Palau Photos (11/1-11/6) and trip report

[marpacifica]

I finally got around to posting some photos from my trip to Palau, diving the Aggressor for a week. I'm hooked. A liveaboard, especially the Aggressor, is in my opinion the best way to dive Palau. We did 4-5 dives a day, mooring in a location next to Ngedebus Island, German Channel, Blue Corner or Saies Tunnel. The first dive of the trip was right off the skiff deck, which lowered hydraulically to waterlevel, but the remainder of the dives were from the 18 passenger skiff. Wayne Hasson, the founder of the Aggressor Fleet, joined us that week, there to check out the repairs to the Aggressor (it had been rammed by a barge and was in drydock for several months) and was on his way to the Solomons to research a franchise there. Aside from A/C that didn't work in the 85 degree F (23 C) cabins for the first few days, we had wonderful meals three times a day and snacks between dives. The Aggressor was built specifically for diving so the layout of each deck makes sense for divers, unlike some liveaboards that are converted trawlers or research vessels built for a function other than comfort. Almost every diver had a camera or videorecorder but the camera table and staging area had plenty of space and outlets for all the gear and rechargers. Cabins and common areas had all new carpeting since the retrofit and everything seemed in mint condition. I think we were the 2nd or 3rd group on board since the Aggressor came back from drydock.

Staff limited each dive to 1 hour, even if you had more air, which was necessary to meet the schedule of 4-5 dives a day with meals and surface intervals in between. The bar was open anytime and stocked with free draft beer (local Rooster Beer) and wine, but once you drank you became a snorkeler for the rest of the day. Most of the divers dove nitrox, a necessity to avoid deco time. A buddy who wasn't nitrox certified had to sit out a few dives or end dives early, but I got close to deco on only one occasion.

I forgot my 105mm macro lens on this trip, which is what I get for packing in haste, so all of my shots were limited to my Nikon 12-24 mm DX, attached to a Fuji S2 in an Aquatica Housing and 8-inch domeport. I shot all underwater shots in RAW format and downloaded photos to my laptop during each surface interval. Downloading a full 1 gig CF card took only 5 minutes max with my new USB universal card reader (Dazzle USB 2.0 by Zip Corp.), compared to 20 minutes using the Lexar reader that came with the CF card or 45 minutes using the camera's USB cable. I brought CDs intending to make backups of everything but didn't have time to burn any.

Survivor is filming in Palau, and all boat captains were forbidden from getting near their camps. We did run into a boat that warned us that we were getting close, and a few minutes later we saw a helicopter filming a speedboat slicing through the Rock Islands.

Summary of trip:

Arrived 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30 in Koror on the evening flight from Guam. Stayed at the West Plaza Hotel, Malakal (next to the Aggressor's dock and near Sam's Tours), basic but clean rooms that served their purpose. The hotel picked us up from the airport in a mini-bus for the 20 minute ride down to Malakal.

Sunday Oct. 31 arranged for a late checkout because the Aggressor bus wouldn't pick us up until 4 p.m. We had to argue with the afternoon hotel clerk because that morning we specifically asked if it was going to cost extra and the first clerk said no, but the second said pay up. Ended up not having to pay the $50 they were asking (the 2-bedroom suite was $75/night) for "electrical usage" on the room, probably related to A/C -- Palau has some of the highest electrical rates in the world. Spent the day shopping for storyboards at the prison and gifts/supplies in town. Had lunch at the Penthouse Hotel, great local food I've had there on my previous trips but they didn't have any coconut crab this time. Got picked up from the hotel around 430 p.m. and the uniformed crew (Captain Mike, Instructors Ike, Doug, Lorenza, Hector and Amanda, chef Rose and Mr. Fix-it Totoy) met us for our arrival and briefed us on schedules boat rules. Dives were scheduled at 0730, 1030, 1400, 1700 and 1930 Dinner was buffet style served at 1830 each evening. The staff bussed the tables and served drinks. The cabins were about 10 feet by 20 with private shower and marine head, a queen sized lower bed and a single top bunk. Only one outlet in the room above the sink, which was next to the beds and not in the bathroom. Staff cleaned the rooms and made beds but didn't change sheets. The first three days/nights the AC didn't work in any of the cabins and we had to go back to the harbor for repairs (dove nearby wrecks as a consolation). We used the jacuzzi a few nights to raise our core temps (due in part to the cold beers we were drinking, hehehehe).

