Visability in Palau?

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mr bubbles

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Messages
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Location
Western Australia
# of dives
500 - 999
Hi,
My wife and I are thinking about going to Palau but have heard the visibility generally isn't that great, is this true? Any input would be appreciated.
 
Echo robint. I was there in May and it was an incredible trip, with fantastic visibility at the dive sites at the southern end (Blue Corner, Peleilu dives...)
 
Don't know who told you viz wasn't good... Yeah, some of the wreck sites around the harbour can be a bit murky, but we never had less than 100ft out on the walls when we were there in Feb 2007, and usually much more. Maybe they meant you couldn't see very far because of all the fish and sharks in the way?
 
Same here - visibility was great out at the walls. We did one wreck dive in the harbor - the helmet dive - and it was about 50' - a lot of sediment stirred up.
 
In November 2006, I was in Palau, the visibility in Blue Corner is great!
 
Hi,
I go there at least 2-3 times a year, and have for the past 25 years. The vis is very good on the outside reefs, normally between 70-100+, but this depends upon time of day, tides, and mainly what the weather patterns are in the region.

The vis at German Channel, Ulong Channel, and some other sites are very dependent upon tides and the vis can range from 30-70'.

The winds usually shift to the southwest from Oct-December, making the most popular sites (Blue Holes, Blue Corner, Big Drop, etc.) a little challenging due to swells. The key word here is "usually".

As others have said, you won't get anywhere near 80' on the wrecks. Expect 25-50'. But, IMHO, if you're gonna dive wrekcs, go to Truk (Chuuk). Much better wreck diving there by a mile.

To see a bunch of Palau videos, go here: Palau Travel Videos

Hope this helps.
Pete
 
Who said vis was not that good in Palau?....only areas that I have dove with murky vis are the wrecks in the harbor and that is due to the tides changing. Ulong and the German channel sometimes can only have around 50' or a bit lower but I find the vis overall to be the best of anywhere I have dove.
 
Actually, I was just in Palau last week, and the vis, for the most part, was not great. That said, we were smack in between 2 typhoons. We were VERY lucky about the weather, as it was sunny all 6 days we were out, but the vis probably ranged between 30-60 feet. Plus, the swells were so huge that the boat could only get out to Blue Corner once. But, it was great fun anyway!
 
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