For the "big ticket" dives - Blue Corner, German Channel, Ulong Channel - where you are guarenteed sharks, big fish and exicting dives it can be pretty busy.
For the other dives - walls, drifts etc there are plenty to go around and often we didn't see another group at all. There is certainly no shortage of amazing dives in Palau, but the biggest attractions do get busy.
I'll describe the first dive I did on German Channel to whet your appetite - we waited until full moon to dive it as the currents are strongest then. Basically it is a channel blasted through shallow reef by the Germans a while ago, and it is very clearly visible from the surface. As such, there is a strong current feeding through the channel bringing nutrients from beyond.
The dive we did was to drop in to the current, stay at 5-10m at basically fin like crazy to stay next to a giant baitball and watch the fun.... it was a multi-level dive in that we had sharks feeding below us, tens of thousands of fish around us and manta's swooping to the side and above us. Although the current was strong the adrenaline kicked in and we stayed for 25 minutes finning away enjoying the most awesome dive of my life.
When you're too knackered to continue (or someone in your group is!) you stop and enjoy a drift along the shallow reefs along the channel, seeing many turtles, groups and even the occassional manta. We passed over a giant clam that must have been 6 foot long.
Here are some of the "singing" black snapper
and an indication of the sheer number of fish (that shadow in the background is fish, not a boat!)
The two manta photos above are from that dive too.
For the other dives - walls, drifts etc there are plenty to go around and often we didn't see another group at all. There is certainly no shortage of amazing dives in Palau, but the biggest attractions do get busy.
I'll describe the first dive I did on German Channel to whet your appetite - we waited until full moon to dive it as the currents are strongest then. Basically it is a channel blasted through shallow reef by the Germans a while ago, and it is very clearly visible from the surface. As such, there is a strong current feeding through the channel bringing nutrients from beyond.
The dive we did was to drop in to the current, stay at 5-10m at basically fin like crazy to stay next to a giant baitball and watch the fun.... it was a multi-level dive in that we had sharks feeding below us, tens of thousands of fish around us and manta's swooping to the side and above us. Although the current was strong the adrenaline kicked in and we stayed for 25 minutes finning away enjoying the most awesome dive of my life.
When you're too knackered to continue (or someone in your group is!) you stop and enjoy a drift along the shallow reefs along the channel, seeing many turtles, groups and even the occassional manta. We passed over a giant clam that must have been 6 foot long.
Here are some of the "singing" black snapper
and an indication of the sheer number of fish (that shadow in the background is fish, not a boat!)
The two manta photos above are from that dive too.
Mind you, with 2m viz it probably won't make a difference 
