October 15 2019

 

 

Alii from Island of Palau.

How you all doing? I hope everybody

are safe and well.

This is Clayton doing dive blog for 10/15/2019.

  1st dive at Ngemelis Wall with 25m visibility.

It’s a outgoing tide in the morning, but the

 

current at the site was incoming direction so

thats why we had that good visibility. Saw some

 

turtles along the dive which was the main target.

few sharks also and the school of humpback snappers.

  2nd dive at Bento with 20m visibility. it was a

relax dive. most of my divers had their own camera

so I let them do their thing, but i point some

interseting fish along the dive like the blue face

angel fish. then in the middle of the dive a huge

spotted eagle ray pass under neath us.

  3rd dive at German Channel with 18m visibility

and a weak incoming current. just 12mins into

our dive a manta ray pass in front of us coming

out from the channel. but too bad only 2 of my

 

divers were able to see it. as i continue the dive

most of the fish were making their way to the

mouth of the channel passing bye us. NICE..

well that it for me today, I hope you have a nice

day where ever you are. thank you and see you

next time. best diving … TonTon

 

 

 

 

October 14 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Today we had an open water course at the Royal
Resort. While diving at the beach we discovered
a banded shrimp goby and lots of damselfish.

 

In the meantime, BM1 went to Almonogui.

 

Operator: Humio
Guide: Yu and Mizuho

 

① Almonogui Corner
② Plenty Fish
③ West Passage

 

They spotted a pygmy killer whale on the surface
and a large school of circular batfish at Plenty
Fish. The corals were beautiful and everyone had
a good time, despite the choppy surface conditions.

 

Let’s wait and see what we can spot tomorrow!

 

October 13 2019

 

valii from the Island of Palau.

How you all doing? I hope all is good.

this is Clayton doing dive blog for 10/13/2019.

  1st dive at Grass land, with strong outgoing

current and 18m visibility. today not so much

going on at grass land, so we took our time

on this dive and look for small staff. we did

a stationary dive just to avoid the strong out

going current at the end of the reef.

  2nd dive at Sieas Corner with 25m visibility

and a bit strong outgoing current. the good news

about this current it makes all the reef fish come

together. and today was spawning time for the

red bass. so we could see them in big number.

the bad news about this current, it push the

shark away from the reef edge. while we were

hooked on the reef the school of baracuda came

right in front of us. good for me so i dont have

to swim looking for it. thank you fish!.

  and now for the 3rd dive and this is

my favorite site. The Ulong Channel.

This is one of the world classic drift dive.

 

I waited for the incoming current for

1hr and 40mins just to time it perfectly. Plus

i was trying to avoid other divers so we can

have the whole reef for our self. and it was

very nice. all the stars were there and at the end

of our dive was 2 cute small eagle ray just glyding

smoothly facing the current, nice.

 thank you for your time . TonTon best diving.

 

 

 

October 12 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was sunny today and the wind
has finally settled down a little bit.

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on three boats today.

 

BM6
Operator: Humio
Guides: Tomi / Clayton

 

① Short Drop Off
② New Drop Off
③ Blue Corner

 

BM7
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Paula and Mizuho

 

① Ngerchong Inside
② Ngerchong Outside
③ German Channel

 

BM2 – Charter
Operator: Susie
Guide: Yu

 

① German Drop Off
② Bento
③ German Channel

 

At Short Drop Off Tomi’s team encountered a baby
spotted eagle ray! Also a large school of longfin
batfish was saying hello, as well as a school of
blackspot barracudas.

 

At New Drop Off there were lots of blackfin
barracudas today!

 

At Ngerchong Outside we saw lots of humpback snappers,
twinspot snappers and yellowspot emperors, as well
as two juvenile Napoleons! There was also a reeeeally
chubby grey reef shark.

 

At German Channel the current was incoming but the
visibility was still rather murky. There were looots
of bigeye scads and bigeye trevallies, as well as
some whitetongue jacks.

 

Have a great evening and see you tomorrow!

 

 

October 11 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Today was still on the windy side, but nice
and sunny all day! Sun tan alert! Mizuho is
now officially “cockroach colour” according
to Tomi.

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 29C

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Tomi / Clayton / Paula
Intro: Yu and Mizuho

 

① Ngerchong Inside
② Ngerchong Outside
③ German Channel

 

At Ngerchong Inside the sea was super calm
and you could hardly tell that it was a windy
day! The visibility was at about 12 metres and
we spotted a cute little cuttlefish as well as
a few nudibranches! There were also some little
signalfin gobies hiding under the rocks! We also
saw lots of mackerels!

 

At Ngerchong Outside the visibility was really
nice and there was basically no current.
Tomi spotted a school of gold spotted trevallies!!
There was also a small school of big eye trevallies
and loooots of black spot barracudas!

 

At German Channel we entered from the Peleliu side
buoy and immediately got treated to a lot of grey
reef sharks circling at the bottom of the mooring
line! Every once in a while some white tip reef
sharks tried to blend in… unsuccessfully. 😀
They were just too cute to hide. There was also
a huuuuuge school of big eye trevallies near
the Peleliu cleaning station. The manta had its
day off today but there were lots of sharks!

 

See you tomorrow!

 

October 10 2019

alii from Palau Pristine Paradise.

This is clayton doing dive blog for 10/10/2019

today forecast windy from west side of the

island, so it rought outside the reef. but it was

sunny and nice.

1st dive at Big drop off with 25m visibility.

while getting ready to enter some boat tried

to go out, but they return back in. too bad.

so at big drop off we were aiming for small

fish like sail fin goby, damsel fish and fairy

basslets. toward the end of the dive we

came up on a lion fish, that was cool.

2nd dive at Bento with 18m visibility.

on this dive i stayed around 13m to 15m,

cause my diver got issue with his ear. during

this dive we able to see the rare blue face

angel fish. lots of cube box fish, but some

how i missed the turtle on this dive. this is

the 2nd time i dove this point with seeing

any turtle. darn….

3rd dive at german channel, yes you guest

it right. entered on the 3rd buoy and i was

just checking if the cuttle fish is still around.

but to my surprise it was still there, right on.

after 12mins i arrived at the station to find

other divers watching a manta ray hoovering

around the station. spend almost all of our

dive time watching the manta. as we were

running low on bottom time took a short

drift along the slope to find 13 to 15 gray

reef sharks clyding on the current. nice!

did our safety stop after that and end

our day, priceless.

thank you again and see next time.

TonTon signing out…..

October 9 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Oh nooooooo, the wind has picked up again a little!
But it was nice and sunny all day.

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on one boat.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Yu / Paula

 

① Big Drop Off
② Bento
③ German Channel

 

The visibility at Big Drop Off was super nice and the
sun was hitting just the right way. There were lots of
square spot anthias and Bartlett’s anthias along the
wall. We also spotted a scrawled filefish! Some bluefin
trevallies were also chasing around the fusiliers, aided
by a Napoleon!

 

At Bento we spotted some interesting stuff! A super cute
baby bicolour parrotfish! It was adorable and orange and
white and everyone got excited!
We also found not one but TWO Randall’s shrimpgobies! Yay!
There were loooots of hawksbill turtles and green sea
turtles swimming all around us, especially a very small
hawksbill turtle came up super close to say hi. We also
spotted some signalfin gobies and a blue-girdled angelfish!

 

At German Channel we finally GOT A MANTA! It’s been way too
long! It was huge and beautiful and swimming above our heads
on the cleaning station! So nice!!
A huuuuuuge school of bigeye trevallies was also hanging out
close to the Peleliu cleaning station but since everyone
seemed to be busy waiting for more Mantas we had the school
all to ourselves! As we were admiring them, some blackfin
barracudas also swam by! There were also lots of big eye
scads and of course the adorable garden eels. Always reliable.

 

Today was great, let’s see what tomorrow might bring!

 

October 8 2019

Alii from the Island of Palau.

how you all doing? I hope all is good.

this Clayton doing dive blog for 10/08/2019.

1st dive at Ngemelis wall. This was a check

out dive, mild out going current with 25m

visibility below 12m. not so much but alot

of turtles but somehow some gray reef sharks

were hanging out at Ngemelis wall not usual.

may be its the strong out going current at

blue corner that makes the shark come

to Ngemelis wall. well it was a good start

of the day.

2nd dive at Blue corner. as i was

getting ready i could tell that the current

is very strong out going. as i entered about

18mins later i find the current slowing

down makes it perfect for my divers. as i

approach the hooking area i find about

20 divers hooking in, so i pass behind

them and did not bother to hook in.

continue my dive to the sandy area to find

the school of big eye travelly. along the

the reef edge came the school of baracuda.

while the other divers were on the hooking

point me and my team were enjoying the

show down current. after 35mins of dive

time the current start to change to incoming.

now all the fish are starting to come on

the incoming side of blue corner and thats

where im at, so good timing. i get to see

the schooling of fish once more before i

finish my dive.

3rd dive at German Channel with incoming

current and 18m visibility. didnt have high hope

for the manta, cause this 2nd day from half moon.

spend 51mins on this dive, so we got to explore

the channel from the mouth all the way inside.

the good thing about this dive was. most of the

divers were going back and ford on the cleaning

station. and inside the channel was no one but

schooling of fish, me and my divers.

again thank you for your time and see you

next time… best diving.. TonTon, signing out.yu

 

October 6 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

It was mostly sunny today except for a
few rain clouds which Humio avoided by
skillfully navigating the boat around
them! We stayed dry!

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Paula and Mizuho (girls’ boat woop woop)

 

① Bento
② German Channel
③ Blue Corner

 

Today was awesome. We first wanted to dive at German
Channel but the visibility didn’t look great yet, so
we chose Bento instead. Lots of turtles! Also a very
cute blue-girdled angelfish! Hiding among the hard
corals there was also a baby spot-banded butterflyfish!

 

After our surface interval the visbility at German
Channel had improved and there were ZERO other teams
in the water! Yayyyyy! There were soooo many fusiliers
and unicornfish in the blue water! Also a huuuuge school
of bigeye trevallies! And some blackfin barracudas!
And whitetongue jacks and black snappers! After the dive
our customers said they didn’t even know where to look!
Too many fish…

 

At Blue Corner the current was strong incoming at first
so we entered from Buoy No. 1. We hooked right next to
a beautiful school of bigeye trevallies and watched the
fusiliers being chased around by giant trevallies and
Spanish mackerels! Then we continued and were planning
to hook again right after but by that time the current
had misteriously died down almost completely! We still
got to see looooots of grey reef sharks super close up
at our next hooking/no-hooking but hovering area. Also
so many redtooth triggerfish! Last but not least we
spotted the school of blackfin barracudas, first on top
of the reef and then moving slowly out into the blue,
giving us looots of time for great pictures!

 

Such a great day today! I wish we could have done more
dives… See you soon!

 

October 5 2019

 

 

 

 

October 4 2019

 

Alii from the Island of Palau.

I hope all is good and well.

this is Clayton doing dive blog for 10/04/2019.

Let me say that today was totally fantastic

according to my diver. She was so happy

about today dive point, so here we go.

1st dive at 330. west of Koror.

weak current with 15m to 25m plus

visibility. at 13m poor visibility, but

below that the visibility becomes clear.

Lots of schooling fish, from black snapper

red bass, big eye travelly, baracuda, scad

fish, white tounge jacks, and fusiliers.

something weird I see today was a

white tail sting ray resting on top of the

reef. meaning they usually rest on sandy

bottom not rock bottom.

2nd dive at Blue Marlin original point,

called Plenty fish. A again, same condition

with the 1st dive. weak current, about 15m

of water poor visibility and below that clear

water. Some how with a weak outgoing

current all the fish tend to stay together.

some on top of the reef and some off into

the blue water. we got travely chasing the

school of scad fish up and down the reef.

spanish mackerel chasing other fish of

to the blue water, a none stop action.

3rd dive at West Passage with strong

outgoing current in the middle of the

channel. So this current make most

of the reef fish to take cover from it.

So it means that all the fish went on

the side of the channel were the current

is weak. So guest what, thats where I

did my entry point. Its was all schooling

of fish, fish, fish, cant believe me eyes.

I would say this dive at West Passage

is the best ever I have had. 2 thumps up!!

once again for many time and every time

thank you for your time all the time.

Best Diving… TonTon .. signing out..

 

October 3 2019

Alii from Palau.

how you all doing? I hope all is good.

this is Clayton doing dive blog, 10/03/2019.

  1st dive at German Channel with nice

incoming current. saw the fish ball while

on top of the boat. feeling good that I have

a good chance of seeing a manta. so i took my

time. Entered on 3rd buoy follow the slope

down to find a cattle fish. then swam out to

the blue water looking for the manta, but none.

continuing toward the main station, went down

on the sandy area waiting for the manta. spend

12mins waiting, witness sharks coming to use

the station, about 30 bat fish also swam by.

as i was looking around saw small school of big

baracuda behind us. decided to drift toward the

north side station and still no sign of the manta.

So i dove for 58mins and no manta.well top bad

sometime you win, sometime you loose.

  2nd dive at Blue corner with a nice incoming

current. Entered on the 2nd buoy to find that

school of big eye travelly, but this time they were

all there that you can not see the other side.

after 15mins, move to the cut at 14m and

hooked in again. this time i got the sharks

glyding along the reef edge and they were

so close that i could reach out and touch.

drift along the reef to fond yellow tail parrot

fish spawning, just a small school. this time

i have reach 38mins of dive time and i havnt

see the napoleon wrasse. So i was wondering

where the hell is he. but as i  looking for the

baracuda  out in the blue and there was him.

as i look more closely there were doing it

off the blue, i mean they were spawning

in mid day. oh come on fish.

  3rd dive at New Drop off with weak

current. entered on the 2nd outgoing buoy.

after 15mins i get to feel the current

changing to incoming but very weak. so i slowly

stayed on shallow water and make my way

toward the other side. along the way saw

a octopus looking for a place to rest for the

night. found a bicolor blenny which is kind

a rare here in Palau. then toward the end

of our dive came up on a dancing goby

at a very shallow water. weird cause

this depth is not good place to settle

when the swells become big. well good

luck fish.

thank you for your time every time

all the time… best diving.. TonTon, out.

October 2 2019

 

 

Alii from Palau, how you

all doing? I hope things all good.

This is Clayton doing dive blog for 10/02/2019.

 Another beautiful day here in paradise,

nice weather, calm and clear water.

  1st dive at German drop off with

20m visibility. the dive plan for today

was small fish and main goal was looking

for a baby yellow box fish, but no luck

for today. Along the dive we got to see

a lyrie tail grouper trying to attack a octopus.

  2nd dive at turtle wall with 20m plus

visibility. nice drift dive with the wall on the

right. To be exact I counted 13 turtles, 2 of

them were the hawks bill turtle. big school

o humpback snapper and drummer fish on

the reef edge. few bat fish along the dive

and spanish mackerel. again I didnt bother

looking for sharks, cause the dive plan is

small fish.

  3rd dive at blue corner with 20m

 

visibility and nice outgoing current.

as soon I entered 3 giant travelly were

hanging out in the blue water. as i drift

toward the hooking point I came upon

a big great baracuda. Hooked in for about

18mins and a huge giant coral grouper pass

in front of us. unhooked and found the school

of baracuda hanging on the sandy area, but then

again the dive plan, small fish. but on this dive

i was able to find a baby cube box fish, but

not the yellow one. But the amazing part of

my dive today is that I did not see a single

 

diver underwater. wow!

again thank you for your time and see you

next time. best diving.. TonTon signing out.

 

 

 

October 1 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! 

 

It was warm and sunny today while we were
out diving but there was a strong rain shower
as soon as we got back to the shop. Good timing!

 

Air temperature: 32C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat.

 

Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu / Clayton / Paula

 

① Ngemelis Wall
② Blue Holes
③ Blue Corner

 

The visibility at Ngemelis Wall was beauuuuutiful
at about 25 metres and there was a super light
current pushing us the right way so it was a super
chill dive and we didn’t even want to come back up.
We met lots of turtles and two very curious grey
reef sharks were basically stalking us for the entire
dive. Why, sharks, WHY? However, we appreciated it!

 

Here’s a cute turtle picture from Ms Okawa:

At Blue Holes the visibility was also great and due
to the great weather the sun shine beautifully through
the openings in the reef. We paid our respects to the
electric flame scallop and found a little nudibranch
right next to it! It was probably hoping for some free
electricity. Then as we exited Blue Holes we spotted
some fire dartfish. Just before starting our safety
stop we got to witness a beautiful spectacle of fusiliers
being chased around by three bluefin trevallies,
a giant trevally and a dogtooth tuna! So cool! We didn’t
expect that much action towards the end of our dive.

 

At Blue Corner we chose to enter with the very weak
incoming current and explored the top of the reef. There
were lots of bigeye trevallies and some Heller’s barracudas.
We also saw many grey reef sharks and a huuuuuuuge green
sea turtle! The school of blackfin barracudas was hanging
out on top of the reef so we got to see those as well. Lucky
us. And the friendly Napoleon also came by a few times. Perfect
dive!

We didn’t see any blacktip reef sharks today but here’s
a picture of a very photogenic one from last week:

All pictures were taken by Ms Okawa! Thank you!!!

 

Have a great evening!

 

September 30 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

I woke up to rain water dripping from my ceiling
so that should give you a rough idea of the weather
last night but thankfully it stayed dry during our
diving trip!

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat.

 

Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu / Paula

 

① Ulong Channel
② Grassland
③ Siaes Corner

 

We caught a full day of outgoing current today but
we know how to improvise so we just sneakily dove
Ulong Channel from in to out! We drifted past the
beautiful cabbage coral and took a quick peek at the
garden eels but they were overwhelmed by our speed
and immediately retreated back into the sand.
On top of the cliff we observed some twinspot snappers,
ornate butterflyfish and a school of longfin batfish!
There were also some napoleons spawning.

 

At Grassland the visibility was beautiful at about 20m.
We had lots of fun with the garden eels and then
headed out to the sandy area where we spotted some
Chevron barracudas, lots of blackspot barracudas and
a small school of reef trevallies. Yu’s team also
observed two octopus (I actually need to google the
plural for octopus, wait for it – octopuses). I thought
it was octopi at first but apparently the word comes from
Greek. Who knew? Anyway, the two octopuses were engaging
in some weird game which could either have been a successful
third date or cannibalism. We are not sure, but it was fun
to watch!

 

At Siaes Corner the current was suuuuper slow outgoing and
we took our time swimming along the wall. There were soooo
many pyramid butterflyfish! When we arrived at the corner
the current was just right for some super relaxed hooking
and we observed lots of grey reef sharks, bigeye scads being
chased by leatherbacks and bluefin trevallies, baby grey
reef sharks (kawaiiiii) and a large school of blackspot
barracudas! Great dive! After unhooking we hung out on top
of the reef a bit longer towards the other side and spotted
not one but TWO flame angelfish! Yay!

 

It’s time for dinner, see you tomorrow!!

 

September 29 2019

 

alii from the Island of Palau.

 

This is Clayton doing dive blog for 09/29/2019.

Today was another beautiful day in paradise.

calm water, sunshine, nice current and visibility.

Alright, 1st dive at new drop off.

nice outgoing current with 30m visibility,

can you believe that?! the high lights on

 

this dive was the school of black fin

baracuda out in the crystal clear blue water.

it’s been awhile, I mean long time that I see

the school of baracuda at new drop off.

2nd dive at blue corner, outgoing current

with 20m plus visibility. All the stars of blue

 

corner were present, but some how my team

kinda focus on small fish which also good.

yeah, sometimes we forgot about the little

ones, who are cute and beautiful and easy

to work with.

and now for the 3rd dive, German Channel.

you know i’m gonna say that. mild incoming

current, most of the fish has move up to the

 

slop edge waiting for planktoon to arrive.

spend over 42mins looking for the manta ray

and didnt see a single one, was about to give

up, but suddenly i heard a tank banging. so

i went back to the north side cleaning station

and found other divers plus one manta ray.

nice…. I rest my case, thank you for the diver

who bang his or her tank. for me the high light

for this dive was the ring eye jaw fish and the

big giant travelly, 15 of them. didnt expect to

see that at German Channel.

again thank you for your time, every time all

the time. best diving… TonTon signing out.

 

September 28 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was super sunny today.

 

Air temperature: 32C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats.

 

BM6
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu / Paula
Intro: Tomi

 

① Ulong Cliff
② Grassland
③ Chandelier Cave

 

BM7
Operator: Susie
Guide: Clayton

 

① Grassland
② Siaes Corner
③ Ulong Cliff

 

For our first dive we wanted to do Grassland
but it seemed very crowded so we switched spots
last minute and did Ulong Cliff first. We were
the only teams there and had all the fish to
ourselves! There were lots of pyramid butterfly
fish, orangefin and pink anemonefish as well as
a small school of blackspot barracudas quickly
swimming past us on the edge of the reef. A very
large Napoleon was also swimming a few metres
away from us.

 

At Grassland the visibility was quite nice and
we spent a long time admiring the garden eels.
A few friendly cleaner wrasse also tried to give
us a thorough deep-clean. As we continued over
the coral we realised we were being followed by
a sneaky circular spadefish that seemed to be very
attracted by one of the customers’ fins!

 

The visibility inside Chandelier Cave was beautiful
and we spent a long time exploring before eventually
surfacing in all four air chambers! As we swam towards
the exit we decided to switch off our lights and just
enjoy the green light which gradually appeared to be
the exit. There were lots and lots of fragile cardinal
fish at the exit!

 

The early morning team meanwhile got treated to lots
of bumphead parrotfish spawning!

 

See you tomorrow!

 

September 27 2019

alii from the Island of Palau.
This is Clayton doing dive blog for
09/27/2019. Its been awhile since
last time I was on dive blog due to
injury, but the good news is im
back.how you all doing?

