The latitude and longitude of Palau are about 7 degrees north and 134 degrees east. The archipelago lies within the much larger group of thousands of islands that make up Micronesia, which means “tiny islands.” Approximately 800 kilometers north of New Guinea, southeast of the Philippines, and southwest of Guam, Palau consists of roughly 500 islands.
Palau has a maritime tropical climate with a large amount of rainfall. The average daily temperature for the year is 81℉ (28℃), while the relative humidity is about 82%. An annual average of 381 centimeters of rain falls on Palau, feeding into the rivers and streams and adding to the humidity. Wind direction shifts occur with the trade winds blowing from the northeast and east from November to May. Then the monsoon winds come up from the southwest from June to September.
Palau has declared itself as the world’s first shark sanctuary. In 2009, it launched the Palau Shark Sanctuary to do its part in fighting for an end to shark finning in Palau and around the globe.
(For more details, see: http://www.sharksanctuary.com/)
Palau’s Rock Islands were listed as a World Heritage Site in 2012. Many of the 445 uninhabited limestone islands of volcanic origin the southern lagoon have unique mushroom-like shapes, surrounded by turquoise water and coral reefs.
The site’s incredible beauty is made even more impressive by the complex reef system, featuring over 385 species of coral as well as a wide array of ecosystems. This is home to a great diversity of plants, birds and marine life, including dugong and at least thirteen shark species.
(For more details, see: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1386)
Palau is known as one of the planet’s best places to be underwater. Its dive sites attract visitors for all sorts of reasons, including huge schools of fish, plenty of sharks, and healthy reefs, as well as wrecks of the Second World War and the world-famous Jellyfish Lake and Blue Corner.
Most months the water temperature is around 30℃. Only from February to March does it occasionally drop to about 26℃. Average underwater visibility is roughly 20 meters but sometimes goes up to 40 meters! From July to September, heavy rains and strong winds can brings a drop in visibility to between 15 and 20 meters.
Palau features about 30 major dive sites, from walls and tunnels to channels and wrecks.
Here are just a few of the most famous of these sites:
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
The weather was super nice today and
the ocean calm and shiny like a mirror!
Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on two boats today.
BM3
Operator: Humio
Guides: Hiro / Paula
① Ulong Cliff
② Siaes Corner
③ Aquarium
BM7
Operator: Stacy
Guide: Tomi with Mizuho
① Grassland
② Siaes Corner
At Ulong Cliff we got treated to quite the
show as lots of bigeye scads were being chased
around the cliff by a leatherback and it looked
like some grey reef sharks were joining in the
fun! We also saw lots of bigeye trevallies just
next to the mouth of the channel!
At Grassland a large manta passed by our group
as they were checking out some fragile cardinalfish!
At Siaes Corner we observed lots of sharks circling
around the hooking area on the incoming side. After
being drifted out into the blue Hiro also spotted
a school of blackfin barracudas!
At Aquarium we entered with the reef on our right
side and thanks to the current there were lots of
sharks as well! We also saw a large school of
blackspot barracudas and a baby Shepard’s angelfish!
Also loooooots of twinspot barracudas and yellowfin
goatfish!
I hope the weather is the same tomorrow!
Alii from Palau Island.
how you all doing? hope all is good!
this is Clayton doing dive blog for 12/5/2019.
1t dive at German Channel with 7 to 15m
visibility. why is that? its a day after half
moon so the current is unpredictable.
so just 6mins to our dive a huge manta
ray showed up glyding smoothly passing
us. as it disappeared out into the the blue,
we continue our dive and we meet another
one hovering on the cleaning station. after
few minutes the manta went away. as we
about to leave it showed up again behind
us. thank you Mr. Manta.
2nd dive at Blue Corner with 20m
visibility. nice outgoing current that
brings a lot of schooling reef fish along
the reef as we drift toward the hooking
point. just for your information this
dive was not relaxing cause of the big
wave that create a bit strong surge
under water. on the hooking point lots
of gray reef sharks were hanging out too.
after few minutes i decided to unhook
because of the surge, it was not that
fun anymore. drift with the current out
into the blue and found a small school
of barracuda, when i say small, its
only 20 of them in the class. Lol..。
3rd dive again at Blue Corner
with the same visibility and outgoing
current, and don’t forget about the
surge. after 20mins of our dive i
notice the current is changing, so
i quickly start my way to the other
side of the reef, just to catch the
incoming current before it picks
up too strong. along the way
we meet the school of big eye
trevally, some turtles, black snappers
and the friendly napoleon wrasse.
as i reach the other side of the reef
one of my diver has gone low on air.
just good timing for us to end our dive
by drifting with the current out into
the blue to find the same small
school of barracuda, how nice.
thats all for me now and thank you
for your time and see you next time.
happy holidays and happy diving.
TonTon signing out.
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
The weather was grim today… it started
grey in the morning and ended grey too.
We got rained on. But under water it was
nice and snug and warm!
Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on two boats.
BM6
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu / Hiro
① Ulong Cliff
② Grassland
③ Siaes Corner
BM7
Operator: Humio
Guide: Paula with Mizuho
① Ulong Cliff
② Aquarium
All teams started the day with a dive at
Ulong Cliff! There were lots of beautiful
fusiliers at the mouth of the channel being
chased by gold spotted and bluefin trevallies!
They created the most gorgeous blue shiny
river all around us! There were also a lot of
bigeye scads being chased around as well as
four grey reef sharks always circling in the
corner on the right side of the mouth of
the channel. We also found the large school
of bigeye trevallies and took loooooots of
pictures!
At Grassland there were lots of blackspot
barracudas as well as sawtooth barracudas!
