Trip Report Palau 02/16-03/03

[Rooster]

Ok, ok, you all have peaked my interest. Living out here for the past 16 years, we have been to Palau more than a couple times. While diving out here we learned at the very beginning to: 1. Don’t sweat the small stuff. 2. It is all small stuff. That being said, here’s a few of my observations. We first dove with Sam’s back in 95. I thought back then, that they were a little cattle boatish. That trip we were a small group, two couples. Even though we had made prior arrangement, and made our wishes known, (we even had a friend of Sam’s with us), we kind of fell through the cracks. In fact Sam himself had to take us out the first day because our paperwork somehow got buried, and they hadn’t scheduled a boat for us. After that we moved from boat to boat and DM to DM for the next few days. Finally settling in with a single crew for the last couple of days. Before we dove with Sam’s we had dove a couple of trips with Fish & Fins. Fish & Fins did a much better job in taking care of its customers, but this was back when Francis Toribiong ran the show. The big difference between the two shops at that time was that Fish & Fins was a “local” run dive shop, (I like), and you got the local treatment. Sam’s on the other hand is “Western type” run operation. It’s not bad; in fact the way they are set up now is quite convenient. It’s just that their ideas of personalized service and mine are a little different. BUT like I said before, don’t sweat the small stuff. We have always had a great time no matter who we have dove with. We are headed there next month and will be diving with Sam’s and staying at the West Plaza Malakal. It’s all good! We have found that going with a group of 6 to 8 divers is the best way to make sure that you get to do the diving that you want to do (Majority rules, right?). If you want to do certain dives (peleliu), make sure that the least common denominator in your group is up to the task. And above all; Don’t sweat the small stuff.

 

[Rooster]

I like the little routine of staying at the West Plaza near Sam's, (walkable) and drinking beer at the Bottom Time. I like Kevin (the photog) so I just keep going back. I have made the same observations about the management as the original poster though, watching people with issues. I don't do liveaboards there because two dives a day is more my speed. I like to go out to different places for dinner, shop, etc.

Same reason we do land based, although I’m not too sure about that Kevin guy! Actually, he is a great asset to Sam’s. If you have a group you can have him along for the day and he’ll shoot video, put it together with some canned stuff and produce a nice DVD for you. He also does a great job servicing your camera gear.

I could be happy just doing Blue Corner, Big Drop-Off, New Drop, and Blue Holes every single day. German Channel was good for macro and no current. Seriously, I could do just those three weeks in a row every day, because I just love the sharks and pelagic action. Every single time they are different dives, always changing. All the land tours, even jellyfish lake, takes away from what I would rather be doing.

We actually did this once, not three weeks, but five days. A good friend of ours who is a Continental pilot got us buddy passes for a trip there. His only stipulation was that he had to do Blue Corner each day. Twist my arm will you. So every day for one of the dives we did Blue Corner.

So many people rave about liveaboards, there must be something to it! I will eventually do it and then say....why didn't I do this sooner?

PNG might be the place. I have to be land based in Palau, so I can visit all my friends at the jail! I love storyboards.

I live where I can dive year around, so taking a trip to do nothing but dive is a little far out there for me. I like to see the islands and meet the people and not just on the little land tours you get on a liveaboard.

We always stop at the jail, don’t always buy, but always on the look out for the unusual. My favorite is a double sided one that is free standing. It’s kind of triangle shaped. About 3 feet tall, 2 ½ feet wide, 6” thick at the base, coming to a point at the top. On one side is an out rigger with the story of the turtles carved in its sails. On the other side is the story of the bread fruit tree. All very intricate and three D, even the edges are carved. I have not seen anything like it since. After we bought it we had a couple try to buy it from us. They had gone back to the jail to buy it only to find it had already been sold. We even had some locals stop us at the airport, (I hand carried this puppy home), asked us who carved it. When we showed them (The name is always carved on the bottom) they seemed a little surprised. I guess the carver was not really known for this type of work.

 

[Cacia]

I had the same thing happen and missed a peice that was at the Islander peice similiar to what you describe and it was gone! Sounds beautiful. I have a three dimensional peice I love, but smaller. I will post a pic. They are such authentic peices. I hope to get some masks in Bali but I need to try and learn a little first...

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I was in Palau in January. I was sort of surprised that there seemed to be so few dive sites and that the few were frequented by so many. You could literally dive Blue Corner three or four days in a row. I mean it was a great site when the current was ripping but I was glad we had the opportunity to dive other less frequented and less crowded sites. As for Sams being a "cattle boat" operation I would have to say that they can't help but be one to a certain extent. The dive sites (except for the wrecks and some mediocre interior sites) are all located 45 minutes south of the harbor. Its all about getting as many of your divers as far south as fast as possible and then getting them home. Anything but the ordinary adds to cost and lengthens the day for all of the staff. I'm sure glad we chartered the Eclipse.

 

[Cacia]

I always go off season around Thanksgiving. We never had full boats in the four trips I was there. I wonder if that changes things a lot. Last time, I found myself wishing there were a few more people there because Bottom Time seemed so quiet.

I am surprised to hear those little boats called "cattle boats". When I say cattle boats I think of something much bigger with three times the divers.