1st dive at new drop off with
a mild outgoing current and a 20m
visibility. was able to hook in
on this dive. the best thing on this
dive was there where no other boats.
so most off the fish and the sharks
stay close to the reef for better
photo opportunity. now the mating
season for Bumphead parrot fish has
already begin so we got to see them
on the reef. I would say this is
one of new drop off best dive.
nice and easy and full of fishes.

2nd dive at blue corner. Man do i
have great story to tell you. nice
outgoing current with 20m visibility.
again on this dive there where no divers
in the water that time. so i took my
time drifting along the reef to the
hooking point. stayed at the hooking
point for 26mins of dive time and then
unhooked and drift along the reef edge
finding school of fishes, including
huge giant travelly and spanish mackerel.
toward the tip of the reef i could see
the school of barracuda off the reef in
the blue water. so i stop and waited
for it to come on top of the platue.
guess what, while i waited for the
barracuda suddenly a manta ray appeared
slowly swimming behind the school of
barracuda, what a shot. but its not over
when i finished my 3mins safety stop
a 6footer silky shark showed up and
made couple of circle around us. wow.

3rd dive at german channel. this time
i timed this dive perfectly according
to the incoming current. cause i know
where the manta is gonna be in the
water. so just 7mins of our dive
we get to see the first manta and
then came other one to check the current
on the cleaning station. the manta took
3 rounds on the cleaning station and
went out to the blue water to check
on the planktoons. so i continue my
dive toward the main cleaning station
and came another manta.as i look up
toward the surface to see the schooling
of fish, 3 manta flew by across the
the channel. again i continue my dive
toward the main station. as i approach
another manta is on the station already.
so the question is, how many manta ray?
you do the math…
its another beautyful day here in
paradise. priceless. again thankyou
for your time all the time and see
you next time. best diving…
TonTon.
another manta

 

September 26 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was nice and sunny today.
I hope it stays like this for a while…

 

Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat.

 

Operator: Susie
Guide: Tomi
Intro: Paula

 

① Grassland
② Aquarium
③ Ulong Channel

 

The visibility at Ngermeaus was a little
worse than average but what a shark festival
it was! We saw lots of redbellied fusiliers
and yellowstripe scads, although the school
seems to have been getting smaller and smaller
recently…
There were also looooots of blacktip reef sharks
swimming all around us!

 

In Ulong all the stars were there, and on top
of that our guests got to see lots of bumphead
parrotfish!

 

Have a great evening!

 

September 25 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was very nice today with lots
of sun!

 

Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Hiro / Paula
Intro: Yu

 

① Ngemelis Wall
② Blue Holes
③ Blue Corner

 

Why are fish so smart? Because they are always
in school! 😀 I cannot take credit for this one but
it’s very fitting today. There were loooooots of
blacktail snappers at Ngemelis Wall! We also got
to see at least ten turtles! Mostly green sea
turtles but also some hawksbills turtles!

 

At Blue Holes the visibility was nice and we took
our time taking pictures of the beautiful blue
light coming in through the openings in the reef.
We also had fun observing the electric flame scallop
hidden inside the wall! 🙂

 

At Blue Corner the current was strong, making it
super fun for our “first time Blue Corner” customers
and Blue Corner veterans alike! It was incoming
so we dove with the reef on our left. So much going
on! There were lots of bigeye trevallies and black
snappers! Also sooo many grey reef sharks! After
unhooking we also spotted some blackfin barracudas
as well as a big school of blackspot barracudas on
the corner! Friendly Mr Napoleon also came by a
couple of times and we had his undivided attention
because we were the only two teams under water! Yay!!

 

I’m already excited for tomorrow, see you then!!

 

September 24 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

You guessed it – nice and sunny in
paradise today!

 

Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Hiro and Mizuho / Paula
Intro: Yu

 

① Grassland
② Siaes Corner
③ Ulong Channel

 

The visibility at Grassland wasn’t as
extraordinary as it had been recently,
but we still got to about 15 metres!
The mantas had their day off today but
we said hi to the garden eels and Hiro
got his gums cleaned by the cleaner wrasse!
There was also a large school of blackspot
barracudas and looooots of whitetip reef
sharks.

 

At Siaes Corner the visibility was incredible!
30 metres! It turned into a slow photography
dive for us and there were lots of pyramid
butterfly fish out in the blue. Our customer
also spotted a moray eel under a large rock.
There was also a great barracuda!

 

At Ulong Channel we headed towards the cliff
first where we found a beautiful school of
bigeye trevallies. Having taken lots of pictures
we then spotted a cute hawksbill turtle which
also hung around patiently to have its picture
taken. Inside the channel we spotted a super
cool octopus which wasn’t even hiding but instead
just casually chilled on top of a coral, its
camouflage skills absolutely flawless (but we
spotted it anyways). So cool!

 

I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow?

 

September 23 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

It was really hot today and I got a sunburn. Ouch.

 

Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Yu / Hiro
Snorkelling: Paula

 

① German Channel
② Blue Corner
③ Chandelier Cave

 

I spent all day in Ngermeaus today because we had
customers with two (incredibly adorable) small
children who just wanted to have a relaxed day
by the beach today. So what could be better than
Ngermeaus? Aside from the aforementioned sunburn,
it was wonderful. We also saw lots of blacktip
reef sharks and yellowack fusiliers during our
snorkelling adventures.

 

See you tomorrow!!

 

September 22 2019

 

 

Today,s weather is so nice.
Sunshine makes under water beautiful!!

Air temperature:30C
Water temperature:29C

We went out on three boat today.

 

 

BM7

Operator:Humio
Guide:Clayton/Mizuho

①Siaes Corner
②Ulong Channel

 

 

BM3
Operator:Susie
Guide:Tominaga/yu

①New drop off
②Virgin blue hole
③Blue corner

 

 

BM1
Operator:Staycy
Guide:Hiro

 

 

Today’s first dive site was Siaes Corner.
Current was weak,visibility was good like 20-25m.

 

We went right on the wall with following current.
Suddenry a Manta ray appear in front of us.Its so lucky!!
Its first time I saw Manta in Siaes corner.

 

And we saw alot kind of fish in reef edge.
For exsample Pyramid Butterfly fish,Black snapper Moorish Idol etc…!!

 

It was impressive school of baby shark!!
Tonton counted 28 babys like shark kindergarten.

 

Todays Siaes corner was especialy wonderful!!
 

Second dive site was Ulong Channel.
Current was littel bit stronger than first dive site.
We went right on the reef hill with following current in channel.

 

There are unique coral looks like cabbage!!
Not only shape but also color similar.
and, Bigscale solderfish and Bronze solderfis like environment
around this coral ,so big schools are there.

 

and, we were luckly to see  three Spotted eagle rays!!
looks so elegant like bird flying in the sky.

 

And good informatin.
the other boat also saw Manta ray in virgin brue hole.
and,they saw Decorated dartfish and Helfrich dartfish
at the bottom of the hole!!

 

Palau’s sea has new discovery everyday!!
It makes us fun.

Thank you for taking time to read all of this blog!!
Good luck!!!

 

Mizuho

 

 

 

 

September 21 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather is still picture perfect!
It was sunny all day and the sea was
calm like a mirror!

 

Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats.

 

BM3
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Tomi / Yu

 

① Ulong Channel
② Siaes Tunnel
③ Grassland

 

BM6
Operator: Susie
Guides: Clayton / Paula and Mizuho
Intro: Hiro

 

① Fairyland
② Blue Corner
③ New Drop Off

 

The visiblity at Fairyland was beautiful and
we enjoyed a slow first dive. We spotted some
spot-banded angelfish and orangefin anemonefish.
A friendly green sea turtle suddenly popped up
right in front of our faces as it was swimming
towards the surface for a breath of fresh air,
and swam past us again on its way back down.
Towards the end of our dive we also saw a small
school of bigeye trevallies and a few blackfin
barracudas!

 

At Ulong Channel the other team in the mean time
saw a huuuuuge school of bigeye trevallies on the
cliff and a spotted eagle ray at the end of their
dive!

 

At Blue Corner the current was moderate and
incoming, and there were lots of bigeye trevallies
at the first hooking area. As we continued over
the sandy area to the next hooking area we came
across a friendly hawksbill turtle which was happily
chomping away on some coral. Then we hooked for
a shark spectacle and lots of redtooth triggerfish.

 

Meanwhile, the other team at Siaes Tunnel spotted
a bluehead sand tilefish!

 

After eating our bento we chose New Drop Off for our
final dive of the day and the current was pretty
strong outgoing. We hooked and there were what seemed
like hundreds of pyramid butterflyfish, as well as
lots of grey reef sharks. As we basically flew over
the corner after unhooking we came across four to five
Napoleon wrasses chasing each other around frantically.
A school of yellowspot emperors also huddled together on
the corals!

 

A great day diving today, I wonder what tomorrow has
in store for us?

 

September 20 2019

 

alii from the island of Palau.

how you all doing? hope you all good.

again this is Clayton doing dive blog

for 09/20/2019. another fantastic day

at the paradise.

1st dive at German channel. nice in coming

current with 18m visibility. school of black

snapper and fusiliers feeding an planktoons.

approach the main cleaning station no divers

and no manta. stayed for 3mins and the manta

showed up and other divers, good timing. also

saw 2 feather tail sting ray. as i drift into the

channel, another manta was making its way

to the mouth of the channel. started to do

our safety stop another manta swam under

us then finally the school of big eye travelly

was making the tornado formation and

waving good bye to us. how nice!

2nd dive at Blue Corner, again nice in

coming current. there were 2 other boats

that already enter the water. So i decided

to take it slow and give them head start.

just want to avoid the traffic down there.

after 18mins i arrived at the hooking

point finding only 3 divers and the big

school of big eye travelly. along the way

there were couple of giant travelly, spanish

mackerel and 3 huge giant coral cod, man

they were BIG. again good timing that

I adjust my pace under water to avoid

other divers, how nice. perfectly executed.

once again thank you all the time. see

you next time. TonTon signing out.

 

September 19 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Sun for days and everblue Ulong…

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat.

 

BM3

 

Operator: Susie
Guides: Yu and Mizuho / Paula
Intro: Hiro

 

① Ulong Cliff
② Grassland
③ Siaes Corner

 

Ulong was sooooo blue today! You probably
already saw that on Yu’s instagram though. 😉
When we arrived at Ulong Channel the tide
had just started to go out so we dove on
top of Ulong Cliff right next door instead.
The visibility was nice and there were soo
many fish! A large school of big eye trevallies
was circling near the surface creating what
looked like a fishtornado (like sharknado, in
case anyone’s seen the movie? It’s a must-see!).
There were also schools of bigeye scads and
blackspot barracudas, and we basically didn’t
even have to move to see fish, they just gathered
all around us!

 

At Grassland the visibility was nice at around
15 metres and there were lots of grey reef
sharks and sleepy white tip reef sharks around.
The sneaky little cleaner wrasses mistook us
for fish and tried to clean our ears and around
our regulators. The friendly garden eels were
also craning their heads in the water. By the way,
I have googled the question whether or not garden
eels have necks – they do not. The reason: They
are fish, and by definition a fish does not have
a neck. Mystery solved.
Speaking of eel, Yu spotted a baby ribbon eel
hidden in a little hole next to a rock looking
super adorable. A beautiful school of longfin
batfish was also out in the blue.

 

At Siaes Corner the current was strong outgoing
and so we entered with the reef on our right side,
taking our time before hooking on the reef edge.
For the slow part of the dive we observed many
small beauties like purple queens, Bartlett’s
anthias, yellowstripe anthias and peach anthias.
There was also a hawksbill turtle hidden in a hole
in the wall. When hooking we were treated to a show
of grey reef sharks, including some baby ones, as
well as a Napoleon swimming unusually fast in front
of our heads. As we unhooked we passed a school of
blackspot barracudas and, swimming out into the blue
for our safety stop, came across some blackfin
barracudas!

 

Have a great evening!

 

September 18 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

It was nice and sunny in paradise today.

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats.

 

BM3

 

Operator: Susie
Guides: Tomi / Paula

 

① Blue Holes
② Big Drop Off
③ Blue Corner

 

BM7

 

Operator: Humio
Guide: Clayton

 

① German Channel
② Blue Corner
③ Chandelier Cave

 

We’ve obviously been Ngemelis deprived recently
so today we decided to head to our favourite Blue
Corner again.

 

The teams on BM3 explored the Blue Holes first,
and the visibility was super nice. We had fun with
the electric flame scallops and some fire dartfish,
but most of all everyone was enjoying the beautiful
view of the light coming in through the openings in
the reef.

In the meantime, Clayton’s team was diving German
Channel catching the last bit of the incoming current
and timing it just right it seems! He was treated to
not one, not two, not three, but FOUR mantas feeding
on the plankton near the surface! Such a rare treat!

 

At Big Drop Off the visibility was at about 15 metres,
and there were lots of peach anthias, purple queens and
square-spot anthias as well as some Bartlett’s anthias
trying to hide in the crowds. There were also lots of
pyramid butterfly fish and red-bellied fusiliers out in
the blue. We also came across a huuuuuuge green and yellow
nudibranch.

 

We dove Blue Corner at a nice slow incoming current
leaving us ample freedom to move around as we pleased
without getting out of breath. At first we spotted a large
school of big eye trevallies. Then Tomi saw the school of
blackfin barracudas out in the blue and everybody swam
as fast as they could to get some good pictures. After
returning to the reef we were basically stalked by the
friendly Napoleon who surprised us sneakily THREE times!
There was also a very large green sea turtle swimming by
as well as of course lots of grey reef sharks and white
tip reef sharks. Many redtooth triggerfish were swmming
around on top of the reef and on top of the cabbage coral
there were beautiful schools of blue-lined snappers and
yellow-spot emperors.

 

Yay for good weather! See you tomorrow!!

 

September 17 2019

 

Alii from Island of Palau.

This is Clayton doing dive blog for 09/17/2019.

1st dive at German Channel, the current is

already out going, but the north side of the

channel was still clear and mild current. Swam

to the center of the channel to find the current

kinda strong. Turn back to the north side cleaning

station and waited for the manta. less than 3mins

the manta came up from the deep and spend good

7mins on the station.

 

2nd dive at blue corner, with weak out going

current. arrive at the hooking area find a hawk’s bill

turtle. I decided to stay at hooking area for awhile

waiting for the current to pick up. as the current started

to pick up some sharks start to show up. after 25mins

of dive time, drift along the reef edge to find a dog

tooth tuna and spanish mackerel. tried to look for

the school of baracuda but no luck.

 

3rd dive at new drop off with a weak in coming

current. not so much shark cause of the current,

but at the corner of the reef lots of schooling fish

trying to figure out the current. for mean while

5 units of blue fin travelly showed up and start to

chase them around. little bit of action on that dive,

saving the best for last.

 

again thank you so many time, all the time.

TonTon signing out.. best diving

 

September 16 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Last time I wrote the blog it was still
suuuuper windy – but not anymoooooore! Yayyyy!
The icing on the cake is, it’s also sunny!

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM3
Operator: Humio
Guides: Tomi / Clayton

 

① Grassland
② Siaes Tunnel
③ Siaes Corner

 

BM6
Operator: Susie
Guides: Yu / Paula
AOW: Hiro and Mizuho

 

① Grassland
② Siaes Corner
③ Ulong Cliff

 

All our teams decided to head out to everblue Ulong
today and it was beautiful! At first we dove at Grassland
and the visibility was still pretty good – around 15 metres!
We immediately came across a beautiful manta at the cleaning
station! What a way to start off a dive! As we continued
along the sandy area there was also a large school of
blackspot barracudas. The friendly little garden eels were
also craning their long necks in the current (Actually, do
eels have necks? If so, are they really long? Is the neck
distinguishable from the rest of the eel? So many things
to google tonight.)
As we went up for our safety stop we witnessed not one but
TWO great things straight one after the other! At first we
spotted a school of whitetongue jack on the sand below us,
suddenly stirring and being driven apart by TWELVE grey
reef sharks going in for a snack! And to top it off, a big
school of beautiful longfin batfish came super close to us
during our safety stop. Awesome.

 

At Siaes Corner the current was mild incoming so we drifted
along the reef with the blue water to our right. There
were lots of bumphead parrotfish hanging out in what seemed
like a procession on top of the reef towards the corner.
Out in the blue there were also lots of fusiliers being
chased around by bluefin trevallies as well as little pyramid
butterfly fish. We also saw lots of grey reef sharks and
a spotted eagle ray!

 

At Ulong Cliff the visibility was good and we went on a
search for the large school of bigeye trevallies. After a
little bit of swimming we spotted the school on the reef near
the cliff! They swam circles around us and looked beautiful,
seemingly posing for pictures. There was also a large school
of blackspot barracudas as well as some whitetongue jack being
chased around by bluefin trevallies. We also made friends with
a porcupine fish and some cute pink anemonefish because life is
not always only about the big things.

 

I’m so happy we got to go out again today, and I can’t wait for
tomorrow!!! Have a nice evening!

 

September 15   2019

Alii from Island of Palau.

this is Clayton doing dive blog for 09/15/2019.

  the weather at the moment is getting better,

thank God! So let me begin with today dives.

  1st dive at Ngerchong inside. arrived at the

site to find no boats, wow! By the look at the

water it’s a bit poor vis. As i started going down

the visibility is getting better than i thought,

how nice. was able to find the cuttle fish that

usually come to the site during the summer

time. but this time i got see only one, so it

means that soon they be gone. it was a perfect

dive check that morning.

  Ok, now for the 2nd dive, the famous Blue corner.

It’s been over a week since i last dive at blue corner,

because of the weather condition. Arrive at the site

 finding other boats, but we had a good timing, I

 

didn’t find any other divers during my dive, yahoo!

on the hooking point a school of yellow fin travelly

pass by. after we unhooked, we drift along the reef

edge to find 2 big giant travelly, one metallic silver

 

color and one black bad ass travelly. off their season

i get to see some really big pumbhead parrot fish on the

 

reef. saw some baracuda on the reef using the cleaning

station, that was cool. you dont get to see that everytime.

  and now for the 3rd dive, German Channel. we waited

for 2 hours, waiting for the incoming current. as we entered

i  can tell that the current is not good, plus the visibility

was also very poor. did 50mins of diving and wasn’t able

to see the manta. oh I forgot, it’s sunday, manta day off. lol.

well, there is always next time.

 

so once again thank you for your time, all the time and

see you next time. TonTon signing out. Best diving…

 

 

September 14   2019

 

 

Alii from the Island of Palau

how you all doing? I hope all is good!

This is Clayton doing dive blog for 09/14/2019

Today the wind has slow down a bit, but still

blowing from southwest and the swells are still

huge. Today I did 2 dives, so here wee go!

  1st dive at Grass land, Blue Marlin’s original

point. when i arrived at the site there were 7 boats

there. So i thought this is going to be a disaster.

I can tell that the visibility is going to be good

by just looking at it from the boat. But as i enter

and decent to 20m on the sandy area, i was

 

amazed to see that it was more than i expected,

25m plus visibility.  you don’t get that kind of

visibility at Grass land with such condition. I

couldn’t believe me eyes. Most of the stars were

there, from one spot baracuda, goggle eye fish

chevron baracuda, sharks and many more.

it was a under water photographer heaven.

  2nd dive at Ulong Cliff, starting with the

 

reef on the left. came up on a huge bump

head parrot fish that was busy eating not

 

minding the divers coming close to take

 pictures. came to the edge of the cliff finding

lots of schooling fishes. big eye travelly, fusiliers

one spot baracuda, black snappers, surgeon fish

big eye scad and the red bass that spawning during

full moon. and yes don’t forget about friendly Napoleon

wrasse that always cheer up every diver. So this is one

dive that i did not have to swim around looking for

 

the fish, they all came to where I’m at. Fantastic!

once again thank you for your time, all the time

and see you next time. Bye…….. best diving.

 TonTon

 

September 13 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The wind finally slowed down a little!
And it was sunny!

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM3
Operator: Suzie
Guides: Yu / Hiro

 

① Ngermeaus
② Stadium
③ German Channel

 

BM6
Operator: Humio
Guides: Clayton / Paula

 

① Ngerchong Inside
② Ngermeaus
③ German Channel

 

The wind got a little weaker today and so we
set all our hopes on German Channel for the third
dive! We had to wait for the incoming current though
so for the first dive we headed to Ngerchong Inside!
It was nice and calm and despite the limited visibility
we had a great time! There was a tiiiiiny Randall’s
shrimp goby hiding under a rock! Super cute. Also on
top of the coral we saw large schools of yellowspot
emperors and twinspot snappers. Also three super
large cuttlefish!!! To top it off just before
surfacing we spotted a hawksbill turtle!

 

At Ngermeaus, which the other team had explored during
their first dive already, the yellowstripe scad school
really put on a show for us. After watching it for good
five minutes on the sandy area we decided to go look
for some sharks and – not expecting it at all – suddenly
the school came back at us from above the coral and came
super close! So nice! There were also some blacktip
reef sharks as well as six banded angelfish! Of course we
also had fun taking pictures of the banded shrimpgobies!
In the meantime, the other team was at Stadium but saved
the mantas for the last dive. Instead they had fun with
the blue lined snappers on the cleaning station!

 

At German Channel the swell was really big but we managed
to get a mooring buoy for our descent line! Due to the
big swell the visibility was quite poor. Just as we were
watching the adorable little garden eels (we had a huge
garden eel fan on our team today) we were suddenly
approached by what was way too big for a garden eel –
a MANTA! It came super close and almost touched our hair!
Then it did a few loops and then approached us almost
as though trying to swallow us whole, at the last moment
turning its white belly upwards, doing a loop and swimming
away – YAAAAAAY! Awesome!!!

