Palau Pacific Resort

Some good changes are in store when you book a Palau dive package for 2014. Palau Pacific Resort known to locals as PPR and considered by many as the top resort in resort in Palau, will now be including a daily buffet breakfast when you book a room at their resort.  Palau Pacific Resort has several room options when booking.

The least expensive room at PPR is the garden view room. Then we move up to the ocean view room and the ocean front rooms. The inside of rooms are all quite similar unless you book the junior suites or luxury suite.

The amenities here include an infinity pool, tennis court, hair salon and  a beautiful white sand beach great for relaxing after a long hard day of diving.  The beach bar is  always close by and the staff are happy to bring you your favorite tropical cocktail right to your comfy lounge chair on the beach.

Just remember when booking any hotel room in Palau,  if you arrive Palau in the wee hours of the morning to book the hotel room for the prior evening. Safe travels to paradise we look forward to seeing you and serving you in Palau. Here are our latest Palau Pacific Resort packages.

Sunset in Palau

Diving in Palau is on the bucket list of most divers. We at Palau Dive Adventures want you to make the most of your trip and from our experience here are 5 tips that will make your trip less costly and more enjoyable.

1. Book Early. We can’t say enough about this. We are not the only dive shop to limit the number of divers per day and there is a huge shortage of hotel rooms in Palau. The number of visitors to Palau each year keeps increasing. Not to mention the sooner you book your flights they usually are less expensive.

2. Pack Light. Most airlines allow two checked bags up to 50lbs. Avoid excess baggage fees and stay under 50lbs. Make sure you have a very good quality rain jacket for Palau as well. All dive boats in Palau are high speed (30+ MPH) and couple this with a tropical rain, you will want a good mountaineering type rain jacket and a fleece underneath if you get cold easily.

3. Buy a Dive Package. All SCUBA travel agents and Palauan dive shops have contracts with the hotels that are almost always less than or at least equal to any advertised online rate. This is also always the easiest way to book. Our dive packages include 13 total dives over 5 days, 2 Days 2 Tanks, 3 Days 3 Tanks.

4. Buy Travel Insurance. Honestly, in the past we were not entirely sold on travel insurance. Of course we had D.A.N. insurance but, this is not “travel” insurance, that will cover flight delays, missing/damage SCUBA equipment, medevac, and even medical expenses in Palau. There are two huge differences in travel insurance, primary and secondary. Primary is just that it comes in first. D.A.N. is NOT primary insurance, like DiveAssure and M.H. Ross. Both have been around for a long time and know what they are doing. Call us, or, your favorite travel agent and be sure to ask them about “travel insurance.” Do you really think an airline is going to make all 2-3 connections on time?

5. You get what you pay for. There are other reputable dive shops in Palau aside from us. We work very well with and even recommend divers to them when we are booked. But, as with most things in life you get what you pay for. There is a reason why one shop is much less. Look on review sites, ask the important questions; What safety equipment do you have on board? What is the ratio of guides to guests and are your guides certified as dive guides.

We hope you have learned a bit about diving in Palau and found these tips helpful. If you have any questions please ask them below or email us anytime. Sulang, your Palau Dive Adventures team.

Rock Islands Palau

We often get asked, “should I dive Palau from a land-based dive shop or do a liveaboard in Palau. The truth, both are great.  What do you really want to do?  What is your budget? We will go over some of the differences in each operation from a Palau perspective.

For those that all they want to do is dive as much as possible. The liveaboard is the way to go. The liveaboards offer up to 5 dives per day and that is just not possible from land-based diving in Palau. The other nice advantage with the liveaboards is a set dive schedule for the week. So, you can visit as many of the various dive sites as possible. Liveaboards also include trips to Jellyfish Lake and Peleliu Island, both of which are a must when you visit Palau. Of course, the service of a liveaboard is awesome.  Come up from a dive and have a warm towel and chocolate chip cookies ready,  how can we as divers say no to this!

Land-based is not to be knocked in Palau. All dive sites in Palau are accessible via a day boat and on a beautiful sunny day a ride through the world famous rock islands of Palau is just amazing.  Land-based at a comfortable hotel like Sea Passion Hotel is usually half the cost of a liveaboard. Most of the main dive sites in Palau are 45-60 min from Koror. It is very normal to dive 3 dives per day from a land-based shop in Palau and for many guests this is enough.  We love to show our guest as much as Palau as possible so we even have our own weekly dive schedule. The other aspect of diving land-based is at the end of the day you can experience some of the Palauan culture or hospitality at your resort.

Whatever you decide to do in Palau, you will fall in love with Palau. Many people return to Palau year after year mixing things up liveaboard one trip, land-based the next. If you have any questions for us please feel free to ask us below or if you would like to share your Palau dive experience, please feel free to share it below.

