Palau diving

palau-napoleon

Palau is the largest shark sanctuary where all commercial shark fishing was banned in 2009. Palau diving is one of the best in the world. Sharks, mantas, barracuda, napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrot fish and much more. Healthy corrals, stunning walls and drop offs. There are also WWII wrecks and famous jelly fish lake.

 

What to see

Logistics

palau-boat

Palau Aggressor (October 2014)

The best way to dive Palau is on a liveaboard. Islands are spread out, and while it is possible to dive from land-based resorts, it is best to go with a liveaboard – you see more and cost-wise it is close once you take into account diving, accommodation and food. We went with Palau Aggressor – and had a superb trip. Food was so good that I think we all gained weight despite doing 4-5 dives a day every day. Their dive operation is superbly organized and professionally run.

The map shows approximate itinerary of our palau-mapliveaboard trip. Arrival and departure point is Koror – the main city of Palau.

United flies to Koror from Manila and Guam, Korean Air and Asiana from Seoul and Delta from Tokyo-Narita. Flights are not cheap.

There are broadly two options for accommodations in Koror – resorts outside of downtown or hotels in town proper. Resorts outside tend to be nicer but also more expensive. Hotels in town largely cater to Asian tourist primarily from China, Korea and Japan. Value for money forpalau-islands-view accommodation in Palau is rather low. If you view the choice of accommodation as just a place to sleep between flying, getting on the boat and flying out DW Motel is a reasonable option. We had a couple of days between flights and getting on the boat and rented a car and went around the big island. More on that here.

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