Palau LOB - Aggressor, Ocean Hunter or the new Black Pearl/7Liveaboard?

[Shasta_man]

I prefer liveaboards because of the experiences I get and that people have to be more serious divers to go out for a week straight compared to who you are likely encounter on day trips. At the same time, I am concerned about the issue Dr Bill mentions. My experience with liveaboards around the world has been that there is a mix of boats, some with all expats as the guides and the local guys in the engine room, but also boats with local people as guides and people you interact with. So possible to have a local experience. However, I address that issue by doing liveaboard then some time on land afterwards to get local experience. Pros and cons.

I call this out here because it is an hour speedboat ride in the ocean each way.

 

[vimaldude]

We did Palau Aggressor trip 2 years back and it was wonderful. The crew was amazing and diving was one of the best we have done anywhere. The crew kept the boat very clean. The rooms are functional (but you only sleep and take shower there anyways). Food was great and a good variety every day. The salon was very comfortable and the top deck was very relaxing after a dive.

We did Blue corner 3 times, German channel 2 times (my least favorite dive in Palau), Ulong channel, and other usual spot. We couldn't go to Peleliu due to weather conditions (it was in Sept).

Overall, a big thumbs up for Aggressor.

 

[Akimbo]

I spent a week on the Rock Island Aggressor in May 2019. The elevator on the stern for their dive skiff works great. There are a lot of places you can't get close enough to on a liveaboard so they have a large skiff they raise out of the water to deck level. Your gear stays on the skiff, you board in your wetsuit, and take your camera gear if you have it. Food was better than what I had during two weeks I spent onshore. We were lucky in that we only had a half load of passengers so everyone had a cabin to themselves and the skiff wasn't crowded at all. There are plenty of videos on YouTube that shows it.

They were only running one of the two Aggressor boats at a time when I was there due to limited passenger loads but they are sister ships so it doesn't matter which one you get. I dove with Fish 'n Fins the rest of the time using basically the same skiffs as on the Aggressors. I also took some tours of the islands with Fish 'n Fins, which is interesting if you are interested in history in general and the Japanese occupation in particular. I went with a neighbor who grew up there as a kid because his father was in charge of facilities on the island after WWII.

As for maximizing diving, liveaboards are the best option. I especially enjoyed dives off Orange Beach on Pelalu. One of my uncles was a Marine and died there (before I was born). There is a decent variety of restaurants onshore and the locals are very nice. The day boat runs can be pretty long for the better locations. For a solo traveler, the cost was about the same for a hotel, meals, and day boats as the Aggressor. It is nice to spend a day or two in a hotel on either side of a liveaboard if you can spare the time and money.

As with any liveaboard, bring your Nitrox card and a spare decompression computer. One guy lost a day of diving when his died. The Aggressor boats let us borrow a Nautilus VHF radio beacon. There is a LOT of current diving so having a Nautilus or a PLB is advisable in case you get swept away. A reef hook is also a virtual necessity. When I went, the Aggressor Web site stated that DIN valves weren't available on these boats. Not true, they were all convertible pro valves.

 

[rongoodman]

I had a great trip of the Agressor boat a couple of years ago. I'd like to go back, in spite of the brutal flight out there from NY, but the island is only open on a very limited basis as of now.

 

[Hoag]

Has anyone ever done a trip to Palau as a shore based trip?

If so, how was it?

 

[Akimbo]

Has anyone ever done a trip to Palau as a shore based trip?

If so, how was it?

I did both, a week on a liveaboard and almost two weeks onshore using day boats. My neighbor has gone several times with his wife and only dives day boats. See my post above.

I never saw any diving from the shore like is common in Bonaire.

 

[peeweediver]

Slight detour question for those that have been to Palau. Yesterday a guy came into my LDS while I was there and said this about Palau, "Besides sharks and clams, it's totally boring. After two days of sharks you'd want to leave.". Since I'm set to go in 2022 (land based), can I ask for a response to the "boring" and "want to leave" comments? Any healthy reefs, schooling fish, critters, etc?
Thanks.

Rob

 

[Mod63]

as a friend of mine once said: There are better places for shark dives, wreck dives, critter dives, wall dives, whatever dives than Palau. But Palau has all of them in one place .

I did not think Palau boring, as the diversity of dives was great and we had sharks and the funy "disco clams", and critters and mandarin fish and some caves and wrecks.

 

[Akimbo]

"Besides sharks and clams, it's totally boring.

Sharks were small and plentiful but the mantas were big. Tons of turtles, coral, and small to medium size fish — denser than Turks & Caicos. You can do wall dives but I did get bored with hooking into the top of the wall and watching everything swim/drift by. There are several long-swim-throughs, I hesitate to call them cave dives except for one. The wrecks are so-so compared to Truk but are a good intro to wreck diving.

The part I was least happy with is you had to stay with the herd, mostly because of the currents. Boats would live-boat or come when the guide pops a DSMB. Many dives along the outer reef are a fair distance offshore and there are frequently several boats at the same site. You could easily end up on the wrong boat or a long distance away if you don't stay with your group.

I understand it was much worse when large groups from China came. I guess the CCP is PO'd at Palau so they forbid travel from China.

 

[runsongas]

@peeweediver sounds like that guy is just hard to please. palau has a great mix of diving and quality that is very good all around. galapagos/socorro may be better for pelagics, indonesia might be better for reefs/macro, truk for wrecks, etc. but palau is no slouch. it is not nearly as monotonous as a week at tiger beach/bimini.