Postcard from Palau - John Butland's Palau Siren Trip

Our colleague John Butland reports on his recent liveaboard trip aboard Palau Siren. A keen diver and photographer, John shares some of the many highlights from his Palau trip with us here.

I suppose many people would ask if they should believe the hype about Palau and is it worth going halfway round the world to visit? The answer to both questions should most definitely be 'yes'. So, it takes a couple of days to get there, but when you see the beautiful islands and slip beneath its clear blue waters, you will soon forget your journey. 

Due to Palau flight schedules, I had the chance for some nice day boat dives from the capital Koror, before joining the liveaboard. This served me well in getting back in the water after a few months without diving and gave a good taste of things to come. I then joined the Palau Siren a lovely boat with a helpful crew, and a great way to explore the best diving around Palau. 

I had heard of many of the dive sites before, such as Blue Corner and German Channel, so I was looking forward to experiencing them for myself. The first part of the week was out on the extreme west edge of the islands, where you will find Blue Corner and other great sites like Big Drop Off and Ulong Channel. I defy anyone to dive those sites and not have them go straight into their top ten favourite dive locations. Blue Corner involves dropping down to a shear wall, then going onto the top and hooking on with a reef hook and watching the shark show. You will probably see more Grey Reef and Whitetip Sharks than you have ever seen in one place before. You just hang there and watch them cruise by, losing count at around 25.

I'm sure you know that sharks are protected in and around the islands of Palau, a wonderful situation that started 15 years ago and culminated with the creation of the world’s first shark sanctuary in 2009. It was so nice to see so many sharks on most dives during my visit. In fact I saw sharks on every dive except the night and wreck dives. 

But of course there is plenty more to see. Some sites had some beautiful hard and soft corals, rivalling the best you'll see anywhere in the world. We also spent half an hour watching a Manta Ray at a cleaning station and often saw Eagle Rays and Stingrays. There was plenty of little stuff to keep the macro lover happy, from Frogfish to lots of different Nudibranchs, many I'd never seen before. 

The wrecks of Palau mustn't be forgotten either. We dived four different wrecks during the week and although not so much of a destination for the hardcore wreck diver like Truk, there are quite a  few wrecks there to keep you happy. Like Truk, most are WWII Japanese vessels, some so big that they take a couple of dives to explore. They are mostly cargo ships, but there is also a very interesting dive on a small seaplane, known as Jake from its American code name. 

One last dive that is worth a mention is Chandelier Cave. Although you would normally think that a 70m long cave would require cave dive training, this one is great for those without, as there are four chambers where you can pop up and breathe the air without your regulator. Its very strange to see the amazing stalactite formations above you with your torch, whilst being entertained by your dive guides silly stories about the cave monsters that supposedly live there! Plus there’s a few tiny Mandarin Fish to hunt for in the coral on exiting the cave. 

Was there any downside with Palau? Of course there was. I was disaapointed that my stay there was limited and I had to leave it behind for the trip home!

To find out more about diving in Palau, please call our friendly team on 01353 659999. If you would like to speak to John about his trip, he would be delighted to share his experience and help you plan your diving adventure in Palau.