Diving - 2025 03 - Palau, Micronesia

 Water Temp:    29-30°

Current: Nil - Strong 

Max Depth:     31m

Total dives:     17

 

 

 

Day 1 - Transit

Off for another great diving trip with a few mates made over the years. This time we're back to Palau. Just over a decade since the last time I had ventured that way. These days access is A LOT easier with a direct ~6 hour flight from Brisbane.  

Sure beats the Brisbane to Cairns to Guam, where you were stuck with a day use room for ~10 hours... then finally to Palau.... It's a very fresh route offered by Qantas and not many people seemed to know about it. 

We arrived to a surprisingly quiet international airport and dropped our bags and exited customs. It wasn't long before we found the Tasting table and enjoyed a few scotches to see what we wanted with us on the trip. After making our selection (including a very fancy bottle of Dark Lark) we joined the others for a light meal for lunch and wandered to our gate.  

Like check-in the gate looked pretty quiet and it started that way after boarding. With most of us ending up with our own row of seats! Some in flight movie, the usual offerings, to soak up the time but it wasn't long before the sun was setting and we were landing. 

 

A short transfer to the Cove Resort where we all dropped bags into rooms and met for dinner. Meals were a bit pricey here, but we weren't planning to head out. $9.50, USD, for a schooner of the local (Red Roster) beer. It did taste good. After dinner and a bit of reminiscing we retreated to showers and air-conditioning. 

Day 2 - Check Out Dives

Sites: Sand Bar, Saies Corner, Ulong Channel

After a very decent buffet breakfast the van from Sam's Tour's eventually arrived... to pick up a different group. The driver was pretty on the ball though and got another to swing by to take us diving. apparently they had us down for a 9am pickup... with our paperwork stating 745 we were ready a little early... when we heard they were going to be a little later we ducked next door to grab some reef safe sunscreen (most sunscreens are banned in Palau) and at $25.30 (USD!) per 90ml it better be good!

Checking certs, setting up gear, getting the local dive/safety/boat brief and then we were on our way. Boat looks to be setup for 20 divers doing a double dive, so plenty of space, much like the plane, for the 9 of us. Like most trips the first dive is the guide assessing your group, to see what your air consumption, buoyancy, general skill level is on an easier, and pleasant site. 

First dive was OK along a reef slope. A few other divers near by and lots of fish to see plus a few sharks. One or two common Nudibranch almost not worth taking a picture. We must have been OK because they were happy to let us alert them about Air, rather than constantly checking us... 

Second dive was at one of the reef corners. We all swam up and hooked in to stare into the deep blue. A bit on show today with large schools of fish and a few Grey Reef Sharks that cruised by and maybe a dozen bump-head Wrasse. Again another OK dive, nice warm water, pleasant conditions. Lunch was a pre-ordered Bento box with lots of yummy food inside.

 

Third Dive was a drift, a very gentle drift that turned mid dive... through a channel. Giant Clams and the biggest Lettuce Coral in all of Micronesia, apparently. A few more sharks hugging the walls of the channel avoiding divers and a cool Nudi which I'm not sure I've seen before.  

 

 

Back to Sam's dock to rinse the gear and have a beer before returning to the hotel for a shower. Our dinner option Kramers (a place we remember fondly from last trip) was closed so we settled on Indian, and they arranged a pickup. 

The Taj served up an amazing meal. With the group we specified a few requirements (3x vegetarian options, a selection of Naan bread etc) but then said surprise us. All the food was fantastic, to the point some were already claiming it was the best meal of the trip. I'll grant them it was great, but will reserve that award until we've more than 2 dinners...

Day 3 - Deep Blue Sea

Sites: Blue Corner, Blue Hole, New Drop Off

We were all down fairly early for a other very filling breakfast. They do have a few interesting options, like potatoes drizzled in cheese... or marinated pork, but also the staples like an egg station, bacon, fresh fruit, cereal etc etc. Something everyone should be happy with. They must have felt bad about arriving late yesterday because although we were told an 815 pickup they showed up at 8. Of course half our group was up in the rooms getting last minute things...

