Palau in late August or early September?

[Monishi]

Hi everyone,
I'm going to do Palau Aggressor II starting on 31 August for a week of a liveaboard. But after some research, I found out that the summer is not a good time to do diving in Palau and if I get unlucky due to the weather, the boat won't take you to the famous dive sites, only take you to the boarding dive sites. I took this up because aggressor was doing a huge discount on this week. If anyone has been to Palau during late August or early September, how was the diving like? Would like to hear your experience diving in Palau around this time of the year.


thanks,
Mimi

 

[Deep Water Dan]

You can get unlucky due to the weather any time of the year out here. It's either tropical storms in the summer or high winds and/or large swells from the north in the winter. Pick your poison. Personally, I'd shoot for summertime and take my chances with the storms.

 

[Monishi]

Thanks Deep Water Dan. Glad to know that I didn't pick the worst time of the year for Palau livebaoard. Everyone says Palau is an amazing place to dive, especially the famous Blue Corner, German Channel, and Ulong Channle, and would be a bummer if the storm would hit on the week while I will be there. But fingers crossed!

 

[Scoober]

Yeah. You can get lucky or unlucky anywhere at any time. It's all about odds. Thing is, the prevailing winds during summer and fall mean that you a far more likely to get locked out of the real deal dive sites during these seasons. Hence the great discount. Hate to say it, but personally there is no way I would risk it myself, unless I lived nearby in PI or Guam or some place.

 

[matdiver]

Hi everyone,
I'm going to do Palau Aggressor II starting on 31 August for a week of a liveaboard. But after some research, I found out that the summer is not a good time to do diving in Palau and if I get unlucky due to the weather, the boat won't take you to the famous dive sites, only take you to the boarding dive sites. I took this up because aggressor was doing a huge discount on this week. If anyone has been to Palau during late August or early September, how was the diving like? Would like to hear your experience diving in Palau around this time of the year.


thanks,
Mimi

Hi,
yes, I've done pretty much the same thing, only the big discount I was being offered was with Ocean Hunter III. I think the reason why the operators offer discounts for that period is the reputation for the weather to be less good, but actually the worst weather I've ever experienced in 6 trips to Palau was just last month (1st week of Jan.). Basically, I wouldn't worry about it, especially as you're on a liveaboard. I think the dayboats are FAR more weather dependent, since they're so small. Here's a video clip I made from our dives there in late August 2010:
[video=vimeo;15332948]https://vimeo.com/15332948[/video]
(Sorry about the quality but it was done on my old standard def. camera, and I'm not sure I used the best Vimeo settings either...)
The vis. was lower at the sites really close to shore, but for Blue Corner, Peleliu, German Channel, Ulong Channel the diving was just amazing. It doesn't rain underwater!
Cheers,
Matt

 

[bracko]

I went in August and while it rained probably half the afternoons we dived it was only a few light showers and didn't disturb the water vis at all. One afternoon the heavens absolutely opened for probably an hour or so... I've never experienced rain like it. but again, the impact was minimal.

swell wasn't a concern as you're protected for most of the trips out (I did land based and dived with Sam's).

the advantage of diving in August is that you're only sharing the most popular dive sites with maybe a boat or two and if you arrive at the same time, either you go in first or they do and you wait for 10min. we never really had to share dive sites with the exception of perhaps blue hole and blue corner.

 

[ChrisADDICK]

This is of great interest as I am considering booking a liveaboard trip to the Pacific and not yet decided between Fiji, the Philippenes and Palau or even a two boat trip, one in the Philippenes and the second in Palau. For the best weather, diving conditions and good prospects of encounters with some of the larger inhabitants of the oceans such as whale sharks and mantas, when is the best time to visit these areas?

any other tips or comments about liveaboard diving in those areas, would be most welcome.

 

[guamrider]

Hi all, I lived out here for 35 years, was the owner of a large dive shop here on Guam, and I always recommended that divers go to Palau in the summertime. Here's why.

1. The normal northeast trade winds, which start in early to late February and continue through late September, are at their minimal strength during the summer months. Although you are susceptible to tropical storms or depressions in this area, it is a very, very rare that they ever go to Palau. In other words the seas are flat and the winds are calm

2. This is traditionally the slowest months for tourism in Palau and as someone else mention you'll find if you were bodes at each dive site. This drop in tourism has almost nothing to do with weather patterns. It seems that divers like to travel out here when it's really cold where they're at.

3. do some shopping around because you can get some pretty good deals in the summer time.

I hope this helps.

 

[corynord1]

Cant recommend the Aggressor / Dancer in Palau enough, our trip two weeks ago was fantastic!

GoPro vid; Purley Palau - YouTube

 

[Capt. Pete]

Thanks for the info! This topic came up in the shop yesterday since we are planning a Palau/Yap trip during this time frame next year.