Grey Reef Shark

Palau is home to some of the best scuba diving in the world. As divers Palau is on our bucket list. And quite often, once you dive here, at the end of the your dive week, you are already thinking of when you will be back. Here are our top 5 reasons to dive Palau. No surveys, no ads, just our honest opinion from our experience with thousands of dives in Palau.

#1 Sharks. It is almost impossible to dive in Palau and not see a shark on almost every dive. March is one of the best months to come visit Palau in hopes of catching the sharks mating. In Palau, we do not need to attract sharks by hosting a “shark feed”, they will do this naturally and sometimes if we are lucky we get to see it first hand!

#2 Manta Rays. Diving with Manta Rays is an awe-inspiring experience. From the way they glide in the water to their rhythmic dances as they feed. All divers will remember their dives with Manta Rays. In Palau we have a couple sites that we can regularly see manta rays, and on each of our week-long dive trips we will do at least one, if not two dives, in an attempt to catch them at German Channel as they feed and get cleaned.

#3 Drift Dives. From gentle drifts to ripping currents, Palau is world renowned for its drift dives. Our lead, local Palauan dive guide Jason, can read the drifts to determine which site is safe and the best route to take on the dive. We have also added the Nautilus Lifeline (submersible VHF radio and GPS locator) to the standard equipment our guides carry, just in case we need to hail our boat. Conditions can change rapidly and diver safety is of utmost concern to us. One of the best drift-dives in Palau is Ulong Channel. See our blog post on Ulong Channel for all the juicy details on why this is such a great dive.

#4 Wall Dives. The wall diving in Palau may be the best in the world. The walls here are covered in corals, colorful reef fish, sharks cruising by in the blue, all in crystal clear warm water! You diving with your friends in our small groups, priceless! Any questions?

#5 Wreck and WW II History. Palau has some great wrecks to dive. Definitely if all you want to dive are wrecks, then Truk would be the better choice, but nonetheless there are some wrecks that are really worth diving in Palau. Helmet wreck in Palau is one of our favorites. It is relatively shallow with tons of great WW II artifacts still on it. If you are a history buff, then Palau will not disappoint either. With major WW II battles fought here and war remnants all around. It is sure to whet the appetite of history buffs.

Hope you have enjoyed our top 5 reasons to dive and visit Palau. If you have any comments or suggestions we love to hear from you! Let’s Dive!

School of Fish Palau

Ulong Channel in Palau is one of the best dive sites in the world based on thousands of votes tallied from http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/topdiveslong.html. On their list it ranks as number 22. We love this palu dive site for so many reasons! Follow us on our journey through this great Palau dive site.

Ulong channel is best on an incoming tide for the better visibility. It is a short 40 min drive to the site from Malakal Harbor. The dive begins as a wall dive with sharks off in the blue. After a couple minutes on the wall divers will “hook-in” at the mouth of the channel to observe the sharks cruising in the currents and possibly a large bait ball that is often seen here. The strength of the incoming tide will determine the hook-in time. The stronger the current the faster the drift and thus the quicker divers will go through the channel. Follow the dive guides as they know best when to unhook.

Once divers unhook, it is a world-class drift through a beautiful coral garden. It is impossible to list everything one will see, but, the highlights are usually large groupers, white-tip sharks, trigger fish and the famous “fish condos” of Palau. It is actually a giant patch of lettuce corals that colorful reef fish love to call home.

The total dive time can be in excess of 60 minutes due to the shallow depth of the channel. Make sure you follow your dive guide and surface with them, as there are many boats that use this channel. Always surface with your safety sausage!

Feel free to leave any questions and comments we love to hear from you! Happy diving all, Let’s Dive!

Blue Corner Palau

Here are some of the reasons our lead guide “Jason” who has over 6000+ dives in Palau still picks Blue Corner as his favorite dive in Palau. This spot is filled to overflowing with great action. Sharks come here to glide in the currents, mate and eat while we are hooked into the reef observing them. As you can see from the photo, Blue Corner juts out like an elbow into deep water. Blue Corner has many different starting points, but my favorite is at Blue Holes. We drop into Blue Holes and explore this fascinating area. When we exit Blue Holes, we allow the current to pull us toward Blue Corner. On the way to Blue Corner we experience an incredible wall dive replete with sea fans, sea whips and abundant varieties of reef fish. Once we reach the hook in point, we deploy our reef hooks and partially inflate our b/c’s. Suddenly we are floating like kites in the wind, watching the action that unfolds before us. When we hit 700psi, we deflate our b/c’s, unhook and make begin our ascent. I have led innumerable dives in Palau and the one to Blue Corner is one of the most breathtaking and incredible, and so, I always look forward to diving the wonders of Blue Corner and showing our guests all my secret spots at Blue Corner. Are you ready to dive?

