Palau trip suggestions please

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alex99

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Location
Engalnd
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Good morning all. First post but long time lurker.

Background. Dived a lot pre kids. UK and globally, have done liveaboards in Belize, Maldives, Galapagos, and Scapa, also various Red Sea and sipadan back when you could stay on the island and various other bits and bobs. Then kids came along, other priorities ensued. Kids both certified AOW, but only a few dive trips over that whole period. Now empty nesters and back at it. Malta and Red Sea so far this year. Maldives ( land based) at xmas with the kids too coming up. But now looking at wading through the diving “to do” list and planning some bigger trips just for the 2 of us. Fancy the far east for the first one. We have looked at various options and read a few reports and think Palau, rather than Raja Ampat in the far east. I’m more into the big stuff than sea horses and nudibranchs and my “photography” consists of occasionally pointing my go pro at things, if I haven’t left it in my dive gear box!

So that’s the background. Any suggestions ? We are thinking liveaboad, but it’s a long way to go ( from the UK) for 7 days so maybe a side trip too. I’ve read mixed reports of both the Agressor and the Siren, some glowing, some pretty bad, seems to be fairly polarised opinions.
Any recommendations of either or other liveaboard options? I’m assuming land based is a bit tricky there?

Also any options for a side trip, prob land based that would fit in either there or en route.
 
Can't say much about liveaboards, but land-based is very straightforward. Most sites in the Rock Islands are within about 45 min by speedboat, and there are a lot of companies doing daily boat dives, especially in high-season.

There are several hotels within walking distance of the main cluster of dive companies, and less expensive hotels closer to the centre of town. As far as I know, all the dive companies offer hotel pick-ups and drop-offs for people diving with them.
 
I haven't looked at their schedule lately but when I went it was for a ten day trip on the Aggressor boat.
 
We did Palau via a charter sailboat which was great fun. But John is not doing trips any longer. I would look at Ocean Hunter as I avoid Aggressor boats.

A few years ago we planned to return and planned to stay on Peleliu at Dolphin Bay

Most of the dive sites are close by so much better than staying in Koror.

That said plan your trip around a full moon so to dive U-Long Channel.

As it is a looong trip look at diving Yap or Chuuk.
 
I haven't looked at their schedule lately but when I went it was for a ten day trip on the Aggressor boat.
Historically the vast majority of their trips have been 7 days , but as you noted they had the occasional 10 day trip. They may not do ten days anymore since they went from 2 boats in Palau to one. (I actually just glanced at the 2026 and didn’t see any 10 day trips available but they could just be full and therefore unavailable).
 
i've done both of the aggressor boats, better food and rooms than ocean hunter. black pearl is nicer than either.

but if you want big stuff, galapagos/socorro should be what you target instead
 
Good morning all. First post but long time lurker.

Background. Dived a lot pre kids. UK and globally, have done liveaboards in Belize, Maldives, Galapagos, and Scapa, also various Red Sea and sipadan back when you could stay on the island and various other bits and bobs. Then kids came along, other priorities ensued. Kids both certified AOW, but only a few dive trips over that whole period. Now empty nesters and back at it. Malta and Red Sea so far this year. Maldives ( land based) at xmas with the kids too coming up. But now looking at wading through the diving “to do” list and planning some bigger trips just for the 2 of us. Fancy the far east for the first one. We have looked at various options and read a few reports and think Palau, rather than Raja Ampat in the far east. I’m more into the big stuff than sea horses and nudibranchs and my “photography” consists of occasionally pointing my go pro at things, if I haven’t left it in my dive gear box!

So that’s the background. Any suggestions ? We are thinking liveaboad, but it’s a long way to go ( from the UK) for 7 days so maybe a side trip too. I’ve read mixed reports of both the Agressor and the Siren, some glowing, some pretty bad, seems to be fairly polarised opinions.
Any recommendations of either or other liveaboard options? I’m assuming land based is a bit tricky there?

Also any options for a side trip, prob land based that would fit in either there or en route.
I posted a trip report a few weeks ago on the Aggressor. Good crew , boat is fine but a little older. I would make sure you differentiate between reviews of the Palau Aggressor and other Aggressors since it is kind of like a franchise/licensing system where things vary a lot from location to location. I’m not saying there aren’t negative reviews specific to the Palau Aggressor II, just don’t accidentally lump in reviews from elsewhere.

The Black Pearl is a newer boat in Palau that you should probably check out. I haven’t heard much about it good or bad .

Given the distance , I would recommend a mix of land based diving with liveaboard. They mostly go to same sites, but liveaboards have a 5-10 minute boat ride to best sites as opposed to 45-60 minutes for land operators. You just get more dives per day in on liveaboard. The advantage of planning some land based diving at start of trip is that it is best to have a few days of buffer before boarding the liveaboard anyway in case of travel delays. This last trip it was particularly helpful to have the land buffer because I did an afternoon checkout dive from Sam’s dock and had like 3 different gear malfunctions that I was able to sort out without missing any dives. I used Sam’s Tours for land based diving . Fish N Fins also seems to get quite a few English speaking customers.

