Feb/Mar 2011 - Palau or Cocos Island, your opinions???

[diverken374]

Was there in early March and water temps were consistently 82-84 through "recreational" depths, can't imagine it would be much cooler in February, certainly never to the mid-upper 70's like you sometimes get in your frigid waters of Hawaii as it's only a handful of degrees north of the equator. Sure, maybe the occasionally upwelling or cold current might bring in a rush of cooler water, but that's only refreshing given the really hot and humid surface conditions year-round, coolest in Feb/Mar to be sure, but that's only relative - I've sweated in lots of tropical climes around the world, but never like I've sweated in Palau (for example, I was in Bangkok for a layover barely over a week ago, and enjoyed a nice few hours by the pool when the temps were in the 90s and the heat index supposedly over 100 with the rainy monsoon humidity - that would be considered a very pleasant day in Palau, especially if you had a little breeze).

Fortunately Feb/Mar is a good time to catch a breeze since the tradewinds are blowing, and you will be diving in bathwater (especially in Jellyfish Lake). Everyone has his/her own preferences, to be sure, and you can be picky and choosy when it comes time to making the rounds again on places you've already visited, but you honestly can't possibly go wrong with Palau in February and will have no regrets. Even if you later find you like Cocos better or 10 or 20 other places in the world (and I'd love to have that list if you can make one up!) you won't ever regret diving Palau because it's definitely unique and special. After two trips, it's still tops of my list for potential repeats, and would be my next "big trip" destination whenever that might be if it weren't for the fact I haven't visited Fiji yet and there are still parts of Indonesia I'd like to tap.

As you're coming from Hawaii and hence Palau may be far less of a PITA to get to than Cocos and the rest of the diving world is already jealous of you for that, it should be a no brainer. Do it!

Thanks for the info. I will be doing Yap for a week then Palau Aggressor for two weeks however have not made the final commitment as I wonder if I should do one week on the Aggressor and visit Truk or Ponphei (sp) instead? Any thoughts. Too many options so little time!

 

[Mossman]

Thanks for the info. I will be doing Yap for a week then Palau Aggressor for two weeks however have not made the final commitment as I wonder if I should do one week on the Aggressor and visit Truk or Ponphei (sp) instead? Any thoughts. Too many options so little time!

On my Aggressor trip, one diver was there for his second week and he still seemed happy. However, you obviously will repeat many of the sites you did the previous week (that's not necessarily a bad thing). Yap and Palau are natural "buddies" since many of the Palau flights stopover in Yap anyway making it a seamless connection. It's a much bigger PITA to get from Palau to Truk, but people do it all the time. That's where most of the group that had chartered my PA trip were headed after Palau; I, unfortunately, had to head back home.

If you can get a spot on the Odyssey and manage the connection between Palau and Truk, I believe that would be the best of both worlds. I've never been to Pohnpei, so can't comment on that. Unless you're planning on returning to Micronesia soon, might as well see the wrecks of Truk before they disintegrate.