 

Today was great. I’m sure tomorrow will be too. 🙂

 

September 12 2019

 

Hello from the island of Palau.

How is everybody doing?

this is Clayton doing dive blog for 09/12/2019.

well, let me see here. the wind was still blowing

very hard from south west making both side of the

island rough. So most of the boats, including the

liveaboards stayed inside the lagoon.

1st dive at Hafa Dai wreck, with poor visibility.

on this dive, we got to see a baby sting ray lying

on the bottom. nice schooling of fusiliers, damsel

fish. Half way to the dive 3 units big blue fin

trevally showed up and started chasing the

school of fusiliers around the wreck. that was

cool.

 

2nd dive at St. Cardinal, there were 7 boat at that

site. luckily, by the time we went in the other divers

were finishing their dive. Again with poor visibility we

change our mode to small fish and gobies. did a 45mins

dive and went back to the shop and did our lunch.

 

3rd dive at chandelier cave. arrive at the site to find no

boats, yahoo! 12mins into the dive, i started to see other

lights coming in the cave. did about 35mins dive in the cave.

exit the cave and started to look for the pajama cardinal fish.

our guest wanted to see the colorful mandarin fish but too bad

the sun was still too high and bright for them to come out.

As i surface, there were 3 big boat outside the cave. Man…

that was a good timing.

 

again thank you for your time and see you next time.

TonTon signing out.

 

September 11 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

You guessed it – it’s windy! 😀
We got a lot of sun during our
surface interval though!

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Yu / Paula and Mizuho

 

① W Reef
② Butterfly Park
③ Chuyo Maru

 

The wind was merciless today and
so the farthest out we could make
it was W Reef. We got a nice current
from out to in! Just after entering
there were lots of pyramid butterflyfish
and a large bumphead parrotfish! Suddenly,
a fantail stringray swam towards us as though
out of nowhere! Such an awesome surprise!
As we approached the mouth of the channel we
spotted everyone’s favourite – BABY SHARKS!
They were circling in a school of about
twenty and being quite adorable. Just
behind them towards the blue was also a
large school of blackspot barracudas.
As we let ourselves drift through the channel
we enjoyed the beautiful fan corals and some
angelfish and fire dartfish!

 

It was nice and sunny today so Butterfly Park,
on top of being blessed with good ocean conditions,
was also loooking extra beautiful today. We swam
through our original passage of table corals and
took our time admiring all the fish that live on them.
We spotted longnose filefish, red eye gobies, the
most adorable tiiiiiiny baby oval butterflyfish
(not bigger than 2cm in diameter), yellow coral gobies
and a phylidiella pustulosa nudibranch!

 

For our third dive we decided to (literally) dive deep
into the history of Palau and explore the wreck of the
Chuyo Maru. This Japanese freighter was sunk during the
American airstrikes on Koror which happened on March 30 –
31 1944. The wreck is approximately 90m long and very
well preserved! There is also a family of dusky anemonefish
living on the king post so of course we stopped by to say
hello and get some pictures. A lot of red-bellied fusiliers
were also schooling around the wreck.

 

I hope the wind will settle down in time for the JAL charter
customers tomorrow! Fingers crossed! 🙂

 

September 10 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

It’s reeeeally windy today. Whyyy Palau – WHYYYYY?

 

Air temperature: 26C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Yu and Paula

 

① Crescent Wall
② Marine Lake
③ St. Cardinal

 

At our original point Crescent Wall we were
treated to a spectacle of fusiliers just after
we entered. There were beautiful yellowback
fusiliers, dark banded fusiliers and some
red-bellied fusiliers aaaaaall around us. We
were basically wrapped up in fusiliers. It was
beautiful! After enjoying the view for a while,
we headed off to search for barracudas. At first
we came across a large school of blackspot barracudas.
That was already great but it got greater. Literally.
After about 20 mins of diving a large school of
blackfin barracudas approached us out of the blue.
At first we only saw a few, but then it basically
turned into a seemingly neverending stream of barracudas.
What a treat! But we weren’t out of luck just yet because
a smaller school came to say hi during our safety stop.
Awesome first dive!

 

After our action-packed, blue-water style first dive
we chose the absolute contrast for our second dive –
Marine Lake! The current was outgoing and so the
visibility was great and we got to have fun with the
halocline! We spotted nudibranches, Koror anemone shrimps,
banded shrimp gobies, baby pajama cardinalfish… a perfect
photography party for our customers who were all diving
with cameras! Every once in a while we popped our head out
of the water and took in the beautiful scenery above water
as well! So relaxing!

 

Since we had so much fun on our second dive with the small
stuff we decided to stay on the macro road and dove at
St. Cardinal for our third dive. As the name implies, there
are a LOT of different cardinal fish, one cuter than the other.
But it’s also a great spot for gobies and shrimps and so we
took lots of pictures of the banded shrimp gobies, signal
gobies, nocturn gobies and orange-striped gobies! Goby party!
We also went to enjoy the beautiful coral on the shallow
area and made friends with some gorgeous sapphire damsels!

 

I’m excited for tomorrow, are you? (lol please don’t say no)

 

September 9 2019

 

Alii! This is Mizuho from Palau.

 

 

Today,s weather is  almost cloudy but sometimes passing shower.
It makes us cold.So please don’t forget boat coat especially like today!!
How ever, sea water temperature is high like 29C, so we could dive comfortable!!

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

BM7

 

Operator:Humio
Guide:Yuu/Mizuho

 

①Thumb
②Trevally hills
③Hafa Adai

 

Today’s first dive site was thumb in incoming current.
Current was weak,visibility was good like 20-25m.

We went to east toward the cliff shape like THUMB!!
We were soooo surprised when we reached the cliff.

There are a lot kind of fish school!! For example Bluefin snapper,
Pyramid Butterflyfish,Squarespot Anthias etc…!!

Countless number of fish looks like carpet!!

 

 

Second dive site was Trevally hill.
Visibility was also nice.

 

Its good condition for watching school,and fortunately we encounter
the big school of bigeye trevally quite soon after we entered.
and we were lucky to see big Napoleon fish!!

 

This dive site has many hard coral,however there are some sand area.
So,we could find out a lot kind of shrimp goby.
We had fun both wide and macro!!

 

Last dive site was Hafa Adai wreck.
We could feel Palau history.
and there are many colorful soft coral with cute
baby damselfish!!

Thank you for taking time to read all of this blog!!
Good luck!!!

 

Mizuho

 

 

 

 

 

September 8 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

I cannot report any drastic changes to
the recent weather. It’s still pleasantly
mild but the west wind prevents us from
heading out too far…

 

Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Stacy
Guide: Paula

 

① Bento
② German Channel
③ Big Drop Off

 

We had some first day divers today so we
opted for a relaxed first dive at Bento.
And we had so much fun!! It was a true turtle
parade! First we saw three hawksbill turtles
and then, hidden under a rock and napping,
we spotted a green sea turtle as well. It woke
up just as we got closer and before departing
swam some circles around us as if it wanted us
to take great pictures.
There were also some fire dartfish, orangefin
anemonefish and some fusiliers being chased
around by a solitary bluefin trevally.

 

At German Channel the visibility was average but
we had the whole site to ourselves!! We were
treated to a large school of bigeye trevallies
near the Koror cleaning station and spent some
time there observing them. There was also a huge
school of goggle eyes on the corals. We ventured
out towards the old cleaning station and on our way
stopped for some pictures of the garden eels and
the yellownose shrimp gobies which I am happy to
report are still there! 🙂 Then we spotted a large
school of blackspot barracudas out in the blue!
On the old cleaning station a lot of cleaning was
happening but not by Mantas, but grey reef sharks!
I’m sure it’s not their intention but they just look
so adorable when they stand in the water almost
vertically, showing their white tummies and opening
their mouths for the cleaner wrasses!
When we headed back to the Koror side we spotted
a school of baby grey reef sharks circling at the
mouth of the channel. A great dive!

 

At Big Drop Off we took some time for the smaller
things in life – erm, I mean the ocean of course.
We said hi to our friend Randall(‘s shrimpgoby)
and spotted some cute Bartlett’s anthias among the
purple queens and yellow stripe anthias. There were
also lots of squarespot anthias and peach anthias.
So cute! As we neared the end of our dive we were
again treated to a hawksbill turtle! There was also
a juvenile looking but already quite sizeable
Napoleon swimming above us along the wall.

 

See you tomorrow!!

 

September 7 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

It was pretty hot today. It’s still windy
but it doesn’t feel so strong anymore…
Maybe we’ve just gotten used to it? 😀

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Tomi / Paula
Intro: Yu
OW Course: Hiro and Mizuho

 

① Ngerchong Inside
② Ngerchong Outside

 

It’s still a bit choppy outside and we had
some first day divers with us so we decided
to hop in at Ngerchong Inside for our first dive.
The conditions were super calm and there wasn’t
even a surge!
There were huge schools of twinspot snappers and
yellowspot emperors on the large bone coral area.
A little anemone with even smaller pink anemonefish
was also nestled among them. We also encountered
some fire dartfish and blackfin dartfish. A very
chill looking cuttlefish was also hanging out on
the sandy area. To top it off, some yellow stripe
anthias were trying to blend in with the purple
queens but their yellow back gave them away! 🙂

 

At Ngerchong Outside we were treated to a what
looked like fusilier fireworks! We spotted a
huge baitball towards the surface and as we swam
closer suddenly some black snappers started chasing
the fusiliers, creating a beauuuuuuutiful silky
blue stream all around us! It was amazing! We got
to witness this two or three times. Whenever the
dark-banded fusiliers seemed to be regrouping, there
were lots of redbellied fusiliers and pyramid
butterflyfish out in the blue to keep us entertained.
Some large grey reef sharks also joined us in watching
the show. To top off an already great dive, we got a
laaaaarge school of blackspot barracudas! Yay!!!

 

I wonder what we can see tomorrow? 🙂

 

September 6 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was sunny and mild today with
a strong west wind.

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guide: Paula
Intro: Yu / Hiro

 

① German Channel
② Big Drop Off
③ Chandelier Cave

 

We tried to catch German Channel at incoming
tide but it had already stopped. That made for
a very easygoing dive! The visibility was average,
but we were greeted by a huge school of blackspot
barracudas near the Koror side cleaning station.
Two adorable yellowhead shrimp gobies were also
still waiting for us on the sandy slope, undisturbed
by the garden eels. Just before we headed up for
our safety stop we found a large fantail stingray
sleeping on the sand. It was completely unfazed by
us and our cameras and although we were hoping it
would get up and swim away to create some more great
pictures we of course made sure to keep our distance
and let it sleep.

 

At Big Drop Off we had an anthias party! We spotted
peach anthias, square spot anthias, purple queens and
some adorable Bartlett’s anthias. There were also
some very tiny candycane dwarf gobies and a Randall’s
shrimp goby. Lots of pyramid butterfly fish were
suddenly all around us swimming along the wall. 🙂

 

For our third dive we went to Chandelier Cave, starting
from the first air dome and making our way all the way
to the fourth! Our team was pretty small so there was
enough room even for the narrowest fourth air dome. We
then switched off our torches and swam towards the light
at the entrance, where we were greeted by what looked
like thousands of fragile cardinalfish!
Our cave expedition was followed by an extensive search
for mandarinfish! I first spotted a super tiny one on
the coral but it hid away super quickly when I tried
to point it out. My bad! This was followed by a good
two minutes waiting patiently while practicing flawless
neutral buoancy until the little rascal decided to
come back out and we managed to capture him on some
pictures! As we continued our search we spotted a few
more, one even swimming bravely on top of the coral
seemingly without any cover!
Of course we also said hi to our friends the signal
gobies and pajama cardinalfish!

 

I hope the wind will slow down soon, fingers crossed!
Have a great evening!

 

September 5 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was nice and sunny today!

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu and Mizuho / Paula

 

① Stadium
② Asau Coral Garden
③ Short Drop Off

 

The wind was still quite rough today so we
stuck to the east side of the island again.
We were missing our manta friends so we
chose Stadium for our first point.
As soon as we approached the cleaning station
we saw that we were in luck!! Two beautiful
mantas, one very large and one slightly
smaller, were swimming in circles. Or so we
thought. Because after about 10 minutes,
a THIRD manta appeared! We didn’t even know
where to look! Too many mantas! At least they
seemed to think so because soon after they
swam away one by one. Awesome!! A good 15
minutes of manta cleaning action, what more
can you ask for?
While the cleaning station was “vacant” again
we also swam a little circle around it and
marvelled at the beautiful blue lined snappers
and yellow spot emperors. There were also two
six banded angelfish playing around. And during
our safety stop one of the mantas decided to
come back so we could catch one last look at it!

 

After some thorough current checks we decided
to start our second dive at Asau Coral Garden,
drifting along the reef edge towards Crescent
Wall. There were lots of snappers all over the
reef, as well as a very large school of black
spot barracudas. The actual highlight however
was a school of blackfin barracudas! They even
let us come quite close for some pictures!!

 

At Short Drop Off we entered with the reef on
our left and started the dive on a very mild
current which gradually picked up and turned
into a super fun drift dive. While the current
was still easygoing we had some macro fun with
lots of fire dartfish, an adorable spotted goby
and a longnose hawkfish!
There were lots of shiny blue fusiliers out
in the blue, suddenly interrupted by a large
grey reef shark. Highlight of the dive – a
school of at least 50 longfin batfish! They
were super shiny and beautiful!

 

I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow? Have a great
evening!!

 

September 4 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was much better than yesterday!
However the wind also picked up…

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

BM1
Operator: Humio
Guides: Yu and Mizuho / Paula

 

① W Reef
② Buoy 6 Wreck

 

The wind was pretty rough today so we decided
to stick to the east side of the island.
For our first dive we chose W Reef. The visibility
was beautiful today – almost 20 metres! We decided
to dive the channel from outside to inside so at
first we had the reef on our left. Towards the
blue there were lots of beautiful yellow and blue
back fusiliers schooling, mingling with many little
pyramid butterfly fish! A festival of white, yellow
and blue! As we continued into the channel, W Reef
pulled its usual trick – and changed current! We
swam against the current for a while and were
rewarded with a large school of blackspot barracudas
which came to pass us from behind, obviously much
stronger swimmers than we are. 😉 We crossed the
channel and turned back with the reef on our left,
spotting a blue-girdled angelfish among the corals.
There was also a small school of Napoleon wrasses –
two large ones, three medium sized ones and a very
little one, still black and white. 🙂 Speaking of
little ones, just before we headed up for our safety
stop we spotted the most adorable baby bumphead
parrotfish! Its head wasn’t even very bumpy yet!
So cute!!!

 

For our second dive we craved some action and what
is better for action than a ripping drift dive?!
So buoy 6 it is, naturally. The current was awesome.
We reached the wreck in what felt like just 2 mins
and immediately ducked down behind it to hide from
the current. Sheltered by the body of the ship we
explored with our torches and cameras. We then left
the peaceful area behind the wreck and ventured back
out into the current, slowly ascending along the slope
on our right. At a depth of about 10 metres the current
gradually slowed down and we were able to enjoy the
beautiful hard and soft corals. There was a beautiful
green anemone with little pink anemonefish. Them hiding
playfully and peeking out from time to time created
beautifully peaceful image which seemed like a crass
contrast to the nameless sunken ship nestled on the
sandy bottom of the channel in the midst of a raging
current which we were looking at just minutes earlier.
But that’s Palau I guess – a little bit of everything! 🙂

 

We’ve only been out of the water for like 4 hours
and I already can’t wait for tomorrow!!!!! I’ll make
sure to let you know what we spot then!

 

September 3 2019

 

alii from palau pristine paradise.

this clayton doing dive blog for 09/03/ 2019

my 1st dive was at german channel.

poor visibility because of a strong wind from

north west. my team got to see the manta but

not very long, because some gray reef shark

were accupying the cleaning station. the good news

is they get to see shark using the station for the first time.

i call that the shark dance.

ok now the 2nd dive was at blue corner, again it was a rought

ride to the site. but when i got there one boat just left. leaving

blue corner just for me and my team. yahoo.! all the stars of blue corner

was there, and a special guest showed up. it was a big spotted eagle ray.

it came really close to one of the diver who had a wide angle lence.

when she finished taking the photo, she turned to me and gave a big smile.

now the 3rd dive was at ngerchong outside, because the wind has picked

up and becoming more strong. it was cloudy making under water a bit

dark. well not so much big fish but still lots of shooling of small fish.

making some divers with camera to enjoy taking photo, losing the

track of time. my big thanks to my operator and especially

to the boat rider that she endure the rought and rainy day

on the boat.

again thank you for your time, every time. until next time.

 TonTon signing out…. best diving.

 

 

September 2 2019

 

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Great weather today! It was super sunny
and we got no rain at all. 🙂

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

BM3

 

Operator: Clayton

Guides: Tomi / Yu / Paula

 

① Grassland
② Siaes Corner
③ Ulong Cliff

 

At Grassland the visibility was average
but the current was super mild except for
a slight surge and the conditions made for
a very relaxing first dive. We encountered
a large school of blackspot barracudas which
seemed to keep coming back for more photos.
On the sandy area there was also a smaller
school of whitetongue jacks. The highlight
however was a MANTA!!! It basically swam
up to the cleaning station, did one elegant
loop and then decided to leave us again,
just as though to say “I know it’s been a while
guys, but we DO still hang out here!”
We got the message. 😉

 

At Siaes Corner we entered with the reef
on our right side to a veeeery mellow outgoing
current. There were lots of pyramid butterfly
fish along the wall below us, sparkling like
stars! 🙂 And then suddenly the current picked
up and as we hooked on the reef edge we were
treated to quite a show of black snappers and
grey reef sharks, not only adults but also
some baby grey reef sharks! As if that wasn’t
enough, there was also a small school of –
wait for it – SPAWNING NAPOLEONS! How awesome!
After unhooking we drifted over the soft coral
to the other side of the reef and on the corner
we were greeted by a school of blackspot barracudas!

 

After a delicious lunch the current was still
outgoing and so we chose Ulong Cliff for our final
dive. The cliff obviously never disappoints and
neither did it today. There were soooo many blackspot
barracudas and a school of bigeye scads shooting
all around us acommpanied by some fusiliers who
seemed to be hunted by three gold spotted fusiliers.
As we explored the top of the reef there was an
adorable reticulated butterflyfish. Still looking
for the large school of bigeye trevallies we moved
back towards the sandy area and there they were!!!

 

Such a great day of diving! I can’t wait for tomorrow!

 

September 1 2019

Alii!This is  Mizuho from Palau! !

 

Today’s Palau weather is sunny all day like yesterday!
Sunlight  enters  under the water and it made sooooo beautifull shine!

We went on the refreshing diving course to Garmeaus Island.

 

Today’s costomers who went diving a year ago, and they want to brush up their skills
for the first Palau Ocean Dive!!

 

If you can afford to dive, you can enjoy more diving,
so this course is recommended for those who are a
little worried about diving skills!

Lets become good diver while having fun together!!

 

The first diving, we went to sand area mainly!
There are yellow Bnded shrimpgoby in the white sand.
This contrast is sooooo beautifull!!
Banded shrimpgoby have also black and white striped versions.
Color variations even within the same species!!
It’s also interesting to look for various patterns. Shall we try to search about that!!

 

In addition, We observed White damsel, Blueback damsel, Sapphire damsel etc…!!
A wide variety of damselfish live on the reef of Garmeaus like kindergarten.
Its very beautiful and fun ,so I recommend especially for DAMZEL LOVERs!!!!

 

The second diving,we went on coral area.
We encountered Blacktip Sharks and sucking fish.

 

By the way,the other team went on fundiving for Gemelis area.

 

Operator:Clyton
Guide:Yuu

 

BM7

 

①Gemeris wall
②New drop off
③Blue corner

Their first dive site was Gemeris wall.
They realized the Naporeon fish was spawning!!
One of the coutomer took wonderful picture.
Huge school of Brack fin Barracuda!!

 

 

The second was New drop off.
There are also big school of Big eye trevally and Black snapper…etc!!!
Bluefin trevally also there.

The third was Blue corner.
There were huge school of big eye trevally and shark!!!
This combination was sooooooo cool!!!!!

Today is special for wide!!!

 

Thank you for taking time to read all of this blog!!
Good luck!!!

Mizuho

 

 

 

August 31 2019

Alii! This is Mizuho from Palau.

 

It was sunny all day today,yesterday’s rain is like a lie!!
we enjoyed view of the beautiful islands and palau blue from the boat.
I hope continue good weather like today.

 

Air temperature:29C
Water temperature:29C

 

We went out on one boat today.

BM7

Operator:Humio
Guide:Hiro/Mizuho

①German chanel
②New drop off
③Blue corner

 

Today’s first dive site was German chanelin outgoing current.
We observed fishes live in sand area like Jawfish and shrinpgobby etc… !!
What impressed me was the beautiful body of the Jawfish!!
We were lucky to see that it was out of the whole body from nest to eat food.
Visibility was getting not good,so we move to coral area.

There were a lot kind of Butterflyfish!!

 

 

Second dive site was New drop off.
Visibility was sooooo nice!!
Its good condition for watching school,and fortunately alot kind of school
appeared in front of us.
On of the coutomer was surrounded by school of Blue-lined Snapper!!
Why don’t you try it too????

 

Last dive site was Blue corner.
Visibility was also so good!!
We watched that so many Pyramid Butterfly dance wildly around edge of criff.
Huge fishes make us happy,like Bluefin Trevally and Whitetoung Jack…etc!!
It was soooo exciting!!!

Thank you for taking time to read all of this blog!!
Good luck!!!

 

Mizuho

August 30 2019

Alii! This is Mizuho from Palau.

It was raining while we went to diving.
we need to wear boatcoat espesialy wet day.Please don’t forget like today.
And the wind from west is storong so we decided to dive at east area.

Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 29C

We went out on one boat today.

BM7

Operator: Humio
Guide:Yuu/Mizuho

①Double reef
②Short drop off
③Wreck

Today’s first dive site was W reef.
We enjoy with drift diving with slow current on the left side of the cliff.
There were a lot of colorful fun coral.Like a red,orange,yellow…
and, damzel juvenile is hiding in branch gap of  fun coral.
It’s so beautiful like jewels shine. Let’find it with us while having fun!!
Ireally want to recommend this our original diving site for photographer who likes macro.

 

Next dive site was short drop off.
The current of this point was also slow.
We were swamming slowly on the right side of the cliff
while observing tiny goby etc…!!
We are lucky to saw Spotted eagle ray passed over our head.
Location also nice!! when you look down,deep blue continues
under us and you feel good!!

Last dive site was Wreck.
If you dive there ,you can feel the history of Palau.
In modern times ,the wreck has become a sea creature house.
We observed nudibranch and Butterflyfish juvenile etc…!!
And…there were huge school of Yellowtail fusilier stay around us.
It makes us fantastic mood!!

I hope it will be good weather tommorrow!
Im looking forward to encountering what sea creatures!!

see you tommorrow!Have a good day!!

Mizuho

 

August 29 2019

 

Good evening! It’s Hiro!

 

The weather was very nice today and
the wind not very strong.

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Yu / Hiro

 

① Ngemelis Coral Garden
② New Drop Off
③ Blue Corner

 

The visibility was beautiful today.
Over 30 metres! The coral was gorgeous
and schools of fusiliers were streaming
past us like a river. At the safety stop
a turtle came up close to play with us.

 

At New Drop Off the visibility was also
over 30 metres and we had the dive site
to ourselves. The current was very slow.
There were so many pyramid butterfly fish
and yellow and blueback fusiliers!

 

At Blue Corner the current was slowly incoming
and the visibility also good. We saw a large
school of bigeye trevallies. Also a lot of
blackspot barracudas. Barracuda party! Also
blackfin barracudas and giant barracudas!
There were also a lot of Spanish mackerels.
The friendly Napochan (Napoleon) stayed with
us the whole dive.

 

Mata ashita!

 

August 28 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Yay the weather is awesome again! 🙂

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM6
Operator: Humio
Guides: Clayton / Hiro

 

① Grassland
② Siaes Corner
③ Aquarium
④ Ulong Channel

 

BM7
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu / Paula
Intro: Tomi and Mizuho

 

① Grassland
② Ulong Channel
③ St. Cardinal

 

Everyone on BM6 was up early today for the
bumphead parrotfish spawning and it was
fully worth it! The spawning was amazing!

 

At Siaes Corner the currrent was perfectly
outgoing and there were lots and lots of
sharks!

 

BM7 was also having fun in Ulong, first hopping
in at Grassland. We didn’t get up early enough
for the spawning but we still got to see quite
a few bumphead parrotfish! There was also a large
school of blackspot barracudas which seemed to
keep following us around. We got wrapped up in it
at least three times, making for awesome photo
opportunities. On the sandy area there was also
a small school of whitetongue jacks.

 

We decided to have an early lunch and an extended
break between our first two dives so that we could
catch Ulong Channel at incoming current. Near the
cliff there was a huuuuuge school of bigeye trevallies
near the surface and it seemed like we were looking
straight into the eye of a trevallycane (trevally – hurricane).
A school of bigeye scads was also being chased along
the edge of the reef. At the mouth of the channel we
encountered lots of grey reef sharks, but today they
seemed bigger than usual – or at least that’s what I thought.
As we drifted into the channel it was like playing
minesweeper with the yellowmargin triggerfish but we
escaped unharmed. A friendly Hawksbill turtle also joined
our ride for a while.

 

At St Cardinal we took our time for a slow photography
dive and came up and close with lots of anemonefish,
damselfish and cardinalfish.

 

I’m so excited the weather is finally nice again, let’s
see where we can go tomorrow!

 

August 27 2019

whats up you all? I hope you had nice day where ever you are.

this is Clayton doing dive blog for 08/27/2019.

1st dive at Bento, the visibility was poor due to water condition

plus its been out going for the past 5hrs.

so we were aiming for small fish, like sailfin coby , hawk damsel fish

, arrow dart-goby , fire dart-goby. along the dive

some green sea turtle. the high light for that dive was the

brocoli nudibranch, during our safety stop a hawks bill turtle.

2nd dive at Blue corner. Once again big thanks to our operator

cause the condition was still rought, 10 to 12 foot wave.

enter in the blue water on the incoming side, hooked on the

18m spot.
big school of big eye travelly, lots of sharks, huge

spanish mackerel. and dont forget about the friendly

napoleon wrasse. 25mins into the dive unhook and drift

along the reef

edge to find the school of rainbow runner,

plus the school of one spot baracuda. again another

great dive at blue corner with

such condition. another 2 thumps up for our operator.

3rd dive at German channel. was expecting a good visibility

but finding it poor. 10-12ft vis. looks like there was a storm under

water. 25mins into the dive, i decided to leave the main cleaning

station and go back to the new station. as i left, about 30ft away

the manta ray showed up and it was 2 of the diver on my team

saw the manta coming up to the station and one of them chase me

to let me know about the manta.this was a lucky break for us

because it was the last day for some divers and that was their 3rd time

to go German channel without seeing the manta ray..

thank you manta ray.. I rest my case. lol.

and then again ladies and gentleman thank you

for your time, and see you next time.

TonTon signing out. best diving..

August 26 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

It w   as sunny today but the wind was still
a little bit strong.

 

Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Stacy
Guides:Yu / Hiro and Mizuho / Paula

 

① Ngerchong Inside
② German Channel
③ Butterfly Park

 

Ngerchong Inside was a nice and quiet retreat
from the otherwise choppy ocean. The visibility
was not great but we had fun observing the
cuttlefish, lots of friendly anemonefish as well
as a spotted shrimp goby and a genormous nudibranch!

At German Channel the visibility was rather poor
despite the incoming current but we found two little
yellownose shrimp gobies which made everyone super
excited. There was also a small school of bigeye
trevallies and lots of sharks!

At Butterfly Park we took it easy and played hide
and seek in the coral channels and tunnels! We were
also treated to some longnose filefish as well as
of course looooots of butterfly fish. There were
also some suuuuuuper tiny red eye gobies.

The pictures today were taken by Mr. T who kindly
said we could use them! Thank you!!

 

I hope the wind slows down so that we can go outside
again tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

 

August 25 2019

 

alii from Blue Marlin Paradise

 

once again how you all doing? I hope this mail find you in good health.

 

this Clayton doing dive blog for 08/25/2019.

 

1st dive at big drop off, with 20m plus visibility, current very mind that makes it very relaxing. we entered with wall on the left. found some nudibranch along the wall. a green sea turtle swimming by. above us a small napoleon wrasse, toward the end of the dive, on top of the reef edge a school of block spot snappers were hang out. this fish usually start congregating days before new moon.

 

2nd dive at German channel. visibility at 18m. nice in coming current. was hoping for manta ray but after 30mins i gave up and decided to drift into the channel where every body had fun even though there were no manta ray. suprising we found the big school of the big eye travelly all the way inside the channel.

 

3rd dive at Ngerchong outside. the visibility has drop to about 15m. the current has started to change to out going. not so much big fish, but big school of 2 spot snappers and glow spot sea breams including the school of bronze soldier and blocth eye soldier fish. now its closer to new moon so now we are starting we see buffalo fish on the dive sites. well that is all for now, again thank you for your time and see you next time. TonTon signing out…. best diving…

 

August 24 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was dreadful today.
We were wishing for amphibic vehicles
as our cars were basically swimming on
the way to work.

 

Air temperature: 27C
Water temperature: 29C

 

We didn’t dive today, but we were able to
check the water temperature while we were
cleaning BM6 from below. Some cute little
fish also came to say hi.

 

It was also a perfect occasion to re-number
all our gear and service some regulators.
All rental gear is in perfect working order
now and waiting for you guys to use it!

 

Our vans also got a thorough spa session
today and seemed quite content.

 

Tomorrow we’ll be back in the water (not the
pier, but the actual ocean) and hopefully
encounter some cool stuff!

 

Have a great evening!

 

August 23 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather is so much better! Finally
the wind has settled down and it’s super
sunny!

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Paula and Yu

 

① Ulong Cliff
② Grassland
③ Siaes Corner
④ Hafa Adai

 

It’s been forever since we were last able
to go to Ulong! Today finally was the day!
Ulong Cliff wowed us with looooots and lots
of fish! There was a genormous school of
bigeye trevallies circling above our heads
like the eye of a tornado! At the reef edge
a school of bigeye scads was swimming around
super quickly, creating a super shiny stream!
A large school of blackspot barracudas also
joined in the meeting! As we reached the mouth
of the channel, another school of blackspot
barracudas suddenly appeared – or it was the
same school trying to trick us. Also possible.

 

At Grassland the visibility was less than optimal,
but we had a great dive! There was a large school
of blackspot barracudas on the sandy area, and
lots of grey reef sharks and whitetip reef sharks
all around. As we decided to ascend for our safety
stop we saw a large school of Chevron barracudas
circling on the sandy area just below us, creating
a perfect circle!

 

Siaes Corner was experiencing a quite strong
outgoing current so we entered with the wall on
our right side. After spotting lots of peach
anthias and Bartlett’s anthias we were treated
to maaaaaany many pyramid butterflyfish below us!
A super friendly green sea turtle also popped
out from her hiding place on the wall and swam
with us for a couple of minutes, seeming to enjoy
the attention and cameras! Then suddenly we found
ourselves in the midst of what looked like a storm
of fusiliers! They were all around us, as well as
lots of grey reef sharks! Near the hooking area
lots of black snappers were standing in the current
facing down to perfectly utilise the upcurrent on
the reef edge! We hooked and watched the spectacle!
As we continued over the reef we were yet again
treated to a school of blackspot barracudas! But
you can never have too many barracudas and we wanted
more, so we ventured out into the blue to look for
some blackfin barracudas! We looked and looked and
eventually abandoned the search, BUT were treated to
a barracuda surprise when our blackfinned friends
suddenly appeared from below during our safety stop!
Saikoooooo!!!

 

What’s better than three dives? Four dives! So to
make our day perfect we headed over to the lovely
Hafa Adai. There we peaked through the portholes,
swam along the gallery and took pictures of teeny
tiny nudibranches while lots and lots of fragile
cardinalfish were scattered all over the wreck and
a large school of yellowback fusiliers was playing
near the mooring line!

 

A perfect day. I hope the weather stays like this forever!

 

August 22 2019

Hello from Palau Pristine Paradise. How you all doing? I hope all is good.

this is Clayton doing dive blog for 08/22/2019

1st dive of the day was at German Channel.
Nice incoming current. Did our entry at south side of the

channel with the reef at right hand side.
arrive at the first cleaning station find 2 manta ray hovering,
but not to long then the manta swam out into the blue water.
continuing toward the north side.
stop to take a look of the spotted garden eels,

once again the manta ray shows up. but this time they were about 3mins apart.
40mins of dive time has pass, about to start ascending the 3rd manta shows up right straight for us,
came about 5 ft way then turned and went up toward the surface.
so i guess the plankton has come in. but too bad,
have to end the dive cause we are very low on air. Lol…

2nd dive was at the famous blue corner.
Big thanks to our operator, cause the condition is still rougth and giant swells.
great visibility and mild outgoing current.
jump in the blue water away from the reef,
descend to 10m big school of rainbow runner came toward us,
took one spin around us and took off.
we were still to far from the reef but the friendly napoleon swam all the way out to great us.
hooked on the hooking point, lots of gray reef sharks hanging out too.
stayed for about 15mins watching fish activity,
unhooked and went with the flow to the other side of the reef to find the school of black fin baracuda.
well, i would say it was worth the ride going to blue corner with that condition.
2 thumps up to our operator!

well the 3rd dive was at the German Reef.
this time we wanted a relaxing dive. you know, just after a big lunch and your belly is full,
well you know the rest of the story.
just 2mins into our dive 2 manta ray came and join us along the reef for a good long 7mins.
along the dive lots of schooling reef fishes along the reef.
in a distance a feather tail sting ray came our way, just 20 ft below us.
a huge spanish mackerel show up and rattle all the fish making them swimming toward the reef,
ha ha ha.. you lucky I don’t have my ……… with me.
well folks, another fine day in the paradise . best diving… TonTon…

 

August 21 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was nice and sunny today
but the wind is still pretty strong…

 

Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Clayton / Paula

 

① Ngerchong Outside
② Clam City
③ Hafa Adai

 

For our first dive we chose Ngerchong Outside.
There were lots and lots of dark-banded fusiliers
as well as yellowback fusiliers! Also beautiful
large schools of yellowspot emperors were all
over the reef. Also today we spotted a bumphead
parrotfish which was very friendly and came up
quite close! To top it off, Clayton spotted a
MANTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! At Ngerchong Outside!! Can
you believe it?? I certainly couldn’t.

 

After our first dive the wind picked up and it
got pretty rough outside. Therefore we decided
to head to a more protected site and what could
be better than an old classic – Clam City!
I’m happy to report that there are still lots of
giant clams around and they’re looking very content.
We continued down the coral slope where we spotted
lots of cute damselfish and butterflyfish. Some
angelfish also made an appearance. The star(fish lol) of
the show however were the crown-of-thorns that were
all over! They weren’t the actual highlight of the dive
of course, but the pun seemed fitting.

 

At Hafa Adai we had lots of time for some macro fun!
Yay! I love macro! We spotted some teeeeeeeeeeeny tiny
nudibranch – Pteraeolidia ianthina. What a name. For
nudibranches names are definitely easier in Japanese
than in English.
There were also lots of fragile cardinalfish hiding
out inside the ship but we could spot them through the
portholes! On the whip coral we also spotted lots of
tiny gobies! Today it also seemed like there were more
yellowback fusiliers than usual. They put on quite a
beautiful spectacle as they were gathering all around us
during our safety stop!

 

Do you think the wind will settle tomorrow? We’ll let you
know! Have a lovely evening!

 

August 20 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Wow it’s been windy recently! Today was no
exception but at least it was sunny all day
and the combination of sun and wind made for
the perfect temperature! Kimochiiiiiiii…

 

Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Clayton / Hiro / Paula
Intro: Tomi and Mizuho

 

① German Channel
② Bento

③ Ngerchong Inside

 

German Channel was experiencing a strong incoming
current and so the visibility was perfect! There
was a huuuuuuuge school of bigeye trevallies around
the cleaning station near the mooring buoys. As we
continued we also got to enjoy some serious shark
watching. A group of absolutely adorable baby sharks
was also doing little loops on top of the coral. We
were feeling lazy today and so we just comfortably
let ourselves drift into the channel and enjoying
the coral as well as a small school of black snappers.

 

Bento was fully delivering on its turtle spot reputation
today, however instead of the usually encountered
hawksbill turtles we met only green sea turtles today.
Obviously that’s no reason to complain. They were adorable.
A little turtle even swam some loops around us, making sure
to be captured by aaaaaall the cameras. There were also
Randall’s shrimpgobies as well as a blue-girdled angelfish!

 

After our second dive and before eating lunch we decided to
take a quick look at the outside ocean conditions but it was
a quick “Hell no” and we headed back inside. Having eaten
our well-deserved bento we headed to Ngerchong Inside for our
final dive of the day. There we were lucky to witness a true
cuttlefish party. They were everywhere, looking very cozy,
so I think we should rename them “cuddlefish”.
There were also some very cute baby bicolour angelfish as well
as a beautiful purple anemone which was home to some very
photogenic pink anemonefish. Instead of hiding they seemed to
be making sure to look great in all the shots!

 

I hope the wind settles down soon, fingers crossed!
Have a great evening everyone!

 

August 19 2019

 

alii from Palau Pristine Paradise.

once again this is Clayton doing dive blog for 08/19/2019.

first the weather, strong wind blowing from west of the island that makes

all the boat to stay in. no boat was able to go blue corner.

1st dive at german channel. nice visibility as we arrive at the site. but after

20 mins the current change to out going causing poor visibility. didnt see the manta.

close to the cleaning station was a feather tail sting ray. 2 turtles and school of big eye

trevally.

 

2nd dive at big drop off. as we jump in, descent to 7m we found the banded sea snake.

along the dive a 3m nurse shark pass below us. then my eye locked on a bright yellow

color as i got close it was the scramble egg nudibranch and it was huge.

 

3rd at Ngerchong outside. very mind current and the visibility was about 18m.

lots of school of fusiliers , glow spot sea breams. about 4 mins into the dive we found

a octopus on the top of a rock looking for a good place to sleep tonight. saw couple of

big buffalo fish. as we about to finish our dive, during the safety stop a silver metallic

giant trevally approach us.

 

once again thank you for your time. I hope tomorrow weather will be better than today.

best diving, TonTon….

 

August 18 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The wind is picking up again. Oh nooooooo!
But it was sunny and we didn’t get caught
in any rainshowers! Just the splash from
the waves… 🙂

 

Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on one boat.

 

Operator: Clayton
Guides: Yu and Mizuho / Paula

 

① German Channel
② Blue Corner
③ Butterfly Park

 

German Channel was breathtakingly gorgeous
today! We got lucky and the visibility was at
about 17 metres! So so clear! We hopped in just
at the end of incoming tide and it changed to
outgoing during our dive.
In addition to the usual performers like black-
spot barracudas and big eye trevallies, we also
spotted some special guests today! There were some
adorable yellowhead shrimp gobies peeking out of
the sand, as well as a cute pair of jawfish! As
we got to the old cleaning station we saw a beautiful
manta gracefully doing its laps, and while we were
watching it all mesmerized we got surprised by a
leopard shark swimming above our heads, probably
trying to sneakily get away unnoticed. 😀
What a start to the day!

 

Blue Corner was experiencing a moderate to strong
outgoing current. Since the waves were a bit high
today we entered in the blue water between buoys
1 and 2 with the reef on our left side. At the
hooking area it was all about the sharks sharks sharks!
It seems to be mating season right now because those
lovebirds are chasing each other around quite eagerly!
I can’t wait for the next generation of babysharks!
As we continued onto the sandy area we looked for some
macro stuff as well and were not disappointed. There were
spot-tail dartfish, zebra dartfish, a Falco hawkfish,
lots of arceye hawkfish as well as some cute blennies
including a red-spotted blenny! A huuuuuuuuuge school
of bigeye trevallies was also mingling on the sandy
area near the incoming buoy and did not seem at all
disturbed by us taking pictures.

 

I’m happy to report that Butterfly Park’s table corals
are still absolutely gorgeous! There were lots of
butterfly fish, big and small, as well as the always
super popular teeny tiny red-eye gobies! The visibility
was not so great but we still had an awesome dive!

 

August 1７ 2019

Hello! It’s Hiro.

The weather in Palau is good today.
I dive in the direction of Ulong.

We went out on one boat today.

BM6
Operator: Humio
Guide: Yu / Hiro

①Ulong cliff
②Grass land
③Siaes corner

Air temperature:32℃
Water temperature:29℃

 

1st dive at Ulong cliff.
The transparency is very good and it feels good.
We saw 50 over Gray leef shark babies.It’s so cute!

2nd dive at Grass land.
Under the buoy there was a large herd of Gerres longirostris.
Over 200!!

3rd dive at Siaes corner.
It’s good strong out going current, we were able to hook on
the reef and watch fish activity with gray reef sharks glyding
along the reef edge. after we unhook drift into the blue water to
find some black fin baracuda.

See you tomorrow!

 

August 16 2019

 

alii from the Island of Palau.
this is Clayton doing dive blog for 08/16/2019
well what can i say. i did 2 dives intro at Ngermeaus beach.
we saw the school of big eye scad, couple of black tip reef sharks.
htere was big school of sardines too.other than that the weather was
nice until afternoon well the rain came and cool us down because it was realy
hot at the island. i hope that you good day where ever you are.
again thank you for your time. best diving, TonTon….

 

August 15 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

It’s been a while since we’ve been surprised
by a rainshower during lunch like today! The
rest of the day was sunny though!

 

Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM3
Operator: Humio
Guides: Tomi / Paula

 

① German Channel
② Blue Corner
③ Chandelier Cave

 

BM6
Operator: Stacy
Guide: Yu

 

① Peleliu Cut – Corner
② Peleliu Express
③ Peleliu Cut – Corner

 

Our Ngemelis teams today chose German Channel
for their first dive. The current was outgoing
and strong but we had the entire dive site to
ourselves. Today was fantail stingray day! We
first saw one of them sleeping on the sandy area
and then another really large one swam past us!
Near the Peleliu buoy we also encountered a large
school of bigeye trevallies. There were also black
spot barracudas and reef trevallies galore, as well
as of course the adorable garden eels.

 

At Blue Corner we also spotted large schools of
bigeye trevallies, blackspot barracudas and black
snappers. Tomi also claims he saw a huuuuuuge great
barracuda and huuuuuuuge green sea turtle. Apparently
her shell was the size of about a third of our office
space.

 

We had all of Chandelier Cave to ourselves today! After
exploring the air cavities we headed back out and
searched for cute small stuff – successfully! We found
pajama cardinalfish and mandarinfish! There were also
two adorable signal gobies hanging out next to each other
posing patiently for pictures!

 

In Peleliu our divers were treated to great barracudas

and giant trevallies galore! Also loooooads of black
snappers were hanging out and about! Peleliu never
disappoints!

 

I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow!! Is it gonna be huuuuuuge?

 

August 14 2019

 

alii from Palau Pristine Paradise, how you all doing?
once again this is Clayton doing the dive blog for 08/14/2019.

