BSOD
Contributor
Of the places mentioned thus far, I've been to Palau, Hawaii (Big Island, Maui, Oahu, Kauai), and the Maldives.
Firstly, I'd cross the Maldives off your list. If you're spending the time and money to fly literally half way around the world to see a bunch of islands (and what's in the water around them), limiting yourself to one island doesn't really make sense IMO. It's really best to do a liveaboard here, which will allow you to see multiple islands/atolls in one trip, and will cost the same (if not less) than staying and diving on one of the resort islands. One of the couples on my liveaboard stayed at an island for a bit afterwards, and said the diving there was ludicrously priced (I wanna say somewhere around $300 for two tanks?) since there's only one dive center on the island. If you were looking for a beautiful island to chill on while doing a bit of diving, it'd be different.
Palau is amazing, and I think sounds ideal for your situation (schools of fish, big stuff, great viz, and nice warm water to boot). I've seen some people who've done a liveaboard there complaining about how land based diving there requires long boat rides to the dive sites, but I really enjoyed those rides. Zipping by lush tropical islands and amazingly blue water on a sunny day with the wind blowing through your hair, passing by the occasional turtle or flying fish? Yeah, that sounds like a horrible time . That said, getting to sites before the crowds and getting in another dive or two per day can be a nice upside if that fits your needs - but I digress. Some possible downsides to Palau though are that it is a slightly more... adventurous/rough-around-the-edges/not-uber-developed locale. I don't mean to say it's unsafe at all, but if you're looking for a Westin and/or McD's, this ain't it. Granted, it's been a few years since I've been, but I doubt it's drastically changed.
As for Hawaii, outside of the manta dive on the Big Island, I've actually liked diving on Maui the best - although specifically the short trip from Maui to dive at Lana'i. On land, there's plenty to do/eat (great food), but aside from the manta dive, it's really more of a place you go diving while there, not a place you go specifically for diving.
If you're looking to combine Hawaii and Palau into one trip, remember to take a close look how flights work out. The "usual" route from the mainland was LAX to HNL to Guam to Palau, and at least previously, it was priced unfavorably to fly and stay in Hawaii then fly to Palau. When I was researching, it would've cost more to fly from HNL to Palau (via Guam) than it costs to fly from SFO to Palau (via HNL and Guam).
Firstly, I'd cross the Maldives off your list. If you're spending the time and money to fly literally half way around the world to see a bunch of islands (and what's in the water around them), limiting yourself to one island doesn't really make sense IMO. It's really best to do a liveaboard here, which will allow you to see multiple islands/atolls in one trip, and will cost the same (if not less) than staying and diving on one of the resort islands. One of the couples on my liveaboard stayed at an island for a bit afterwards, and said the diving there was ludicrously priced (I wanna say somewhere around $300 for two tanks?) since there's only one dive center on the island. If you were looking for a beautiful island to chill on while doing a bit of diving, it'd be different.
Palau is amazing, and I think sounds ideal for your situation (schools of fish, big stuff, great viz, and nice warm water to boot). I've seen some people who've done a liveaboard there complaining about how land based diving there requires long boat rides to the dive sites, but I really enjoyed those rides. Zipping by lush tropical islands and amazingly blue water on a sunny day with the wind blowing through your hair, passing by the occasional turtle or flying fish? Yeah, that sounds like a horrible time . That said, getting to sites before the crowds and getting in another dive or two per day can be a nice upside if that fits your needs - but I digress. Some possible downsides to Palau though are that it is a slightly more... adventurous/rough-around-the-edges/not-uber-developed locale. I don't mean to say it's unsafe at all, but if you're looking for a Westin and/or McD's, this ain't it. Granted, it's been a few years since I've been, but I doubt it's drastically changed.
As for Hawaii, outside of the manta dive on the Big Island, I've actually liked diving on Maui the best - although specifically the short trip from Maui to dive at Lana'i. On land, there's plenty to do/eat (great food), but aside from the manta dive, it's really more of a place you go diving while there, not a place you go specifically for diving.
If you're looking to combine Hawaii and Palau into one trip, remember to take a close look how flights work out. The "usual" route from the mainland was LAX to HNL to Guam to Palau, and at least previously, it was priced unfavorably to fly and stay in Hawaii then fly to Palau. When I was researching, it would've cost more to fly from HNL to Palau (via Guam) than it costs to fly from SFO to Palau (via HNL and Guam).