Palau, Rangiroa or Bali mid June to early July

[MissDoo]

Hello all,

I'm trying to decide where to go next for a special diving trip. Just got back from Thailand where we did Similan liveaboard and Koh Lanta day trips. The diving was good but not as great as the Maldives. Le're now looking for something special for my other half's big birthday so we're thinking about doing a liveaboard in Palau that everyone raves about but I'm not sure late June/July is OK weatherwise. although we've been twice to the Maldvies in the rainy season and still loved the diving... It's a good time for Rangiroa and Bali though so I'm a bit confused whether I should go to one of those instead and leave Palau to enjoy in it's full glory. Any suggestions? We'd love to do a liveaboard first and then stay at a resort for a week after and do day trips. Thanks for any advice!!!

 

[robint]

Palau is great any time of year.... rainy season is Sept-Nov when it will rain in downpours more often. That said, it rains almost every day in Palau. I wouldn't hesitate to go there any month. Rain isn't really an issue there as they are the "Rock Islands" so runoff is not silty.

The big hype about Palau is mainly about the sharks, and they are there all year. Dec-Mar is when they show up in larger numbers, schooling, for mating season. We were there in Dec and saw sharks every dive, sometimes only 1-2 and sometimes 30-40 at a time. Mantas are there year round also, but mating season for them is Mar-April, I think. And then May-June is when some of the other fish are mating there, so huges schools... can't remember which ones we were told.

So as I said... my choice would be Palau. I would go back there any day if someone would pay for it.

robin

 

[Midget]

It is very easy to pair up a one week liveaboard of Komodo with one week on land at Bali.

 

[MissDoo]

Thanks Robin for the Palau info. I am really leaning towards that. Is it nice to stay there after a liveaboard or should we go somewhere else?

Midget, is June a good time for Komodo? I've heard great things about it, is it mostly macro stuff there?

Any input on Rangiroa at all from anyone?

 

[TSandM]

Well, I spent two days diving Rangiroa in late 2009, and it absolutely blew me away. We saw some of the healthiest, most vibrant and colorful reef we had ever seen, and densities of reef fish that made you feel like you had to reach out and push them away to swim. We saw HUGE schools of pelagics, and lots of sharks (although Tiputa Pass, the day we did it, was sadly devoid of them) and we dove with a pod of dolphins, and got buzzed by a manta.

There is almost nothing there (literally -- there is almost no LAND MASS) and land-based lodging (which we did not use, being on a cruise ship) is VERY expensive. But the diving was incredible.

 

[MissDoo]

TSandM, were you on the Paul Gaugin? Sounds fun. Does anybody know if there's a liveaboard down there by Rangiroa at all?

 

[TSandM]

Yes, we were on the Paul Gauguin. It was quite a trip, although I was disappointed in much of the diving in the Society Islands. But Rangiroa made up for it!

 

[MissDoo]

Wow, I've been thinking about the Paul Gaugin for ages. How was it from a diver's point of view? Were there lots of dives available during the week? Can you dive on most days of the cruise? Is it well organised as far as diving goes? (I'm sure everything else was just gorgeous)

 

[TSandM]

The cruise itself was fabulous -- the boat is elegant and the service is extraordinary. I loved the fact that it was all-inclusive, so I could roll over and order breakfast in the cabin and not feel as though I was breaking the bank. The food was excellent, and even the house wines were good.

We had an unusual trip on the boat, from what I gathered. Jean-Michele Cousteau was the guest speaker, and perhaps as a result, they had more divers than they had ever had before. Instead of running the diving out of the boat's RIBs, they farmed it out to local dive operators at each site. Most of them did a good job, although I would never dive with Top Dive on Moorea again (for several reasons). We had diving available at most stops, and what we learned was that it was possible at the stops where the boat hadn't arranged anything. If I were to go again, I would do as a fellow passenger had done (he had been on the boat several times) and arrange my own diving ahead of time on the Internet. I think you would end up paying a great deal less.

Diving in the Society Islands was a lot of hard coral, much of it damaged or dead or algae-covered. Development and agricultural practices have not been kind to the South Pacific reefs, and to top that, they have been experiencing a plague of crown of thorns starfish. With the dead reefs comes a paucity of reef fish, which has apparently led to a widespread practice of shark-feeding dives. One is interesting, but after a while, we really didn't want to do them any more.

The best diving was definitely in the Tuamotos.

I would say the PG is a wonderful cruise with some diving, rather than a dive trip.

 

[TSandM]

The cruise itself was fabulous -- the boat is elegant and the service is extraordinary. I loved the fact that it was all-inclusive, so I could roll over and order breakfast in the cabin and not feel as though I was breaking the bank. The food was excellent, and even the house wines were good.

We had an unusual trip on the boat, from what I gathered. Jean-Michele Cousteau was the guest speaker, and perhaps as a result, they had more divers than they had ever had before. Instead of running the diving out of the boat's RIBs, they farmed it out to local dive operators at each site. Most of them did a good job, although I would never dive with Top Dive on Moorea again (for several reasons). We had diving available at most stops, and what we learned was that it was possible at the stops where the boat hadn't arranged anything. If I were to go again, I would do as a fellow passenger had done (he had been on the boat several times) and arrange my own diving ahead of time on the Internet. I think you would end up paying a great deal less.

Diving in the Society Islands was a lot of hard coral, much of it damaged or dead or algae-covered. Development and agricultural practices have not been kind to the South Pacific reefs, and to top that, they have been experiencing a plague of crown of thorns starfish. With the dead reefs comes a paucity of reef fish, which has apparently led to a widespread practice of shark-feeding dives. One is interesting, but after a while, we really didn't want to do them any more.

The best diving was definitely in the Tuamotos.

I would say the PG is a wonderful cruise with some diving, rather than a dive trip.