Is Palau liveaboard-only

[farsidefan1]

I have been on the Aggressor and loved it. Can't beat the convenience of leaving gear on the skiff. For 4 or 5 dives a day it is hard to beat. I also spent a week with Sam's. I had prepaid for the 3 dives a day boat and never had a problem. Some divers tried to add the 3rd daily dive and were disappointed the boat was full and there were not enough divers to fill a second or third boat for 3 a day so prepay The house reef is nice but not exceptional. You can find green mandarins doing their evening mating rituals right out front. I stayed in the sea passion hotel which is a 5 minute walk away. Sams will taxi you back and forth as well. By boat or car. Sams was quite a bit less pricey but then my memory may not be taking into account that I paid 50% extra to have my own room on the aggressor ( I didn't want a snoring stranger messing with my nights).Still the sea passion with included breakfast was very reasonable as was the diving with Sams. You pay the live aboard to avoid shleping your gear around. Worth it if you want to do the extra diving.

 

[robint]

Possible my TOP dive I have ever done was the Pelilui dives... freakin' amazing! We got lucky on our liveaboard, and did 3 nice long dives there. We had a school of sharks of 40+ there... crystal clear water with blazing fast current. What a rush.

 

[Centrals]

Possible my TOP dive I have ever done was the Pelilui dives... freakin' amazing! We got lucky on our liveaboard, and did 3 nice long dives there. We had a school of sharks of 40+ there... crystal clear water with blazing fast current. What a rush.

Most liveaboards will go there unless the sea is really rough. Diving Palau and missing Pelilui is mindboggling.

 

[Cosmographer]

Thanks for the advice, all. Based on the advice here, we decided to go with the land-based option for 4 reasons: 1) Cost is one third the price of a liveaboard, 2) Land-based still gives us 3 dives per day, 3) Living on these boats seems a bit confining (things to do, food options, wifi), 4) We don't miss much with the land-based option (Peleliu is a go with 6 divers or more weather permitting and we don't mind 1 hour boat rides).

Having not yet done a liveaboard, I am anxious to try it out, but I think it might be better reserved as one component of a vacation rather than the whole vacation itself. We do like our luxuries, and while we don't mind "roughing it" for a week or two, we'd like some space to relax before and afterwards. Since we live relatively close, I'm sure we will return at some point for a liveaboard (after we try Raja Ampat, Komodo, Chuuk, PNG...lol)