what kind of diving is in palau?

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We spent 10 days diving Palau in late June 2012 and it was incredible. We went with Neco Marine and the service was excellent, with great care and consideration for my wife who was a relatively new diver.

While there are drift and wall dives, there are also several spots that offer you the sandy bottoms you are after. However, as others have said, the fish numbers and activity are the best at those sites with current.

Palau rocks.
 
We were in Palau in March of this year. We dive a lot in Indonesia so I was not expecting a lot! I ended up loving palau! We had a blast! We will go back here for sure!
 
I have dive guided all over the world and nothing beats Palau IMPO. I currently dive/live in the Philippines which is a close #2. Save your money and experience both places.

"living life without a hard bottom"
KT
 
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.

I absolutely agree - done the same Aggressor and Sam's. Palau is one of the best - if not the best. And - yes - there is something for everybody. If you like big stuff, it is the right place. If you are into Macro, maybe not.
To add - the locals are very nice and friendly too. And no tips are expected... It was a very relaxing, enjoybale 2 weeks. In and out of the water.
In respect to Indonesia - Lembe is great and Malaysia - Sipadan is at the top too...
 
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.

Palau is great diving for all the reasons mentioned in previous posts. However, first and foremost the main attraction is drift diving the walls and experiencing close encounters with the big pelagics that ride the current. If you are not into that kind of diving then by all means go somewhere else.
Thailand can be hit or miss depending on where you go and who you go with. Quero here on the Board can probably help you with good suggestions for the kind of diving you are looking for in Thailand.
 
Hi Nitro91,

For what you're looking for ("I prefer the shallow sandy bottom coral gardens and more horizontal approach."), Thailand's west coast has a lot to offer. For some of the best diving in Thailand, check out the Similans, best done via liveaboard. For land based diving, you can base yourself on Phuket, Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi, Krabi and Koh Lipe.

Koh Lipe, where I have been working as an instructor for the last three years, is particularly well known for beautiful soft coral gardens. Almost all of our sites are shallow and the diving here is quite relaxed. Most refreshing of all is the lack of divers here, as Koh Lipe is still not so well known in the Thai dive scene being a bit more difficult to reach than the other destinations. But once you get here it's well worth it!

Ko Lipe Diving
 
Although the main draw is the drift wall diving and all the exciting pelagics as already mentioned, I was truly amazed by the diversity of everything else Palau had to offer:

WWII wrecks, swim throughs, Chandelier Cave, and of course, snorkelling at Jellyfish Lake (really, it is out of this world).

And damn, it was fun "hooking in" at Blue Corner and "flying" in a 4 knot incoming current at Ulong Channel.

There were plenty of the shallow sandy bottom sites that you said you prefer as well - of these, German Channel is world famous for the manta rays - but there were many sites with large expanses of unique staghorn, lettuce, and cobblestone coral gardens.

There was no shortage of macro subjects on any of the dives - nudibranchs of many different colors and patterns, seapens, flatworms, pipefish, leaf scorpion fish, mandarinfish, but my personal favorite was the many different varieties of clownfish and anemones.

There were gigantic schools of all different types of reef fish - pyramid butterflyfish, black tangs, blue-line snappers, barracudas (yu, it was like the scene in Finding Nemo).

There were very big and very territorial triggerfish, very big and very friendly Napolean wrasse, and of course, the turtles, eels, and octopus.

I can't forget to mention the giant clams (yup, there is a dive site called Clam City), and I am sure there is so much more I am forgetting.

I can't explain it but everything in Palau was just so unique in some way.

And everything was so vibrant and healthy looking.

Yeah, I'd say it has something for everyone.
 
I have been Palau two times now. A friend once described it as the Bucket List for scuba diving. It couldn't be summed up better. I stumbled across this site a couple of days ago, Palau Travel & Dive Photolog. It is a pretty cool site. Amazingly complete with most of the major dive sites...and most of the pages include videos. The site also provides What to Dos, Where to stay (could have added a bit more detail (you'll see) but a huge selection of places to look at) and number of recomendations of places to eat. The best thing about the site: it is super detailed but they aren't trying to sell you anything.
There are so many must see dives Blue Holes, Blue Corner, The Big Drop-Off, German Channel...too many to keep naming. Also, you have to check out Jellyfish Lake. You are literally swimming with millions of jellies. That is amazing experience. Drifts, sharks, mantas, wrecks, corals, Palau pretty much is a one stop shop.
Both dive trips were with Sam's. Good experience but a bit of a "homogenized" experience. There's a link to palaudiveadventures.com some where on the Palau Travel & Dive. I saw that Jason is opening the Dive Adventures. He led the last trip I was on. He's great!
One of the links above had a great rate at Palau Pacific. Definitely check that out.
Getting there is an adventure but once you are there, it is amazingly worth it.

---------- Post Merged at 10:46 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 10:38 PM ----------

I have been Palau two times now. A friend once described it as the Bucket List for scuba diving. It couldn't be summed up better. I stumbled across this site a couple of days ago, Palau Travel & Dive Photolog. It is a pretty cool site. Amazingly complete with most of the major dive sites...and most of the pages include videos. The site also provides What to Dos, Where to stay (could have added a bit more detail (you'll see) but a huge selection of places to look at) and number of recomendations of places to eat. The best thing about the site: it is super detailed but they aren't trying to sell you anything.
There are so many must see dives Blue Holes, Blue Corner, The Big Drop-Off, German Channel...too many to keep naming. Also, you have to check out Jellyfish Lake. You are literally swimming with millions of jellies. That is amazing experience. Drifts, sharks, mantas, wrecks, corals, Palau pretty much is a one stop shop.
Both dive trips were with Sam's. Good experience but a bit of a "homogenized" experience. There's a link to palaudiveadventures.com some where on the Palau Travel & Dive. I saw that Jason is opening the Dive Adventures. He led the last trip I was on. He's great!
One of the links above had a great rate at Palau Pacific. Definitely check that out.
Getting there is an adventure but once you are there, it is amazingly worth it.

Ooops...packages were on a different thread.
You can get more info on all of these hotels here:Palau Packages.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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