Liveaboards In Palau

[scubagal00]

My LDS is taking a liveaboard trip to Palau in March. It sounds like awesome diving with lots, and lots of fantastic marine life to see. Unfortunately, it is a $4500 p/person trip. Thats way out of my price range. I Googled Palau Liveaboards and got a hit for the Big Blue Explorer,http://www.palauscuba.com/ and found the prices pretty good. Anyone have any info on this boat? Anyone dove Palau? Anyone with other ideas?:14:

 

[ChrisM]

I dove the Big Blue New Year's 2004. It's a great boat, very large, and a unique liveaboard since it used to be a Japanese communications ship, so it's a real "ship" with bulkheads etc. Not like a purpose built dive boat. Great and attentive crew.

Main difference between the Big Blue and the Agg is that the Agg anchors inside the lagoon, the Big Blue outside. They saw it's because of the draft of the BBE, but it might be more money related. It's mother ship diving - All diving is done off of two smaller boats where your gear is kept. SO the main ship rarely moves (unless for a long trip to Peleliu), so if there are any seas the BBE will be a rougher ride than the Agg.

As for dive sites, both boats visit exactly the same sites, and BBE's boat rides are slightly shorter since the boat is anchored closer to most sites like Blue Corner, Blue Holes, etc.

L/A is the way to go to get the most bang for your diving buck. You can do the hi traffic sites before the day boats come and after they leave. If you go land based, you are looking at 1/2 hour or more boat rides each way to the dive sites.

Palau is well worth it

 

[Shasta_man]

I second the motion on the BBE. It was an excellent boat for us. I'd also say that the Big Blue would the ship you'd want if there was seas. But you don't experience that because you're anchored in a channel amongst the islands. every site is 5 minutes away except when you make the dedicated trip to Peleliu. Which is where the big stuff is. I liked the BBE because two individual boats made for a smaller group.

Wake up, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, night dive, repeat. You're only responsible for putting on your suit.

I'd think though that your LDS price is about $1000 off of what you can do inidividually. It's about $2100 for the boat, then we paid around $1200? for LAX - Palau.

 

[Shasta_man]

The problem with Palau as a newer diver is screwing up your viz and shark expectations on dives in future locations.... You'll be at the pinnacle of those experiences pretty much.

 

[scubagal00]

Thanks for the feedback. It is definitely a trip I will plan for 2007. I was going to the Turks and Caicos, but it was cancelled. I off on the Juliet next week heading to the Bahamas. Thanks again...

 

[Rickg]

My LDS is taking a liveaboard trip to Palau in March. It sounds like awesome diving with lots, and lots of fantastic marine life to see. Unfortunately, it is a $4500 p/person trip. Thats way out of my price range. I Googled Palau Liveaboards and got a hit for the Big Blue Explorer,http://www.palauscuba.com/ and found the prices pretty good. Anyone have any info on this boat? Anyone dove Palau? Anyone with other ideas?:14:

scubagall00,

I think you are going to find that the airfare from the East Coast to Palau is going to kill you. It is typically around $2,000 from out here in San Diego for a R/T ticket so it doesn't look like $4,500 p/person trip from the East Coast is excessive.

Rickg

 

[takoyaki]

Check out Fish n Fins' Ocean Hunter and Ocean Hunter 2. These are the premier boats in the area! And this is the shop you want to be diving with! I don't work for them...but I do really like them! I've been on both BBE and AGG and I can tell you; the food is better on the Ocean Hunters, the groups are MUCH smaller, the DM's know more. It's a different class of operation IMHO!

 

[tboxcar]

How about just going to Palau and finding a l/a or a land based operation once there? I will be in the Philippines come June and have looked into flight from Manila to Kokor. Can anyone give recommedations on land based operations as well as liveaboards once there? Would I save any money by finding a spot on a liveaboard where someone has 'dropped out', any thoughts on this would be great!

 

[SubMariner]

We did a week on BBE in November. As has already been indicated, it is a converted Japanese research vessel, so some of the "amenities" have been adapted to that configuration. For example ALL dives are done from the chase boats. While your first impression is that it's no big deal, it does get a bit "old" when you wind up spending 30 - 60 minutes getting to a dive site that on other dive ops you would simply jump off the stern.

The majority of the dives are drift dives. Currents can be fierce. So if you're doing still photography, there may not be as many photo ops as you'd like (this was ours).

To be honest, while it was an interesting experience, we preferred our Red Sea liveaboard trips. Next week we're on our way to Oz for 8 days aboard Spirit of Freedom, which we hope will be the best of all.

Feel free to PM me for more info about BBE.

 

[Shasta_man]

30-60 minutes travel to the sites? Not our experience at all.

One day we went to Ulong Island and dove all day at spots nearby and the last day we went to Jellyfish lake and then onto the Iro. Otherwise, we anchored in the middle of the channel and dove the spots around the compass at the islands you can see from the ship.

Diving off the stern can be good, but also means you come back to the boat, not the boat comes to you.