Palau dive season - when's best/worst to go?

[nwflyboy]

Making some long-range plans for a dive trip, possibly to Palau, but not for a while (later 2015 or 2016 - I plan ahead ).

When are the best/worst seasons to go? I'm sure the snarky answer is "anytime you can is a good time to go" (and I don't doubt that's true) but I'm looking for good weather/optimal dive conditions/special critters 'n stuff - basically, if one could go for a week or two at any time of the year, when would you pick/avoid? Thanks!

 

[diverjen]

Interested as well, although for me I always have to balance my desire for warmest water with best visibility as usually they don't coincide.

 

[nwflyboy]

For me, I try to time things when the chance of storms is low (especially hoping to dodge the typhoons/hurricanes that can ruin viz and/or disrupt diving for many days in a row, or worse, wreak havoc not only with travel connections but of course also lay waste to local infrastructure). When I fly all the way to the far side of the world, I like to find clear viz and flat seas (in that oder) at my destination. Next consideration is if there are any (reasonably predictable) seasonal goodies that can add to a destination (critter migrations/concentrations, spawning, etc.). I know some destinations are generally great year 'round, but since some are also "once in a lifetime" destinations, I try to maximize my time there (by trying to avoid seasonal risks).

Is there a storm season for Palau? It's in the South Pacific, so I figure there's the occasional typhoon or lesser storm....but what time of year do those typically hit? Thanks for any insights.

 

[Rhone Man]

Never been to Palau but have been diving in that region before, and would make two comments/thoughts/suggestions:

Don't worry about aiming for warm water. It is really warm all year around. I am not talking about Caribbean warm (I wear a 3mm even in the summer in Caribbean), I am talking T-shirt weather even in winter. I am talking the temperature of baby's urine. Sometimes you actually feel like you could sweat on dives.

Second, I wouldn't worry as much about typhoons. People fret about them, but the odds of an individual locating getting hit by a typhoon during the year when you visit is about 1 in 5. If one does hit during that year, the odds of those typhoon days falling during your vacation are - statistically - about 1 in 26. Those are slim risks to plan around.

 

[Mike Veitch]

The best time is January through March, especially if you can coincide with Full or New Moon phases, this is the time of year that orange spine surgeonfish and moorish idols congregate on the reefs for mating and therefore bring in more sharks. Also, it happens to be the best weather! Don't plan it for June - Oct as this tends to be the rough weather time of year, when the weather is either fantastic or complete crap.. not much in between during that time of year.
Bonus for Jan - March is manta mating time in nearby Yap as well...

 

[Kevrumbo]

Yeah, we had stormy weather/rough seas & winds nearly all through the first week of October in Palau, due to the distant but still potent outer bands of Super-Typhoon Vongfong: I honestly thought there was no way we were going to dive the outside of German Channel to the walls & drop-offs of the Blue Corner area for that entire week. . .

 

[nwflyboy]

Thanks all, very useful info. January through March is actually my favorite time to go away to someplace warm, since at home (Pacific Northwest of USA) it's rainy and cold then, so that's actually ideal for me. I'm not at all concerned about water temps being warm enough for us, I'm sure that'll be a non-issue.

Speaking of Yap...I'd love to do a few days on Yap as well, but what are the options for flying between Palau and Yap? My casual research has turned up the United Airlines island-hopper, but I believe that only goes once or twice a week. Any other, more flexible (frequent) options?

Many thanks for the helpful info.