Diving Palau -- FishnFins or Sams?

[mtnaire]

Hi, diving Palau in a few weeks and am thinking about locking in a dive package, but before making the plunge with one particular center, wanted others opinions about your recent experience with either Fish'n Fins or Sams as I'm discovering they both seem to come with good reviews in general. Does one stand out as the better between the two?

My key interest is the obvious, a quality dive experience. The boat doesn't have to be new, nor the drinking water chilled, but if they...

1) know how to pick the best sites and are usually first on them
2) allow for those of us with better air consumption to remain down while the O2 deprived surface early
3) and keep the numbers of divers to a minimum

...then I'll be a happy two legged fish.

 

[Scuba Dive Asia]

Hi,

Both are good!
Great dive guides, small groups, accommodate as much as possible to all types of divers. You will have a fantastic time with either one.
When are you going and for how long?

 

[tangfish]

I'll be diving with Sam's Tours in September and I'm really looking forward to it. I've met Sam and he's a nice guy, and from what I've heard runs a tight ship. Sounds like Scuba Dive Asia has had experience with both so I'd take their word for it. Report back on how it went once you return home, please!

 

[Pullmyfinger]

+1 for Sam's tours. I taken two vacations with them and have been very happy.

A friend of mine has been diving with Fish and Fins, and has said good things about them also.

It's Palau! They're all good.

-Mitch

 

[mtnaire]

Thanks for the replies guys. Both places have been great with responding via email, but I want to be clear on one important item via your experience with either. Do they allow divers with better air conservation to continue a dive, or must everyone surface together with the weakest link? I've had experiences with both elsewhere and know this practice changes by location. Any input you have on this would be additionally helpful in making my decision. Thanks.

Also, I will post an after trip report. To answer the above question, we are going for one week starting May, 13th.

 

[Deep Water Dan]

Thanks for the replies guys. Both places have been great with responding via email, but I want to be clear on one important item via your experience with either. Do they allow divers with better air conservation to continue a dive, or must everyone surface together with the weakest link? I've had experiences with both elsewhere and know this practice changes by location. Any input you have on this would be additionally helpful in making my decision. Thanks.

Also, I will post an after trip report. To answer the above question, we are going for one week starting May, 13th.

Okay, this doesn't directly answer your question but here's my input: I don't believe there's really a whole lot of air-hogging novice divers doing Palau. I never felt short-changed on a dive because I thought I had to come up early. I did 11 dives in Palau, 6 of them were close to or over an hour. And the guide is going up when the first bunch runs low on air, and at many of the dive sites you won't want to stay down without a guide because the current could carry you a long way from the boat. Besides, you'll have seen everything there is to see by the time the first of your group runs low on air.

And, you don't want to be "that guy". The one that everybody always has to wait for before they can do their next dive because they're waiting for your surface interval to be up, or they can't go to the island for lunch or back to the dock because you're not back on the boat yet.

Don't worry about it. You're going to have a great time and you'll get plenty of diving in. A three-tank day, 45 minute runs to and from the dive sites, and stopping on an island for lunch takes plenty of time without stretching out the dives. Some days you won't get back much before 4 or 5 o'clock.

Have fun!

 

[triggerman365]

I went with FishNFins last September and could not be any happier them.

 

[Scared Silly]

Many of the dives are drift dives, as such whether the group can stay together or surface independently will greatly depend on the dive and currents. My experience with Sam's was that we all surfaced at the same time because for the dives we were doing the dive was done. Which in those cases the dives lasted approximately 60 minutes with depths to 100 feet.

 

[Krazytomdiver]

As a dive guide, I lived/worked in Koror,Palau for almost a year. Any of the top three dive operations are good. Sam's,Fish n Fins,& Neco. There are a few others with decent service. Air comsumption is not a issue normally but bottom time (NDL) is. Using Nitrox is highy recommended.
I used two dive computers on every dive,one air and one Nitrox. Also "rock hooking" is a the new diving procedure that takes some practice in mask ripping currents. Enjoy Palau...I dove 93 days in a row,3 to 4 dives a day and can tell you Ulong channel IS the best dive and Peleliu Express is the most dangerous.

"living life without a hard bottom"
KT

 

[mtnaire]

Again, appreciate all the input, it's been very helpful and I am now less concerned with any misgivings I had. One hell of a distance to travel, so the less issues, the better. I went ahead and booked with Fish n Fins as they were the first to contact me back, but can't say anything bad about Sams though as they too were great with responding by email.

Also, good to know Krazytom, I'll have to add the Ulong Channel to my wish list and likely avoid the Express.