Palau or Philipines? Been to Solomons and wonder if anything could beat that?

[frontiernurse]

Whoa, whoa, whoa - you're based in SF, and your local diving isn't Monterey/Carmel?? For shame! (In all honesty, I've been to a few places around the world, and the kelp forests of Carmel stand up to anything I've ever seen (Galapagos, Cocos, Fiji, Bahamas, etc.).

Yeah, I've dived two times in Monterey and got unbearable unrelenting dive-thumbing leg cramps both times (never had that in 200 warm water dives so assuming it was the cold). Both times the 20 minutes I was under was magical, but the pain was traumatic. One time I actually had to be towed in by my buddy. Soooo embarrassing and bad. I wish I could reliably dive Monterey. Maybe I'll try again at some point.

 

[cubalake]

Already looking forward to a Palau LOB in November of 2015. My buddy and I want to add more trip days and are thinking about Yap. Can anyone comment if this is a good addition to Palau or suggest somewhere else? Some of our group are adding dive days in Hawaii but we'd prefer somewhere else. Would a week at a Yap resort be too long (we'd probably dive 4 days of the week)?

 

[diverdean1]

I have not been to the Philippian's but dive Palau often. The land based operations in Palau are quite good. Nitrox is generally free to those with nitrox certification. Some of the land based accommodations are also very good, but not quite 5 stars. Palau cost more than the Philippians, especially the diving which averages between $125 to $130 per day. But that includes lunch and a whole day adventure. I have dove in many locations in the pacific, Caribbean, Red Sea and believe that Palau would rank one of the best overall dive destinations all factors considered. Visiting at the right time of year can make a difference. Generally Spring is most desirable, with late Spring offering the best combination of weather and warm water.

 

[Kevrumbo]

I have not been to the Philippian's but dive Palau often. The land based operations in Palau are quite good. Nitrox is generally free to those with nitrox certification. Some of the land based accommodations are also very good, but not quite 5 stars. Palau cost more than the Philippians, especially the diving which averages between $125 to $130 per day. But that includes lunch and a whole day adventure. I have dove in many locations in the pacific, Caribbean, Red Sea and believe that Palau would rank one of the best overall dive destinations all factors considered. Visiting at the right time of year can make a difference. Generally Spring is most desirable, with late Spring offering the best combination of weather and warm water.

I agree, and I've been to both Palau & Philippines. Convenient for Americans in that you don't have to do currency exchanges -they use US$ in Palau. IMHO, this is a haven & plum job opportunity for the Filipino Overseas Worker, being so close to home and getting paid in US Dollars. . .

 

[Monishi]

I have been diving in South East Asia for a while, many times in Phillipines (as the flight is only a few hours from where I live) and Indonesia only once in Bali. I have seen big stuffs in Bali like Mora Mora (only during the summer July, August) and Mantas but not whale shark. You can see whale sharks in Souther Cebu, like Moalboal or Lilian from December to April. But in Philippine, other than that, it's pretty much bueatiful coral and macro life. Indonesia is also a lot about macro life too. I have seen many sharks and mantas in Palau but I've seen more sharks and more mantas AND whaleshark all in one week liveabord in Maldives. Maldives is all about big stuff but not much macro and not much beautiful corals. If you are into big stuff, I recommend Maldives rather than Palau (liveaboard in Maldives is very reasonable as there are so many and needs to compete, but a lot of them are top service). Asia is more about beatiful corals and diversity of macro life. If you are based in San Fran and likes big stuffs, there are so many places in Mexico and central America that you can go to much cheaper than travelling to Asia no? I have never been to that side of the world for diving and I like big stuffs so I envy people living there and always diving there.

 

[inkedadventurer]

Hello,

I just dove in both the Philippines in April and then Palau in May.

I just finished all of my whole Palau blog entries on my overall Palau experience (Palau Pacific Resort, the diving, the Rock Island Tour, Jellyfish Lake, day trip to Ngardmau waterfall, etc), so please feel free to view it and email me if you have any questions. I also traveled there solo.

Palau Archives - The Inked Adventurer

If you browse through my categories, I do also have some blog posts about two liveaboards I did in the Philippines but I havent finished writing up the rest of my Philippines experiences yet so its a bit incomplete... still have to write up diving Bohol and a few other places. So much writing, so little time