, biggest liveaboard I have been on. Plenty of places to hang out and chat or just relax and read a book.

We hit all the good spots during the week. Their guides were good and attentive. I had no issue with the boat or crew. We had a couple divers on the boat that were... not good divers. But the guides stuck to them like glue and really did a good job overall.
My only complaint, but it's because of the area or just the lack of skill of some divers, you dive the group, not your tank or computer. I came up multiple times with over 1000psi and I am an admitted air hog. But I wouldn't say any of the dives were overly short or anything I would have openly complained about.

Side note: Their alcohol prices are a bit much. I am not a hard alcohol guy, but my roommate was. If you want to enjoy a whisky or bourbon after dinner, you should just grab a bottle on the Island and bring it onboard.

 

[Jennilee913]

Was on the Black Pearl in Feb. Meant to do a review but got lazy.
It was a nice boat. Crew is good and friendly; food is good and served hot. Rooms are nice. Large bathrooms with huge open showers (no wet heads). Mattresses are hard, but I slept fine on them. AC in the rooms is COLD, which I love. Boat is huge, biggest liveaboard I have been on. Plenty of places to hang out and chat or just relax and read a book.

We hit all the good spots during the week. Their guides were good and attentive. I had no issue with the boat or crew. We had a couple divers on the boat that were... not good divers. But the guides stuck to them like glue and really did a good job overall.
My only complaint, but it's because of the area or just the lack of skill of some divers, you dive the group, not your tank or computer. I came up multiple times with over 1000psi and I am an admitted air hog. But I wouldn't say any of the dives were overly short or anything I would have openly complained about.

Side note: Their alcohol prices are a bit much. I am not a hard alcohol guy, but my roommate was. If you want to enjoy a whisky or bourbon after dinner, you should just grab a bottle on the Island and bring it onboard.

I haven't seen many posts of folks who have actually been on the BP so happy to come across your post. We arrive in Palau a few days before the LOB leaves and trying to figure out what to do with our time, and whether it's worth the extra money to do a Rock Islands tour. Did the BP have many stops or breaks among the Rock Islands or other areas during the week?

 

[Carlos Diver]

Outside of lunch and some time on Peleliu there weren't very many land excursions. Most of the small islands around the dive sites are either too small or have crocs on them (so I was told anyway) so we didn't venture on to them.
The boat did a long trek into the Rock Islands and we took the group picture in front of the main rock formation. Other than that, if you have a few days and want to explore, there wasn't much else (or at least from what I found) to do on Palau that wasn't water based until your trip.

If you catch the channel at just the right time, like we did, you will have an amazing experience. We were surrounded, and I mean completely surrounded by Mantas. Good luck .

Also, I would read up on Operation Stalemate before you go. When you get there and see what little ground so many people fought over, you will really appreciate the history of the island.