Planning a trip to Palau

[dakar]

Hello to all!
I am planning a diving vacation to Palau, with my wife.
We will be going late Nov-early Dec 2008, and need YOUR help to plan it!!!!
My wife has an advanced open water, and has about 25-30 dives, but she is very comfortable underwater (also free diver), I am a divemaster.
It will be a late honeymoon& a well-deserved vacation, after not going on holiday for far too long... we will have about 20 days& would like to enjoy as much as possible, not necessary dive as much as possible....
What is you input on these questions:

- liveaboard? Yes? no? why? if yes, which one? which one should we avoid?
- hotel based diving? what are the cons? since its a lot cheaper than the liveabord...
- any place near, we should visit (for a reasonable price..) in addition?

Well, thank you all for reading this... if you have a few more minutes to share your thoughts, it will be well appreciated...

 

[robint]

Liveaboard for 2 BIG reasons.......

1...if you factor in costs, liveaboard is actually cheaper. The reason is the # of dives you get in on a week, plus all food is included. So if you do a calculation of total dives for a week, a liveaboard is cheaper. Plus you don't have to wander around looking for a restaurant, then sit and wait to be served... on a liveaboard the food is ready and all you have to do is sit down and eat it, then get ready for another dive.

2....ease of diving. Liveaboards are anchored down in German Channel area/Peleliu area which means they are 5-10 minute boat ride to dive sites. Land-based hotels and dive ops are on Koror and it is 2 hour boat ride out, then they do a dive, surface interval sitting on a beach for and hour with snack lunch, then another dive and the long 2 hour boat ride back. So in the time that we did 4 daytime dives from our liveaboard, the land-based people only did 2 dives! Then those people had to unload their gear when they got back to dock, rinse it down, take it to lockers or rooms and repeat the next day. On the liveaboard we set up our gear on the skiff the first day and it never moved. The crew filled the tanks from a whip and rinsed down our gear every night. Liveaboards are EASY EASY EASY.

In our week, I did 24 dives, my hubby did 27, plus we had the Jellyfish Lake snorkel. If you are flying half-way around the planet, get as much diving in as you can. The diving in Palau is amazing and if you only do 10-12 dives you are not going to get to see as much as you should. We repeated a few dive sites and it was different each time as currrents, time of day, and tides affect the sealife.

The liveaboards have excellent DMs also who know where everything is and they are very safe. I have heard mixed reviews on the DMs for the land-based ops there.

robin

 

[Boxcar Overkill]

I don't know much about liveaboards, but I know a thing or two about Palau. If it were me, 20 days seems like a really long time to be out on a boat.

First, the dive sites are only about 45 minutes out from Koror, Palau, (rather than 2 hours.) I would rather do that, I think.

Three good Dive shops to use in Palau - Sam's Tours (680) 488-7267, (680)Neco Marine 488-1755, Kieth Santillano (680)488-3548. Sam's and Neco's both have nice little bars to get a drink and a bite to eat after the dives. Kieth is widely known as (probably) the best guide in the Republic. He has been here a long time and is very safe with reasonable price. In all of the above places I would ask if they will give you a discount for the extended length of your stay. All of them will pick you up from your hotel, or depending on where you stay, there may be a dock on your hotel they will get you from.

In deciding on where you would like to stay, it's a question of budget. At the top end is the Palau Pacific Resort. Very nice, but at a cost. They have a dive shop there called splash, which isn't real expansive, but you might get put on a boat with a Japanese speaking guide. If you stay there, you should still dive with the people listed above. (BTW the people who own splash also own Neco's.)

For a less expensive, but still nice place to stay, I would recommend the Waterfront Villa. You can get either a hotel type room or a one bedroom condo, pool, etc.

Dining out at Elilias on a cliff overlooking the water, or Kramers, the Taj (for indian food), the Rip Tide, the Drop Off, (by Neco). For upscale go Elilias, for fun go to Kramers. For happy hour, go to the Drop-Off.

There's not a lot to do here except water related activities. Kayak around the rock islands, camp out at "Fantasy Island", swim in Jellyfish lake, etc. The two close beaches are at the Palau Pacific Resort, (have to stay there or be a member) or at The Rip Tide. There are other beachs on Babauldop (sp) including places where one can surf - although I don't know of any place that rents surfboards. There are some waterfalls that are kind of neat too.

Another alternative would be to spend a few days on Peleliu Island. There's not much there but peace on tranquility - but you are only about 10-15 minutes away from the good dive sites there. All the benefits of being on an aggressor without the drawback.

Water is warm here. I don't use a wetsuit, but my wife likes a small one.

