Palau - Trip Report

[robint]

Here is a link to my trip report to Palau on the Eco Explorer, Dec 2007:
Palau on the Eco Explorer - Dec 2007

we haven't finished photos from the last day's trip to Jellyfish Lake. Hopefully those will be posted in the next week or so. Enjoy!

 

[alijtaylor]

Very informative report and great photos.

Thanks for posting.

Alison

 

[vladimir]

Robint, thanks for the trip report. I skimmed it, so forgive me if it was in your report; how many divers on the boat, and how many per skiff?

 

[robint]

Robint, thanks for the trip report. I skimmed it, so forgive me if it was in your report; how many divers on the boat, and how many per skiff?

We only used one skiff all week, the bigger one, which holds about 16 comfortably. Since the Eco is now doing the "flex schedule" we didn't have a set group for the week. We had 9 for the first few, then one left. Then 5 new divers came. The last day we picked up one more diver. With all 3 dive guides on some dives, we had more than 16 on the skiff but since the dives were only 5 minutes away nobody minded. We all got along really well and made sure we spaced ourselves out on the dives.
The other skiff was used as sort of a taxi running people as they came in or left back to Koror. It worked out fine.

When we left there was the one single diver diving by herself for a day, with a group of 4 and another group of 6 arriving that day. I don't know if they split those groups up or not.

Rumor has it that the Eco will be staying in Palau and that the Big Blue will not be returning. I actually think that would be good as the "flex schedule" seems to work better for most people as they can come in any day of the week and leave any day of the week instead of the set "saturday to saturday" schedule.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Wow great trip and report

 

[Travelnsj]

Robint...great report...I have been to Palau 8 times only 3 maybe 4 that equaled as you described and have never seen more than 2 Mantas in the German channel at any given time....You were there on a very good week.

What were the water temps running?.....I usually go late Feb/March...and they usually run about 82/83.

 

[robint]

Robint...great report...I have been to Palau 8 times only 3 maybe 4 that equaled as you described and have never seen more than 2 Mantas in the German channel at any given time....You were there on a very good week.

What were the water temps running?.....I usually go late Feb/March...and they usually run about 82/83.

water temps were a constant 83-84 every dive.
As far as the mantas go, it may be the time of day you were there. Since we were on a liveaboard right there, we could do the area any time whereas the day boats are only there between 9am and 2pm. That is another reason a liveaboard is the best way to do Palau - you don't have to compete with the day boats at dive sites and you can get to dive sites earlier and later each day.

 

[Travelnsj]

water temps were a constant 83-84 every dive.
As far as the mantas go, it may be the time of day you were there. Since we were on a liveaboard right there, we could do the area any time whereas the day boats are only there between 9am and 2pm. That is another reason a liveaboard is the best way to do Palau - you don't have to compete with the day boats at dive sites and you can get to dive sites earlier and later each day.

I've probably had 20 dives in the German Channel morning, noon and afternoon...you were lucky...plus Manta season is October-November...March they usually hang out up at Devil Fish City. I may go this late November-December vs March due to the fact I may see some different things. Last question how was the weather?....sometimes December can be rough...or so I've been told....thanks for the info.

 

[robint]

I've probably had 20 dives in the German Channel morning, noon and afternoon...you were lucky...plus Manta season is October-November...March they usually hang out up at Devil Fish City. I may go this late November-December vs March due to the fact I may see some different things. Last question how was the weather?....sometimes December can be rough...or so I've been told....thanks for the info.

Weather was rainy the first dive day, clear and sunny the rest of the week. We had rain after the night dive one night for an hour or so.
As far as the manta dives, we were there around 2pm in the afternoon both days. As I said in my report, the Dive guides were surprised that we had so many mantas and also that we had them two days in a row. Same thing with the sharks though - the DMs said they have never seen so many sharks at any one spot ever (one of them has been there for 4 years diving almost every day).
Lucky........? No, I say I have good karma. I go to every dive destination with enthusiasm and joy and love every dive regardless of what we see because it's all good.
A positive attitude brings good things to you.

 

[saipandiver]

You were lucky at German Channel. I have been to Palau a couple of times and have only dove German Channel once. We saw two Mantas in the channel on that dive, but there was a guy in our group who said that was his 9th dive at German Channel and the first time he had seen a Manta. Nice report. Amazing shark encounter!