Diving condition in Palau?

[katsea]

We're planning to go to Palau in late August. I've checked about the diving season in Palau, and found out the good time for diving is around Nov-Apr. I'm bit concerned about the diving condition in August.

Is it worth going at this time of year? Should I change my travel plan?

Many thanks

 

[Mossman]

You can dive year-round in Palau, but that's the rainy/typhoon season (seas could be rougher and viz lower) and it will be deadly hot topside.

 

[Deep Water Dan]

I don't know about "deadly hot", the average high temperature only changes about one degree between summer and winter. If you catch it right you can expect some really smooth sea conditions in August, but if there's a storm anywhere within several hundred miles the weather and seas can get real crappy in a hurry. And as noted above, it is typhoon season out here so you never really know what to expect more than a couple of days out. So it's a crap shoot and the weather could go from great to terrible while you're on the plane out. Winter you sometimes get the big seas from the storms up near Japan, but chances of a storm/typhoon are less closer to the equator. Plenty of diving inside the reef, so there should always be a diveable site unless there's a storm nearby. Disclaimer: Not a weatherman.

Edited to add: We schedule all our trips to the other islands for wintertime, FWIW. We did Palau around Christmas and it was fantastic weather. I highly recommend doing a side trip to Yap for the mantas. There's mantas in Palau, but nothing like the action in Yap. And manta mating season is something like Dec-Apr.

 

[katsea]

Many thanks for all your reply Is Yap accessible at this time of year? Or it's only open during Dec-Apr?

Wow~~ Manta season sounds really interesting! Will they get aggressive during the mating season?

Btw, a friend of mine said there's some cave diving in Palau. Are there many caves in Palau?
From what I've seen on the internet, Palau is more about beautiful reef, strong currents, a blue hole, jellyfish lake, etc. Not so sure about the cave part..

Haven't been to Palau yet. Really looking forward to that~

I don't know about "deadly hot", the average high temperature only changes about one degree between summer and winter. If you catch it right you can expect some really smooth sea conditions in August, but if there's a storm anywhere within several hundred miles the weather and seas can get real crappy in a hurry. And as noted above, it is typhoon season out here so you never really know what to expect more than a couple of days out. So it's a crap shoot and the weather could go from great to terrible while you're on the plane out. Winter you sometimes get the big seas from the storms up near Japan, but chances of a storm/typhoon are less closer to the equator. Plenty of diving inside the reef, so there should always be a diveable site unless there's a storm nearby. Disclaimer: Not a weatherman.

Edited to add: We schedule all our trips to the other islands for wintertime, FWIW. We did Palau around Christmas and it was fantastic weather. I highly recommend doing a side trip to Yap for the mantas. There's mantas in Palau, but nothing like the action in Yap. And manta mating season is something like Dec-Apr.

 

[Mossman]

Yap is "accessible" year round. The mantas hang out in one of two cleaning stations on the island. When they're not at one, they're at the other. We went in the month of October (2000, I believe, would have to check my logbook) and had nice weather. Still, same caveats re tropical storms and typhoons as Palau. Ya never know.

Only cave I know of in Palau is Chandelier Cave, a popular dive site because you can surface and breathe fresh air at the end of the cave (and shine your light on the ceiling to view the "chandelier" effect). If there's one, there might be others, I just don't know about them.

By "deadly hot", I'm referring to the lack of a breeze since the trades die down in that part of the year. Palau is always deadly hot to my taste (I've been there in March and in May, normally not the hottest months but they were still scorching) but if there's a breeze, at least it helps cool you off by evaporating your sweat. I remember sitting outside late at night at the PPR on the May trip, beer would get warm about 5 minutes after taking it from the cooler, but it was comfortable enough due to the breeze. Then the wind stopped and sweat started pouring down my face - I glanced at the clock and it was near midnight. I can't imagine what August would be like. On the other hand, when a storm rolls through, it can almost feel chilly in comparison.

 

[Deep Water Dan]

..... beer would get warm about 5 minutes after taking it from the cooler....

You let a beer sit around for 5 minutes?

 

[Mossman]

Hey, the bar was already closed. We were rationing whatever we had left in the cooler.

 

[Krazytomdiver]

As a (retired) dive guide, I work/lived in Koror,Palau for a year. I never remember the weather being 'deadly hot' with the boat flying through the Rock Islands. The only 'caves' you can experience are Chandelier Cave which has four air chambers, Blue Holes(large),Virgin Blue Hole(deep),& Siaes Tunnel(long).
Enjoy Rainbow's End!

"living life without a hard bottom"
KT

 

[ScubaMoMo]

Btw. even in may you can be unlucky and be on the outskirts of a typhoon as it happened to me this year.

 

[Mossman]

Yup. Can't even be that rare since it happened to me when I went in May a few years back. Cat 5 Super Typhoon Hagibis, May 16-21, 2002. Palau only got hit by a smidgen of the tail then, yet I've never seen harder rain in my life.