There are a lot of great places to dive here. The German channel, the big drop off, etc. There are also about as many wrecks here as there are in Truuk, although that's not what everyone raves about. But to be honest, my friends here will usually dive a three tank dive here every saturday, and every single one of them will be at the Blue Corner. These are people who have been here for 4 years. During the work week they may do a night dive at a closer wreck or something, but after years of experience they've decided that Blue Corner X 3 is the perfect dive day. I've only lived here a few months, so I still look around a bit - just to be sure.

I would be happy to answer any other questions you may have about Palau.

 

[dakar]

thats a lot of info, thank you both very much!
its good i got both sides of the story there, although it make things harder...
Q to Robint: is it "normal" for people on a liveaboard to stay on board& miss a dive?
im not sure my wife would like to dive 5 times a day...

Q to Boxcar: how far is Peleliu from Palau? how do you get there? what about Yap?
last thing, how is Fish n Fins? i have heard good things about them, whats your take on it?
again thanks! the more the merier.

 

[robint]

thats a lot of info, thank you both very much!
its good i got both sides of the story there, although it make things harder...
Q to Robint: is it "normal" for people on a liveaboard to stay on board& miss a dive?
im not sure my wife would like to dive 5 times a day...

Q to Boxcar: how far is Peleliu from Palau? how do you get there? what about Yap?
last thing, how is Fish n Fins? i have heard good things about them, whats your take on it?
again thanks! the more the merier.

No one is required to do all the dives. I skipped a couple of night dives and one afternoon dive. Another lady on the boat only did 2-3 dives per day as she has had DCS in the past and wanted to be conservative. Her husband did every dive as did mine.

look at the dive site map here:
Aggressor: Palau, Big Drop-Off, Blue Corner, Blue Holes, Chandelier Caves, Denges Passage

Peleliu is waay south in the island chain of Palau. We did dives there on one day and that is where we saw the huge school of sharks - but diving isn't done there all the time as the currents can be insane and surface conditions rough. We got very lucky the day we did it as conditions were perfect.

my topside video on Eco Explorer liveaboard:



robin

 

[Boxcar Overkill]

Peleliu is an Island (and state) within the Republic of Palau. From Koror (the main Island) it's a 30 minute drive by a twin engine boat, a 45 minute drive by a single engine boat, or a 2 hour and 15 minute ride if you take the government fairy, which only cost $5 per person. The fairy runs about every day, although only in one direction. So it goes from Koror to Peleliu one day, and back the next.

Peleliu is about a 15 minute boat ride to the Blue Corner. It's close to most of the good dive spots. But there's not a lot going on in Peleliu excepts snorkeling and diving.

Yap is a plane ride and a few hundred dollars away, but if you have the time it might be interesting.

Fish n' Fin's is okay. I don't personally use them, but I've never heard anything bad about them. I don't know why anyone would want to use them over Sam's Tours or Kieth though, who are sort of cream of the crop. You can't go wrong with either of those two. If you want a bigger operation that has it's own great atmosphere, bar and grill, etc. Sam's is your bet. If you want a more personalized experience, with a really world class guide, get Keith. But if Fish n' fins is considerable cheaper, there's nothing wrong with them.

 

[Boxcar Overkill]

Honestly, 20 days is a lot of time in Palau. The plane to Palau will usually stop over in Yap anyway. It might be a good idea to spend a few days there, and I don't think it would add much to your budget.

 

[dakar]

Thanks again, very helpful!
the way things look now, we will do a week on a liveaboard,(whats the nicest one? looking for a nice, easy going, good food boat)
then a few days on the island, maybe a day or two on Peleliu, then Thailand for a few days to relax from the rough time in Palau...

with that plan in mind, is Yap still a must? beside mantas, (which i asume we will see in Palau) is it worth the trip? is it that different from Palau?

 

[Boxcar Overkill]

Yap has nothing on Palau, really. No need to go there, except it's on the way. (Some say there are interesting cultural things you might see, the stone money, etc.)

But be advised, there's no easy way to get from Palau to Thailand. You'll have to fly back to Guam, which is the most expensive part of your trip here. There are occasional charter flights to Japan, Taiwan, and PI from Palau. But the expensive Continental flight to Guam is the only regularly scheduled flight ATM (CEBU AIR is talking about starting a route to the PI).

I've never used the boats before, so I don't which to recommend.

 

[dakar]

hey, Man you are fast!
I'm planning the following route:
Doha or Dubai (I'll be there for work and its closer..) > Bangkok>Manila> Koror dive dive dive beach beach beach Koror>Manila>Bangkok>Doha.
possible?