1st Day (11/1)
Lionfish Rock
Ngedebus Corner
Fern's Reef (twilight dive)
Matt's Wall (night dive)

2nd Day (11/2)
Blue Corner
Blue Holes
Chuyo Maru (Wreck)
Helmet Wreck (twilight dive)
Buoy 6 (missed this wreck night dive -- jet lag)

3rd Day (11/3)
German Channel
Turtle Cove
New Dropoff
Blue Corner (twilight dive)

4th Day (11/4)
Barracks Point
Peleliu Corner
Peleliu Wall (missed this dive to take the WWII land tour; highly recommended)
Orange Beach
Matt's Wall (night dive)

5th Day (11/5)
Saies Tunnel
Saies Corner
Blue Corner
Big Dropoff/Matt's Reef

Day 6 (11/6)
Chandelier Cave
Back to Malakal Harbor
Self tour of Koror, while others took a helicopter tour of the Rock Islands
Saturday Night Video and slide show

Day 7 (11/7)
Checkout 9 a.m.
Day room at the West Plaza Malakal
Back to the prison to look for more storyboards
Dinner at a local restaurant at Malakal Harbor (forgot which one, but it served fruit bat, which I did not try, thank you very much!)
2 a.m. (11/8) flight back to Guam on Continental (got upgraded to First Class based on my Gold Elite status, woohoo!)

Some photos from the trip, with more posted in my gallery at
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/17314

I highly recommend the Palau Aggressor.

 

[marpacifica]

I can't seem to figure out how to link photos using the instructions above, so I'll just attach photos.

 

[ssra30]

Great trip, thanks for the info. We are also thinking of going to Palau next year and was looking at the Agressor as an option as well. Landbase initially seems cheaper but if we want to do as many dives as the Agressor offers, the added fee certainly will make the Agressor more attractive. I have been to lazy to do nitrox course but it looked like I might have to look into one for this kind of trip

How useful would the 105mm lens be in your trip? I kept hearing that Palau is all about big palegics and not a lot of macro stuff.

 

[alcina]

Looks and sounds like a great trip!

BTW - why is that person holding the humphead/Napoleon wrasse?

 

[marpacifica]

Great trip, thanks for the info. We are also thinking of going to Palau next year and was looking at the Agressor as an option as well. Landbase initially seems cheaper but if we want to do as many dives as the Agressor offers, the added fee certainly will make the Agressor more attractive. I have been to lazy to do nitrox course but it looked like I might have to look into one for this kind of trip

How useful would the 105mm lens be in your trip? I kept hearing that Palau is all about big palegics and not a lot of macro stuff.

ssra,

I think the Aggressor is a great deal if you break everything down on a per-dive basis. Sam's and other land-based tours charge around $100 for two dives, $130 for three dives in a day. Add to that lodging $50-200/night, three meals a day $15-$100 and that's a minimum $195-$430/day for a three dive day. You can dive two more dives, plus skip the 2 hour minimum roundtrip boatride to the southern reefs where Blue Corner, et al., is located. It's about $2500 for the whole week of diving (Nitrox $100 extra/week), all inclusive, which is around $400/day. You can take the nitrox course on board.

The 105 mm would be very useful for the night dives. Not as target rich as Dumaguete or Bali, but the soft corals had lots of small critters like arrow and anemone crabs and small shrimps that camouflaged really well. Most of the other dives were drift dives and reefhookups (Blue Corner, Peleliu, New Dropoff), so wide angle is the natural choice for those dives.

 

[marpacifica]

Looks and sounds like a great trip!

BTW - why is that person holding the humphead/Napoleon wrasse?

Alcina,

The Nap. wrasse in the photo is named Sweetie, and the guy handling him was our dive guide, Ike. Sweetie will approach divers if Ike is around and seems to enjoy the interaction. Ike has been feeding Sweetie hard boiled eggs for several years and nudges up to Ike whenever he leads a dive, but to no other dive guide on our trip (or to other operators, I hear). Ike got a new wetsuit a few years ago and Sweetie took a few months to get used to it and wouldn't let Ike near. Yeah, I didn't really approve of the fish handling by our guide but that's the only way I could get close enough to get a decent picture, and it seemed like it was Sweetie who initiated contact and lingered.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Thanks for the great trip report. Looking forward to the trip booked for January, 2006!

 

[alcina]

it seemed like it was Sweetie who initiated contact and lingered.

Thanks, I wondered if it wasn't something like that...we have a couple of "cuddlers" on our sites, too. They seem to be finicky who they choose some days.

Touching isn't my favourite thing - and I don't take shots when the DM dislodges something for show or holds it etc - but sometimes the creature does actively pursue you!

 

[Dee]

Great report. I really like that second photo of the sharks. The light refractions is really cool.

 

[sapphire]

Thank you for the great report and the photos! I love the one with the encrusted line fading up into the divers above... awesome!

jennifer