Palau next week

[lunaticgate]

Hi guys!
Yesterday morning I receveid the confirmation about my holiday request for the next week.
So in a couple of hours I booked the flight from Tokyo to Koror saturday evening and 1 week dive package with Palau Scuba Adventures. Me and my wife are both AOW with about 50 dive logged. The Dive Master told us the dives are suitable for us but in any case they will evaluate during our first dives if there are any sites that are not suited to our level. We have dived with moderate and strong current in some sites in Japan (Izu Penisula) but we don't know the real situation in Palau or Peleliu (we should dive also there one day).
Any advice?

 

[Kevrumbo]

Bring a rain poncho/rain jacket shell with you wherever you go just in case you get caught in the usual tropical downpour cloudburst; also good for the skiff rides out & coming back from the divesites in cold rainy & windy conditions. Some good wet/dry trail shoes for sightseeing landtours and for walking around downtown Koror. There's a shuttle bus that starts service at 5pm from Palau Royal Resort (PRR), and can take you to the eateries/shopping downtown: pay the bus driver once for the $8 voucher card per person, and it's good for a week. Here's a top ten list of restaurants in Koror (Trip Advisor) --the nearest within walking distance to PRR are Cramers, Drop-Off Bar and Grill next to Neco Marine, and Bottom Time Bar and Grill at SamsTours.

Have good stable control & relaxed neutral buoyancy to float above the corals in Palau, along with non-silting frog kick if you go inside the WWII wrecks. Especially along the walls of Peleliu --when you see your Dive Guide gesturing to ascend up and away from the wall, do so without delay and stay together with the Guide. There can be a strong down current on the Peleliu Express drift dive near the end, where the wall starts to quickly descend beyond 18m/60' to well over 39m/130' & deeper (i.e. Past Nitrox32 MOD, and getting low on tank pressure). And do not forget to bring an SMB and know how to deploy it from depth.

Too many divers (usually novices) start the Peleliu Express dive using the wall as reference, and before they know it, they inadvertently follow it as it slopes away, finding themselves at 30m/100' deep AND caught in a stiff downcurrent.

Deploy your SMB at least at your safety stop if you get separated from the group; if you're not low on gas or fightng a downcurrent, deploy earlier at depth depending on how much spool/reel length you've got. You gotta get that SMB up so the dive skiff driver can see you early, before passing the wall drop-off & into blue water open ocean with potential surface swells (makes seeing a small SMB harder to see).

The Peleliu Battlefield is eerily quiet during the day; absolutely spooky at night (stayed at the Storyboard Resort) --many Soldiers & Marines died & suffered horribly in this epic WWII campaign. Take a tour of the caves & fortifications if you have time, at the very least as a "Surface Interval Tour" between dives if your land based dive operation offers such an excursion --otherwise SamsTours has good day non-dive excursions of Peleliu, Babeldaop (Ngardmau Falls) and Rock Island Kayak Tours. .

 

[lunaticgate]

Thanks!
Actually I don't know if we can do something else!
We have just Sunday at our arrival in Palau (we will arrive during the night so we will need to rest) and Saturday before the departure (we have the flight to Tokyo at 5a.m.).
Very appreciated your advice about the restaurant.

 

[IslandDiversHI]

Thanks!
Actually I don't know if we can do something else!
We have just Sunday at our arrival in Palau (we will arrive during the night so we will need to rest) and Saturday before the departure (we have the flight to Tokyo at 5a.m.).
Very appreciated your advice about the restaurant.

Try The Taj, Indian Food. Also, if you are diving with Sam's find out when Alli (great dive guide, recommend requesting) is singing with her band in the The Taj bar. She's got pipes!

 

[lunaticgate]

Hi, following some notes about Palau trip.
We drove from Tokyo (8:10pm) to Koror (1:00am) with DELTA, just 4:50 hours flight. We arrived in airport, outside the airport was waiting the PDA (Palau Dive Adventures) pick-up. We stayed at the Paradise Hotel in the downtown. Not so nice outside but both inside and the room very clean, large room with two queen sized beds and all amenity. Just one recommendation, choose the room ocean side view, because are most beautiful and quiet.
We took the package with 13 dive + 1 snorkeling to Jelly Fish Lake.
The boat of PDA was very comfortable and we were just 7 people + 3 guide and the driver.
The weather conditions was great, just two rain shower during the night but take care because between the dives, during the trip, you may feel cold. PDA were equipped with rain jacket very useful. The food was great, classic Japanese obento (we live in Japan, so…….) and staff very kind and helpful. The guide, Jason with more than 7000 dives in Palau, Peter and Stacy, very professional but also a great company during the trip and even the evening after the dives.
We did Geman Coral Garden, Fern’s wall, Nemilis Coral Garden, Ulong Channel, Ulong sandbar, Helmet Wreck , Blue Corner (2 times), Blue Holes, New Drop Off, German Channel, Peleliu Wall and Orange Beach.
Best dives, Blue Corner, Blue Holes, Ulong Channel, German Channel and Peleliu Wall.
The reefs was healthy with a great coral diversity, many sharks, tuna, dolphins, very big napoleon wrasse and a lot of other fishes. We didn’t use hooks because we always tried to follow the flow current even if could be sometimes unpredictable. The only site where we experienced both strong downstream and upstream current , was Peleliu Wall, but nothing that an experienced/advanced diver cannot handle.
Water temperature always about 80/82 and air temperature about 85 degrees. Dive time minimum 45 minutes and maximum 58 minutes with 53 minutes of average dive time, maximum depth reached was 92 feet.
Jelly Fish Lake is something you must absolutely do, amazing experience.
The free day, without dive, we rented a car for 55$ and did a tour of the island, visiting the Ngardmau waterfall.
The evening from 5:00pm to 9:25pm there is a BBI shuttle bus, stops in the most famous restaurant, ticket price 8$ for 7 days.
Best restaurant for us, was Jive and Kremer, not bad Drop-off and we didn’t like so much Eililai.