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 The
islands of Micronesia are scattered over three
million square miles of the North Pacific. Palau
is the Pacific's newest nation, a Mecca for divers
and home of the exquisite Jellyfish Lake. The
Republic of Palau lies east of the Philippines
and comprises of some 350 islands. They are grouped
in six clusters stretching to 400 miles from North
to South, Kayangel Atoll to Tobi Islands.
Palau is world renowned as the
unsurpassed dive destination that also offers
the sublime Rock Islands, dramatic waterfalls,
pristine white sand beaches and some of the most
intriguing native flora and fauna found anywhere
in the Pacific Ocean. Explore the beauty of Palau
with Scuba World Explorerf Fleet.
Palau has been described as one
of the Seven Underwater Wonders of the World,
with 700 species of coral and 1,200 species of
identified fish. Palau provides some of the best
diving to be found in Micronesia and ideally suited
for advanced divers. Aboard the M/V
Big Blue Explorer, and experience diving
the spectacular walls along the barrier reef,
including such favorites as Blue Corner, Ngemelis
drop-off and many other sensational dive sites
yet to be charted. You can expect mostly wall
and drift diving with visibility ranging from
60 feet to in excess of 150 feet, depending on
prevailing conditions. Please be aware that Palau's
diving might be considered challenging in many
instances and due to the local conditions, as
well as environmental concerns, diving is carried
out on tenders or skiffs. Diving in Palau from
a liveaboard is better suited to those with considerable
open-water experience, with the ability to maintain
Perfect Buoyancy Control, and who are comfortable
getting in/out of a dive tender. The tenders,
however, are provided with ladders.
Dive
Sites in Palau
 TURTLE
COVE (15m)
Location: North of Peleliu.
Attractions: Wall, blue hole.
This is a popular rest stop for Blue Corner divers.
There is a shaded beach and good snorkeling at
the cove and, after the proper surface interval,
a blue hole/wall dive is very handy.
 NEW
DROP-OFF (25m)
Location: West Ngemelis Wall
Attractions: Great shark and barracuda action
The site is located right around the corner from
Ngemelis or Big Drop-off, on the way to Blue Corner.
It is sometimes referred to as West Ngemelis Wall,
the site is near the area called Fairyland, but
features a steeper drop-off that starts in between
15-30 feet.
BIG DROP-OFF (20m)
Location: Ngemelis West Channel
Attractions: Sheer wall of life
Perhaps the most-fabled wall dive of sport diving
is the Ngemelis Wall in Southern Palau. Located
just south of the historic German Channel, the
drop-off starts in extremely shallow water and
falls to depths greater than 900 feet.
BLUE CORNER (20m)
Location: Ngemelis Island
Attractions: Sensory overload
Blue Corner is one of the those dives that is
consistently electric, providing fish action in
every imaginable shape and size. Large sharks
are common, as are small ones, sea turtles, groupers,
schools of barracudas, snappers and small tropical
fish, napoleon wrasse, and bump head parrotfish,
and even an occasional moray eel or sea snake.
The amazing thing about blue corner is about 90
percent of all of these animals are spotted on
every dive.
ORANGE BEACH (15m)
This beach was invaded on 15th September 1944.
Japanese bunkers can still be found here.
GERMAN CHANNEL (15m)
Location: North of Ngemelis Wall
Attractions: Giant Clams, corals, and rays
The German Channel was created by the Germans
blasting through the reef to ease boat passage
during the occupation of Palau from 1899 to 1914.
This vast expanse had not been dived for sport
until a few years ago.
BLUE HOLE (33m)
Location: Ngemelis Islands
Attractions: Large, light-filled caverns
The Blue Holes are holes in the top of the reef
flat that lead to four vertical shafts that open
on the outer reef wall. The diver can descend
here and then drift down the shafts, watching
the sunlight play with the hues of blues as the
refracted rays dance through the water. The walls
of the holes have tubastrea and wire corals.
PELELIU WALL
Location: South of Koror
Peleliu wall is covered with a lush assortment
of fans and other soft corals, while the upwelling
of the currents attracts schools of snapper, jacks,
barracuda and sharks.
CHANDELIER CAVE (20m)
Location: Rock Island near Koror
Attractions: Freshwater caves
Chandelier Cave is a real departure from reef
diving. This shallow cave is made up of many chambers
and a high ceiling that rises above the water
level, allowing divers to surface, converse and
even take off diving gear and walk around in some
of the chambers.
IRO WRECK (30m)
Location: Urukthapel Bay
Attractions: Large, upright oiler
The Iro is perhaps the best-known and most popular
shipwreck in Palau. It is located just a short
distance from Koror and is in an area that is
normally protected from winds and roughs seas.
It is basically shallow as wrecks go and is beautifully
overgrown with many forms of sessile marine life.
Its sister ship, the Sata lies close by, upside-down,
deep, and basically not divable.
CHUYO MARU (25m)
Location: Near Malakal Anchorage, Rock Islands
Attractions: Heavy coral growth, fish
The discovery of this wreck came when Francis
Toribiong and Klaus Lindemann had been looking,
searching, identifying, and exploring and were
at the end of their safe diving time. The wreck
is 280-foot standard D freighter with its masts
covered in coral and the wooden planking in some
places rotting. This ship is still in fine shape
and is laden in coral and is home for fish. The
top of the mast is a garden of coral, sponges,
and fishes.
HELMET WRECK (25m)
Location: Malakal Harbor
Attractions: Munitions, war artifacts
The Helmet Wreck, a sunken World War II Japanese
Ship is the latest discovery in Palau. The ship
has been untouched and unseen by humans since
the war. The ship sits on a sloping bank with
the stern in 50 feet of water and the bow in about
100 feet. It is a new ship, as an inspection of
its engine room shows a triple expansion, single
shaft steam engine. The ship may not have been
in use at the time it went down and may not even
be Japanese built, but rather a captured vessel.
TRAVEL
BRIEF
Continental Micronesia is the only airline which
flies to Koror. But most often passengers arrive
by way of Guam. There are also direct flights
from Manila. For special airfare, please contact
Scuba World - Makati office.
Pictures
by Scott Tuazon
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