what kind of diving is in palau?

[Nitro91]

Looking to go for a diving trip with some friends around southern hemisphere. Looking into palau but i see its a lot of wall and drift diving, the type I dislike the most lol.
I prefer the shallow sandy bottom coral gardens and more horizontal approach. I have been to great barrier reef, loved that and also wakatobi, even though that was a lot of wall diving, there were some shallow bottom.

So i am thinking more thailand.

 

[Deep Water Dan]

Palau has pretty much everything. Check out some of the dive sites: Sam's Tours: Palau Diving Micronesia Island Hopping

 

[dirtfarmer]

Lot's of Wall's, some sloping reefs, and plenty of Sharks! Manta's too! I was there last year had a blast.

 

[guamrider]

Hi, this should make it easier for you. There are lots of Palau videos here showing the different dive sites and activities: https://vimeo.com/album/212783

 

[perchkiss]

Lots of drift diving. Very beautiful table coral, wide variety of life.

 

[BlueMoon]

Just got Back after a Week of diving with Neco Marine. You will love the soft corals and the Sharks. Hope the Manta are in the German Channel. Enjoy

 

[craracer]

I was in Palau for 2 weeks last March. Yes, there is plenty of wall diving, and the currents are often times quite strong. However, it's those currents and walls that attract the big critters. The variety of life was amazing. On every dive I found myself saying "What the heck is that?".

I imagine that Thailand would be spectacular as well. You probably couldn't go wrong with either.

Here's a link to some of the photos I took while there:
https://picasaweb.google.com/yellod...&authkey=Gv1sRgCP-gvKeWk5qXOQ&feat=directlink

And here's a link to a video shot by one of the guys in our small group:
Palau 2012 you tube - YouTube

 

[Fishfngr]

Looking to go for a diving trip with some friends around southern hemisphere. Looking into palau but i see its a lot of wall and drift diving, the type I dislike the most lol.
I prefer the shallow sandy bottom coral gardens and more horizontal approach. I have been to great barrier reef, loved that and also wakatobi, even though that was a lot of wall diving, there were some shallow bottom.

So i am thinking more thailand.

Nitro

The videos tell the truth. I dived Thailand at Kho Tao some years back and was not impressed as the fish life was minimal I think this is due to the Thai diet being mainly seafood based IMO. Fished to death. Dive spots were not that interesting. There of course may be other spots along thailand coast that are brilliant.
I have dived a few places in the PNG, South Pacific and Asia but Palau is spectacular for fish life. Corals not that interesting. Lots of Sharks cruising up and down the reefs nothing there is interested in you , large schools of fish , turtles, mantas , cave dive, swim throughs, garden eels at blue corner. You can always swim on the top of the reef as opposed to out in the blue and cruise along the top, the divemasters at Sams Tours who we went through are very saftey concious and will look after everything as I am sure other dive shops do. The drift dives take you to the top of the reefs in any case, its not all that deep.
I can recommend Palau.
Cheers
Fishfngr.

 

[farsidefan1]

I enjoy big stuff and small stuff. I consider Palau to be the best diving I have ever done (however I have yet to try Indonesia). I loved the time spent with Sam's as well as the Aggressor. Both were topnotch outfits.

 

[supergaijin]

The Gulf of Thailand has pretty stable bottoms for the most part- a few will class as true wall dives. The Indian Ocean side is generally deeper.

Check Philippines also for some varied diving with bottoms. Like many sites with relatively shallow water, don't expect many pelagic animals, but you still get good diving.