bassplayer
Contributor
wanted to jot some notes down while it's fresh in mind -
I came to Palau July 11 to visit the islands and then join the Rock Island Aggressor July 16-23rd trip.
Even though this is the rainy season, we had a lot of good weather and a lot of good dives.
A few periods of torrential rains occurred but overall it was still a fine time to travel here.
Travel:
traveling to get here is a pain. I did it by cashing in united miles and splitting up the trip with several days in hawaii, but even still its far away and expensive. some of the other people i met were doing back to back weeks on the liveaboards here, which seems like a good way to make the punishing travel worthwhile. A lot of the tourism seems to be from Taiwan, Japan, and Guam which makes sense.
Koror:
I stayed in Koror for a few days before the liveaboard and a couple days after. It's a relatively high cost destination when compared with southeast asia in general, and i would say not necessarily the best value. If i understood right they recently added a 10% tourism tax.
Restaurants were at best OK.
Local dive shops quoted me prices in the range of $200-$220 for a two tank trip and a $50 every 10 days marine park fee is also required.
I hiked around a fair bit on foot including down to the southern tip of malakal island, completed the ngermalk trail, and all around Koror. stray dogs followed me for a good bit of that time but they were good natured.
I stayed at the DW (cheap, spartan, totally acceptable for my solo traveling needs, wouldn't bring a partner) and the Garden Palace (Japanese vibe, meaning fancy electronic toilet, japanese kitchenette appliances, shoes in the hallway, etc. nice comfortable place)
I visited the aquarium, which was small and humble. strictly in the "killing time" category for me.
The Aggressor:
We had 11 divers so I and several others ended up with our own cabins, pretty great deal especially considering this was a discounted trip.
The boat was very comfortable and i would say about the same as my other liveaboard experiences. plenty of good food, nice dive deck, friendly helpful crew.
diving was done from a large skiff where tanks and bcds stayed for the week, which docked to the yacht via a large hoist.
the yacht itself was only repositioned a handful of times; the skiff rides were usually 5-10 mins but one guest got a lot of laughs with the comment "that was the longest 10 minutes of my life" after one bumpy ride.
side note; they didn't offer diet coke, only regular. but i really shouldn't be drinking that garbage anyway. they had a few types of beer and some wine, both included. plenty of tea which is what i drank all morning every morning.
The Diving:
this was my first experience with pacific ocean diving so i found it quite great as so much was novel. the vast quanity of healthy coral of so many different interesting types alone was a revelation to me. Also had some great big animal encounters. tons of sharks, including a sleeping leopard and a fleeting moment with a hammerhead. some acrobatic manta displays and flybys. a few napoleon wrasse and a lot of bumpheads. some good sized tuna, a few extra large giant clams, etc etc. also constant turtles everywhere.
here are a couple of videos if anyone is interested, disclaimer this is just some guy with a gopro, not quality
mantas:
bunch of misc clips:
overall I'm glad I came and did this, it was very enjoyable and a different diving experience. having my own cabin for the current discounted aggressor price felt like incredible value for money given the quality of diving and the comfortable boat.
I came to Palau July 11 to visit the islands and then join the Rock Island Aggressor July 16-23rd trip.
Even though this is the rainy season, we had a lot of good weather and a lot of good dives.
A few periods of torrential rains occurred but overall it was still a fine time to travel here.
Travel:
traveling to get here is a pain. I did it by cashing in united miles and splitting up the trip with several days in hawaii, but even still its far away and expensive. some of the other people i met were doing back to back weeks on the liveaboards here, which seems like a good way to make the punishing travel worthwhile. A lot of the tourism seems to be from Taiwan, Japan, and Guam which makes sense.
Koror:
I stayed in Koror for a few days before the liveaboard and a couple days after. It's a relatively high cost destination when compared with southeast asia in general, and i would say not necessarily the best value. If i understood right they recently added a 10% tourism tax.
Restaurants were at best OK.
Local dive shops quoted me prices in the range of $200-$220 for a two tank trip and a $50 every 10 days marine park fee is also required.
I hiked around a fair bit on foot including down to the southern tip of malakal island, completed the ngermalk trail, and all around Koror. stray dogs followed me for a good bit of that time but they were good natured.
I stayed at the DW (cheap, spartan, totally acceptable for my solo traveling needs, wouldn't bring a partner) and the Garden Palace (Japanese vibe, meaning fancy electronic toilet, japanese kitchenette appliances, shoes in the hallway, etc. nice comfortable place)
I visited the aquarium, which was small and humble. strictly in the "killing time" category for me.
The Aggressor:
We had 11 divers so I and several others ended up with our own cabins, pretty great deal especially considering this was a discounted trip.
The boat was very comfortable and i would say about the same as my other liveaboard experiences. plenty of good food, nice dive deck, friendly helpful crew.
diving was done from a large skiff where tanks and bcds stayed for the week, which docked to the yacht via a large hoist.
the yacht itself was only repositioned a handful of times; the skiff rides were usually 5-10 mins but one guest got a lot of laughs with the comment "that was the longest 10 minutes of my life" after one bumpy ride.
side note; they didn't offer diet coke, only regular. but i really shouldn't be drinking that garbage anyway. they had a few types of beer and some wine, both included. plenty of tea which is what i drank all morning every morning.
The Diving:
this was my first experience with pacific ocean diving so i found it quite great as so much was novel. the vast quanity of healthy coral of so many different interesting types alone was a revelation to me. Also had some great big animal encounters. tons of sharks, including a sleeping leopard and a fleeting moment with a hammerhead. some acrobatic manta displays and flybys. a few napoleon wrasse and a lot of bumpheads. some good sized tuna, a few extra large giant clams, etc etc. also constant turtles everywhere.
here are a couple of videos if anyone is interested, disclaimer this is just some guy with a gopro, not quality
mantas:
bunch of misc clips:
overall I'm glad I came and did this, it was very enjoyable and a different diving experience. having my own cabin for the current discounted aggressor price felt like incredible value for money given the quality of diving and the comfortable boat.