Trip Report
Diving on the Palau Siren Dec 29, 2022 through Jan 8, 2023
This reports includes my comments on travel, cameras, hotels, restaurants, and of course the diving.
TRAVEL
We traveled from the USA to Palau via a two-day stop-over in Honolulu. We also had two days in Palau before the cruise, just to ensure that we had a good buffer to deal with airline troubles. We skirted the artic blast that hit the USA right before Christmas by flying to Atlanta and then westward to Honolulu south of the brewing storm.
U.S.S. Missouri, Honolulu
We flew with Delta to Honalulu. I've always had good experiences with Delta, but flying with them during the pandemic was a great disappointment. However, Delta seems to have gotten their act together again, and our trip was flawless. We flew Delta One because of the long flight, and enjoyed the Delta Sky lounges between flights.
Delta One
We flew with United from Honolulu to Palau via Guam. Flying with United has always been a s$#t-show, but this time I was impressed with their service and punctuality. United only flies into Palau at 1:00 a.m. now, which kinda sucked.
United first class
There is no taxi service in Koror, Palau, and there aren't any airport shuttles. So arrange ground transportation directly with your hotel.
LODGING
I was surprised by the prices of hotels In Koror, Palau. We stayed at the Palau Hotel, which was one of the cheapest places in town at $90 per night. The next step up in price was Palau Central at about $240 per night. My wife prefers 5-star hotels, but we were very pleased with Palau Hotel. It was simple, clean, comfortable, and the service was outstanding. The staff were really friendly and helpful. They helped us with laundry service, airport transfers ($30), car rentals, and they even loaned us umbrellas on a rainy day. The breakfast buffet was filling, and coffee is on 24/7.
Palau Hotel is centrally located. There are two grocery stores and numerous restaurants within 200 feet. There is even a coffee shop and a bakery next door that has a lot of fine sweets.
RESTAURANTS IN KOROR
We ate at a few places, but our favorite was a Japanese restaurant Tori Tori about 200 feet from the hotel.
Tori Tori
We also ate a Jasmine Thai, based on the good reviews. We were not disappointed. It's a small place that doesn't look impressive when you walk in upstairs. "Wait, am I in the right place?" It's like eating at mom's. Place an order, and mom goes into the kitchen and makes one dish at a time. A bit slow but delicious.
Jasmine Thai
CAMERA
My Nikon dSLR flooded in Belize last year, so I decided to move to a compact video system. I bought this Olympus TG-6 package from Backscatter:
When I first started playing around with the camera, I noticed two problems immediately: autofocus and battery life.
The TG-6 autofocus operates were poorly, and the focus goes in and out a lot with video. I used the settings recommended by Backscatter, but it didn't help. Take a look at my video at the link below, and you'll see all the problems with autofocus.
The TG-6 battery life is criminally poor. I resorted to tuning off the camera as much as possible, but still the battery barely made it though each dive. About 20% of the time the battery died before the end of the dive. I bought four batteries and kept cycling them through the camera after each dive. In the high humidity of Palau, it was a PITA opening the camera case after every dive.
What I did really like about the TG-6 was being able to set a white balance at any depth. It didn't work so well below 50 feet, but from 0 to 40 feet the colors were wonderful.
I bought the M52 wide-angle lens ($450) and it was very useful. I kept the lens in my pocket and mounted it to the camera case whenever I wanted a wide-angle shot.
TG-6 without the wide-angle lens (Palau Siren interior)
TG-6 with the M52 wide-angle lens
DIVING
We did a 10-day cruise with Master Liveaboards on the Palau Siren.
The water temp was 84 degrees F the entire trip. I dove in shorts and rash guard.
The Palau Siren motored around the western lagoon and anchored a just a few spots. It towed two skiffs that we used for diving. That was really nice because the skiff drivers took us on mini-tours of the islands before and after each dive. The skiff rides were generally 10-15 minutes, except when we went diving off the island of Peleliu (45 minutes).
The entire crew of Palau Siren were great people, from the captain to the engineer, to the hostesses, to the cook (great food!), to the skiff drivers, to the dive guides. Everything was perfect.
Typical daily schedule:
0630 dive
0900 breakfast
1030 dive
1230 lunch
1500 dive
1800 night dive
2000 dinner
It seems that most of the rooms on the Palau Siren have two single beds. We stayed in a bow cabin, which had one queen bed.
Here is a video that I put together from the trip. I plan to make a few more full-length videos, but this is a quick trailer. Thanks to the skiff driver Kaine for turning me onto Stick Figure.
The video highlights the Palau Siren, the diving, and the Olympus TG-6 video capabilities:
Diving on the Palau Siren Dec 29, 2022 through Jan 8, 2023
This reports includes my comments on travel, cameras, hotels, restaurants, and of course the diving.
