Palau Aggressor

[tropicalfan]

My husband and I are doing our first liveaboard this Sept from the Palau Aggressor. Anyone have tips, things to absolutely do/bring/not do?
I also admit to having some trepidation about the reef-hooking thing. Hopefully only because I've never done it. Any advice is welcome.

[Shasta_man]

Don't worry about handling reef hooking. Piece of cake.

Be certain to attach rope around upper mid section for balance. Wind rope up and stuff in BC. You won't feel the current until you get very close to reef. Start a little below the reef and come up at reef edge so you stay low enough to grab onto reef. You want to hook in close to reef edge so you can have a wider field of view and see over edge to everything below. You get your hook out as you approach reef. As you pass over reef edge start looking for hand hold, leaving the living critters alone. Stay calm. Grab on to a handhold and current will turn you into current. Put hook into handhold and hold up to keep tension on line. Now add air to your BC so you float up. Let yourself float up until you put tension onto line. Only thing to watch for is that current pushes you back, then during current ebb you float slightly forward. You want to keep tension on line so it doesn't come loose during ebb. Stay high on line so you don't kick wondercritters on reef. Look down. Whole little world living in the crevices below you. Now, get comfortable and relax. Just hold line and breathe easy. Wow, look at the huge school of fish hanging over the reef. Wow, shark here, shark there, all patroling back and forth with fish on their minds. Maginificent. Once you learn how to do this, it will be the easiest diving you have ever done. Nice slow breathing so air lasts forever.

Remember this before you detach: let air out of BC or you will head for the surface when you detach from reef. Keep your breathing normal while you detach so you don't drop onto reef and kick critters. Let go. Current takes you away. Enjoy view, flying over bottom. Safety stop and surface with ear to ear grin.

Only bad thing to this trip is you're starting at the top of liveaboard living so everything else will be difficult to compare. I know cause I did the same thing. :-)

[tropicalfan]

Thanks! That helps! anything to make sure to bring...or leave behind?

[Shasta_man]

-leave behind anything more than a light jacket. It will be plenty warm.
- bring enough suits for three days and wear each one twice.
- for the frequent dives, I wear a skin which makes putting on and taking off easy.
- I always wear a fullsuit for protection against little jellies, etc. It was 3MM in this case.
- I use a little music player which records to record full length dive descriptions effortlessly.
- I highly recommend any given excursion to Peleliu and particularly their little museum. Note the shell hits on the reinforced concrete bunker housing the museum. Spend moment of silence on the beach. A lot of men died on that beach. The rest of the trip is very interesting for me as a history buff. On Peleliu, you'll find out how much cooler it is to stay on the boat.
- ask whether they have a video guy and check when he is diving so you are in some of the shots unlike a recent trip for us ($50 for the video we weren't in because he always went out with the first group)

[Shasta_man]

oh yeah, get your reg serviced and dive it before going to make sure it works.

[tropicalfan]

Just had the regs, Bc's , computers serviced....had planned to bring a 3mm because I am a cold weanie I am also looking forward to any of the WWII excursions-my father was a Marine in the Pacific theater then....not on Peleliu but Guadal canal.
Thanks again for any and all recommendations!!

[Rickg]

My husband and I are doing our first liveaboard this Sept from the Palau Aggressor. Anyone have tips, things to absolutely do/bring/not do?
I also admit to having some trepidation about the reef-hooking thing. Hopefully only because I've never done it. Any advice is welcome.

We always take along a package of clothes pins. Don't know about Aggressor but I've been on other LOBs where there weren't enough clothes pins to go around. Especially when there are other women like my wife who have to have a different bathing suit for every dive of the day - even though you can't see the suit under the wetsuit.

[robint]

yeah, take several swimsuits... I changed at lunch and then at dinner each day (so 3 suits per day used). Bring a light jacket/rain jacket as Sept is the rainy season. And do get all gear serviced before you go.
Don't skip any dives at German Channel! I would do that dive again every day for the rest of my life if I could (mantas, sharks, huge schools of fish, just amazing!)
Peleliu dives were also amazing but the current there is ripping so be sure to follow DM's orders on what to do when.

Take lots of pictures topside and underwater to share here!!!!!

[Dan Chua]

Everything said so far is accurate. We were on the boat in April. A small light is nice. Don't forget extra computer batteries, or a spare. I would suggest, if not nitrox certified already, to get it. This will help your bottom times and make it safer. Hooking in with the reef hooks is a lot easier than it sounds. Watch out for the live corals and try not to bash them with fins etc. when hooking in. Maybe sneek a couple of hard boiled eggs from the chef to feed Abba? There are plenty of hangers to hang swimsuits on in the dive deck area. Bring lots of storage for your digital pics/video.

As you are drifting along the walls, don't forget to keeping looking out into the blue water, as you never know when that great hammerhead, mola mola or tiger shark is going to swim by!

Have a great trip! It's some of the best diving in the world and the crew/boat is fantastic.

Dan

[tropicalfan]

I love all of these suggestions! Will bring extra batteries, always bring multiple suits (hate getting into a wet one). Maybe will grab extra data card for camera. Already have nitrox cert...Thanks everyone!