First dive was off to Blue corner with some good current and loads of sharks. Positioned on the edge of the reef wall we hooked up and enjoyed the show floating past. Some big schools of Barracuda and loads of other fish. 

 

Second was into the Blue Hole. With 4 big skylights leading into a massive chamber. Off the main chamber, through a much smaller entrance, is another big chamber... without sky lights. Very dark in here so you definitely need torches and you can just go far enough back, and around a bend, to not see any natural light. Right back in the corner is a fairly intact Turtle skeleton. There's a chance we were advised not to enter this particular chamber... and definitely recall something to the effect of not going to the area you could find the skeleton....

Back into the main chamber Yuki found a cool flat worm and we exited to follow the wall. Were seeing a bit of fish life and a few morays etc but not too much of the small stuff yet. Though Palau is known more for its Blue Corner type diving looking for the big stuff.  

Third Dive was on a similar wall but this time we had loads and loads of turtles. A pretty cool (and weird) flounder swimming about, first I've seen swimming in blue water. Had a fairly vibrant blue tinge but within a few seconds of landing on a rock, matches its dull grey almost perfectly. Was great to watch the change. Soon a horde of other divers descended on our spot, so we moved off. 

 

Dinner at Kramers tonight, winding through huge oil tanks through what feels like an industrial dock, but we remembered the food being amazing. Our memory was on point and of the 10 meals it seemed like they only missed it on one where Nelly's fish wasn't prepared as good as it could have been. 

It wasn't until I read the menu that I remembered the Hammerhead Hot Sauce. So good I bought a bottle to take home last trip. Sadly they can't print labels any more and I wasn't confident I could get an unlabelled bottle through customs... so I settled to just having it with my fries.

Day 4 - Search for Manta Ray's

Sites:  Blue Corner, German Channel, Turtle Cove

Slightly earlier today with a 745 pickup... which was bang on time! During dinner last night an old rumour bubbled to the surface about air pressure underwater and the ability to... off-gas (cut the cheese, break wind, pop one off, give a toot, let some breeze out the back door, empty the gas tank.... ahem... fart) underwater. The rumour had 10m as the hard limit ... but some of us doubted this information, recalling times in the past where we sent a few extra bubbles to the surface... so we decided to put this theory to the test, with a little healthy competition. 

 

Back out to Blue Corner, current was a lot stronger than yesterday and we still had quite the show. Flapping in the current a bit more as it was running hard and slightly on an angle but we all managed to find a spot to call our own. Barely back on the boat we were already getting a range of new scientific data, ranging from an adventurous 0.4m deep to an impressive 14.6m, a clear front runner.Limited data still at this point though, so we bravely all decided to continue our scientific pursuit. Though we clarified that any follow through would be an instant disqualification!

 

 

Second dive off to German Channel in search of Manta Ray's. We kneeled on the sand a bit looking but nothing to see. The best entertainment came in the shape of cleaner Wrasse attacking SNRs ears. A few others got swooped too but I had the perfect view of them attacking his head. We then went off to look elsewhere and found a few Nudi before a single Manta glided over head and off into the distance. If you look hard enough you can see it off in the blue...  

 

 

We went off for lunch on an island which was really nice. A few other groups here, it's always a good show seeing the Instagram photo shoots. Ages of time and poses to get the perfect shot... 

Third Dive was through a chimney hole then onto a wall. Not a huge amount of life to see but I really loved the structure. Lots of small/medium caverns and holes and overhangs in the reef worth poking your head into. Again not too much in the way of any Nudibranch, but very cool geography. 

 

Taco Tuesday at the Drop Off bar, with $6 margaritas... I had a beer. The Tacos were really good but I was a bit hungry after so I also got quesadilla which Tracy had to help me finish. Others also wanted another taco as they were still a bit peckish, but instead of getting 4 tacos they got four sets of 3 tacos... but still managed to polish them all off. They had a great local singer doing covers of heaps of classic songs. We thought the Mexican might help in our scientific endeavours.

Day 5 - Get Wrecked!

Sites:  Iro Maru, Siaes Tunnel, Ulong Wall

First dive on a old Japanese oil tanker, used in WWII. Sitting pretty in the sand at around 35m, the deck is flush at 18 ish. Absolutely coated in coral and quite a bit of life. Lots of Nudi to find... but all the exact same kind :o We were able to enter the loading doors of the hull (blue ocean above us) and look around, but no actual penetration. Other ships sunk as a similar time have collapsed recently, and they didn't want to risk a Diver getting stuck... The Guns were very overgrown with Coral, but you can still make them out.

 

Second dive was on a really nice wall. Huge cavern entrance in the wall with 2 large 'window' exits. At the far back of the cavern Nelly, Craig and I witnessed a giant Green Moray eel darting in and out of the rocks. It was really cool to just sit there and watch. The rest of the dive along the wall was really nice too and I got to see one of my favourite underwater critters, Marg found a Persian Carpet Flat Worm. Love their vibrant colours. 

 

On the way to the third we came across a huge pod, at least 50 strong, of spinner dolphins. Driving past them we picked up a few that were playing in the bow wave of the boat. At one stage about a dozen were right in front of us. The third dive was along another wall with a really gentle current to push us along. A few more Nudi and loads of healthy coral, plus some big schools of fish. Yuki also managed to find a cute little white Nudi, far too small for me to attempt taking a picture, that was maybe 5mm total in length. 

 

At one point I was tapped on the shoulder to bare witness for an off-gas record attempt at 18.6m deep. Jury is still out, but being the honour system, we let the record stand. 

 

After the dive we hit up a beach for lunch and to give SNR his birthday cake (and sing, of course). As we took a little bit longer than expected we got caught with the boat getting stuck on the low tide. Lucky we had some boat beers to kill the time. Eventually the boat floated off the reef and we made it back to Sam's dock around 530. Quick turn around and shower before heading out to dinner.

 

A short 10 ish min walk to dinner tonight but the restaurant we were planning to head to closed early. Luckily Zigu was right next door. Japanese style restaurant with pretty reasonable prices, service was a little haphazard but I thought the food was fantastic. 

Day 6 - Holey Moley

Sites:  Virgin Blue Hole, Blue Corner, Fairy Lands/New Drop Off

Another filling breakfast and back on the boat. Once again cruising through some beautiful islands on the way to the dives, this time diving in Virgin Hole, which I don't remember from our last trip. A great hole down into a ~100m large tunnel out to the reef wall. At one point it feels a bit dark, but nowhere are you at a point you can't see natural light. Just as we exited the tunnel I found a cool flat worm. We followed along the wall where we found a bit more macro stuff, more flat worms, nudibranch etc etc. On the surface one of our strongest scientists also confirmed a new trip (world!?) record for managing to Sound the Horn at a very impressive 21.6m deep (or was it 21.7m...? I really should have better record keeping in the pursuit of science...)

 

 

 

Second dive we looked at a spot but the current was apparently too strong so we changed plans and went back to blue corner. Not as much action, fish life wise, this dive but there was a huge school of Barra that hung around a while. The main entertainment came from watching a different boat load of divers deal with the surging current. There was one Diver being dragged around by their Guide. The guide had a strong grip on their tank stem and was struggling to move both of them through the current as the Diver flailed their arms and bicycle kicked, which gets you nowhere...  

Third was on Fairly Lands with a drift to New Drop off. Not too much in the first third of the dive but close to Drop Off we started to see a few sharks, a huge school of barracuda and absolutely loads of green and hawksbill turtles. Probably the most turtles I've seen in any one location.

 

When back at the dock Coralie and Marg dropped in on residual air to search for mandarin fish, which they found. Others enjoyed a nice Red Rooster Beer while they waited and some of us headed straight back to the hotel. 

Next door to the Drop Off bar for dinner again. It was fairly busy and we had to wait until a few tables were free for them to rearrange for us. Eventually we sat down and had a fairly reasonably priced meal. Pizzas were absolutely massive!

Day 7 - Cozy Caves

Sites:  Haf Adai, Sea Plane, Chandelier Cave, Sam's Wall

Up and ready for our last day of diving, another great breakfast at the Cove Resort before being picked up. Only 7 of us on the boat today and we headed to a wreck for the first dive. It was raining pretty heavily all morning, and the boat ride out was no different getting some of us a bit soaked before we even arrived. Loads of Blue Dragon (pipe cleaner) Nudibranch and a new to me Flat Worm was cool. Lots of fish life, no current and all round a good dive. We surfaced to clear blue skies, as if there was never any rain at all. With the remaining dives to be shallow we would no longer have the chance to set any more records, but that's not excuse to stop practising... I think we need to move to phase two trials, and include a wider range of participants.

 

On the way to the second dive site we had a bit of a history tour seeing some Pill boxes and gun placements before finding a crashed sea plane to dive on. Fairly shallow at 13ish meters but the plane is fairly intact for how long its been down. Yuki found a Shaun The Sheep Nudibranch on some coral growing on the mooring rope. With the size of them, and the sway of the rope, it was impossible to get a picture. 

 

 

Third Dive, on residual air, was Chandelier Cave. We arrived there alone but as we were receiving our dive brief 2 boats from a Live Aboard approached with at least a dozen divers each. So we skipped ahead, threw on our gear and jumped in. As we were in the first air pocket half of them swam under us, heading for the 4th hole. 

I love the cave system with huge stalactites hanging from the ceiling. As we entered the 2nd room the other half swam under, in a bit of a rush.... By the time we reached the third they were already heading out and we had the 4th (much smaller) room to ourselves. After enjoying the Caves for a while we headed out. I hung back a little to enjoy the darkness and quiet with my torch off and everyone else gone. 

 

We were going to do a 'black out' exit, using only the faint light from the entrance to guide us, but the other group was still in hole three shining their torches down onto us. When we exited we had a look around for Mandarin Fish and eventually found a very skittish one. No good pics as it was deep in some coral so we eventually gave up.

When back to the boat I found out Nelly had lost her torch, so Nelly and I went back in to have a look. No luck. Once again back on the boat and the last of the other dive group were just making their way to the surface. One of them had found Nelly's torch on their way in! Yay. No wonder we couldn't find it!

Back to Sam's for our 8th dive for the day (my dive watch counting surfacing at the cave air pockets as individual dives...) We jumped in on their dock wall, didn't see much for the first 5 or so min but eventually the Mandarin fish started coming out of hiding and there were loads to see, some in good places... not sure I managed to get a good picture anyway... there was also quite a few pipe fish. Including one we thought might be pregnant.  

 

When we hopped out it was time to sort gear. Hanging some up to dry and shaking off other quicker drying stuff to take back to the hotel. Enjoyed the poolside drinks before heading back to Sam's for Dinner (they have a limited bar menu) they were meant to have live music and a bit of a celebration... it was a bit bigger than we expected. Loud. Very Loud. 

I took a break from the noise and walked out on the boat jetty and found a cool squid. While looking at the squid and a bunch of fish whirl-pooling I saw a white tip shark dart in and take something before speeding off into the dark. With that done it was time for me to head back and get some sleep :o. 

 

Day 8 - Rest (?) and Recover (and dry gear!)

Some enjoyed a later sleep in but I was still down to breakfast around 7 to find Alan already mostly finished his. We mulled around ideas for the day and some of us settled on visiting the Ngardmau Waterfall, the tallest waterfall in Micronesia, while others were going shopping and others were relaxing in their rooms. 

Our pickup was 930 am and it was about a 35min drive, with our driver Ben getting upset at the slow drivers, otherwise I reckon he could have cracked 30min... $10 entry to the falls area, but it didn't look like a whole lot of that made it through to track maintenance. There use to be a monorail to/from the falls, but all that is left now is the rusting infrastructure. Some cool pitcher plants and Orchids just off the track as well. 

Lots of steps and due to yesterday's rain quite a few muddy patches. Some cool native orchids and pitcher plants lined some of the path, very pretty flowers. We eventually joined along side a creek, that was flowing towards the falls... but it turned off as we crossed it over a nice suspension bridge and we saw where the falls flowed into it. Falls themselves were fairly impressive, definitely not as tall as some we have close to home, but a nice flow and great greenery behind them.

 

 

It was definitely getting pretty hot though. High humidity to boot, but there was a cool breeze. All those steps on the way back out took a bit of effort, so we took it slow and had a few breaks. Not really a 'rest' day! On one break there was a cool little lizard sitting on the hand rail rope... apparently. I walked right past it! At least I got to see Nelly's picture. Before we set off to the falls we noted the little shop had a decent price for Ice creams, so in the heat we all (well, definitely at least me) were really hanging out for one... but they lost power yesterday... so they didn't have any...

On the ride back to the hotel our driver got a call saying someone had dropped a card near the pay booth, and asked if it was us. We didn't get a name, or description, so it was a guessing game before a few phone tag calls later the driver got a name, it was one of us, but they would send the card with another group leader to our hotel. Phew!

When we got back Nelly and I walked down to Sam's to collect the last of our (sort of dry-ish) dive gear. They were kind enough to have a van drop us back, even though it was only a 5min walk, not having to wheel the gear back was very welcomed. The Drop Off bar had fairly reasonable prices, so we went back there for lunch. 

After lunch we went to the store to get some snacks for the trip home, the Qantas hostie mentioned that sometimes the catering on the home flight form Palau can be a little light on... Luckily the mini-mart also had Ice cream! 

I then jumped into the pool... might as well use it once... and sit on their in-pool stalls to finish the last of our duty free scotch. Others came down and we got a card game going until it was time to get ready for dinner.

 

Back to the Taj for our farewell dinner was a fantastic choice. We had a mixed table meal again and everything tasted amazing. Craig read out a few 'awards' for the silly things we did over the week and I think we could all collectively agree that The Taj gets the award for the best meals of the trip. Soon though it was time for bed, our last night in Palau.

Day 9 - Homeward Bound. 

Up a bit earlier to pack away gear. Mostly dry, with just my tech shorts a tiny bit damp still. Down for breakfast for another good feed... though the hash browns were hollow and see through... Bacon was still nice though not how I would cook it... they even had chicken tenders in the mix today...  

Bus turned up a little early but we were mostly ready anyway. Quick traffic free drive to the Airport and Nelly made sure to make time for a Geo-Cache in the car park before checking in. The Airport was like a ghost town when we arrived. Slowly a few more people trickled in. 

I think this might be the only Airport I have ever been in with a fancy departure board and only one flight up on the schedule. Other smaller airports I've been in also only had 1 flight, but they were so small that they didn't have/need a departure board... Another game of cards started while we were waiting while some read books and others took advantage of the free WiFi. 

Flight was half empty again so we were able to spread out this time too. Nice way to fly! At 6 hours it's just enough time to fit in 3 in-flight movies. The warning about snacks was somewhat justified, no hot meal service, but a decent snack pack with dried fruit, chocolate biscuits, olives and a few other nibbles.  

 

After landing we had the usual Customs and Immigration fun, but it didn't take too long. Due to the waterfall walk we had to declare our shoes, but we gave them a good clean in the hotel before we left so we got waved through without issue.  

Lift home (thanks mum!) via take-away for dinner. It was a fantastic trip, though living expenses over there were a bit higher than I remember... Good to be home, unpack all the dive gear ready for tomorrow... still a bit of washing to do before the trip is officially done :o

Thanks again to my dive buddies for making it another smooth and easy trip. The Sam's crew was good to dive with and its great Yuki and Danny took our experience into account when leading our dives! Big thanks to Bax, our skipper for the week, dropping us in the right spot and taking care of surface watch too!