Trip Report Palau Mar/Apr 2022 : Wrecks, Caves, & Reefs

[beldridg]

I haven't posted anything in while because I just spent two weeks in Palau and got in 25 dives in 9 days. It was fantastic.

It was my first trip to Palau and I got a really good sense of the variety of the diving that is there. I dove two caves, four wrecks and a bunch of reef & wall dives. Very odd for me, all my dives on this trip were on open circuit with a single AL80 and none involved decompression!

I wrote up an overall review / overview of the travel & Covid testing requirements, hotel, and dive operation at the link below. I really recommend Palau to anybody looking for an international trip. The diving is easy and the variety of diving is great.

Trip Report : Palau Wrecks, Caves & Reefs

Intro It has been a little over two years since my last big, international dive trip (Grand Cayman for a KISS Crossover Course and some deep wall diving in Feb 2020). I had originally planned to di…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

Over the next week or two, I will post to my blog additional stories about the four wrecks, two caves and an overview of the reef & wall diving. I will try to remember to cross post them here in case people aren't signed up to receive updates on my posts.

As usual, all of the posts will contain plenty of photos.

Here is a low-res photo of a fan coral from a site called Siaes Tunnel:

PS - Don't worry, we have some projects in progress to find some new wrecks in SoCal.

Regards,

- brett

 

[cozcharlie]

Look forward to seeing your posts, I a headed that way next month.

 

[beldridg]

Look forward to seeing your posts, I a headed that way next month.

First post is live. Chandelier Cave:

Chandelier Cave (Palau — 35-60 fsw)

Chandelier Cave is an interesting dive that is located very close to the dive shops in Koror, Palau. The entrance is a small opening that is only about 10 feet from the surface of the water in an u…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

I'm not sure I will cross-post them all here so you might want to subscribe to the blog.

- brett

 

[beldridg]

Just posted the second summary which is the Temple of Doom cave complete with turtle skeletons:

Temple of Doom (Palau — 110 fsw)

Temple of Doom is a cave that is within the “Blue Holes” site on the outer reef in Palau. You first enter one of the blue holes and then there is an almost hidden entrance into the cave…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

- brett

 

[beldridg]

Third post about my trip to Palau (the Jake Seaplane) is up. It has a link to a pretty good photogrammetry model I built using ~ 500 pictures.

Jake Seaplane (Palau — 45 fsw)

Intro The “Jake” Seaplane is a somewhat famous, if easy, dive in Palau. It is very close to the Palau dive shops and hence easily accessible for a 3rd or 4th dive of the day given the l…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

- brett

 

[beldridg]

I posted about the Choyu Maru yesterday. Here is a link and a photo:

Chuyo Maru (Palau — 120 fsw)

Background Chuyo Maru is one of the many shipwrecks in the lagoons around Koror that resulted from Operation Desecrate One. A “maru” is a Japanese merchant ship. During the war, many me…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

I have two more posts about wrecks (Iro, Teshio) and then one about the amazing reefs and walls.

- brett

 

[beldridg]

Here is the post about the Teshio Maru.

Teshio Maru (Palau — 80 fsw)

The Teshio is another converted Japanese merchant marine ship that sank during Operation Desecrate One. She is 321 feet long with a beam of 45 feet and offers ample opportunity for penetration and …

wreckedinmyrevo.com

It has a very photogenic bow:

- brett

 

[beldridg]

Here is the post on all the reefs & walls I dove while in Palau. I have descriptions of each site along with a ton of pictures of sharks, mantas, coral, etc.

It is a rather long post with many pictures so I hope you enjoy it.

I have one more post to write about the Iro Maru wreck.

Overall, I highly recommend diving in Palau.

Palau Reefs & Walls

Palau has some fantastic reefs and walls. Below are some of the sites I visited during my Mar/Apr 2022 trip to Palau. One of the great aspects of Palau diving is that there is something for everyon…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

Excellant postings!!

 

[beldridg]

Excellant postings!!

Thanks for reading and for the feedback!

- brett