Palau Aggressor typical itinerary

[bbarada]

I've seen a couple of postings recently that indicate the last days agenda on the Palau Aggressor is to do a dive in the morning and Jellyfish Lake in the afternoon. Is that correct?

We are scheduled to be on the Palau Aggressor for a week in March.

 

[Mossman]

I believe the morning "dive" is to Chandelier Cave where you spend much of the time breathing surface air and only need to descend 20' or so to make it into the cavern. Not much nitrogen accumulation to worry about. Jellyfish Lake is probably more dangerous since it naturally encourages a bit of "freediving" to get fully submerged among the jellies, and that after a somewhat strenuous (especially when carrying big camera rig) hike up the hill.

Our itinerary was a bit different due to the chartering folks having to catch an earlier plane than usual, so we skipped Chandelier Cave in lieu of a longer time at Jellyfish Lake and a visit to Clam City.

 

[shawrg]

In June 2010 we snorkeled Jellyfish lake then dove the caves.

 

[farsidefan1]

I also would like to do the tour of Peleliu (spelling?), anyone know which day they do that? And if it cuts out too much diving?

 

[kiming]

I also would like to do the tour of Peleliu (spelling?), anyone know which day they do that? And if it cuts out too much diving?

The WWII land tour of Peleliu was on Wednesday for my group and you miss one dive.

 

[Mossman]

Too hard for me to figure out which day it was during our itinery, but Wednesday sounds about right. Only missed one dive, though we had to speed Tangie up a bit at the end as we were heading back later than we had been told to, so we missed a bit of the standard tour (I think we skipped Hurricane Ridge). Supposedly the dive we missed was a repeat of a dive we had done earlier in the day and it was a worthwhile tour, but it's hard to pass on any dive in Palau and only 6 of us did ended up doing it. On the way back, the natives had formed a roadblock to keep us from getting to the Aggressor: a couple local ganja farmers decided to take a siesta by blocking the road with their cars and stretching out on the warm asphalt for a nap. We had to wake them up. Apparently that road doesn't get as much traffic as the roads back home in L.A.!

 

[cal776]

I'm diving the Palau Aggressor II in November. I'm trying to decide whether to fly out of ROR at 1:45 a.m. on Sunday morning or 2:35 a.m. on Monday morning. To help make an informed decision, I'd like to get a better idea of what dive or dives on Saturday I'd miss out on due to no-fly recommendations if I take the early-Sunday-morning departure. Is it just a single dive at Chandelier Cave? If so, how awesome is that dive? If it's multiple dives, what else would I be missing?

I realize that for most divers, the answer would be: you spent the money and traveled all the way to Palau, so why not stay the extra day and enjoy the full slate of diving? But, in my case, vacation time is scarce, effective downtime from midday Saturday through all of Sunday is unappealing, and flying out on Saturday morning would spare the expense (trivial though it might be in the grand scheme of things) of a paid hotel night on Palau.

 

[shawrg]

We splashed within 40 feet of the opening and I don't think we went deeper than 25 feet. We went to three chambers in the caverns and surfaced at each chamber to look at the ceiling and walls (& graffiti) and chat a bit. A few of us took our gear off and explored a few segments on foot for a few minutes. It was interesting, but I didn't find the caves awesome. I considered skipping Saturday's diving and flying out Saturday morning also, but I opted to stay in Palau for a little socializing and siteseeing.

Is it just a single dive at Chandelier Cave? If so, how awesome is that dive? If it's multiple dives, what else would I be missing?

I realize that for most divers, the answer would be: you spent the money and traveled all the way to Palau, so why not stay the extra day and enjoy the full slate of diving? But, in my case, vacation time is scarce, effective downtime from midday Saturday through all of Sunday is unappealing, and flying out on Saturday morning would spare the expense (trivial though it might be in the grand scheme of things) of a paid hotel night on Palau.

 

[robint]

you know, I was not as impressed with Chandalier Cave as I expected. The cenotes in Mexico are waaaaay cooler. The snorkel at Jellyfish Lake was okay for about 10 minutes, then I found it boring. We were on a different liveaboard and did the jellyfish thing first in am, then lunch and a dive a wreck and Chandalier cave in afternoon, Mandarinfish dive at night... all on the last day. It was the least exciting day of the whole trip, maybe a bit of a letdown for me.

I do recommend dinner at The Taj on your last day (really great Indian food), and a visit to the jail (yes, I said jail) to buy a hand-carved storyboard. Take cash, and negotiate! Don't tell them you were on the Aggressor as they won't come down on price as much.

robin

 

[Shasta_man]

The trip to Peleliu is a must. Respect the men who died.

Enjoy the mandarin fish and tell the inevitable idiots that want to lay on the coral head for their shots to GET OFF.