TRAVEL
We traveled from the USA to Palau via a two-day stop-over in Honolulu. We also had two days in Palau before the cruise, just to ensure that we had a good buffer to deal with airline troubles. We skirted the artic blast that hit the USA right before Christmas by flying to Atlanta and then westward to Honolulu south of the brewing storm.
U.S.S. Missouri, Honolulu
We flew with Delta to Honalulu. I've always had good experiences with Delta, but flying with them during the pandemic was a great disappointment. However, Delta seems to have gotten their act together again, and our trip was flawless. We flew Delta One because of the long flight, and enjoyed the Delta Sky lounges between flights.
Delta One
We flew with United from Honolulu to Palau via Guam. Flying with United has always been a s$#t-show, but this time I was impressed with their service and punctuality. United only flies into Palau at 1:00 a.m. now, which kinda sucked.
United first class
There is no taxi service in Koror, Palau, and there aren't any airport shuttles. So arrange ground transportation directly with your hotel.
LODGING
I was surprised by the prices of hotels In Koror, Palau. We stayed at the Palau Hotel, which was one of the cheapest places in town at $90 per night. The next step up in price was Palau Central at about $240 per night. My wife prefers 5-star hotels, but we were very pleased with Palau Hotel. It was simple, clean, comfortable, and the service was outstanding. The staff were really friendly and helpful. They helped us with laundry service, airport transfers ($30), car rentals, and they even loaned us umbrellas on a rainy day. The breakfast buffet was filling, and coffee is on 24/7.
Palau Hotel is centrally located. There are two grocery stores and numerous restaurants within 200 feet. There is even a coffee shop and a bakery next door that has a lot of fine sweets.
RESTAURANTS IN KOROR
We ate at a few places, but our favorite was a Japanese restaurant Tori Tori about 200 feet from the hotel.
Tori Tori
We also ate a Jasmine Thai, based on the good reviews. We were not disappointed. It's a small place that doesn't look impressive when you walk in upstairs. "Wait, am I in the right place?" It's like eating at mom's. Place an order, and mom goes into the kitchen and makes one dish at a time. A bit slow but delicious.
Jasmine Thai
CAMERA
My Nikon dSLR flooded in Belize last year, so I decided to move to a compact video system. I bought this Olympus TG-6 package from Backscatter:
OM System TG-7, Dual Macro Wide 4300, & Snoot Underwater Video Package
OM System TG-7, Dual Macro Wide 4300, & Snoot Underwater Video Package
www.backscatter.com
When I first started playing around with the camera, I noticed two problems immediately: autofocus and battery life.
The TG-6 autofocus operates were poorly, and the focus goes in and out a lot with video. I used the settings recommended by Backscatter, but it didn't help. Take a look at my video at the link below, and you'll see all the problems with autofocus.
The TG-6 battery life is criminally poor. I resorted to tuning off the camera as much as possible, but still the battery barely made it though each dive. About 20% of the time the battery died before the end of the dive. I bought four batteries and kept cycling them through the camera after each dive. In the high humidity of Palau, it was a PITA opening the camera case after every dive.
What I did really like about the TG-6 was being able to set a white balance at any depth. It didn't work so well below 50 feet, but from 0 to 40 feet the colors were wonderful.
I bought the M52 wide-angle lens ($450) and it was very useful. I kept the lens in my pocket and mounted it to the camera case whenever I wanted a wide-angle shot.
TG-6 without the wide-angle lens (Palau Siren interior)
TG-6 with the M52 wide-angle lens
DIVING
We did a 10-day cruise with Master Liveaboards on the Palau Siren.
The water temp was 84 degrees F the entire trip. I dove in shorts and rash guard.
The Palau Siren motored around the western lagoon and anchored a just a few spots. It towed two skiffs that we used for diving. That was really nice because the skiff drivers took us on mini-tours of the islands before and after each dive. The skiff rides were generally 10-15 minutes, except when we went diving off the island of Peleliu (45 minutes).
The entire crew of Palau Siren were great people, from the captain to the engineer, to the hostesses, to the cook (great food!), to the skiff drivers, to the dive guides. Everything was perfect.
Typical daily schedule:
0630 dive
0900 breakfast
1030 dive
1230 lunch
1500 dive
1800 night dive
2000 dinner
It seems that most of the rooms on the Palau Siren have two single beds. We stayed in a bow cabin, which had one queen bed.
Here is a video that I put together from the trip. I plan to make a few more full-length videos, but this is a quick trailer. Thanks to the skiff driver Kaine for turning me onto Stick Figure.
The video highlights the Palau Siren, the diving, and the Olympus TG-6 video capabilities: