Live Adventurously

Palau conjures up visions of soaring like a kite in the wind on your reef hook at the edge of Blue Corner as a never ending parade of sharks marches past. Well, it’s precisely like that! But so much more. For sheer number of fish, Palau hits the top of the mark. The variations in dive sites are enormous from plummeting 4000 foot wall dives to monstrous currents at Peleliu Express, quiet coral gardens alive with octopus and cuddle fish and channels with flying manta rays. Palau is a perfect destination. We’ve made five or six or seven trips to Palau and always find something new, like schooling moorish idols (only 6 days a year!) and mating grouper in Ulong channel. It’s a dynamic and healthy ecosystem providing a lifetime of epic experiences. Combine Palau with Truk Lagoon for a dynamite duo!

Palau Facts Facts

If you want cool things to do on Palau, check out the next section. If you are looking for facts and figures, click here. The adventure life comes in many styles in Palau. Some of our favorite things to do include:

1. Dive Dive Dive. Scuba diving in Palau is our favorite thing to do!
2. Meet Bert. The first thing you need to do on Palau is meet Bert Yates who runs Neco Marine. Bert knows it all on Palau and is a helluva friend. You just can’t learn Bert’s type of south Arkansas humor, it’s genetic. After living in Palau some fifteen odd years, you can still recognize Bert by his accent!
3. Kayak the Rock Islands. The serene beauty and majesty of Palau’s rock islands are like something out of a fantasy movie set. Somewhere between 200-300 umbrella shaped limestone islets rise out of the sea in Palau’s southern lagoon. Within the rock islands lie marine lakes within islands within the sea, shimmering beaches, dense foliage and calm crystal waters. What a place to kayak!
4. Visit and snorkel Mandarin fish Lake. One of nature’s most gaudy and spectacular fish, these 3” members of the dragonet family sit tucked up inside the corals waiting for a cloudy day to appear. You can snorkel in just a few feet of water and get up close and personal with them.
5. Jellyfish Lake. Jellyfish lake is nestled within the rock islands and is a natural wonder of the world. Millions of Mastigias jellyfish inhabit the lake and with no natural predators have evolved mostly out of their sting. Snorkel amongst them and be transported to an alien world. Also, don’t miss the pajama cardinalfish under the dock and the magnificent tunicates clinging to the roots of the trees.
6. Visit the Etpison and the National Museum. Both small museums, you can get great information on the history of the islands. Have dinner at the restaurant above the Etpison museum. Better yet, have Mandy Etpison herself give you the tour!
7. Meet Miss Palau. During one of our expeditions, we arranged for Miss Palau to meet our guests at the airport upon arrival. Some tired faces surely perked up at that one!
8. Tour Peleliu with Tangie. Tangie is considered the foremost historian on Peleliu and his poignant trip through the history of the war on this relevant island will give you pause. The relics preserved on the island and the caves where Japanese soldiers hid and lived are impressive. Be careful…there are still unexploded ordinances in the jungles.

Palau Seasonality

Palau experiences its rainy season July – November and dry from January – June. We have had our best luck diving between January and April. Water temperatures are generally mid-80‘s all year so it’s a very pleasant back roll into the sea! In terms of critter happenings, the sharks are in their mating season from February to April, groupers spawn in May and Jun, mantas arrive December through February and the Moorish Idol migration happens on the moon phases in March.

Palau has no “bad” dive sites. But some of our favs include:

Palau Dive Sites

• New Drop Off- A perennial favorite of our divers, New Drop is known for huge number of planktivore that feed off the wall here including some of the largest schools of pyra-mid butterly fish we’ve ever seen. Beautiful sea fans make for great photograph. As with most dive sites in Palau, currents can be unpredictable.
• Blue Corner of course- Palau’s most famous dive site brings a new experience every dive. Ripping currents bring hundreds of sharks that cruise and rest along the edge of the wall. Hook in and watch the fun. Curious napoleon wrasse stealthily sneak up over your shoulder to see what’s going on and schools of jack and everything else make for the ride of a lifetime. However, we LOVE diving BC on slack tide. You can simply swim around the corner area. Many of the schools of fish which hang off the wall in the current come up to the reef flat at slack. Eagle rays cruise the reef top as well and you can just sit tight and observe nature at its finest!
• German Channel- The Germans mined guano on the island of Anguar and in order to bring it to Koror they blasted this channel. It is one of the best sites to find manta rays on an incoming tide as they come to cleaning stations here. Pretty much everything can be found traversing the channel from garden eels to shark cleaning stations, lots of turtles and often cuddlefish.
• Virgin Blue Holes- Dropping into the blue hole just a few feet below the surface you drop into a cavern at 90 feet. This dive is known for it’s topography with ledges and ca-verns. A beautiful variety from other wall dives in the area.
• Ulong Channel- This is a fun dive! Start by drifting down the reef and at the entrance to the channel white tip and gray reef sharks patrol. Watch this action for awhile before being whisked along the shallow sandy channel. In the spring on the full moon, thou-sands of grouper come here to spawn, what a sight!!! As well watch for the patch of amazing lettuce coral on the way.
• Peleliu Dive Sites- Peleliu dive sites are not for the weak of heart or beginning diver. And they are some of our MOST favorite Palau dive sites. Some of the strongest cur-rents in Palau rip through here with unpredictability. You should be comfortable in your abilities and flexible in dive planning here. However, the rewards are immeasurable! It is MUST to carry safety equipment such as a safety sausage and audible signal device like a dive alert. Some boats even carry personal EPIRBS. If you miss a pick up here all I can say is that I hope you can speak at least one Fillipino dialect!
• Peleliu Expressway- The name says it all! Go ripping down the reef through schools of oriental sweetlips, palette surgeonfish and rainbow runners. However, everything has been seen here including sailfish, marlin, sperm whales, orcas and whalesharks!
• Yellow Wall- Aptly named for the yellow tubastraea coral that grows here. It is a favo-rite food of turtles so keep an eye out. As well, schools of jack, red toothed triggerfish, sweetlips and pretty much everything in between lives here!
• Peleliu Wall to Peleliu Cut- This is an unbelievable dive. Start out along a gorgeous wall with the entire palette of colors represented in the soft corals. As you come closer to the cut the current picks up. Stay deep here to avoid being swept over and off the reef. If you do, surface and call it a day. But if you can, work your way up the wall right at the cut (you’ll see it coming because the sharks hang out here). Just at the top, hook in with your reef hook, hold on to your mask and watch the action!

*Note on reef hooks – Reef hooks were pretty much invented in Palau. You can purchase them there or make your own. Take a length of cord about 6 feet and attach a large blunt and barbless fish hook and a quick release clip to the other end. In advance of the hook in spot, pull out your hook and get ready to hook it into rock or dead coral. Once hooked in, add a bit of air to your BCD, relax and enjoy the ride. If you are a photographer, these hooks are a must. It’s like hands free driving but only hands free shooting. It’s the “only way to fly!”

No trips are scheduled at this time to Palau. Please check back!