You are right about the staff making a long day by going further, although I found the surface interval's too long! Sometimes we we be hanging for almst three hours it seemed.


here are a few little shots on the Sam's boat's. Nothing too interesting but you can see the boats and see that it was not packed in the off season. Also, we would go to these little beaches (rats, yes) and chill out for awhile. that was good, especially if you brought some great food, but sometimes we did stay a little long. next time I might take Kadima or something.

 

[vladimir]

Palau is considered part of Micronesia. Micronesia, Polynesia and Melanisia (among other islands) make up the South Pacific. You weren't nitpicking, I am now. eyebrow

I guess we can at least agree that Micronesia is located above the equator (6.5 degrees north latitude.) The NY Times Guide to Essential Knowledge and the CIA factbook (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/fm.html) both describe Micronesia's locale as "the North Pacific", logically enough. No doubt it is frequently lumped together with other islands in a catchall usage of the phrase "South Pacific"; this, however, is inaccurate.

 

[kevink]

About half of what was written about Sam's shocked me, the other is just plain life. I am headed back to Palau in a week, I lived there in 00 - 01 and even worked for Sam's while I was out there.

I don't know who you dove with at Sam's, but let the battered remain nameless, but let us know who turned the trip around for you. The experience sounds atypical given all of the reviews that pop up about Sam's on this board. Dermott and Russelle would do almost anything possible to make the trip enjoyable.

Rude other divers on the boat - - fact of life. If you want to pick the people on your boat you need to have a group large enough to charter a boat (Sam's even has 4-packs they will use for that purpose). If they wouldn't change your boat after you complained about where they put you that would be quite another story.

Lack of say about dive sites - - somewhat a fact of life. Tyranny of the majority for the most part on dive boats. If you want to pick the places you need to have enough votes or a large enough say. You have to keep in mind you are participating in other people's vacation as well. Unless you were extrememly friendly with the people at Sam's and knew the guide and driver going out it is doubtful they would announce where they were thinking of going a day in advance.

Unable to predict the current at Blue Corner / Peleliu - - fact of life. These are oceanic currents that are none to effected by high/low tide transitions that dictate most normal currents. I dare anyone to say a day ahead of time exactly how you would enter and execute those dives at a precise time. If you told me someone dumped you in the water without checking the current first that would be quite another issue. If anyone ran you against the current that would also be inexcusible.

Lack of Wreck Diving - - Most people head out to Palau for the great biodiversity. There are also 40+ wrecks lying in the harbors as well. Generally, the wrecks are done as a 3rd dive of the day, or when the conditions are too rough to trudge out to the outer reef. You need to find someone with about 5 years on-island experience to do the best wreck diving, and once again this may mean chartering a boat. If someone at Sam's was nice they could have given you a Kayak and taken you to the Chuyo Maru which sits about 1/4 mile from their dock. A nasty surface swim, but an easy Kayak dive.

'Rude' Boat Drivers - - par for the course, mainly a cultural thing. On the flip side these guys do recover your 8-14 bodies from 2-3 knot currents in 5-6' seas every day, like clockwork, so be nice to them.

Lack of dive sites - - tough one..... It takes people so long and so much money to get out there they want very predictable diving. Even if that means 4 good blue corner dives in their 1 week stay. To get a true flavor of the place you need to spend more than a week, and be willing to eat some less than fabulous dives. Spending 90 minutes in the deep blue waiting for pelagics, or scratching a day of diving to wait for the right tides to do one of the tunnels to the inland lakes may be the price you pay.

Lack of WWII sites - - These are really best left for a daylong Kayak or a dedicated boat trip, not really a dive trip. German Lighhouse is easy because you probbaly dove the channel there (Bouy 6 wreck) or one of the wrecks in the lagoon. Most of the other interesting sites are not really close to diving. Once again, if you had your own boat you could put in a dive at Peleliu, stop at the south dock, and spend a couple hours on shore at the tunnel complexes. Then put in a second dive before you head back.

Cattle Boats(?) - - I agree 14 people on a boat is way to damn many. 8 was the right number and the way the majority of the boats are set up. There is scant little room left for spreading out since these are skiffs meant to do 27 knots to the dive site. I still don't think I would equate these to the 36 - 50 passenger varieties you can encounter in the Caribbean.

Jellyfish Lake - - inexcusible. They should just take the group. It is not off the beaten path at all.

Rats - - Typical brown warf variety. Thank your ancestors and the HMS Antelope for that. Think of them as 'Nape Tail Squirrels'.

I wish you had a better time, and that the next time is much better.

 

[kkfok]

I had the same experience with Fish N' Fins early this year. I thought Sam's should be better though

 

[Kevrumbo]

Palau is considered part of Micronesia. Micronesia, Polynesia and Melanisia (among other islands) make up the South Pacific. You weren't nitpicking, I am now. eyebrow

"Where you going now Kev?"
"Back to Palau. . ."
"Where's that at?"
"Western part of the Caroline Islands in the Micronesia Region, of Continent Oceania."
"Huh?"
"Well, you've got Guam up here & Mindanao down there --Palau is kind-of-between them midway. . ."
"Don't have a clue on where you're talking about. . ."
"Alright just think like South Pacific okay? You know, Rodgers & Hammerstein, James Michener and singing 'Bali H'ai' . . .kinda sorta like that!"

 

[Mike Veitch]

All i know is that i am North of the Equator in the Pacific.... Palau is next door....