Late December Diving Destination: Palau, Solomon, Philippines?

[DivingChipmunk]

We are looking for a diving vacation destination for 2024 December, around Christmas/New Year weeks.

In the last few years, we have taken diving vacations around late December: South Komodo + Bali in 2019, Maldives in 2021, Raja Ampat in 2022 and will dive at Fiji this December. We have enjoyed all these trips and would love to go back, but we are also looking for somewhere new for December 2024.

We are intermediate divers with AOW. We love colorful corals and biodiversity. We prefer liveaboard, but will also consider land based. For our December trip, we prefer warm water somewhere "far away" from United States east coast (while we usually dive at Caribbean/Mexico in November).

Below are the candidates for 2024 Dec:

1) Palau: Black Pearl or Ocean Hunter 3
2) Solomon: Solomon's Master
3) Philippines: Haven't done enough research, but we are not sure if it's worth the long flights or we might as well just go back to Indonesia

Any other destinations we should consider?

If you have experience with the above diving destinations, especially around late December, we would like to hear your advice.

Thanks!

 

[Shasta_man]

Cannot comment on the time of year but have been to places 1 and 2. Both good. Palau is beautiful above water, is maybe easier diving as it tends to be mainly wall diving and drift diving with lots of historical things to see above water, while Solomons is good and has varied diving and cultural people things to do. BTW, Palau and Phillipines are similar distance as Palau is 500 miles this side of Phillipines, but would be much closer than going all the way to Indonesia which was my first suggestion for December diving but you have been there. Solomons is probably similar travel time as you go to Fiji (11 hours from LAX) and then fly another 3-4 hours to Solomons. But I think all three are probably less travel time than Indonesia.

 

[DivingChipmunk]

Cannot comment on the time of year but have been to places 1 and 2. Both good. Palau is beautiful above water, is maybe easier diving as it tends to be mainly wall diving and drift diving with lots of historical things to see above water, while Solomons is good and has varied diving and cultural people things to do. BTW, Palau and Phillipines are similar distance as Palau is 500 miles this side of Phillipines, but would be much closer than going all the way to Indonesia which was my first suggestion for December diving but you have been there. Solomons is probably similar travel time as you go to Fiji (11 hours from LAX) and then fly another 3-4 hours to Solomons. But I think all three are probably less travel time than Indonesia.

Thanks @Shasta_man for sharing your experience! So far Palau is our first choice for Dec 2024, but we also want to look into other options.

 

[runsongas]

If you want a newer boat with nicer cabins and good food, I would look elsewhere than the ocean hunter or solomon master. flights should be easier for philippines than indo with nonstops to manila currently from west coast and cebu from LAX to restart next year.

 

[DivingChipmunk]

If you want a newer boat with nicer cabins and good food, I would look elsewhere than the ocean hunter or solomon master. flights should be easier for philippines than indo with nonstops to manila currently from west coast and cebu from LAX to restart next year.

Yes @runsongas , we do want a newer boat with cabins with ocean view windows. Ocean Hunter 3 and Solomon Masters look dated from their pictures, but at least on these boats I can find cabins on the upper deck with windows. Black Pearl looks really nice, but their Christmas week is mostly sold out. That's why I am looking into Philippines, yet am not sure if we should just go back to Indonesia.

 

[tynanpatrick]

I'm going to be doing the Palau Rock Island aggressor at the end of the month. I can let you know how that was.

 

[Centrals]

Flight to Philippines is most expensive(huge demand) from mid Dec onward.
PAL can sell you a through ticket from JFK to CEB via MNL.
Malapascua for the thrasher shark and Dauin(SB is returning for the second time in this coming Jan.) for macro.

 

[lermontov]

based on your bio
We are intermediate divers with AOW. We love colorful corals and biodiversity. We prefer liveaboard, but will also consider land based.

Ive been to all three on your list and Id recommend Palau. Id also recommend a land based trip.
Theres plenty of nice reef and few easier wrecks and they all with 30 min of land . The fish spawning on the new moon is spectacular- try Sams tours as a base to work out of - theres a few nice hotels 5 min walk from the dive shop

solomon's has lot of ww2 wreck but theyre beyond your AOW whereas palau is much more friendly in regard to depth

Philipines has some good walls but i was a little disappointed in APO reef

 

[runsongas]

snapper spawning ain't worth it. you have to wake up at an ungodly hour to get ready and on the boat because its like a 6am dive, its dim AF so unless you are shooting full frame you can't get enough light for good pics/video, and the whole claim it brings in big sharks is pretty BS.

 

[lermontov]

snapper spawning ain't worth it. you have to wake up at an ungodly hour to get ready and on the boat because its like a 6am dive, its dim AF so unless you are shooting full frame you can't get enough light for good pics/video, and the whole claim it brings in big sharks is pretty BS.

what rubbish - its well worth the effort -only had a couple of big sharks but its a spectacle that is very memorable- oh wait did you want the snapper to arrive when it was convenient for you ?