Palau Trip Report (Jan 2016): Palau Solitude One Liveaboard

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Lavalamp

Registered
Messages
8
Reaction score
19
Location
Greenwich, CT
# of dives
200 - 499
My wife and I have recently finished a 10-night diving trip in Palau aboard the Solitude One Liveboard. All in all, we had a fantastic experience and we can recommend Solitude One without any reservation.


We chose Solitude One over the other boats because:
-- Palau Aggressor - hasn't left the best impression lately
(see: http://www.scubaboard.com/community...4-palau-aggressor-very-bad-experience.492818/)
-- Rock Islands Aggressor - see above, same fleet
-- Ocean Hunter III - sail dates just didn't work out with our schedule
-- Ocean Hunter I - sail dates just didn't work out with our schedule
-- Palau Siren - this boat sank in Sept 2015
-- Palau Sporttours - they cater mainly to Japanese tourists


The People:

We had 22 crew members taking care of 18 divers on board. On this trip, we had a very friendly, diverse group. The guests came from USA (4), Thailand (3), Germany (3), Switzerland (2), New Zealand/Korea (4), UK (1), South Africa (2).



The Boat:

Very spacious, efficiently configured, and nicely finished - perfect for the purported capacity. Our cabin B2 was at the bow. My only minor complaint was that our bathroom smelled like rancid sewage water at times. I suspect that the septic tank must be right below our bathroom. So if you are considering Solitude One, our recommendation is to avoid cabins B1 and B2.



The Dive Operation:

Very organized, efficient, and professional. Most of the dive guides were excellent, passionate, and helpful. I had an air-integrated unit for my dive computer and they happily put it on the rental regulator for me. This made me very happy because some boats/diveshops just refuse to put modify their rental equipment.

Solitude One has five dive guides on the boat. Unfortunately two of them got sick during our trip and their sick periods overlapped a bit. As a result, the divers-to-guide ratio suffered for a brief few days. My wife and I ended up in a large group (7 divers to 1 guide) for a day or two, but it was fine. It did not compromise our safety. We still had a great time and received the same level of service before and after each dive.

We dove Nitrox on this trip. About 50% of the time, my tank started with 2800 PSI or lower. The industry standard (my expectation) is that tanks should be filled to 3000 PSI (200+ bars). Not a big deal. But since I probably have mild OCD, I did take notice.

Rental equipment are all very new and in terrific shape. Much better than rental equipment we've ever seen elsewhere (Thailand, Bora Bora, Turks & Caicos, Jordan, Hawaii - take notes). The brands they use on Solitude One are: Aqualung for wetsuits and Cressi for boots and fins.

Little amenities matter and Solitude One does it right: Hot tea and hot towels after each dive. The crew would rinse and hang up the wetsuits for us after each dive (way to spoil the guests).



The Food:

Good, not great. I would say the quality is on par with a private university cafeteria in the U.S., which is generally solid. The dining area, dishes, and utensils are always clean. They did run out of certain food on a few occasions. My advice is to get to the buffet line before everyone else gets there, so you're not left with scraps and fillers.



The Service:

In many aspects, the quality of service and politeness of the crew surpassed our expectations. Amanda went above and beyond to help make sure that all of our needs were taken care of. In addition to a fun dive guide, she was also an exceptional hospitality professional and a great person to hang out with on the boat.
 
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Our favorite dive sites:

1. Blue Corner
2. Manta Cleaning Station at German Channel
3. Blue Holes
4. Siaes Tunnel
5. Chandelier Cave
6. Iro Wreck
7. Ulong Channel

Make sure you hit these magnificent seven when you go to Palau.
 
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Thanks for your report. My trip there last spring was with Palau Dive Adventures so I was land-based. Some of the best diving I've ever done. They took us to most of the same places the liveaboards go plus some they don't go to. I'm heading back there in a few months.
 
Great report, thanks!

Bill, you should go to Raja Ampat too!
 
Did you mention the sewage smells to the crew? If not I would do that if you run into that problem in the future. I think we've had that problem on 2 different boats, and each time it was completely a different but solvable problem that they were able to address (and had nothing to do with location of any tank, and not a reason to avoid particular cabins.)
 
How about the diving itself? How does it compare to the other places you have been to?
 
@captain Sidbad - Compared to the other places I've been, the diving in Palau was truly excellent. Palau as a destination offers so much variety: caverns, wrecks, big animals, macros, healthy reef, fun drift. While Palau doesn't boast the absolute best-on-the-planet in each of those categories, it does have have them all and the general quality is world-class. Most destinations can only offer one, two, or three of those.

One complaint I have about Palau though is that the popular sites were more crowded than I had expected. Maybe it was because we were there during the week of Christmas/New Year holidays. Or maybe we're just a few decades too late. I'd love to go back in time and visit Palau in the 80's or the 90's before it scaled up to be the booming massive dive mecca that it is today.

@Centrals - yes, the boat did go to Peleliu. We dove Peleliu Wall, Peleliu Cut, and did the land tour excursion as well. Peleliu dive sites were nice, but compared to the other spots, I didn't find them to be particularly noteworthy (not the same wow factor).
 
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One complaint I have about Palau though is that the popular sites were more crowded than I had expected. Maybe it was because we were there during the week of Christmas/New Year holidays. Or maybe we're just a few decades too late. I'd love to go back in time and visit Palau in the 80's or the 90's before it scaled up to be the booming massive dive mecca that it is today.
Surfaced from Blue Corner and there were over 20 boats around the area and that was 15yrs ago.
The advantage of diving from the liveaboard is that you will arrive at the sites earlier eg. Blue Hole, Blue Corner, Big Drop Off etc etc than the day boats.
 
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