31 replies to this topic

[maninthesea]

Your going to like the OH 2 and Love Palau. Dragon Tai and Cramers are great also. As for tips besides cash another great tip may be some of your gear. That rechargeable dive light or regulator could insure you are remembered for a LONG time. Also I never leave an island with batteries.

If your stuck on Guam on your way in or out give me a shout 687-2355 cell. I can show you around and give you advice on Palau. I should be down there first week of Dec.

Cheers Jim

[Deepdiver615]

Thanks everyone for the advice! As I said earlier this is my first trip outside of the Caribbean... So I am very excited about the new experience and to be able to maximumize the diving while I'm there is going to make it even better!

Thanks for the invite maninthesea.. I keep your cell number with me.. But the layover in Guam is supposed to be less than two hours each way.. Next time I head down that way will have to plan for some more stop overs at different islands. This trip was put together in less than a week, because of hurricane Wilma hitting Cozumel ( I was supposed to be in Cozumel right now..), so I didn't do any thinking about additonal diving and this just feel into place...

Thanks again everyone!! I will post a trip report when I get back!

[Travelnsj]

Mike,

Just thought of another thing you might want to do on your no Dive Day. Go to the Dolphins Pacific. I do that every couple of years. It is next to Neco Marine dive center. WWW.dolphinspacific.com

You might want to go on line and make reservations if you have an interest. Do not do the diving part just do the swimming with the Dolphins.

[Deepdiver615]

I have returned from Palau... What a trip! I logged 30 dives while at Palau. The Ocean Hunter II was great and Solomon is still the cook (for our trip) but I think he is going to work at the Barracuda at Fish-n-Fins soon. Texasmermaid you are right the meals were GREAT! Unfortunately we didn't get to dive Chandelier Cave we kind of ran out of time... We did get to finish off our diving at Mandarin Fish Lake though and was able to get a couple of good pictures of the mandarin fish. We got to Blue Corner for four dives!! While we were there was a new moon and the tides weren't ripping but we did get to use our hooks on our first dive at Blue Corner, but we didn't need them for the other three times we were there. On one of the Blue Corner dives I don't remember how many moray eels I saw at least 6 or 7, I followed one that was swimming around recording a movie with my digital cam for about a minute. One of the Blue Corner dives there was a large Eagle Ray that circled us on top of Blue Corner 3 or 4 times, each time he got closer to me and I could have reached up and touched him on his last pass (I didn't) I just kept taking pictures! A truly incredible and beautiful sight! Turtles, sharks and barracudas were also common sights. We also went to Jelly Fish Lake and got to enjoy that as well! The crew of OH II was great Mike was the captain, Clayton was the first mate, and they also were awesome dive masters always being great underwater tour guides showing us things during the dives. Gabby also helped out as a dive master and Richard was the deck hand. We had 12 divers on board. All of the divers were experienced.. Five were from Germany, two from Portugal, one from Switzerland, and four from the US. A truly incredible week of diving and new friends from Europe! One other thing that I noticed was the the people of Palau were very friendly and pleasent! There were other dive stories, but I'll save those for another time.

Thanks for the advice from everyone, it helped alot! I'm looking forward to going on some SD trips soon! I hope to be able to dive with some of you guys on those trips.

[konascubagirl]

I go every year (past 5 years) and headed back in March. You are in store for the greatest diving!

Any questions ie places to stay, restaurants, who to dive with etc. do not hesistate to contact me.

I'm considering going to Palau in March as well. Would love to hear more about the "must do" and "avoid this" kind of stuff!

KSG

[MichaelF]

glad you had a great time. Palau is one of my favorite places to dive, and I personally rank it #1 for seeing everything in one place. I did the "Jake" seaplane w/ a scooter, and it was really a great dive, There was no dive a had bad there, but German channel (Manta's) can get quite crowded at times (6-7 boats) and make diving at this site less than enjoyable. OH is a great way to see Palau, but as I said before, you can get to all of the dive sites from "the beach" and it is a lot less expensive.

[Deepdiver615]

The advantages to being on a dive boat for me were that I was able to dive many more times than from a land based operation or day boat. It is true most of the day diving boats go to the same dive sights as liveaboards but we were in the water about 7 am for our first dive and second dive was around 10 am still ahead of the day boats and we could dive five times a day if we wanted and I did on most of the days. We also had some say on where we wanted to dive, I'm sure they probably make some of the same accommodations on the day boats. While we were at Palau most of the day boats had 14 or more people on them, although that may not be normal. The crew of OH II said that we were at the beginning of their busy season.
I guess the down side of being on a liveaboard is that you don't get much of a chance to tour the islands (by land). So I didn't get to see much of Palau while I was there. The only free day we had, I took a Nitrox cerification course at Fish-n-Fins for the trip (I'm glad I did). As far as the costs... We ended up getting a sweet deal because they happened to have some openings on the boat for the time that we were planning on being in Palau and airline tickets were available, we used air miles for them.

