Palau

Date: April 1996

Ah, Palau—we finally made it, but with a one-day delay. Continental Airlines, in their infinite wisdom, changed a connection through Guam just before our trip, so we got to spend a full day there instead of diving in Palau. Hmmm, touring Guam or diving in Palau...what a choice. When we finally did arrive it was after dark, so there nothing we could see. Thankfully, a representatives from Trip ’n Tour and our dive operation, NECO Marine, were waiting for us. At the airport, they efficiently planned the next day (lunches were ordered, meeting times determined) and we were readied for transportation to our hotel, Sunrise Villas. We had considered staying at the renowned Palau Pacific Resort but ended up choosing another resort to save considerable money. Good decision.

We were up early the next morning to find ourselves high on a lush tropical hill overlooking islands and ocean with the sun rising in the background. "Sunrise Villas"—I got it! We were able to see even better views later, but not a bad way to see Palau for the first time. By the way, the first photograph is a view from the Nikko Hotel, if I remember correctly. It looked like a great place to stay, but much further away from the dive operations.

NECO Marine provided van transportation for the 10 minute ride back and forth to our hotel, and except for the first and last trip, our gear stayed at the dive operation. The gear storage and daily transportation, even if they were on "island time," helped immeasurably.

So, why a land-based operation with three live-aboards in the area? Cost! For the most part, we all enjoyed our land- based experience, but on our next trip we will try one of the live-aboards. One of the alleged disadvantages of staying at a resort is the 45-60 minute boat rides out in the morning and backin the late afternoon. For me, however, they were an absolute hoot. The scenery was incredible — best on this Earth from my perspective. In addition, our experienced boat driver added typical tourist thrills by running full speed between islands that must have been separated by "mere inches" of water, or so it seemed. If we did a live-aboard, I would insist on a few of these rides in a chase boat.

Diving: Anyone say, "fish"? For our trip, it was remarkable that every fish in the world swam to Palau to greet us—or so it seemed. With an exception noted below, the diving was everything as advertised, minus the currents, especially at Blue Corner. We did the other well-known sites too, including a drift dives through Ulong Channel and German Channel, Blue Hole (right before Blue Corner), New Drop-off, Turtle Cove, Big Drop-off close to Ngemelis Island, and Peleliu.

Probably because of the hype, we did Blue Corner three times. We even had those cords with the hooks to hang onto in the overwhelming currents. I don’t doubt the stories we have heard, but the cords stayed limp—nary a current during our week there. Even without the currents, however, the fish did not stay away. We saw sharks on every dive, and layers of fish neatly stacked by species.

On the boat ride out to our one night dive at Short Drop-off, we witnessed the most amazing sunset! We stopped the boat just to gaze for awhile. The bright colors of the sinking sun were replicated underwater on our 50-minute dive, but looking up towards the surface, we could see a full moon!

Our dive package included the obligatory trip to Jellyfish Lake, a destination seen on the Discovery Channel and featured in one of the Omnimax films. Once the boat gets to the island where Jellyfish Lake is located, I wouldn’t say it’s difficult to get to the lake, but I wouldn’t say it’s an easy stroll in the park, either. First of all, you have to carry everything you want to take, and this is when you are thankful that you will be snorkeling. It was the two Nikonos systems and a video system that made the climb up the steep hill and down again (each way) interesting. There is no beach at the lake, no dock — just the edge of the jungle meeting water. A short swim from the water’s edge puts you out in the lake and ready for the jellies. Soon enough, you see a hazy blob through your mask, and as you get closer you begin to recognize distinct jelly fish. Then you realize there are thousands and thousands of them ranging in size from your thumb to a dinner plate — all of them pulsing with no seeming place to go. It’s a must do experience.

Dive Operation: NECO Marine did a credible job, although they lost considerable points in our ratings due to a newbie dive master who was still learning her way around the dive sites while not taking the time to learn about how to deal with "customers." She was in a hurry during the dives and we were not. After requests to slow down, it got a little better. In my mind, she was also responsible for botching our first dive at Shark City. We had other, less experienced, divers on the boat with us, and due to a number of factors, we ended up dropping in the wrong location away from a visual reference. The group was scattered and a few dropped way too deep. The dive was aborted, finally, and we had to regroup for another, shallower attempt. An experienced dive master would have had the dive under control. The remainder of the dives went much better.

NECO had good, roomy, fast boats and good local drivers who knew the islands, the channels, and the tides. Speaking of tides, when boarding the dive boat on our first morning, the water was literally lapping over the concrete dock. On our return in the late afternoon, however, we were at least seven feet below the dock and had to reach our gear to our full arms extent to others helping us on the dock. Biggest tidal changes I have ever seen.

Each of us ordered a box lunch from a selection for the next day, and each day we dined on a different beach. In keeping with the whole experience, these were the most beautiful beaches in the world. Towering palm trees in the background; clean white sand, crystal clear water deepening to various shades of blue, big puffy while clouds suspended in the clearest blue sky you can imagine. If it were not for the afternoon dive, I would have wanted to linger on the beach for the rest of the day.

The normal regimen is a morning dive, lunch, and one afternoon dive. On two days, however, we did three dives to make up for the planned day we missed courtesy of Continental Airlines.

Hotel: Sunrise Villas appeared to be a brand new property carved into a hillside. It was so new that the driveway had not yet been paved and construction on an outdoor lounge/bar was still in progress, one bag of concrete at a time! The rooms were large and comfortable and the restaurant had very good food.The friendly and helpful staff provided exceptional service. I could easily stay again sometime.

Meals: We enjoyed a local favorite for breakfast each morning at Sunrise Villas. Faced by a wall of windows, we enjoyed the view as we tried to wake up. We had many of our dinners at the hotel restaurant, too. On one evening, they even pulled off a surprise birthday cake for Sandy, but I planned ahead and brought the balloons from home.

We were only a 20 minute walk down the road to the Palau Pacific Resort. We made the trip one evening just to look around and discovered that each evening they have a special buffet. We picked the seafood night, made reservations, then made a second, very worthwhile trip down the road a couple nights later. Arriving early, we hiked up a path to the top of a hill on the property to watch a gorgeous sunset. It was extremely relaxing...except for all the noise a thousand camera shutters were making as the sun dipped into the water. Damn tourists. Anyway, we stuffed ourselves with seafood and somehow made it back to our rooms.

Our last dinner was at a local restaurant on the island recommended by our boat driver. He joined us at our invitation and a good time was had by all.

Value: Who cares. Suck it up, go there, and spend the money.

Postscript: If you couldn’t tell, we were fairly excited about Palau. Ironically, the soft corals which were such a big draw for Sandy to begin with, seemed to be more plentiful on the wrecks of Truk Lagoon. Go figure. The fish, however, couldn’t be matched anywhere else we have ever been.