 

1st dive at Ngemelis wall. Big swells heating the reef, but still good visibility at down at 20m.
we had the reef on the left hand side expecting a drift dive, but the out going current at blue corner
was so strong, it pull the water along the reef toward the incoming side of blue corner.
there were alot of turtles, sleeping, feeding, swimming and coming up for air.

 

2nd dive at fairy Land, not very popular site but things can happen. guess what happened.
out of no where a manta ray came behind us glyding in effortless motion. that changes
everything. not only that couple of baracuda came to check the divers. small school of
bat fish closing in to have their photo taken. then unexpectly 30 some giant travelly
show up. man i cant beleive my eyes. thats priceless.

 

3rd dive at german channel, weak in coming current. we saw the manta at the cleaning
station but didnt stay long because of the current. but still we get to see all the school of
fish while we drift slowly into the mouth of the channel. another good day of diving here
in the island of Palau. well that is all, until next time have a good day where ever
you are. best diving TonTon…..

 

August 13 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

It was a little bit windy but super sunny and
warm today!

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM3
Operator: Humio
Guide: Yu / Clayton
Intro: Hiro and Mizuho

 

① Grassland
② Siaes Corner
③ Ulong Channel

 

BM6
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Tomi / Paula

 

① Big Drop Off
② Blue Corner
③ German Channel

 

The visibility at Big Drop Off was beautiful and
it was super blue! We had some macro fun with a
Randall’s shrimp goby, lemon butterflyfish and
tons of all sorts of anthias! There were square
spot anthias, Bartlett’s anthias, peach anthias and
purple queens wherever we looked! A friendly
hawksbill turtle also swam with us for a part of
the dive. There was also a pinnate spadefish hiding
in a little crease of the wall. To top it off there
were two Spanish Mackerels shooting past us!

 

At Blue Corner we entered with a veeeeery weak
incoming current which seemed very undecided today.
Unpredictable! But it stayed weak throughout the whole
dive and we had the chance to explore the entire corner!
There was a huge school of bigeye trevallies as well as
a small school of blackspot barracudas, not to forget
lots of blue-lined snappers and yellowspot emperors!
Friendly Mr. Napoleon also made its appearance and as
we headed out to the blue we found a school of blackfin
barracudas as the perfect end to our dive!

 

After our lunch break we dove German Channel at incoming
current. The visibility was not great but the fish were
plenty! There were bigeye trevallies, reef trevallies and
a school of blackspot barracudas swam by our side for a good
10 minutes! There was also a school of whitetongue jacks!
Again we also spotted some baby sharks at German Channel.
We counted eleven of them. That’s far less than we spotted
yesterday at Ulong Channel but baby sharks are awesome no
matter the number!

 

Yu’s team meanwhile was treated to not one, not two, not
three but FOUR spotted eagle rays at Ulong Channel!
I wonder if there was a spotted eagle ray event going on?

 

See you tomorrow!

 

August 12 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The wind was a little bit rougher today but
it was super sunny and it didn’t affect our
choice of dive spots!

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM3
Operator: Clayton
Guide: Yu
Intro: Hiro and Mizuho

 

① Bento
② Blue Corner
③ German Channel

 

BM6
Operator: Humio
Guides: Tomi / Paula

 

① Aquarium
② Siaes Tunnel
③ Ulong Channel

 

We decided to mix it up a little in Ulong today
and dove our original point, Aquarium, first. There
were lots of yellowfin goatfish and two-spot snappers
on the reef! Also a large school of blackspot barracudas
made an appearance, and there were lots of white pyramid
butterflyfish playing on the reef edge.

 

Inside Siaes Tunnel we spotted two Burgess Butterflyfish
as well as two teeny tiny decorated dartfish! As we exited
the tunnel and swam along the wall with the reef on our right
side, we unexpectedly came across a school of bumphead
parrotfish! Tomi counted 19-20 of them, and they seemed to have
a mini spawning with their (bump)heads all white! Definitely
the highlight of our second dive!

 

At Ulong Channel we caught a strong incoming current so we
decided to enter from the outside buoy at Ulong Cliff. And thank
god we did! On top of the cliff we didn’t quite know where
to look, frankly, because there was just too much going on!
At first we spotted a school of whitetongue jacks swimming along
the reef edge. As we admired them, a large schoool of blackspot
barracudas suddenly appeared, but we didn’t even manage to appreciate
them properly as we were too amazed by the school of at least 40
baby grey reef sharks who were circling next to them! They were
so cute!!!! The best thing is that they basically swam the same route
as us towards the mouth of the channel so we got to admire them
the whole time! I almost feel bad for the huge school of bigeye
trevallies whose show was stolen by the baby sharks, but what can you
do, baby sharks just beat everything. Baby shark do doo do do do do…
At the mouth of the channel we decided to stop for some grown-up
shark action and were not disappointed. To top off an already perfect
dive Tomi spotted a pair of tiny spotted eagle rays swimming perfectly
synchronised!!!

 

In the meantime, Yu’s team was treated to a nurse shark at Bento!
And in German Channel, again, they found a manta!! Could it be that
they’re back??

 

See you tomorrow!

 

August 11 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The great weather streak continues!

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM3
Operator: Humio
Guides: Clayton / Paula and Mizuho

 

① Grassland
② Ulong Channel
③ Chandelier Cave

 

BM6
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Tomi / Yu

 

① Blue Holes
② New Drop Off
③ German Channel
④ Butterfly Park

 

The visibility at Grassland was quite good at about
15 metres today. We took it slow for our first dive
of the day and enjoyed the beautiful corals and lots
of small fish. There was also a school of goggle eyes
and of course orangefin anemonefish and pink anemonefish.
Two playful bluefin trevallies were chasing a school
of dark-banded fusiliers around us, creating a stream
of blue!

 

At Ulong Channel we caught a powerful incoming current
which made for great visibility and lots of drifting
fun! We entered near Ulong Cliff and slowly swam along
the reef edge to be treated to a huuuuuge school of
bigeye trevallies above the cliff! As we continued
along the reef there was also a large school of
black spot barracudas seemingly standing in the current
as we drifted past, and we had the chance to take lots
of pictures without rushing.
As we reached the mouth of the channel we decided to hook
in for a bit and watch the grey reef sharks of which there
were lots and lots today. They came super close and did
not seem at all disturbed by our presence. As soon as we
unhooked we caught a ride on the current, drifting along
the beautiful corals for the last part of our dive.
So. Much. Fun.

 

In the meantime the other team was enjoying German Channel
and FINALLY managed to catch sight of a manta again!! Yay!!
The visibility was great and they also saw lots of whitetongue
jacks, big eye trevallies, black spot barracudas and, as a
special treat, a blue girdled angelfish!

 

As Tonton would say – “signing off for today”! See you tomorrow!

 

August 10 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

We had great sunny weather today with no
traces of rain and only a little bit of
wind!

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM7
Operator: Humio
Guide: Clayton

 

① German Channel
② Blue Corner

 

BM3
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu / Paula and Mizuho

 

① Ngemelis Wall
② German Channel
③ Blue Corner

 

The visibility at Ngemelis Wall was wonderful
at over 25 metres! There were lots of green
sea turtles but the hawksbill turtles must have
been hiding somewhere today. We also spotted
some pink anemonefish and orangefin anemonefish
inside some super colourful anemone nestled among
the corals. They were super cute. There was a
six-banded angelfish followed closely by a
yellow-mask angelfish. Out in the blue we spotted
grey reef sharks and lots of fusiliers.

 

The surface at Blue Corner was a bit rough so we
headed back to German Channel for our surface interval
and second dive. The current was incoming which made
for great visibility at about 15 metres. Unfortunately
the mantas had their day off today but we were treated
to schools of bigeye trevallies, reef trevallies, Heller’s
barracudas, and of course the adorable colony of garden
eels.

 

After our well-deserved lunch we headed back out to
Blue Corner, braving the waves, and we were rewarded!
We entered at a weak outgoing current with the reef on
our left side. Along the reef edge in the blue there were
what looked like thousands of redtooth triggerfish! On the
reef at the hooking area there was a first school of bigeye
trevallies so we swam up on the reef to get a closer look.
The current got even weaker and stopped so we had the whole
corner to freely roam around on! After greeting the garden
eels which we noticed are slightly more chubby at Blue Corner
than at German Channel, we admired the colourful schools of
blue-lined snappers and yellowspot emperors on top of the
coral! There was also a small school of Heller’s barracudas.
As we continued along the reef finally the long-awaited friendly
Mr. Napoleon made its appearance, looking rather dishevelled
today. I wonder why? Last we ventured out into the blue looking
for blackfin barracudas and we were not disappointed because
we spotted a large school of them!! What a treat! Yay!!! Everyone
got super excited. 🙂

 

Today was great, I can’t wait for tomorrow!!! See you then!!

 

August 08 2019

 

Hello there and alii from Pristine Paradise.

 

this is Clayton doing dive log for 08/08/2019.

 

1st dive at German Channel with nice incoming current. after 25mins of dive the current picks up a little pushing the fishes together. too bad there were no manta ray for the duration of 50mins dive. but the high light of the dive was 3 yellownose shrimp goby, haven’t seen those for a while.

 

2nd dive at the famous blue corner with outgoing current. its has been over a week since anybody dove at blue corner for bad condition. it was still choppy out there but a good 25m visibility. when all the stars were there including friendly napoleon wrasse.

 

3rd dive of the day was at new drop off, with a strong outgoing current, making my entry point over 50m away from actual entry point. again with 25m visibility. to my observation i notice there were more shark at new drop than blue corner. reaching at the hooking area the current has slow down making our drift dive perfectly timed. aha almost forgot, there were 13 units of yellow fin trevally passing by the reef making the small fish nervous and swimming wild all over the reef.

 

once again thank you for your time and have a nice day where ever you are. this is TonTon signing off.

 

August 07 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The wind has slowed down! We managed to go to Ulong!
The weather was lovely! FINALLY!!! It feels like it’s been
ages!!!

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM2

 

Operator: Humio
Intro: Hiro

 

BM6

 

Operator: Clayton
Guides: Yu / Paula

 

① Ulong Channel
② Siaes Corner
③ Grassland

 

Oh Ulong I’ve missed you!! It was a little rough on
our way there but all worth it in the end. Also almost
no swell!

 

Since we got a perfect incoming current and beautiful
visibility of course we dove Ulong Channel first! After
admiring some orangefin anemonefish and pink
anemonefish we spent quite some time at the mouth of the
channel hanging out with some grey reef sharks as there
were plenty of them! They were swimming all around us
and made for some great photo opportunities! We then let
ourselves drift through the channel all the way to the
beautiful cabbage coral!

 

After a relaxing surface interval in the channel we headed
out to Siaes Corner, braving the waves unlike most of the
boats who decided not to venture outside. The surface was
too rough to take a buoy or set an anchor but our free
descent was rewarded with beautiful visibility. It was super
blue! We spotted lots of purple queens and yellow stripe anthias
on the reef as well as a Hawksbill turtle and some spot banded
butterfly fish. As we arrived at the corner there was a school
of blackspot barracudas sneakily surrounding us while we were
busy eyeing a yellow mask angelfish, and a lot of Singapore
parrotfish all over the corner!

 

Last up – Grassland. Soooooo many fish! Immediately upon
Entering we headed towards the sandy area where we were
Eagerly awaited by a school of bigeye scads! They patiently
Waited until we had taken some photos and then made their way
Out towards the deep. We continued along the sand, drifting
In the slight current, and then came across a school of reef
trevallies hanging out together with a group of blackspot
barracudas! As we were admiring them, a school of sawtooth
barracudas tried to join in unnoticed, but of course we
immediately spotted that they were different from their blackspot
friends! We decided to shallow up slightly for the sake of
our air consumption but still saw a small school of bigeye
trevallies on the sandy area from afar as we turned back.
There were also lots of dark-banded fusiliers streaming all
over the corals! The mantas were off today but with such great
diving, honestly who could mind?

 

Blue Corner tomorrow? I hope so!! Have a great evening!

 

August 06 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was much better today and the
wind fiiiiiiinally seems to settle! Yaaaay!

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM3
Operator: Humio
Guides: Yu / Paula

Intro: Hiro

 

① German Channel
② Big Drop Off
③ Chandelier Cave

 

BM6
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Tomi / Clayton

 

① German Channel
② Big Drop Off
③ Iro

 

Finally FINALLY the wind was calm enough to head to
Ngemelis again and so OF COURSE we had to take the
opportunity and go!!! The current was still outgoing
and the visibility absolutely beautiful at German
Channel so in we hopped! What a treat to finally
be back at German Channel! It feels like it’s been
forever!! On top of beautiful visibility we got to
enjoy a large school of blackspot barracudas and also
a small shoal of bigeye trevallies! Of course the
friendly garden eels were also present and we even
caught two fantail stingrays on a date. Unfortunately
they felt a bit embarrassed when we approached
(understandably) and parted ways. It was such a great
dive nobody seemed to mind that there were no mantas
around.

 

Next up we chose Big Drop Off because the waves outside
were still pretty impressive. There we got to inspect
lots of little anthias! Squarespot anthias, yellowstripe
anthias, purple queens and Bartlett’s anthias! Also an
adorable Randall’s shrimp goby made an appearance for us.
Our shark fan guests also got treated to two sleepy
whitetip reef sharks.

 

For our third dive we explored Chandelier Cave. Nobody
banged their heads on any stalactites and we lost no
masks to the dark so I’d say it was a successful dive.
Also, of course everybody had fun. The reliable bigscale
soldierfish was hanging out inside the cave and as
we swam towards the exit of the cave there were lots of
fragile cardinalfish dotted all over. We also ventured
out to say hi to the little signal goby!

 

Such a great day diving, I hope the weather keeps improving
and we finally can go to Blue Corner again!!! We’ll keep
you updated!

 

August 05 2019

Good evening. I’m Hiro.

The wind is strong today. . .
It’s just fine and pleasant.

Operator Fumio
Guide Yu Mizuho

①Short drop-off
② Butterfly Park
③V6 wreck

 

Operator Stacey
Guide Hironaga Tominaga

① Geron Inside
② Crescent Wall
③Short drop off

Air temperature31℃
Water temperature 29℃

 

The Ngerchong inside was less transparent due to the wind,
There are a lot of saw Striped large-eye bream and　Twe spot snappers on coral!
It s a fish that does not run out so much, so it ’s easy to take pictures.

When you are leisurely swimming, there are suddenly two Leatherbacks with a tremendous speed!
I was desperately following Bartail fusilier! Good luck Bartail fusilier (laughs)

There were also several Giant cuttlefish hovering over soft corals.

Immediately after entry at Crescent Wall
Gray Leaf Shark welcomed me.

Yelloqw back fusilier also swarms!
It was colorful and beautiful!

There were a lot of Black spot barracuda masses and they were powerful.

 

The short drop-off was beautiful with Pyramid butterflyfish!
I enjoyed leisurely Randall’s shrimpgoby, Gracwfui shrimpgoby, Hawkfish anthias, etc.

This was also beautiful with large numbers of Yelloqw back fusilier.

The wind seems to remain tomorrow. . .
Stop fast ~
See you.

August 04 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was better today and we got a lot
of sun. However, unfortunately the wind was
still really strong… But better than
yesterday, however, so maybe it’ll get even
better from now on?

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM1

 

Operator: Humio
Guide: Tomi

 

① W Reef
② Short Drop Off
③ Buoy 6 Wreck

 

BM6

 

Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu and Mizuho
AOW Course: Paula
Intro: Clayton

 

① Ngerchong Inside
② Stadium
③ Ngermeaus (AOW) / Chuyo Maru

 

At Ngerchong Inside there were lots of angelfish and
butterflyfish! Lots of really small, maybe juvenile
bicolour angelfish were playing on the sand, creating
nice little drops of colour against the otherwise rather
poor visibility. There was also a large yellowmask angelfish
as well as Meyer’s butterflyfish! The coral was beautiful
and lots of yellowspot emperors and two-spot snappers were
hanging out all over!

 

Next up we went to Stadium! The current on the surface was
very strong but Yu heroically managed to secure the mooring
buoy! After we all successfully made our way to the bottom
without being drifted away we made our way to the cleaning
station! We waited and waited but unfortunately today must
have been the manta’s day off. Maybe they went somewhere with
nicer weather. 😀 However, there were lots of bluelined
snappers hanging out on top of the cleaning station and a
sleepy whitetip reef shark nearby.

 

At Ngermeaus we successfully finished the Advanced Open Water
Course with the mandatory Underwater Navigation Dive! After
we were done with the skills we still explored a little bit
and were treated to a blacktip reef shark and lots of blue-
green chromis!
The fun dive team afterwards still headed out to explore the
wreck of the Japanese Tanker Chuyo Maru whcih was sunk on
1 April 1944 in the context of the operation Desecrate One.
There were lots of lionfish and small translucent shrimps!

 

I wonder what we will see tomorrow!!

 

 

August 03 2019

Alii from Palau Pristine Paradise.

Once again this is Clayton doing dive blog for 08/03/2019.

what can I say, it was stormy in paradise. we were limited with dive point.

couldnt go out to west side of the island.

 

1st dive at Ngerchong Inside with 7m visibility, that s really bad, but we got

to see 2 cuttle fish where you dont get to see everyday. After 1st dive took rest

Ngerchong inside, Planing to dive at Ngerchong Outside but the waves were so big

that it makes it unsafe to dive.

 

2nd dive at Ngermeaus Island were its much calmer and better visibility of 12m.

finding out that I’m not the only one who decided to dive there. Guest were not

that happy about it, but hey what can i do, it’s beyond my control. Better to be

safe than sorry. I hope that you guys had better day where ever you are. alrighty

then this is TonTon signing off…

 

August 02 2019

 

Otsukarechan! Ungil Kebesengei! It’s Paula!

 

Unfortunately I cannot report any improvement in the weather.
It’s still really really windy. If there are any meteorologists reading

this, please let me know why.

 

Air temperature: 27C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM1

 

Operator: Humio
Guide: Clayton
Intro: Hiro

 

① Crescent Wall
② Thumb

 

BM6

 

Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu / Tomi and Paula

 

① W Reef
② Thumb
③ Ngerchong Outside

 

At W Reef the current tried to trick us a little bit by
switching back and forth but we outsmarted it! We started
with the reef on our left side, then crossed the channel
and turned back. There was a beautiful school of black
spot barracudas over the sandy channel. Of course we also
got to enjoy the impressive fan corals that W Reef has to
offer. As the rain was pouring down on the surface, we could
even hear it at a depth of 20metres! I quite like the sound
to be honest, it’s kind of cozy when you’re diving in Palau’s
warm water!

 

At thumb we got treated to a school of blue-lined snappers
hanging out just on top of the thumb. They were mingling
with what I think are probably their best friends, the two-
spot snappers! Always hanging out together those guys…
Tomi also spotted a baby lyretail wrasse which was super cute!
As we headed back from the thumb onto the reef we got
wrapped in fusiliers and it made for a very flashy blue
spectacle!

 

At Ngerchong Outside the surge was quite strong but there
was not much of a current. As we started our dive along the
reef there was a large bumphead parrotfish to our left,
munching away happily on the coral. He also kindly posed
for some pictures. There were also some cute anemonefish,
orange fin and pink ones, nestled safely in their anemones
on the corals, braving the surge!
As we continued our dive we got treated to a large school
of one-spot snappers. And of course large shoals of fusiliers
were gathering out in the blue and all around us.

 

Apparently tomorrow the recent wind crisis will reach its peak…
But if it does peak it means it can only get better afterwards!

 

Have a nice evening!!

 

August 01 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was better today with some sun but it
was still very windy.

 

Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM1

Operator: Humio
Guides: Clayton and Paula
Intro: Hiro

 

① Ngerchong Inside
② Ngerchong Outside
③ Butterfly Park

 

BM6

Operator: Stacy
Guides: Tomi / Yu

 

① Ngerchong Inside
② Crescent Wall
③ Trevally Hill

 

Since the wind was very strong today we decided to stay
on the east side of the island. At first we explored Ngerchong
Inside where today fortunately the triggerfish were a little
more peaceful. We met some adorable pink anemonefish as well as
twinspot snappers on top of the bone coral. A perfect dive to
start the day!

 

Next up we went on the other side of Ngerchong Island, to
Ngerchong Outside! The surge was rocking us back and forth on
top of the reef but today there was almost no current so it was
a very relaxed dive. Again there were looooots of snappers!
Onespot snappers, twinspot snappers, yellowspot emperors!!
There were also lots of yellow and blueback fusiliers and dark-
banded fusiliers out in the blue!

 

Since we got requests for beautiful coral where else would we
go than Butterfly Park! The table coral was beautiful and every
once in a while schools of dark-banded fusiliers would swim
all around us. Also today we spotted some very very tiny
red eye gobies! So cute! And of course there were lots of
butterfly fish!

 

I hope the wind will mellow tomorrow!!!

 

Have a great evening!

 

July 31 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was a little better today in terms of rainfall (almost none) but

it was still really really windy.

 

We went out on two boats today.

 

BM2

Operator: Humio

Guide: Tomi

 

①  W Reef

② Butterfly Park

③ Ngerchong Inside

 

BM6

Operator: Clayton

Guides: Yu / Paula

Intro: Hiro

 

① Big Drop Off

② Bento

③ German Channel

 

First dive – Big Drop Off! Ngemelis Island was protecting us nicely from

the wind and waves and so Big Drop Off was our perfect pick for the first

dive. We explored lots of small fish and even came across an octopus!

It was camouflaging itself super well though, so I’m not sure everyone

got to see it. Hats off to you, Mr. Tako! Thankfully the square-spot anthias,

Meyer’s Butterflyfish, pyramid butterflyfish, candycane dwarf gobies and

Randall’s shrimpgoby were less evasive. Perfect start to the day!

 

Next up – Bento! We had spent our surface interval in a sheltered little

bay right next to the buoy and decided to enter from there as well, heroically

evading what seemed like an army of angry-looking yellowmargin triggerfish.