You can try to do a Yap add-on, but the jet flights don’t line up that well anymore . You have to return to Guam and possibly wait a day for a Yap flight. If you are adventurous Pacific Mission Aviation runs turbo props between Yap and Palau but I not certain on the timing and other logistics. Some of the Micronesia locals I have met seem to really like PMA.
 
I was there three years ago. We did three days on land, and then a 7 day liveaboard. If I were to do it again, I would want an extra day or two on land not diving, but really enjoyed how we set it up.

Our first day we did a kayak and snorkel tour with Rock Island Kayak Expeditions and would highly recommend that! It was a great way to start getting over jetlag while not having to be quite as on top of safety standards as with diving. We did two days of diving with Sam's and again had a great experience. Bento box lunches on an island, small groups, fun boat rides out to the sites (as folks said 30-45 min each way). Fish n fins runs a similar operation (we in fact saw them on the same island for lunch). We then did 7 days on the Rock Island Aggressor with good food, great dive guides and comfortable accommodations.

For hotels, we stayed at Palau Central before our liveaboard and did a day room at the Cove between deboarding and our flight. I would absolutely stay at Palau Central again, really nice rooms and breakfast and conveniently located in town so you can walk to dinner or a store-All of the tour operations pick you up and drop you off at no cost so not being as close to the marina wasn't an issue, and the hotels closer to the marina aren't near anything else. I would absolutely do a day room again and Cove was lovely though expensive, and I know many other places also do these.

With a land operation you won't go to some of the further away dive sites, and you'll do fewer night dives but have more opportunities to do things on land. With a liveaboard you'll spend a lot more time diving and go to a wider range of dive sites (though even at the common dive sites I didn't feel crowded by other groups). In Palau I don't think either is a bad choice, it just depends what you're after.
 
Good morning all. First post but long time lurker.

Background. Dived a lot pre kids. UK and globally, have done liveaboards in Belize, Maldives, Galapagos, and Scapa, also various Red Sea and sipadan back when you could stay on the island and various other bits and bobs. Then kids came along, other priorities ensued. Kids both certified AOW, but only a few dive trips over that whole period. Now empty nesters and back at it. Malta and Red Sea so far this year. Maldives ( land based) at xmas with the kids too coming up. But now looking at wading through the diving “to do” list and planning some bigger trips just for the 2 of us. Fancy the far east for the first one. We have looked at various options and read a few reports and think Palau, rather than Raja Ampat in the far east. I’m more into the big stuff than sea horses and nudibranchs and my “photography” consists of occasionally pointing my go pro at things, if I haven’t left it in my dive gear box!

So that’s the background. Any suggestions ? We are thinking liveaboad, but it’s a long way to go ( from the UK) for 7 days so maybe a side trip too. I’ve read mixed reports of both the Agressor and the Siren, some glowing, some pretty bad, seems to be fairly polarised opinions.
Any recommendations of either or other liveaboard options? I’m assuming land based is a bit tricky there?

Also any options for a side trip, prob land based that would fit in either there or en route.
I was in Palau in Aug '22 just coming out of Covid and the island practically deserted, so not that long ago. Spent two weeks there: one week liveaboard on Palau Aggressor II and a second week land based.

Liveaboards:

Paula Aggressor II: Excellent. Older boat, but in very good order, clean, excellent food, great crew. Well organised, great guides. Convenient to the dive sites, easy to get in and out of the water, gear always setup - no hauling of gear on and off boats. Note: There were only 6 guests on my trip, obviously that won't be the case now. Something to consider. Up to 5 dives a day - a LOT of diving in a short period of time. Highly recommended.

I know people who have been on Black Pearl, which was in the harbour when I was there, but not operating at the time. They thought highly of it. Looks like a private superyacht. Fewer dives than Agressor each day, but more luxurious - something that might be an advantage or disadvantage to you.

Land based:

Not tricky at all. Two main land based dived operators - Sam's and Fish'n'Fins. Went with both at different times, just because of availability. Repeated some dives from the liveaboard, and had the chance to do some dives that the liveaboard didn't go to. Both great options. You definitely wouldn't get in quite as many dives that way, but depends what sort of holiday you want. Peleliu has some of the best diving, and it's a long trip out and back when doing land based.

Land based or Liveaboard: Each have merits, but for me, definitely liveaboard, with some land based time as well for a first trip. If one of the main points of the trip is diving, I just don't think you get enough diving being solely land based with a limited amount of time.

I stayed at the Palau Royal Resort - good hotel, but overpriced. Location was a mixed bag - very nice in terms of outlook, grounds, water - but not in central Koror so not as close to restaurants etc. I'd seek out some alternatives.

Either way, make sure you time your trip around full moon for the spawning of the bump head parrot fish.

If you do a liveaboard, you definitely want some land based time as well just to experience the rest of Palau. Kayaking, paddle boarding, scenic flights over the rock islands, night markets, waterfalls, rainforests, WWII history.

As a suggestion to extend the trip given you are travelling all that way, is the Philippines. Decent point from the UK to Palau. Some great diving, and relatively not particularly expensive. It too has the large marine life that you are looking for depending where you go.
 

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