Lots of questions about Palau...

[mforseth]

Hi - I'm new to Scubaboard...Mary from Wisconsin. Afriend and I are thinking of diving Palau. The time we have free is late May or June. I read that this is the rainy season in Palau...? Would it be a bad time to dive there?

When or if we go, would you recommend a live aboard or resort. I don't mind staying in marginal lodging if the dive shop is good, their boats are good, and the boat rides to dive sites aren't really loooong.

Would a live aboard be better due to crowding at the best dive sites - the boat could be there earlier or later, etc.

The liveaboards I've looked at are pretty spendy... And I don't want to fly around the planet to stay a week...maybe resorts would be cheaper, stay longer...? Or a combo of a boat and a resort? Help!!! Thanks much for any advice you can offer. Mary

 

[Kevrumbo]

Liveaboard is the best way, especially for the first time. You're generally the first group of divers out on the more popular dive sites (Blue Corner, Big Drop-off, German Channel etc) in the morning, about an hour before the "masses" arrive from the land based dive ops. Plus you can have more dives per day at the outer atoll/reef divesites on liveaboard, instead of only two before heading back to the land-based dive ops in Koror.

It rains more frequently between July & October, and although Palau is outside the typhoon alley leading straight into the US Territory of Guam --Guam happens to be one of the gateway hubs to Palau so you have to be aware of planning trips out that way during Typhoon Season, from late June thru December. . .

National Weather Service Forecast Office Guam Home

 

[vladimir]

May is fine--I went in May. Take a look at Undercurrent's seasonal dive planner. I did a liveaboard, the Aggressor. In my opinion, that is usually the best way to dive, and in Palau the boat rides can be pretty long, making a liveaboard even more appealing. But a lot of people come back totally pleased with their land-based dive trips. When comparing costs keep in mind that you can usually do a lot more dives on a liveaboard trip; four or five a day is the norm on many boats. I tacked a few days at the Palau Pacific Resort on to the end of my Aggressor trip, just to log some hammock time and shake that regimented feel that often accompanies a highly scheduled week of dving.