Thankfully in between all the ducking and hiding we still found some time to

check out the spotted garden eels! As soon as we left the slope and started to

follow the wall on our right side, it turned into a turtle party! There were mostly

Hawksbill turtles but also some green sea turtles showed up as though to say

“Look at me, my shell looks more polished than the Hawksbill’s!”. We thought

they were all equally adorable!

 

We saved the best for last and entered German Channel just when the waves

had mellowed a bit. We were immediately treated to a large manta at the

cleaning station! The visibility wasn’t great given the conditions and so we

were lucky to have the manta come up and close at one point, so we could get

a good look at it! Soon after it bade us farewell, so the encounter was short but

sweet!

Just like yesterday there were what seemed like thousands of fusiliers huddling

together in a bait ball, accompanied by schools of big-eye trevallies, big-eye scads,

blackspot barracudas and goggle eyes! It was absolutely amazing! Fish wherever

we looked! I just cannot get used to how amazing Palau’s underwater world is…

 

I’m wondering what it holds in store for us tomorrow…

 

July 30 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Turns out Palau also has days with really crappy weather.
Today was one of them. But we did not let that deter us from
having a great dive day!

 

Air temperature: 26C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on three boats today.

 

BM2
Operator: Clayton
Guide: Hiro

 

Intro at Ngermeaus, Milky Way and Jellyfish Lake!

 

BM7
Operator: Stacy
Guide: Yu

 

① Ngerchong Inside
② Ngerchong Outside
③ Ngermeaus

 

BM1
Operator: Humio
Guides: Tomi and Paula

 

① Ngermeaus
② Ngerchong Outside
③ German Channel

 

Ngermeaus was beautiful today with a huge school of yellow-stripe
scads! At the same time Yu’s team at Ngerchong Inside was entertained
by a friendly cuttlefish, or cuddlefish as I like to call them,
because how can you not want to cuddle it? There was also a palette
surgeonfish (Dori)!

 

Ngerchong Outside was full of fish! The current was super fun today and
swept us along the reef while we watched pyramid butterflyfish and
fusiliers out in the blue, at times stirred up by a grey reef shark!
On the reef there were lots of yellowspot emperors and twinspot snappers,
as well as black snappers and one-spot snappers. Snapper time! A bit further
down the reef we also encountered two schools of blackspot barracudas, though
it seems some Heller’s barracudas got confused and joined in as well. Maybe
they just like to socialise?

 

After the rain had settled down we decided to venture out to German Channel
and it was beauuuuuutiful! But it started off with a vicious attack from
a very grumpy triggerfish. It must have liked purple fins because it kept
shooting towards me as though I had insulted it very rudely… which I do not
remember doing. Tomi seemed to think it was hilarious but his laughing fit
was soon punished by the triggerfish changing direction and aiming at Tomi
for revenge. Justice at last. I’m glad to report that nobody got hurt.
There were lots of big eye trevallies and blackspot barracudas, as well as
bigeye scads! As we spotted a large baitball near the surface, we ascended
slightly and then, seemingly out of nowhere, a huuuuuge beautiful manta appeared
behind us!! She slowly swam around us and then continued towards the old cleaning
station but we successfully followed her with a safe distance as to not stress
her out. I’m not sure why I just referred to the manta as female especially because
we couldn’t tell from above, but let’s just refer to her as “she”. She didn’t
seem bothered by our presence at all and let us take lots of pictures of her
beautiful black and white back. As we waved goodbye, a large hawksbill turtle also
popped by to wish us a fun safety stop and safe ascent. Great dive!! 🙂

 

I hope the weather will be better tomorrooooow, keep your fingers crossed for us!

 

Have a great evening!

 

July 29 2019

Good evening ,It’s google translate.
OP Humio

Guide Yu/Hiro
1 Crescent wall
2 Kale yard
3 Trevally hill

Three original points on the east side! !
The water on the east side was clean today, so
We enjoyed the sea with good transparency for all three!
The Crescent Wall was a good current, so
bigeyebarracudas, blackfin Barracudas
It was better than the Blue Corner! !
The second is Kale yard.
It is the opposite current to the usual it.
I entered from the opposite side,
The tide has not hit the reef firmly,
There were few fish.
Nevertheless, it has been a leisurely current of the highly transparent blue sea.
The third dive is Trevally hill.
The movement of this bigeyetrevally
Come to us all at once, and make a round roll
It is a bigeyetrevally that leaves.
Today I’m lucky enough to come over again
Every time it was rolled round.
It is a forecast with strong winds tomorrow,
but let’s enjoy it with safety first.

 

July 28 2019

 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

I am happy to report that the much anticipated gradual
improvement of the weather continued and it was sunny
today with a few clouds but no rain. If we keep it up,
maybe tomorrow we’ll have a clear blue sky?

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Tomi / Yu / Paula

 

① German Channel
② Blue Corner / Ngemelis Wall
③ Ngerchong Outside

 

First we decided to jump in at German Channel to search
for some Mantas and we were not disappointed! Approximately
5mins into the dive, we heard Tomi’s bell ringing and figured
he was telling us about a manta! So we quickly headed towards
the cleaning station where a beautiful large manta was doing
its loops. We grabbed our cameras and went in position! At
first it seemed like the manta had swam away after just one loop
but soon after it was back, appearing as though out of nowhere!
Which made us think – might there be two mantas? Checking the
spotted belly pattern we could confirm our happy suspicion and soon
after both of them were hovering over the cleaning station, at times
swimming so close over our heads that our hair almost touched their
bellies! So beautiful! We spent basically our entire dive just watching
them swimming over the cleaning station and taking lots of pictures.

 

Next up we headed to Blue Corner and Ngemelis Wall, dividing the teams
for some turtle action at Ngemelis Wall and some Blue Corner action at
Blue Corner! At Ngemelis Wall we met lots of green sea turtles and
hawksbill turtles. But we also got a rare treat – thousands of blacktail
snappers hanging out next to the wall! Super impressive!
In the meantime, the other teams at Blue Corner had a date with Blue
Corner’s biggest stars – big eye trevallies, blackspot barracudas, the
always friendly Napoleons, as well as a large school of blackfin barracudas!!
Blue Corner at its best!

 

After lunch the wind had picked up and so we headed to Ngerchong Outside
for some less choppy conditions! The visibility was beautiful with at least
20 metres and it seemed like the snapper family had mutually agreed to gather
at Ngerchong Outside! There was a significant amount of yellowspot emperors,
but also several small schools of twinspot snappers and onespot snappers!
Against the blue there were also lots of white pyramid butterflyfish and fusiliers
creating little dots of light against the blue water!

 

All in all, a great dive day! But what else can you expect from Palau? 🙂

 

See you tomorrow!

 

July 27 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Today the weather was much better than yesterday,
we only had to brave one little rain shower on the
way back to the shop!

 

Air temperature: 29C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one very full boat today.

 

Operator: Stacy

Guides: Tomi / Yu / Clayton
AOW Course: Paula
Intro Dive: Hiro

 

After dropping the intro team in Ngermeaus we made our
way to Ulong. The visibility at Grassland was slightly
low, as usual, but we encountered bigeye scad, blackspot
barracudas, Chevron barracudas and looooots of yellow-
margin triggerfish. But even though they looked as though
they were ready to attack at any given moment, in the end
they were just trying to scare us off and stayed peaceful.

 

Next up was Ulong Channel with a beautiful incoming current.
We entered from Ulong Cliff and after watching some bigeye
trevallies and blackspot barracudas on the reef we continued
towards the mouth of the channel where we stayed for a while
to observe the sharks. That’s when Clayton’s team spotted
a great hammerhead!!! It must have been a sharky kind of day
because on the same dive, Tomi’s team came across a lemonshark!
Not to mention of course the friendly grey reef sharks and
adorable whitetip reef sharks. There were also lots of groupers
and – you guessed it – triggerfish, both yellowmargins and titans!
Again though, we managed to evade them and their scary poses.

 

For the third dive we entered at Siaes Corner with an incoming
current. Drifting along the reef we saw lots of purple queens
and pyramid butterflyfish! As we reached the corner, a school
of bigeye scad were being hunted by three bluefin trevallies,
creating what seemed like a flash of light chasing just below
the reef edge, at times also taking a turn towards the reef and
swimming all around us. A large school of blackspot barracudas
also swam just above the reef. To top it off, there was a very
friendly hawksbill turtle having lunch nestled within the corals.

 

I hope the gradual improvement of the weather continues and that
it’ll be super sunny tomorrow! Will let you know!

 

Have a great evening!

 

July 26 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

I’d love come up with a good euphemism for the weather today but I cannot.
It was quite dreadful BUT the diving made up for it a million times!!!

 

Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 29C (yes it was much nicer underwater than above)

 

We went out on one boat.

 

Operator: Stacy
Guides: Hiro / Paula

 

① German Channel

② Blue Corner

③ Butterfly Park

 

German Channel – can you guess what we saw that could make up for terrible
weather a million times over? Not a manta. No. TWO MANTAS! The first one
was doing one generous loop near German drop and then quickly disappeared
into the today quite average visibility of 12 metres. We were already
ecstatic to have caught a manta on our first dive so we decided to go look
for some big eye trevallies. And reliable as ever, they were playing in
a small school next to the garden eels. There was also a huuuuuge baitball
of fusiliers next to the surface – they were probably snacking on some tasty
plankton so we decided to venture towards the old cleaning station because
who knows, we MIGHT be lucky enough to see another manta! And we were. It
was beautiful and super large and kept swimming in circles around the cleaning
station, at times coming close and showing its distinctly marked belly. Don’t
you also think that manta bellies are adorable? They remind me of puppy bellies
if you disregard the difference in size. So our puppy-bellied manta swam loops
around the station for about 10-15mins before it bade us farewell. It was great!

 

Considering our good luck on the first dive we decided to search Blue Corner
for a whale shark next. Unfortunately there was none, at least none that know of.
However, the current was super fun. We entered from buoy 1 on the incoming side,
swam out into the blue and then let ourselves be carried onto the reef where we
hooked right next to a large school of bigeye trevallies. As we unhooked to
continue over the sandy area to our desired next hooking point, a today very
very friendly Napoleon started stalking us and would not leave us alone until
we had taken lots of pictures from a flattering angle. There were lots of grey
reef sharks at our next hooking point and it seemed like the school of bigeye
trevallies had followed us along the reef! They were facing downward in the
up-current at the cut and seemed to be standing motionless! Occasionally a large
dogtooth tuna swam by, and we also saw lots of bluefin trevallies. Feeling lucky
we decided to search for some blackfin barracudas in the blue but we didn’t even
have to swim out very far as a huge school with what must have been at least 200
blackfin barracudas was swimming close to the reef!!! So cool! They decided
to head farther towards deeper water but a look at our pressure gauges indicated
we had to say bye bye and move towards the surface instead. 🙂

 

For our third dive we decided it was time to relax a little bit and so we headed to
Butterfly Park which felt like a spa after all the action of the morning. We saw
butterflyfish, big and small, fusiliers, a beautiful variety of angelfish as well
as some super tiny and very adorable redeye gobies! The coral of course was beautiful
as well, creating the perfect background for all these colourful fish!

 

A perfect dive day, we had the best time! I can’t wait to get back into the water
tomorrow!! Take care!

 

July 25 2019

Good evening. I’m Hiro.

 

Palau is fine today as well.
The wind was a little stronger, but I could go to the open ocean without any problems.

 

Operator Clayton
Guide Hiro
Experience dive Yu

 

1 Ulong channel
2 Siaes tunnel
3 Iro

 

Temperature 32°C
Water temperature 29°C

 

As the Ulong channel had a moderate to high tide,
we drifted along the channel freely.

 

The sharks were slowly turning against the current here and there.
They seemed not to be interested in divers, so we were swimming right next
to them as though diving together (lol)

As I was drifting in the current for a while, I also met a pair of spotted
eagle rays who have been there recently.
They have grown a little, but the spotted pattern on their back is still beautiful.

 

The second dive to the requested Siaes tunnel.

At the bottom of the tunnel entrance the big eye trevallies were creating a tornado.
It’s too deep, so we can’t go near, but just looking at it from above is powerful.

Beautiful fish can be observed slowly in the tunnel.
Burgess butterflyfish, which always looks upside-down and has black and white patterns,
and a longnose hawkfish with its check pattern is stylish.
At the bottom of the lake are colorful gobys such as a Helfrich’s dartfish.

The exit of the tunnel is also bright blue and so fantastic.

 

Last is also to the request iro.

It is the most famous wreck in Palau.
It is also the largest.

Because you put it on the ship, you can tickle your adventure.

You can see the dusky anemone fish along with a large amount of sea anemone on the mast.

Let’s have fun tomorrow.
Well then.

 

July 24 2019

Good evening. It’s Hiro.

 

Palau has nice weather today.
It is a west wind, but it is a pleasant wind that does
not pose any problem in going out to the open ocean.

 

Operator Clayton
Guide Hiro

 

1 blue hole
2 blue corner
3 new drop off

 

Air temperature 31°C
Water temperature 29°C

 

The first dive is at the Blue Hole.

 

As the sun came through the openings, it was bright.
The light shines like a shower and it is beautiful.

 

When I enjoyed macro fish slowly, a huge great barracuda appeared!
What a force!

 

The second one goes to blue corner.

 

There was a strong outgoing current, but after a while, it became moderate.

Immediately after entry, sharks and turtles appear together!
I am surprised that the turtle is bigger than the shark.

The gray reef shark swim circles at the hooking point!
While you look at a shark, it is suddenly rolled into a school of fusiliers.
They were being chased by bluefin trevallies and giant trevallies.
Acting together is really dynamic and Palau!

 

The third is at New Drop Off.

There is also a reasonable outgoing current when entering.

There are white pyramid butterflyfish and yellowback fusiliers mixing together,
Yellow and white reflected in the blue sea and it was beautiful.

After diving for a while, the current changed …

We moved together with the white pyramid butterflyfish on the hooking area
of the incoming side.

There were a lot of gray reef sharks here.

 

I hope it will be fine tomorrow too.
Well then.

July 23 2019

 

Alii from Palau Pristine Paradise

Another day in paradise, hello again, this is Clayton doing dive blog for 07/23/2019.

1st dive of the day was at Blue Marlin original point,called Grass Land. arrived at point

I can tell that its quite strong out going current. as soon we enter i see dust of white

clouds coming our way. check the cleaning station for manta but there was none. the current

was a bit strong that it make the fishes move up current. not much to see with poor visibility.

the good news is how some more gray reef sharks were hanging around grass land.

2nd dive was at Siaes Corner. good visibility, nice out going current that attracts schooling of

fish including gray reef sharks. the school of scad fish were chased around the reef by blue fin

trevally. it was a little action down there. drift out into the blue hoping to find the barracuda

but again there was none.

3rd dive at the one and only Chandelier Cave. One of my favorite, cause no need to write fish name

on this dive, ha ha ha… It was nice timing to dive there because the tide was half make it the best

timing. well what more can i say… best diving, TonTon

 

July 22 2019

Alii from Palau Pristine Paradise

how you all doing? I hope that everyone is in good health.

this i clayton doing dive blog for 07/22/2019.

first dive at German Channel with a weak incoming current. its been in
coming

for the past 5hrs and i find the visibility kinda poor, less than 15m.
But we were lucky to see a feather tail sting ray resting on the sand
plus 2 young manta ray on two different cleaning stations. its been
awhile since manta show up at german channel. what a lucky dive….

second dive at the Famous Blue Corner with mind out going current. All
the stars were there, the high

lite was the school of black fin baracuda that usually we swim and look
for them, but this time they came

up to us, good strong 300 of them. yahoo!

third dive at Big drop Off. you might be wondering why Big Drop off on
a 3rd dive. well let me tell you.

when i exit from 2nd dive suddenly the water condition became rought to
my suprise. i find myself diving with 12m or less visibility. so we
change our mode to small fish and relaxing dive and just enjoy the
beautiful wall of big drop off. thats better than a good day at the
office. Lol….

thats it for me, until then, best diving. TonTon

 

July 21 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

It was so sunny today we turned into lobsters!

 

Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu / Paula

 

① Ngemelis Wall
② Blue Corner

 

The weather was beautiful and called for a day of
diving in Ngemelis! Seeing that the current at Blue
Corner was very strong and we preferred an easy-going
first dive, we chose Ngemelis Wall for some turtle
watching! After descending the mooring line we almost
immediately saw a grey reef shark swim past us out in
the blue. As we continued along the slope against an
initially very mild current, we also saw three bluefin
trevallies shoot past. Of course we didn’t have to wait
very long before we encountered too many turtles to count.
We got treated to both green sea turtles, big and small,
as well as hawksbill turtles! As the current gradually
picked up, we decided to turn the dive and let ourselves
drift back with the reef on our right side.

 

After watching the current gradually slow down to what
seemed like just the perfect speed we of course dove
Blue Corner next! The current was incoming and we drifted
on top of the reef from Buoy 1 and then over the sandy
area to the hooking area. There were two sleepy white tip
reef sharks resting on the sandbed right next to a green
sea turtle. As we were taking pictures, two African pompanos
swam by, their long thread-like dorsal fins dragging
behind them. As we approached the hooking area we found
a small school of blackspot barracudas on the sandy area!
While hooking we got to enjoy a beautiful spectacle of
grey reef sharks surfing in the currents, and fusiliers
sparkling in the blue as they were being chased by bluefin
trevallies! After unhooking we drifted along the reef and
spotted two giant trevallies as well as a small school of
bluelined snappers! The highlight came last as we encountered
a big school of blackfin barracudas on the edge of the reef!!!

 

I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow?

 

July 20 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

The weather was lovely today and Ulong was a perfect blue! I hope it stays like this!!!

 

Air temperature: 30C

Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Stacy

Guides: Tomi / Paula and Clayton

 

① Grassland

② Siaes Corner

③ Ulong Cliff

 

The visibility at Grassland was pretty good today and we could see the cleaning station as soon as we entered the water! The mantas must have chosen the lovely weather for a day out on the town because they didn’t grace us with a visit today. However, our divers got wrapped up in a school of blackspot barracudas, and the dark-banded and yellowback fusiliers were creating a beautiful stream all around us.

 

At Siaes Corner we entered with the reef on our left side at a very slow current, and searched for anemonefish and snappers on top of the reef. Some yellowspot emperors were seemed to be networking with a school of blue-lined snappers, probably discussing what to do about the current which suddenly changed and picked up! We let ourselves drift back along the wall and got treated to a fantail stingray swimming along the wall below us!! It was quite a beauty and nicely visible against the dark background of the blue water!

 

After our well deserved lunch break at Ulong Channel and some snorkelling we chose Ulong Cliff for our third dive. There was a beautiful, large school of blackspot barracudas and a small school of bigeye scads who seemed to be hiding amongst them! As we had some UW photography fans among us today, we also focussed on smaller, but not any less beautiful fish and searched for arceye hawkfish and blackside hawkfish on the corals! There was also a school of two-spot snappers and some Eastern triangular butterflyfish, as well as quite a chubby porcupinefish!

 

See you tomorrow!!

 

July 19 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

This morning looked grim but despite our
fears it turned into a beautiful and sunny
day! Yay!

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Yu / Paula

 

① German Channel

② Blue Corner

③ Blue Corner

 

The current had just changed to outgoing but
the visibility was still great at German Channel
so our choice for the first dive was obvious!
We had a great time searching for macro stuff
and enjoying the beautiful visibility. The mantas
seemed to have a day off today but the corals were
gorgeous and a friendly turtle kept swimming in
circles around us during our safety stop.

 

Next up was a double blue corner! During the first
dive there was almost no current and we explored
the top of the reef. During our lunch break however,
a perfect incoming current hit and it was a big
eye trevally festival!!! Just after entering we saw
what seemed like hundreds of them moving along the
corner. There were so many of them, it seemed like
a neverending stream all around us! We then continued
along the hooking area and hooked for some shark
action! Our customers today were huge shark fans and
got treated to lots of grey reef sharks. Further along
the reef there were also lots of blue-lined snappers,
yellow spot emperors and a large school of black spot
barracudas. A perfect blue corner!!

 

I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow? See you then!

 

July 18 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Today was quite sunny except for a few
little rain showers.

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Yu / Paula

 

① Blue Holes (Paula’s Team)/ Blue Corner (Yu’s Team)

② New Drop Off

③ Blue Corner

 

For our first dive we decided to explore
the famous blue holes. It was super sunny
and so the light came in perfectly through
the openings in the reef. Peach anthias and
bigeye soldierfish were hanging out next to
the vertical wall, and an electric flame scallop
was sending out little waves of electricity just
in time for our divers to see.

 

Next up – New Drop Off! We entered with the wall
on our right on a very slow current and enjoyed
a relaxed dive on the reef. There were lots of
white pyramid butterflyfish, big eye trevally,
and turtles galore! We also decided to stop by
and say hi to the Bartlett’s anthias and in
doing so were surprised by a super large bumphead
parrotfish who seemed to be going for a solitary
stroll along the reef.

 

What’s Ngemelis without Blue Corner, we thought,
and made our third dive Blue Corner, incoming side!
The current was slow at first and then seemed to
purposely try and trick us by changing direction
quite frequently. But that did not stop us from
seeing a large school of bigeye trevallies, Heller’s
barracuda, grey reef sharks, white tip reef sharks,
arceye hawkfish and some spottail dartfish! So cute!
I love exploring the reef in a slow current, so much
to see!

 

That’s it for today, see you tomorrow!

 

July 17 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Yay for good weather!

