Best of Palau

This 7 night liveaboard adventure offers the chance to explore some of the finest diving in Palau. As with all diving trips, the choice of dive sites visited during the itinerary will be affected by a number of factors including weather, tidal movement, moon phase, experience of divers and number of vessels. 

ITINERARY HIGHLIGHTS

• Experience some of the finest diving in the Pacific
• Take in the big fish action at Blue Corner & Peleliu
• Dive with multiple species of shark
• Witness majestic manta and eagle rays
• Enjoy walls, channels & pristine coral gardens
• Dive the wreck of the Iro Maru

This liveaboard adventure offers the chance to explore some of the finest diving in Palau. Liveaboard itineraries are generally seven nights in duration, with some extended ten night itineraries provided.

Typically, four or even five dives per day are available, allowing ample opportunity to explore the area’s riches. Most diving in Palau is drift diving, with some dives requiring use of a reef hook. Guests should be comfortable diving in current and have some experience of this style of diving.

Liveaboards depart from and return to Koror, with hotel stays often required pre and post liveaboard.

Dive sites you may dive on your Palau liveaboard adventure include the following:

Big Drop-Off: A wall dive that begins as shallow as 1 metre at low tide and drops to 183 metres. It is considered by most to be the most beautiful wall dive in Palau because of its abundance of hard and soft corals, seafans, schools of pyramid butterflyfish, and a multitude of tropical reef fish.  

Blue Corner: The best known and most highly rated dive site in Micronesia features a shallow coral shelf that projects out into the ocean and has vertical walls on both sides. An upwelling created by the currents attracts schools of fish and large pelagics to the top edges of the walls. The dive is best known for its schools of gray reef sharks that cruise the edge of the wall. Two resident Napoleon wrasses often accompany the divers throughout their dive. Dogtooth tuna, eagle rays, manta rays, white tip and hammerhead sharks, turtles, schooling barracudas, and schools of reef fish populate the site.

Blue Holes: This is a series of four large holes in the top of the reef that converge to form a gigantic underwater chamber. The chamber has a huge opening on a wall that is home to soft corals, sea fans, sea whips and hard corals. Large pelagics often encountered here include tuna, jacks, gray and white tip reef sharks, barracuda and eagle rays. Grouper, Napoleon wrasse, triggerfish, Moorish idols, butterflyfish, anemones and turtles are common at this site, which is situated next to Blue Corner.

German Channel: This man-made channel through the southwest side of the barrier reef is home to two diving areas. One site, known as Manta Rock, is a natural cleaning station where giant manta rays come to have their bodies cleansed of parasites and debris by cleaner wrasses. Gray reef sharks also often avail themselves of the wrasses' services. The area is also inhabited by barracudas, snappers, titan triggerfish, gobies, lionfish, leaffish, and an octopus. Nearby is a coral garden that features crocodile fish, nudibranchs, flatworms, anemones and clownfish.

Peleliu: The island of Peleliu, at the southern tip of the main archipelago of Palau, is bordered by magnificent walls. The dive sites include Peleliu Corner, Yellow Wall, and Orange Beach, among others. Peleliu dive sites are mainly steep walls covered with sea fans, sea whips, hard corals and anemones, but dominated by soft corals. Peleliu is an excellent place to observe large pelagic life, particularly sharks.

Ulong Channel: This channel is located on the west side of Palau, close to Siaes Tunnel and Wall. Its entrance is surrounded by walls that are topped by beautiful coral gardens. On the incoming tide, the mouth of the channel is filled with grey reef sharks. The channel extends for a distance of approximately 1 kilometre, averaging 30 metres in width. The maximum depth is about 18 metres. Coral covered walls run the length of the channel on either side. A shallow ridge running the centre of the channel is blanketed with soft corals, hard corals, sea fans, and anemones. Unique to this site is a huge patch of plate coral resembling lettuce leaves that is home to schools of squirrelfish, soldierfish and glasseyes. The current provides a gentle push, resulting in a beautiful, leisurely ride along the channel  

Chandelier Caves: A short swim through a tunnel at depth of 11 metres opens into a cave consisting of three chambers. Beautiful stalactites formed by water dripping down through the rock island above, hang from the ceilings and give the caves their name. Tiny holes to the outside wood allow fresh air to enter the chambers so that divers can surface and admire the beautiful surroundings.

Denges Passage: This natural channel, situated on Palau's eastern coast, is home to an entire family of cuttlefish. The uncommon creatures, related to the squid family, are as accommodating to photographers as they are rare. They are not often encountered by divers because of the relatively few locations in he world where they can be found, their ability to remain relatively motionless, and their excellent camouflage.

New Drop-Off: Halfway between Blue Corner and Big Drop-Off, this vertical wall is similar to Blue Corner in that it is a shallow shelf that juts out into the ocean, catching the current and creating an upwelling that attracts schools of pyramid butterflyfish and barracudas, along with a number of gray reef sharks. The steep wall is covered with soft corals and seafans.

Ngedebus Coral Gardens: One of the best collections of hard corals in the Pacific, this dive features a spur and groove reef structure that supports turtles, cuttlefish, anemones, tridacna clams, white tip reef sharks, and thousands of small schooling fish.

Ngerchong: The island of Ngerchong, just beyond Denges Passage has two dive sites nearby: Ngerchong Outside and Ngerchong Coral Gardens. Ngerchong Outside is a sloping wall dive featuring sea fans, anemones, soft corals and many hard coral formations. Sharks, bumphead parrotfish, and schooling fish are frequently seen here, as well as an occasional manta ray. The Coral Gardens, also known as Ngerchong Inside, is probably the best dive in Palau for seeing an abundance and variety of hard corals. Table coral, staghorn coral, elkhorn coral, mushroom coral and brain coral are just some of the varieties of corals found here. In addition, many anemones with clownfish, along with cuttlefish, turtles and other fish thrive here. 

Short Drop-Off: A sloping wall just outside the entrance to Koror Harbor that is covered with giant seafans. The top of the wall is a beautiful coral garden loaded with tropical fish and invertebrates.

Siaes Tunnel: An extraordinary deep dive on the west side of the Palau, close to the Ulong Channel. The dive begins on a sheer wall with the opening of the tunnel starting at 20 metres. You enter through an opening, which is about 15 metres across and 6 metres high, and swim through the tunnel, which parallels the wall for 45metres. The inside of the tunnel is a large cavern with a ceiling at around 25 metres and the floor at 37 metres. Halfway through the tunnel is a "window" in the wall that looks out onto the deep blue. You exit through a large opening on the wall at 24 metres. Stingrays, turtles, schools of jacks, and sharks can be seen in and around the tunnel.

Wonder Channel: Located within the rock islands just a short distance from Jellyfish Lake and Clam City, this channel is best dived on the east side along a wall that starts at the surface and reaches a depth of 23 metres. Soft corals, sea fans, anemones, blue and red starfish, crown of thorns star-fish, crabs, pipefish, and a large variety of sea slugs, flat worms and nudibranchs can be found along this wall.

Wreck of the Iro Maru: A 44 metre long merchant ship sunk during World War II by American bombers, the Iro Maru sits upright in 36 metres of water just 10 minutes south of Koror. Three mast and gun turrets at the bow and stern support a large variety of invertebrates and hard corals. The main deck is at a depth of 23 metres with open holds containing oil drums and machinery.

As with all diving trips, the choice of dive sites visited during the itinerary will be affected by a number of factors including weather, tidal movement, moon phase, experience of divers and number of vessels.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: We recommend that you are a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver or equivalent with a minimum of 30+ dives for this itinerary. Most diving in Palau is drift diving so guests should be comfortable with a current.