October visit to Palau a good idea?

[volvorules]

Hello all, I'm gathering information for a planned 2 or 3 week trip to Palau (and Chuuk or Yap also), and it looks like October will be the best month to go as far as my schedule. I'm just wondering from those who have been around this time or know more details about the area if October is a good time to go as far as weather and diving, visibility, etc. Thinking about doing a liveaboard in Palau, and perhaps some resort time, and then resort time and day trips in Yap.

Thanks for any info you can provide!

Rob

 

[Deep Water Dan]

It's a crap shoot. The worst weather I've ever experienced on a dive trip was in Truk Lagoon last October. Three to four foot waves inside the lagoon and constant rain for days on end. So bad that we had to do our surface intervals back at the hotel. But you could go in October and have superb weather. My guess would be that Palau/Yap would be good that time of year. Try to schedule around a full/new moon.

 

[guamrider]

Hi, like Dan said it's a crapshoot. Historically, October–December really isn't the greatest time to go to Palau because this is the tropical storm season AND the winds used to shift and come out of the southwest. This would make a large swells back quite a few dive sites including blue corner and the blue holes.

In the past few years that's changed somewhat but it now seems to be switching back to what it used to be. I live here on Guam and have been diving for 30 years so if you can possibly pick another time, say March–June, that's what I'd recommend.

It all depends upon what we can't control…… Mother nature.

 

[Steve P]

Dive bag is packed and the flight from O'Hare leaves this Friday at 06:00! My wife & I will be diving the wrecks of Truk Lagoon next week and living the dream on the Palau Aggresor the following week.

Any thoughts about upcoming weather, guamrider? From what I can tell, the forecast for next couple of weeks looks ok - though I'm sure it can change quickly. We don't mind some rain (haven't had much in the midwest lately) as long as the the winds cooperate. Reading last week's Aggressor trip report, Palau had much better conditions than the weather forecast I pulled up would have indicated.

This will be our first trip to Micronesia and to say I'm overly excited about this trip :banana:well, you get the idea . . .

We will spend all day Sunday in Guam and will stop by MDA for the Nitrox discount for Blue Lagoon. Thanks for the tip regarding MDA, Pete. Matt gave us great service.

I will post a full trip report when we get back.

Steve

 

[Deep Water Dan]

Steve P -

Partly to mostly cloudy, chance of rain, high of 88. That forecast is good for just about every day of the year out here except when there's a tropical storm in the area. And those pop up with no warning.

My advice for Truk, as that's your first stop, would be to try to get plenty of rest before you start diving and make sure you drink lots of water. Might want to go easy on the booze the first couple of nights and before you do any of the deeper dives. Some folks don't realize how fatigued or dehydrated they are when they first arrive.

Do you have dive insurance? If not, you might want to get some before you head out here. Last I heard a medevac runs around $60,000. Dive insurance is around $100. There's a chamber on Truk, but it's not always operational or the operator might be off-island. Best to be prepared.

The Blue Lagoon is great, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.

Dan

 

[Kevrumbo]

National Weather Service Forecast Office Guam Home

 

[Steve P]

Steve P -

Partly to mostly cloudy, chance of rain, high of 88. That forecast is good for just about every day of the year out here except when there's a tropical storm in the area. And those pop up with no warning.

My advice for Truk, as that's your first stop, would be to try to get plenty of rest before you start diving and make sure you drink lots of water. Might want to go easy on the booze the first couple of nights and before you do any of the deeper dives. Some folks don't realize how fatigued or dehydrated they are when they first arrive.

Do you have dive insurance? If not, you might want to get some before you head out here. Last I heard a medevac runs around $60,000. Dive insurance is around $100. There's a chamber on Truk, but it's not always operational or the operator might be off-island. Best to be prepared.

The Blue Lagoon is great, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.

Dan

Thanks for the info & advice, Dan.

Forecast looks as good as we can expect. Will keep our fingers crossed.

Good point about rest & hydration. This will be the longest trip we've made. However, due to our travel arrangements (freq. flier award miles) I think we will be ok. Our flight arrives in Guam on Saturday evening and we're on the Monday morning flight to Chuuk. So we will have 2 nights & a full day in Guam to recover from the long flight.

Yes, to travel insurance. We've been DAM members since 2005 & have the insurance option. Hopefully won't need it, but better safe than sorry.

Thanks for the tips. We wil be on "Guam time" before long.

Steve

 

[Deep Water Dan]

Make sure you have your camera in hand for the drive from the airport to the Blue Lagoon.

 

[guamrider]

Steve, I hope you have a great flight out here, but be forewarned: the flight from Hawaii to Guam (if you're routed this way on United) is on one of the oldest 777's in the fleet and it doesn't have all the amenities that the new planes do. Bring a book or something to keep you busy on the flight. Even in business there's no options other than one movie everyone has to watch.

This time of year the only time that we pay attention to any weather forecast is when they're talking about a tropical depression, storm, or typhoon that's forming. They usually form around Pohnpei, then head to Chuuk, and then either heads straight west to go below Guam or turn northeast somewhere near Chuuk and then head to the east of us.

We haven't had anything serious for at least 12 years so I hope our good luck holds for another 12 years. Those storms really suck.

I used to produce a television show on diving out here and have a lot of the videos we did on Truk here: https://vimeo.com/album/212796. Absolute must do dives are the Fujikawa, Shinkoku (at lease 2 on each of these), Nippo, Yamigiri. If you're a deep diver the San Francisco is very good. These are, and always have been, the favorites of most divers going there.

I hope this helps. Pete