 

Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu/ Paula and Tomi
Intro: Hiro

 

For our first dive we headed to Grassland!
The visibility was a little poor but there
were Heller’s barracuda and a big school
of blackspot barracuda! Also quite a few
grey reef sharks. Some surrpised looking
goggle eyes seemed to be standing in the
current… But… no mantaaaaa…

 

… is what we thought! Fast forward to
our second dive, Siaes Corner! We did a free
descent and just as the teams were meeting
next to the drop off, a MANTA (probably the
one we were looking for at Grassland) came
swimming along the wall!! Yay!! What a nice
surprise for everyone!! As we continued
our dive along the wall, lots of pyramid
butterfly fish were swimming below. On top of
the reef we spotted some Shepard’s angelfish!
The current gradually picked up and as we were
hooking in, we encountered a large school
of blackspot barracudas.

 

We chose Ulong Channel for our third dive and
the tide kindly started to come in a little
earlier than expected – perfect timing!
Just after entering Yu spotted a huge school
of bigeye trevally who kept us entertained for
quite a while as everyone was taking pictures
and videos, finally getting wrapped up in the
baitball! We decided to hook in at the mouth
of the channel and the grey reef sharks came
super close, almost as though to say hi!
We ended the dive by drifting over the sandy
bottom on what seemed like a perfect current,
and the cabbage coral was as beautiful as ever.

 

What a great dive day! I wonder what we’ll see
tomorrow! Talk to you then!!

 

July 16 2019

Good evening. Hiro.

The wind is a bit strong today, too.
I dived in places where there were no waves.

Operator Fumio
Guide Yu Clayton Hiro

1 Irou
2 Bento
3 German channels

Temperature 30 ° C
Water temperature 29 ° C

The cave is a ship sunk during the Palau air raid,
It is a large tanker with a total length of 138m.

I could see the fish etc. in the inner bay slowly.
The mast was full of dasky anemone fish!

 

The second is to Bento.

Slowly observe lovely people such as Randall’s shrimpgoby and gracwful shrimpgoby.
I also saw many turtles.
Hawksbill turtle was playing around with two animals, and it was a beautiful scene.

 

Last to the German channel.
Goggle eyes, whose eyes were overwhelmed, was creating a great number of herds.
On top of that, Bigeye trevally horse mackerel is!
This is also a nice crowd.

Such as the gray reef shark and Napoleon
Big fish is powerful.

Although I could not meet Manta-ray, it was a deep dive of fish shadows.

The wind is likely to settle down tomorrow.
Can I get out to the open sea?
Well then.

 

July 15 2019

Alii from Yu!

Today’s weather has recovered. 

Water temperature: 29C
Air temperature: 30C
Wind: Southwest, 23knots

Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu 

① Saint Cardinal
② Butterfly Park

③ Chandelier Cave

I saw a goby that was only deep in St. Cardinal.

After that, I enjoyed watching various gobys, cardinalfish,

butterflyfish and so on in shallow places.

 

Butterfly Park has many butterflyfish, of course, we also met turtles!

 

The third one has been observing a standard fish,

such as pajamacardinalfish, signalgoby, and mandalinfish for one hour.

We enjoyed Palau a little different from usual.

 

It is a forecast that the sea condition will gradually improve.

How far can we go tomorrow?

 

See you tomorrow!

 

July 14 2019

Alii from Yu and Paula!

 

It’s been stormy since yesterday, but today
it has peaked! Tomorrow should be slightly better…

 

Today we had some macro fun in Malakal bay!

 

Water temperature: 29C
Air temperature: 26C
Wind: Southwest, 25knots

 

We chose dive spots protected by the islands to avoid
the waves.

 

① Saint Cardinal

② Buoy 6 Wreck

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Yu / Hiro
Intro Diving: Paula

 

Today we dove one on one, so there was lots of time
to take pictures and watch the fish in detail.
St Cardinal featured its classic signal goby and of
course banded shrimp goby!
It’s been a while since we last saw a Lubricogobius sp,
and we even spotted two at once! So cute!!
We also met lots of shrimps! But the number of crown-
of-thorns starfish has increased! Maybe a change in
water quality?

 

Next up was an exhilharating drift dive, riding on the
current!
Protected from the current, an adorable longnose hawkfish
was hiding in the shadow of the wreck.
Drifting along in the current we spotted three different
kinds of anemonefish and lots of chromis! We also got
surprised by a friendly turtle.

 

It’s gonna be rough tomorrow, so we’ll make sure to have some
safe and fun dives! See you then!

 

July 13 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Today’s weather was… well… how do
I phrase this… it was better to be
under the water than above. So, technically,
perfect weather for diving!

 

Air temperature: 26C
Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio
Guides: Clayton/ Hiro/ Paula

 

For our first dive we went to our original
point at W Reef.
The current was just right and swept us
along the slope. Our guests were impressed
with the beautiful fan coral along the reef.

 

Next we explored Zero Plane I, or “Zerosen”.
It’s the wreck of a Japanese fighter plane
which crashed and sank in World War II. It’s
lying on the sandy slope upside down, but its
propeller is still intact and perfectly straight!
We also encountered a school of yellowback fusiliers
and Hiro discovered a few chubby nudibranches!

 

For our last dive we chose our new coral point
discovery, which seems to now have officially
adopted the name “Butterfly Park”! The table coral
was beautiful and Clayton suggested re-naming it
“Restaurant Reef” because of all the tables.
There were threadfin butterflyfish, spot-barred
butterflyfish, oval butterflyfish, Eastern
triangular butterflyfish and bicolour butterflyfish,
juvenile and adults! A butterfly parade! But you can
also find some adorable gobies on the sandy bottom
and schools of yellowback fusiliers.

 

I hope the weather gets better soon! Mataneeeeee!

 

July 12 2019

 

alii from Palau Pristine paradise.
how you all doing?
this TonTon doing dive log for 07/12 2019.

 

first dive was at siaes corner, with out going current, thats reef on the right.
hooked in on the hooking area.big school of red bass on the reef, 40 plus gray reef sharks
then out in the blue a huge hammer head appeared. while still hook in a spotted eagle ray came up the wall
in front of us. after 35mins, unhooked and drift with the cuerrent and found 6ft silver tip clyding off the
wall in the blue water. this was one of siaes corner best dive.

 

second dive at Ulong channel. made my entry at ulong cliff with the reef on right, witness blue fin travelly
ans yellow fin travelly attactking the school of scad fish or bate fish. approach the entrance of the ulong
channel with a mind incoming current found 10 gray reef shark hanging in front of the channel.drift in the
channel all the way to the sandy area and found that cute baby eagle ray again. finished the dive with total
dive time of 62mins, lol. one tank, 2 dive point… tonton style.

 

third dive at grass land with poor visibility. as we enterd almost got attacked with the yellow margin
trigger fish that was a close one. saw really big spanish mackerel. after 25mins, turn around head toward the
entry point. then a big school of bonito swam by. toward the end of the dive saw octopus on the top of coral head.

not so much going on at grass land but all my dive for the first time i did not see any diver in the water, amazing!!

 

once again thank you for your time, best diving… TonTon

 

July 11 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

It’s been super warm recently! And sunny!

 

Air temperature: 31C

Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Humio

Guide: Clayton

Intro: Hiro and Paula

 

Today we explored Ngermeaus with a super
energetic family from Taiwan! On our first
dive we heroically fought off the attacks of
a furious little damselfish. Having mastered
that hurdle we then got to see some ochre-
striped cardinalfish and black-belted cardinal
fish up and close. There was also time for
some bubble ring practice.

 

After lunch we decided it was time to up the
game and get up and close with some sharks!
We soon found a huge baitball of yellow-stripe
scads who slowly seemed to hover towards one
of the mooring lines. There must have been at
least 200 of them!!!
Soon after we spotted some golden trevallies.
Swimming around hastily in a group of about six,
we figured they might be a sign that we could
spot some sharks nearby. And we could! First
there were only two, but after waiting for a
little bit there were at least six or seven of
them surrounding us in circles. Our divers were
ecstatic and everybody performed a shark dance
underwater from excitement!
A perfect first diving experience! I wonder what
we can see tomorrow?

July 10 2019

Alii, It’s Yu.

Today’s Log!!!

OP   Humio

Guide   Clayton,Yu

1  Blue holes

2  Blue corner

3  German channel

Just see this!!!!!!

We met him at blue corner 2nd dive!!

What a perfect day!!

Come and visit to Palau and meet him!

Thank you!!!!!!

 

 

July 9 2019

Alii, from Palau Pristine Paradise.

This is TonTon writing today dive log, 07/09/2019.

First dive was at Ulong channel, not much of current this morning. Fish
were scattered outside of the reef as i approach

the mouth of the channel two cute little spotted eagle ray were hanging
out trying to glide into the current. As i swam into

the channel 16 baby gray reef shark were swimming circle formation and
they look sharp! as i was about to end the dive

my eye got caught on a beautiful leopard Nudibranch, wow!!

Second dive was at Grass Land with a visibility at around 15m. Saw small
school of tall fin bat fish out in the blue, swam toward

the the bat fish to take a closer look. swam back toward the reef meet
the schooling of one spot baracuda in mid water while a school

of white toungue jacks under neath. while watching the schooling of
fishes suddenly a young fresh black manta appeared from the deep

water slowly swimming toward the cleaning station. as the manta ray
passed me, i gently follow it to the station were we had a good 15-20

minutes watching the rare black manta ray. 2 thumps up!!

third dive was at Siaes corner. I checked the current twice because,
today was half moon. for the look of it . the current was coming on

both side of the corner. i decided to enter with the reef on the right
were the visibility was much better than the other side. Again with

a weak current the fish were scattered over the reef and blue water. few
shark came along the reef but not to long. continuewing the dive

to the corner, a big school of scad fish were hanging out there. So i
decided to hang out with them for awhile then suddenly a 30lbs dog tooth
tuna

appeared to check the action on top of the reef. swam out to the blue
water looking for the baracuda but found none. the end..

thank you very much and happy diving….. ToTon

 

July 8 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Yu and Paula!

 

Today was a bit cloudy but it stayed mostly
dry!

 

Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Stacy
Guide: Yu

 

Today turned into an East Side Story!

 

① W Reef
② Short Drop Off
③ Thumb

 

The coral at W Reef has recovered well and
was quite beautiful! There was a cute ringeye
jawfish and a lot of scissortail sergeants!
A beautiful spotted eagle ray also swam by.

 

During our surface interval we met a pod of
dolphins that was playing just below the
surface! Two days, two pods of dolphins! Lucky!

 

Obviously we wanted to try our luck whether
we could meet those friendly fellows underwater
as well and after hearing them talking to each
other during the second dive, we headed out to
the blue trying to catch a sight of them. Sadly
to no avail, but we saw a great school of blackfin
barracudas!

 

Last up – Thumb! There were lots of fusiliers and
yellowtail snappers!

 

Meanwhile, Paula was doing some very serious
and hard studying – at the jellyfish lake!

 

 

The water in the jellyfish lake is a mix of
fresh water and salt water. The jellyfish stingers
have disappeared over time and they have adapted
perfectly to life in a marine lake! They’re quite
impressive creatures! And, obviously, super adorable.

 

 

Here’s another picture because they’re just so cute. 

There can never be enough pictures of jellyfish.

 

 

Palau is just wonderful! Come visit us soon!!

 

July 7 2019

Good evening everyone!  It’s Yu !!!

It was super fine and no wind today.

Air temp 32C

water temp 29C

 We went out  on 1 boat with 1 guest….

Operater    Stacy

Guide         Yu

1  Trevally Hill

2  Crescent Wall

3 Batterfly Park

 

Today’s guest is a super repeater at Blue Marlin.

So we dove our 3 original diving sites.

 

Trevally Hill  has, as  the name suggests, a lot of big eye trevally.

They were moving in a fresh and interesting way.

Besides, I also met a spotted eagle ray!

 

The second site is open to the ocean and we looked for barracuda!

We were able to see a school of barracuda.

Their number was more than at blue corner.

Recommended for those who want to see Barracuda!

The third is Butterfly Park.

This group of corals is wonderful! !

We have been relaxed by table corals and branch corals.

 

Where shall we go tomorrow?

 

 

 

July 6 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

It was super sunny today with almost no wind!

 

Air temperature: 31C

Water temperature: 28C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Stacy

Guide: Hiro

 

① German Channel

② Blue Corner

③ Blue Corner

 

The visibility at German Channel was great

for our first dive. Just after entering, there

was a leopard shark swimming around us and he

seemed to keep coming back so we could get a

closer look! And as if our luck wasn’t just yet

enough, we also got to see a manta doing its

loops at the cleaning station!

 

Blue Corner was experiencing a slightly strong

outgoing current and so we entered with the reef

on our left side. When whe hooked in, there were

lots of sharks circling in front of us, as well as

an excited looking Spanish Mackerel who kept going

back and forth! On top of the reef there were a

lot of giant trevallies! And we also encountered

blackfin barracudas, big eye trevallies and blackspot

barracudas! Perfect dives!

 

See you tomorrow!

July 5 2019 

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

 

Beautiful weather again here in Palau!

 

Air temperature: 31C

Water temperature: 29C

 

We went out on one boat today.

 

Operator: Stacy

Guides: Paula / Clayton

 

Blackspot barracuda day!

 

For our first dive we dove Grassland, and the

visibility was beautiful! We encountered a small

school of bigeye trevally, some orangefin

anemonefish and pink anemonefish, and to top it

off a huge school of blackspot barracudas!

 

Next we hopped in at Siaes Corner with the reef

on our left side. The current changed just after

we began diving but stayed weak and we saw lots

of blackspot barracudas and a some bigeye scad at

the corner while hooking. There were also some

adorable threespot angelfish, and a green sea

turtle waved at us from above.

 

After lunch the current was outgoing so instead of

Ulong Channel we explored Ulong Cliff and oh boy

were we rewarded! There were huge schools of bigeye

trevally, bigeye scad, blackspot barracudas,

surgeonfish and snappers at the cliff, being chased

around by grey reef sharks and bluefin trevallies!

What a show! We stayed there watching the fish

surround us for almost the entire dive and didn’t

want to leave! Beautiful! I’m still smiling when

I think about it!

 

That’s it for today, see you tomorrow!

 

July 4 2019

Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!

Today there was quite a commotion at the marina!

The Okeanos, a traditional sailing catamaran, returned

home to Palau and was welcomed with a traditional dance

performance! The sailors, who are all Micronesian, had

navigated all the way from New Zealand using only

natural navigation! That’s truly sustainable sea transport!

 

The ship was quite a sight to behold as it entered the marina!

A traditional Palauan dance performance made for the right

atmosphere!

Our staff got to watch the spectacle from our terrace, where

we were busy making new reef hooks!

Clayton, master of the double chain link.

Three new colours – which one’s your favourite?

I’m so excited to go diving tomorrow, I wonder what we’ll encounter!

See you then!

 

July 1  2019

  Otsukarechan! It’s Paula! The weather was lovely today with lots of sun and almost no wind! Picture perfect!   Air temperature: 31C   Water temperature: 26C   We went out on one boat today.   Operator: Clayton   Guides: Paula and Hiro   Manta Manta Manta! We chose Grassland for our first dive and were rewarded with a beautiful Manta! It was swimming around the cleaning station in what seemed like endless circles! It must have bee a very long spa session because the Manta was already waiting for us when we entered the water and we saw it leave during our safety stop! While the Manta was undoubtedly the star of the show, schools of bigeye scad and black spot barracuda were delivering a worthy supporting act.   Next we dove Siaes Corner with the reef on our left side. The current was weak but there were at least twenty grey reef sharks circling in front of us. One of our customers also discovered an adorable nudibranch, a chromodoris coi!   I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow?

 

June 30  2019

  Otsukarechan! It’s Paula! We had lovely weather today! Super sunny!   Air temperature: 30C Water temperature: 28C   We went out on two boats today.   Boat-1   Operator: Humio Guide: Clayton Diver Refresh course: Hiro   ① New Drop Off ② Blue Corner ③ Jake Seaplane   Boat-2   Operator: Stacy Guides: Yu / Paula   ① Blue Holes ② Blue Corner ③ German Channel     For our first dive we decided to dive Blue Holes. Just after entering the water we encountered a huge nurse shark! It swam towards us at perfect face level and was quite a sight to behold!! Yay nurse shark! I’m still excited! 🙂 The visibility inside the hole wasn’t too great but we still saw the light coming in from above creating a turquoise shimmer.     Next up was Blue Corner and wow! So. many. surgeonfish. They were stretching across the entire corner!! Yu estimates there were 30.000, I think there must have been at least 41.532. I guess we will never know exactly, but it was spectacular!     At German Channel there was a huge school of fusiliers, creating a baitball as they were being hunted! We even managed to get inside the baitball and were surrounded by fusiliers left, right and center!     What a day! I’m already excited for tomorrow, see you then!    

 

 

 

June  29  2019

  Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!   Today was a bit windy with rain showers in the morning but it stayed dry during the afternoon.   Air temperature: 27C Water temperature: 28C   We went out on two boats today!   Boat-1 Operator: Stacy Guides: Yu / Paula   ① Ngerchong Inside ② Ngerchong Outside ③ Chandelier Cave       Boat-2 Operator: Humio Guides: Tomi / Hiro   ① Ngerchong Inside ② Short Drop Off ③ W Reef     Braving the waves and wind we headed to Ngerchong Inside for our first dive. The visibility was slightly murky but the yellow spot snappers, twospot snappers and messmate pipefish did not seem to mind, and neither did we.     On the outside of Ngerchong Island the visibility was better, and we were treated to quite a spectacle. A huge school of dark-banded fusiliers was chasing all around us for quite a while, creating a beautiful image against the surface. Some yellowtail fusiliers also joined the show.     Chandelier Cave was as sparkly and impressive as ever and so it wasn’t too bad that we couldn’t catch any water drops to rejuvenate by 10 years. Instead we encountered some adorable signal gobies, mandarinfish and pajama cardinalfish outside the cave!     I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow, talk to you then!

 

 

 

 

June  28  2019

  Good evening! I’m Hiro.   Palau had a strong wind today, but it was better than yesterday. The weather was cloudy, the sun came out occasionally.   Operator Fumio Guide Clayton & Hiro Introductory dive course Paula   1 Big drop off 2 German channel 3 Ngerchong outside   Temperature 29 ° C Water temperature 29 ° C   The first dive was Big drop off. I saw some Randoll’s Shrimp goby with Crab eyed-Goby. The beautiful fish like Squarespot snthias healed me. We enjoyed to watch colorful small fish. Also a Humphead wrasse swam with some Bluefin trevally were seen.   The second dive was German channel. There were lots of Plankton and many Double-lined fusilier flocked like a wall and preying them. Because of thickness of school of Double-lined fusilier, it was difficult to see all my divers. School of Bigeye trevally made big tornado shape on the bottom, This was so impressive! There were many gray reef sharks. Also some Giant trevally and Bluefin trevally were busy in the predatory.   The last dive, we went to Ngerchong outside. Here also plankton gathered, Yellow and blueback fusilie and Double-lined fusilier were flocked with great number. It was beautiful when they move together once. About 20 of big Green humphead parrotfish were eating the coral. I was overwhelmed by their size and number.   I wish the wind to settle tomorrow. See you tomorrow!  

 

 

 

June  26  2019

  Only one boat today. The weather was cloudy and rainy. . A little bit of sunshine came out a while ago.   OP Fumio Guide Clayton   1 Blue hole 2 German channel 3 New Drop Off   The water temperature 29 ° C Air temperature 28 ° C Wind southwest   The customers were only 2 today. Lucky 2 customers monopoly our famous guide `CLAYTON`.   There was a swell at Blue Hole, but no swell underwater. It was clear water in the hole, but cold water came up from the bottom.   For 2nd dive, I checked at the blue corner but it was too strong current, and we change dive site to German channel. We haven’t seen manta-ray for a while. I have no idea when we can met them.   We headed to New Drop-off where 2 customer haven’t dive before. And we really enjoy dive.   Today’s forecast had a weak wind, but actually was not so weak … Tomorrow forecast said, will be very strong wind.. I hope the forecast is not correct. I believe in miracles!   See you tomorrow!    

 

 

 

June  25  2019

  The wind was weak today and the sun came out. It was good weather for diving!   On such a day, we had no guest, … OK, Life is like that. I reset myself and went to dive site for buoy maintenance.   Air temperature 30 ° C Water temperature 29 ° C  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    See you tomorrow!  

 

 

 

June  24  2019

  Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!   The wind was still rough today but it was nice and sunny throughout the day!   Air temperature: 30C Water temperature: 29C   We went out on one boat today.   Operator: Stacy Guides: Paula and Clayton   ① Ulong Channel ② Grassland ③ Chandelier Cave   We braved the waves and ventured out to Ulong Channel for our first dive. It was quite choppy on the surface so we made sure to backroll our way into the water as soon as possible. We were rewarded with a school of circular batfish! And just moments later some grey reef sharks were hunting a school of rainbow runners! As we entered the mouth of the channel we were greeted by lots of groupers as well as a school of blackspot barracudas who seemed to be following us! To top it off, we saw a spotted eagle ray!   Next stop – Grassland! The garden eels were as cute as always and the cleaner wrasse seemed to mistake us for mantas. We also encountered some Eastern triangular butterflyfish and a dogtooth tuna passed by during our safety stop. The slack tide made for perfect conditions at chandelier cave! The water level in the chambers was just right and the stalactites sparkled in the light of our torches. The bottom was completely undisturbed and we got perfect visibility. After exploring the cave we also had a date with some mandarinfish and pajama cardinalfish!     I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow! Have a great evening!