Let’s Dive!

Jason Maluchluw
Lead Guide and Co-Owner of Palau Dive Adventures

Palau Dive Adventures Travel Pillow

Some of the best diving in the world is in Palau. SCUBA Diving magazine each year asks their readers to rank their favorite dive spots in the world in eleven different categories. Palau came in #1 in 6 out of the 11 different categories for both the Pacific and Indian Oceans! It was number 2 in most of the other 5. Check it out for yourself; http://www.scubadiving.com/photos/top-100-readers-choice-awards-pacific-and-indian-ocean

One reason Palau is one of the best dive spots in the world is; there is no major land-mass for thousands of miles, it has deep nutrient rich water and Palau is where the Pacific Ocean and Philippine Sea converge. Being remote has one drawback, it takes awhile to get to Palau. But, with a little preparation and the right mindset you can make the trip more enjoyable. Here are our top 5 Palau travel tips based solely on our experience of doing it so many times.

1. Have a Positive Mindset
2. Get to the Airport Early
3. Wear Comfortable Clothes when you Travel (Layer)
4. Join Global Entry and TSA Pre Check
5. Buy Travel Insurance

Having a positive mindset is key. Your going paradise, try not to let the little things bug you too much. Remember, “your on vacation.”

Get to the airport early. We hear this over and over, but, do we actually do this? Three hours prior to flight departure is perfect. If you get through everything quickly great, you have time for a drink. One great idea our friend Norm does is he will buy a pass to the airlines’ first class club. This gives him access to drinks, internet, an airline representative that is happy to serve you, a great lounge and maybe even a shower.

Wear comfortable clothes. It seems like each time you get on a flight it is either too hot or too cold. We used to be able to count on the airlines having blankets on each flight, sometimes they have blankets and other times they don’t! Wear pants, bring a sweater and other dark colored clothes that will make your trip more comfortable.

Airline employees can make use of “crew” lines for immigration. But, even they have a better option, that is available to all U.S. citizens or permanent residents, “Global Entry”. I know of several airline employees that have this because this is even better than a crew “line.” Have you ever seen a “line” at the “Global Entry” kiosk? All you have to do is run your passport through the kiosk and you are on your way to customs. Go to http://www.globalentry.gov for more info. TSA Pre Check is similar and can help you get through airport security quicker and you can even leave your shoes on! When you are standing in line waiting there is nothing more frustrating than seeing those who have done some planning whiz through these lines. Just imagine almost eliminating long security and immigration lines! http://www.tsa.gov/tsa-pre%E2%9C%93%E2%84%A2

Lastly buy travel insurance! We have had several guests that would have been reimbursed for various claims. How many connecting flights will it take you to get to Palau? Will the AIRLINE make all the connections? Will you? Want your SCUBA gear protected in case it gets damaged? What if something happens to you in Palau and you have to see the doctor or get broken arm fixed? Want peace of mind? What about an emergency evacuation out of Palau? All this can be covered by travel insurance. We like to use a “primary” insurance like M.H. Ross. For those of you who know the big outdoor retailer R.E.I. they use M.H. Ross as well. We had them build us custom dive travel plans that will cover damaged equipment, late arrivals/missed diving, hyperbaric treatments and evacuation. Here is link for more information https://www.mhross.com/index.php/consumer/portal/PALA2731CA or you can email us and we will help you with it. Yes, we make a commission on insurance, but this is NOT why it made the list. We have several instances where insurance would have paid. Palau is 8,650 miles from New York, 6,899 miles from Los Angeles, and 7,069 miles from Berlin, Germany, any questions? ☺

We hope you find these travel tips helpful. If you have any comments or questions you can always ask them below. Safe travels and we hope to see you in Palau! Let’s Dive!

One question we get all the time is when is the best time to visit Palau.  Palau as you all know is in the tropics. Meaning, we get a lot of rain! The good news is that we get 70% of our rain at night.

Palau has in general two seasons a “rainy” season and a “dry” season.  The rainy season is June, July and August. During these months the trade winds shift, bringing more rain than normal.  Of course even during these months we still get some very nice weather. On the flip side, we can still get a lot of rain during the “dry” season. So, what to do you ask? We recommend bringing  a good quality rain jacket on every trip to Palau. If you have the luxury of travelling anytime you like, then come visit us from September to May, and hopefully it will be a bit drier.

To see our latest trip and dive photos  visit us at www.facebook.com/palaudiveadventures