KSG... The only thing I can give any advice on would be the diving and not necessarily good... Since you have been there so many times before I'm sure you know a lot more about that than me.. Palau is a beautiful place!

The only thing that I would have changed is that most of the dives were started as wall dives and you used most of your air on the walls, I think mostly to get some depth and limit the bottom time. Although there are beautiful sea fans on the walls, I would have preferred to spend some of the dives in shallower water 30- 50 feet range on the flats of the coral and spend an hour doing that, even though you wouldn't use all of your bottom time or air.

When we asked, on the boat, they did accomodate us some even though we still started on the walls we got to spend more time on the flatter coral areas and explore them... With all that being said... The tidal currents happened to be very mild while we were in Palau and I'm sure that allowed us to do somethings that may not be possible under normal conditions.

Did I have a great time? YES!
Would I go back? The answer is defiantly YES!

BTW... I would have been on the Fiji trip if I had not already had a Cozumel trip planned for the same time, but Wilma took care of that. So we had to settle for Palau.... What luck is that... It's all good!

[Travelnsj]

I go every year (past 5 years) and headed back in March. You are in store for the greatest diving!

Any questions ie places to stay, restaurants, who to dive with etc. do not hesistate to contact me.

I'm considering going to Palau in March as well. Would love to hear more about the "must do" and "avoid this" kind of stuff!

KSG

Hi KSG,

I can give you all the info you need on Palau as I am going in again in March. There is very little "avoid this" but a lot of "must dos". PM me for details.....perhaps we can be dive buddies!

But.....I have heard a rumor.....Contact the SD God in charge of trips.....I think a trip is in the works for March

Edited by Travelnsj, 26 November 2005 - 11:01 PM.

[WreckWench]

But.....I have heard a rumor.....Contact the SD God in charge of trips.....I think a trip is in the works for March

Yes the rumor is true...we are heading to Palau in March...dates so far are March 4 to March 16 timeframe. This allows us to hook up with Scott while we are there too!

[maninthesea]

But.....I have heard a rumor.....Contact the SD God in charge of trips.....I think a trip is in the works for March

Yes the rumor is true...we are heading to Palau in March...dates so far are March 4 to March 16 timeframe. This allows us to hook up with Scott while we are there too!

Talk to me here.......................I may be able to join you for some of it. I have to go at the end of Feb and also next week but again in March could be good

[Travelnsj]

But.....I have heard a rumor.....Contact the SD God in charge of trips.....I think a trip is in the works for March

Yes the rumor is true...we are heading to Palau in March...dates so far are March 4 to March 16 timeframe. This allows us to hook up with Scott while we are there too!

Talk to me here.......................I may be able to join you for some of it. I have to go at the end of Feb and also next week but again in March could be good

Jim if you are going to be in Palau in March.... The BentProp people will be there at the same time. I have Volunteered to help in any way possible for a few days. Since I am not a WWII Scholar or have a Military background....they will probably have me load and unload the trucks....LOL....But it will be an adventure just to hang out with these guys.....and who knows perhaps...a dive in uncharted waters/wrecks looking for one of our WWII MIA's!

Let me know if you will be there, perhaps we could both help them out!

Scott

[BradfordNC]

when i was in Palau, i was land based.

if i go back, i will go the liveaboard route.

being land based, it was 2 dives a day. i had to twist arms to get 3 dives a day on a few days.


when i fly halfway around the world to dive, i want to dive.

the liveaboard lets you dive 5 times a day.

did i mention i LOVE to dive

[konascubagirl]

when i was in Palau, i was land based.

if i go back, i will go the liveaboard route.

being land based, it was 2 dives a day. i had to twist arms to get 3 dives a day on a few days.


when i fly halfway around the world to dive, i want to dive.

the liveaboard lets you dive 5 times a day.

did i mention i LOVE to dive

I booked a liveaboard in Palau for the end of June for this very reason! I wanna DIVE! Also, I am lazy...I want my gear in one place, no dragging it around! Also wanted to know EXACTLY who I will be diving with! There will be only 4 of us, myself, my son (14), and 2 friends. I expect this trip will be awesome!

Stef

[Capn Jack]

There will be only 4 of us, myself, my son (14), and 2 friends. I expect this trip will be awesome!

If your son wimps out, or, as they all do, gets older, I am an orphan....

[chinacat46]

I have to agree on the liveaboard route as well and if you go on Ocean Hunter II you can get 6 dives a day!!! That sure beats the 2 or 3 you get land based and no long boat rides either.