 

 

 

June  23  2019

  Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!   It stays windy in Palau. After some intense rain in the morning the sky cleared up and we managed to tan a little!   Water temperature: 29C Air temperature: 30C   We went out on one boat today.   Operator: Stacy Guides: Yu / Hiro / Paula   ① Short Drop Off ② Blue Corner ③ German Channel   Since the recent wind brought a lot of rain and big waves, we decided to head to Short Drop Off for our first dive. We encountered fire dartfish, hawkfish anthias, some nudibranch and a bumphead parrotfish – a bit of everything!   As the sky seemed to clear up we moved on to Ngemelis. We braved the waves and enjoyed Blue Corner for our next dive. The tide was incoming and we met a particularly friendly napoleon on the reef. As we swam out into the blue water we were treated to a river of grey reef sharks who seemed to be hunting a large school of surgeonfish!   After lunch we hopped in at German Channel. A huge school of bigeye trevally were swimming in the current, forming what seemed like a perfectly round ball above us! Beautiful! And on top of some Shephards angelfish and spottail dart fish we got to enjoy Hiro’s and Yu’s special manta performance – almost as graceful as the real deal!   That’s it for today, see you tomorrow!  

 

 

 

June  22  2019

  Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!   Today the weather was not exactly at its finest.   It was quite windy with recurring rain showers, but we had some amazing dives nonetheless!   Air temperature: 29C Water temperature: 29C   We went out on two boats today!     Boat-1 Operator: Clayton Guides: Hiro / Paula ① German Channel ② Big Drop Off ③ Jake Seaplane   Boat-2 Operator: Stacy Guide: Yu ① German Channel ② Blue Corner ③ Ngerchong Outside     The visibility at German Channel was great and so we decided to try our luck for some mantas. Unfortunately, to no avail. But we encountered a very sweet little moray eel who seemed to smile for the cameras, as well as schools of black spot barracudas and big eye trevally.   Next we dove at Big Drop Off and found some beautiful small fish – square spot anthias, peach anthias, purple queen, fire dartfish! The other team was treated to quite a show at blue corner as around two hundred ringtail surgeonfish were spawning while being chased by at least ten large sharks! For his last dive we had a special treat for our junior diver picked out – Jake Seaplane! The visibility was good and we got to see the plane resting on the sea bed as wedescended. When exploring the surrounding corals, we also found some pajama cardinalfish, black belted cardinalfish and eight banded butterflyfish!   In the meantime, the other team explored Ngerchong Outside. Upon surfacing, they were greeted by a cheerful Stacy who had seen a manta jump at the surface while everybody was in the water! Impeccable timing I guess…   I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow! See you then!    

 

 

 

June  21  2019

  Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!   It was a little bit chilly today as the wind has picked up recently! We also got some rain showers.   Air temperature: 29C Water temperature: 29C   Today we went out on one boat!   Operator: Humio Guides: Clayton / Paula Introductory Dive course: Yu PADI Openwater Diver Course: Hiro   After dropping our intro and OWD teams at Ngermeaus we headed to Ngemelis.   We were lucky to still catch incoming current at German Channel and decided to seize our chance and hop in. The visibility was great so we got a beautiful view of the schools of big eye trevally and black spot barracudas, and nobody seemed to mind that the mantas apparently had their day off today.   Next we dove Blue Corner! The outgoing current was very weak and we comfortably drifted through the water with the reef on our left side. The current picked up just in time for some hooking and some beautiful grey reef sharks circled in front of us, accompanied by pyramid butterfly fish and red tooth triggerfish. Also a very friendly napoleon seemed quite interested in us. To top it off we got bigeye trevally and blackspot barracudas!   For the third dive we got a request for the Hafa Adai wreck! We had the dive site to ourselves and it was a relaxing slow photography dive. We found a baby eight-banded butterfly fish, blackside hawkfish, fragile cardinalfish, whip coral gobies and even some nudibranch!   I’m already excited to go diving again tomorrow!  

 

 

 

June  20  2019

  The sun comes out, but with many clouds today. It was not a cold day and it was a pleasant day. Today I went to Ulong area.   Operator Stacey Guide Hiro   1 Grassland 2 Siaes corner 3 St. cardinal   Temperature 30 ° C Water temperature 29 ° C   There was no wind today, and the surface was like a mirror. It was good smooth drive.   Grassland had the best visibility. So I was so happy from morning! ! I saw some big Yellowspotted trevally were chasing a school of scad. Also many Grey Reef sharks were chasing them. I thought there was no chance for scad to survive, but scad run away with high speed swim! Also many Bigeye barracuda flocked in the clear water. That was perfect subject for photo.   Siaes corner had a slow current, A school of Bartail fusilier flocked on the shelf. Their blue line is very beautiful in the blue sea. We could take some nice photos of Hawksbill because she was eating sea grass and did not run away. The Hawksbill is popular in Palau. We saw a eagle ray before exit. She swam around us 3 times then disappeared.       The sunset was also beautiful today.  

 

 

 

June  19  2019

  Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!   It was beautifully sunny today, and there was almost no wind. The heavy rain showers politely waited until we were all safely back at the shop.   Temperature 32 ° C Water temperature 29 ° C   We went out on one boat today.   Operator: Humio Guides: Hiro / Clayton Introductory dive course: Paula   Today as well we enjoyed a rather calm diving style as we had a junior diver in our group! For the first dive we headed to New Drop Off! A lot of turtles were relaxing in the easy going current, and so were we! The pyramid butterfly fish looked like bright stars against the blue water. A large number of blue-lined snappers were huddling together and seemed quite cozy! We encountered a group of dolphins during our surface interval! They put on a show for us and seemed to coordinate with Clayton, who managed to yell “jump!” perfectly synchronised every time they leaped out of the water!   At Blue Corner we saw a huge dogtooth tuna right after entering the water! It was quite shallow and we got a perfect view! Of course the friendly Napoleon also came to visit and seemed to enjoy our company. A large school of bigeye trevally was also hanging out on the reef.   It seems like we can expect great weather for tomorrow too! See you then!  

 

 

 

June  18  2019

  Otsukarechan! It’s Paula! The weather was lovely today.   Air temperature: 30C Water temperature: 29C   We went out on one boat today.   Operator: Humio Guides: Clayton / Paula   For the first dive we headed to Ngemelis Wall for a turtle party. Although they seemed a little less numerous than usual today, we still got to take some great pictures from all angles. There was also a small school of blacktail snappers, and some pearlscale angelfish!   Next we dove at Fairyland. There also we were treated to turtles and sharks galore! Some friendly fusiliers kept schooling above our heads, and below us we saw the reef buzzing with damselfish, angelfish and butterflyfish!   After lunch we went off to German Channel. The mantas seemed to have their day off today. But that didn’t cause much disappointment, because instead we were treated to a blacktip reef shark and a nurse shark! Especially our junior diver was thrilled!   I wonder what we’ll find tomorrow! See you then!  

 

 

 

June  16  2019

  Hello. I am Tominaga. It has been good weather for the past few days in Palau. There were some squalls, but the weather was fine most of the day and the mild breeze still continued. Good condition in Palau, but there were very few customers on such a fine day.   We departed with one boat today. The temperature was 32 degrees Celsius, the water temperature was 29 degrees.   The guide was Clayton and they went to Blue Hole and Blue Corner. I was diving at Ngermeaus Island to conduct our introductory dive course with customers.   They has been experiencing many introductory dive courses before, and they were good divers already!   The corals in the shallow water were very beautiful. Please enjoy the pictures I took today in Ngermeaus!  

 

 

 

June  13  2019

  Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!   We had lovely weather today! The sun was shining and provided the perfect scenery for our action filled day!   Air temperature: 32C Water temperature: 29C   A group of twenty people visited us from Japan today. We went out with two boats but stayed together throughout the day.   Operators: Stacy / Clayton Guides: Tomi / Kane / Clayton / Hiro / Paula   At first we headed to Ngermeaus for some intro diving. Everybody got to see lots of damselfish and swordfish! When we got back into the water for some snorkeling after our well deserved lunch, we were surrounded by yellowback fusiliers and blacktip reef sharks. Although very friendly, their curious circles around us caused quite some excitement among the guests.   Next, we got up and close with the beautiful giant clams of Clam City and let ourselves drift in the current at Fantasy.   After all the physical activity we decided it was time to treat ourselves to a spa experience and left for our final stop, Milkyway! Everybody made sure to cover themselves in a thick layer of the famous white clay and then daringly jumped off the boat to rinse off, which made for some great pictures. I wonder if everyone will wake up looking ten years younger tomorrow? One thing’s for sure in any case – after such an eventful day we’re all sure to get in a good night’s beauty sleep.   That’s it for today, see you tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

June  12  2019

  Otsukarechan! (something like *Good afternoon” in Japanese) It’s Paula!   The weather held up nicely today and we only had to brave one little rain shower on our way back to the shop!   Air temperature: 31C Water temperature: 29C   We went out with one boat today.   Operator: Stacy Guides: Clayton / Paula   Today we went to Ngemelis.   For our first dive we split the teams and while one group was enjoying the turtle extravaganza at Ngemelis Wall, the other divers decided to hop in at Blue Corner. The current was outgoing at first and the divers entered with the wall on their left side, but it changed to incoming a couple of minutes into the dive. As it was a very weak current, though, it didn’t take much effort to cross the reef. Aside from a school of blackfin barracudas the group had some macro fun and observed little shrimps and baby anemonefish.   For the second dive we headed off to German Channel! The timing was just right and we didn’t encounter any other dive teams! Instead we were greeted by a manta that, although it seemed a little confused about the best cleaning station, swam some slow loops around us and provided great camera footage!   Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow!  

 

 

 

June  11  2019

  Ungil Kebesengei (Good evening!) from Palau! It’s Paula!   Today’s weather was great! Undisturbed sunshine all day – everyone got a tan, whether they wanted it or not!   Air temperature: 32C Water temperature: 29C   We had one boat out today.   Operator: Stacy Guide: Clayton Intro Diving Guides: Hiro / Paula   After dropping our two intro diving teams at Ngermeaus Island, which was surprisingly quiet today, the fun divers headed off to Ngemelis!   First dive – German Channel! To be fair, the visibility wasn’t at its best, but everybody got to see and enjoy the show that two gorgeous mantas seemed to be putting on especially for us, nonetheless.   Then off to Blue Corner we went and jumped in with the reef on our left side. The current was quite weak and we didn’t need any reef hooks. To quote Clayton, “All the stars were there!” and we were treated to blackspot barracudas, big eye trevally, turtles, napoleons and blackfin barracudas!   In the meantime, the two intro diving teams at Ngermeaus got up and close with curious blacktip reef sharks and a small group of golden trevally.   Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow!!  

 

 

 

June  10  2019

  The weather was changing from fine to rain, and cloudy alternately. It was not clear sky today.   The water temperature is still 29 ° C , it was warm.   We had one boat.   The guide was Clayton and the captain was Fumio.   1: Grassland 2: Siaes corner 3: Ulong Channel & Cliff   Few lucky fist entry divers saw Manta-ray at the station in Grassland. Following other divers did not make it. Well..it happens.   The Siaes Corner had excellent visibility. The divers were very happy, because it had been low visibility in the past few days. We saw Ornate eagle ray yesterday and saw Eagle ray today. Eagle rays came out for two consecutive days!   Ulong was also good visibility. We started from inside the channel to the cliff with good outgoing tide. At the time of exit, flock of Batfish were seen and our divers were pleased again!

 

 

 

 

June  8  2019

  It’s Paula! The weather stays unpredictable. Today started off sunny but we only narrowly escaped some rain showers during the day.   Air temperature: 30C Water temperature: 29C   Today we went out with just one boat.   Operator: Stacy Guides: Hiro / Paula and Clayton   For the first dive we headed to German Channel, hoping to continue our lucky manta streak of the past days. Though the visibility was quite poor, it seems the current was just right! We got to see two beautiful large mantas hovering over the cleaning station towards the Peleliu side. Word must have gotten around that the mantas are back, because unlike a couple of days ago we did not have the site to ourselves, and at times it wasn’t quite clear whether the divers came to see the mantas or whether the mantas were watching the divers.   Next we dove at New Drop Off with the outgoing current. Clayton spotted a large ornate eagle ray gliding along the wall and everybody got excited. A playful flowery flounder also entertained us on the reef and provoked some “looks tasty!” comments upon surfacing.   Blue Corner was experiencing a strong outgoing current and lots of large grey reef sharks were surfing the current at the hooking area. On top of the sand, a large green sea turtle patiently let everyone take pictures, not seeming in the least bit disturbed. During our safety stop we got to experience a whirlpool current and circled in a merry go round while counting down the minutes until our ascent.   I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow!!

 

 

 

June  7  2019

  We started with heavy rain today. But it became cloudy and fine weather afternoon.     I said to my divers that, “In such a weather condition, we sometimes met a big game”. And..it actually had happen today.     We had three teams on two boats today.   Boat-1 Operator Stacey Guide Tominaga Introductory dive course Paula   1 German channel 2 Blue corner 3 W Reef       Boat-2 Operator Clayton Guide Hiro   1 Grassland 2 Siaes corner 3 Ulong Cliff   Air temperature31 ° C Water temperature 29 ° C       Grassland had good visibility, even we got heavy rain. Flock of Bigeye barracuda and Whitetongue jack came out.       We could see many Garden Eel and Spaghetti Garden Eel. The guest who likes Garden Eel approached to them as close as possible with careful, and got some good pictures. A Cowtail stringray rubbing her body in the sand was also passed in front of us. We saw some baby eagle rays were swimming around us at the end of dive.         Siaes Corner was a strong current. The Pyramid butterflyfish and Yellow and blueback fusilie were great numbers.       Good current hit the hooking area and it was a torrent. That was full of sharks! For a while, I enjoyed watching the sharks with strong current, and I excited with seeing Barracuda.     On the third dive, It came out at Ulong Cliff! ! Two Sailfish!       We usually saw her at outer edge reef area like Peleliu corner. We haven’t seen her at Ulong Cliff. Why they were here? She swam just little deeper than us, but she moved very slowly and we could watch her at short distance. The size was about 3m. Although we took picture one of them, but there were two! Then again, we saw 2 baby eagle rays. Very exciting dive!!     All the photos were from Mr. T. Thank you very much.  

 

 

 

June  6  2019

  It’s Paula from Palau!   The weather tricked us today – hot and sunny in the morning and then surprise showers during the day!   Air temperature: 30C Water temperature: 29C   We had two teams on two boats today.   1) Operator: Stacy Guides: Paula and Clayton   2) Operator: Humio Guide: Hiro     Our team did a Siaes tour today. Siaes Tunnel, Siaes Tail and Siaes Corner!   It had been a while since we last dived Siaes Tunnel and everybody got a little nostalgic . Inside the tunnel we were greeted by blotcheye soldierfish and, especially to our Korean guest’s delight, a Broccoli Sea urchin.   Siaes Tail presented a very easygoing current and we comfortably let ourselves drift along the wall. As we were hooking on the reef edge, Clayton spotted a large group of bluefin trevally – we think there must at least have been two hundred of them, creating what seemed like a fast-flowing, shiny blue river. The definite highlight of the dive, if not the day!   After lunch we headed off to Siaes Corner. The hooking area was bustling with colorful, small fish, and two very evasive flame angelfish made for a fun photography challenge. After crossing the corner we were treated to a spectacle of grey reef sharks circling below us, at times turning over and showing their white bellies.   Thanks for reading and until tomorrow!!

 

 

 

June  5  2019

  Tsukare naos from Palau! It’s Paula!   Today started off with strong gusts of wind and rain during the night but thankfully it cleared up in the morning and we got some sunshine with our bento lunch!   We went out with one boat today.   Operator: Stacy Guides: Paula and Clayton   Air temperature;30℃ Water temperature: 29℃   As we had specific requests for turtles we started the day off at Ngemelis Wall, and it did not disappoint. We encountered many friendly green sea turtles, big and small, who all willingly posed for the cameras. Everybody took lots of pictures and the slight current, which changed halfway through the dive and challenged the divers to kick a little harder, ended up not bothering anyone.   For the second dive we chose Blue Corner. The strong outgoing current allowed us to see schools of blackfin barracudas, black spot barracudas, big eye trevally and black snappers on top of the reef! To quote one of our customers – “so many fish!!!”   Hoping for an early incoming current we headed off to German Channel after lunch. The visibility was very poor but we had the dive site almost entirely to ourselves. After just 5mins of diving an absolute beauty of a manta swam up right next to us! It came so close we could have given it a high five. We also came across three fantail stingrays who were taking a nap on the sandy bottom. To top it off and make our dive day perfect, we got circled by schools of big eye trevally, black spot barracudas and fusiliers.   Thanks for reading and until tomorrow!!  

 

 

 

June  4  2019

  It was cloudy and rain in Palau. But it wasn’t much rain, and the sun came out afternoon. I had got just few rain today.   We had one boat.   Operator Fumio Guide Hiro & Paula   1 Grassland 2 Sias corner 3 Aquarium   Air Temperature 29 ° C Water temperature 29 ° C   It was unlikely visibility at Grassland. I mean very bad…murky water. Even low visibility, we saw many Double-lined fusilier were flocked and eating plankton. We saw many Garden Eel and Anemone fish and Sharks. There were many sharks, the number was more than usual today. Also Blacktip reef shark and flock of Dusky-finned bulleye were seen.   The 2nd dive, we went to Sias Corner. Unlike the first dive, the visibility was good enough! The current was slow but we saw many fish. The drop-off wall was covered with big flock of Pyramid butterflyfish. Also Yellow and blueback fusilie and Double-lined fusilier flocked. I saw some Humphead wrasse was laying eggs near the surface. 4-5 of them flocked and egg laying, it was impressive scene. Bigeye Barracuda also flocked in good number. We saw many sharks swam round’n round at the top of the corner area. It was a powerful score, as it came to one place and came in front of us.   There were huge amount of Double-lined fusilier at the Aquarium. It was good visibility here too. The fish made huge fish-ball in middle depth. Then they shifted to the shallow, it changed the shape to flat and it looked like “Blue wall”! The number was tremendous! Many of Yellowfin goatfish and Bigeye barracuda were seen. Yes, this is real an “Aquarium”! Some of customer said, “It is just beautiful!”.  

 

 

 

June  3  2019

  It was cloudy but no rain in Palau today.   We had one boat.   Operator Fumio Guide Hiro   1 New drop off 2 Blue corner 3 Blue corner   Air Temperature 28 ° C Water temperature 28 ° C   We had a good current at New Drop-off and enjoyed drift dive. The visibility was also good. I saw many Double-lined fusilier were eating the plankton at middle depth. Many Pyramid butterflyfish & Grey Reef Sharks flocked with good current at hooking area. It was fun to feel the flow with the current & current hook.   2nd dive was at Blue Corner. The visibility was decreasing than usual. The number of sharks was decreasing recently, but today we saw them lots! The flock of Bigeye trevally was dense, but broke in three places, It will be a great number if all gathered. Flocks of Barracuda was also seen on the reef shelf. We met a friendly Humphead wrasse and enjoyed interplay with her and exit.   On the 3rd dive, as my divers request, we dive again Blue Corner. Shortly after entry, we saw a green sea turtle slept in a rocky gap. Only her face was come out and it was so cute. Although the visibility went down, the amount of fish was great! I saw a flock of batfish. At the top of corner area, we saw some predator mode Giant trevally & whitecap sharks. Big school of Double-lined fusilier & Pyramid butterflyfish spread out quickly to escape from their predators. Also we enjoyed to watch beautiful flock of Bluebanded snapper, Gold-lined sea-beam and Black-spot snapper.  

 

 

 

June  2  2019

  Cloudy in Palau today. Occasionally it rained, but it became fine soon and it was not cold. We had one boat.   Operator Fumio Guide Clayton PADI AOW course Hiro Introductory dive course Paula   1 Grassland 2 Sias corner 3 Ulong channel   Air temperature 31 ° C Water temperature 29 ° C     Grassland was full of quampilives that finished laying eggs early in the morning Flock of Yellow and blueback fusilie and Bigeye barracuda were seen. Two family-friendly batfish came close to us.   Sias Corner had a good upcoming tide. The visibility was good and we enjoyed drift dive and watch beautiful flock of Double-lined fusilier. We saw a beautiful scene with mix of the flock of Pyramid butterflyfish & Grey reef sharks at hooking area. We saw a school of barracuda then exited to the boat. Good dive!   The Ulong channel had a good Upcoming tide! I saw some child Gray Reef Sharks flocked in deep area. Also we found two child Eagle rays were swimming. We were healed by the scene by the figure which swims together so that it might be good friend. We enjoyed drift dive and watching many beautiful corals in the channel.  

 

 

 

June  1  2019

  Palau was fine today, But on the way back to the base, we had squall. Even if it is sunny in the morning, It is a good idea to bring your rain gear for just in case.   Air temperature 31 ° C Water temperature 29 ° C   We had 2 boats.   Boat-1 Operator Fumio Guide Clayton & Paula 1 Grassland 2 New drop off 3 Blue corner 4 Iro-maru (wreck dive)   The first dive was early morning dive at Grassland to see spawning of Green humphead parrotfish. And they success to see that. Also they saw more than 3m size of Bull Shark! It was no other dive group there.     Boat-2 Operator Stacey Guide Tominaga PADI AOW course Hiro 1 Blue hole 2 Blue corner 3 German channels   At Blue Hole, it was less visibility in shallow water, but it became better we went down. We saw a huge Bigeye barracuda in the hole. I was overwhelmed by the size of her. Also her tooth was big and looks very sharp. It looks scare, if I was bitten.   It was strong down current at Blue corner. We enjoyed the current at hooking station. After that, we entered into the channel and enjoyed to watch the flock of Bigeye trevally. A Humphead wrasse came out and along with us, very friendly! Some Giant trevally tried to take flock of Double-lined fusilier was seen.   In the German channel, we were waiting for the good outgoing tide before entering. I could not see the predatory Manta-ray, but I could see 2 cleaning Manta-rays. It’s a large manta ray, and it’s not as powerful and elegant.