We also found a big school of bigeye scads!
At Aquarium the current was nice and we approached
with the reef on our left! There were lots of
baby sharks and black snappers! The star of
the dive was a huuuuuuuuuuuuge school of
circular batfish! One of our customers said she
counted at least 300! We also got treated to another
beautiful fusiliers-being-chased-by-trevallies show!
On top of the reef we found lots of yellowfin goatfish
and soooooooo many twinspot snappers! They were basically
covering the whole reef! One of our customers also spotted
an adorable little white nudibranch! Perfect dive!!
At Siaes Corner the current was very weak outgoing but
there were lots of baby sharks at the hooking area!
I hope it’s gonna be sunny tomorrow, now time for a hot
chocolate!
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
We had really nice weather today and
the wind has settled down too!
Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on two boats.
BM1
Operator: Humio
Guide: Paula
① Blue Corner
② Blue Corner
BM7
Operator: Susie
Guide: Yu with Mizuho
① German Channel
② Blue Corner
③ Blue Holes
German Channnel was experiencing a slow but steady
incoming current and so Yu’s team went looking
for mantas! The search was worth it because they
were rewarded with three mantas! They were cleaning
at the Koror side cleaning station! Great start to
the day!
At the same time, my team had Blue Corner all to
ourselves for the first dive! No other team in the
water! Bliss!!! We entered with a very very weak
incoming current from buoy no. 2 but the current
changed to very weak outgoing just when we reached
the blue-lined snappers! To be honest, though, the
swell was more tiring than the current. We saw lots
of bigeye trevallies and a huge school of blackspot
barracudas next to the reef out in the blue! Sooo
many! The napoleon was super friendly seeing as there
was nobody else to hang out with and kept coming
back for more attention and pictures! We finished
our near perfect dive off with a school of blackfin
barracudas in the blue! Yayy!!!
At the time of the second dive the current had picked
up and was now steadily outgoing. There were sooooo
many sharks circling in front of the hooking area,
but unfortunately also a lot of divers. Hardly any
space to hook! 😀 The current was super fun though
and after unhooking we also watched the garden eels
for a while and spotted a super cute green sea turtle.
The current got stronger during the dive and the school
of blackfin barracudas seemed to escape on top of the
reef so we got to seee them before we headed out to the
blue. Also a super fun dive! The visibility was beautiful
both times today, almost 30 metres!!
I hope the wind stays this calm…. fingers crossed!
See you tomorrow!
Alii! This is Mizuho from Palau.
Today,s weather is all day sunny!!
Air temperature:30C
Water temperature:29C
We went out on one boat today.
BM7
Operator: FUMIO
Guide:YU / CRAYTON with MIZUHO
①Ulong Clif
②Glass Land
③Siaes Corner
The first divesite was Ulong Clif
with 17m visibility.
There was confortable outgoing current
for driftdiving.
We got to see the huge school of
big eye trevallies on the cliff!!
There are many kind of basslets
on the reef edge.
It was very beautiful!!
The second divesite was Glass Land
with 15m visibility.
Current was weak outgoing current.
We saw Spotted Garden eel
on the sand area.
And we observed Red bellied fusilier and
many kind of butterflyfish !!
The third divesite was Siaes corner
with 20m visibility.
There was nice outgoing current
for fooking.
so we could saw many kind of fish school
foe example …
Gray reef shark,Blackspot barracuda,Black snapper
and so on!!
One of Guest could find out Guineafowl Puffer.
Thank you so much!!
Thank you for taking time to read all of this blog!!
Good luck!!!
Mizuho
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
It was still windy today but much better
than the last few days! Tomorrow might
even be smooth, who knows?
Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 29C (but 26C at Grassland lol)
We went out on two boats today.
BM6
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Clayton / Paula
① Grassland
② Butterfly Park
BM7
Operator: Susie
Guide: Yu
① Ngemelis Coral Garden
② New Drop Off
③ Blue Corner
Manta Manta Mantaaaaaaaaaa!! That’s right, again
we got a Manta at Grassland! It seems manta season
is in full swing again! The visibility was a little
poor but as we approached the cleaning station we
saw a huge black shadow hovering over it and immediately
made our way to the sandy bottom to catch some good
seats to the show! Today it wasn’t a black manta but
a huuuuuuge “normal” one. It kept doing its loops around
the cleaning station completely unfazed by the divers
watching and when we left after 10 minutes of manta
admiration due to our NDLs getting shorter and our
body temperatures lower (crazy thermocline at 26 degrees brrrr),
the manta was still not done cleaning!
At our original point Butterfly Park the visibility
was super nice and the sun shone beautifully on the
table corals! We found a lot of yellowfin goatfish,
and lots of baby black snappers! Speaking of babies, there
was also a school of juvenile yellowspot emperors huddled
together around a table coral and of course lots of baby
butterfly fish! We also spotted many redeye gobies today
as well as a group of longnose filefish! Because of all the
small, colourful fish and all the baby fish Mr Naito suggested
we re-name the dive site “Toy Box”. What do you think?
Yu’s team ventured out to Blue Corner and was treated to
a spectacular current change! The current switched from quite
strong outgoing to strong incoming! All the fish fled onto
the sandy area and then towards the incoming side of the reef!
“Like a river”, as Yu said! 🙂
Let’s hope the wind continues to slow down! Enjoy your evening!
I hope we’ll have a beautiful sunset today as well!
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
Right now there’s a beautiful sunset
outside after a beautiful and sunny day!
Still a little too windy for Blue Corner
though…
Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on two boats today.
BM6
Operator: Susie
Guide: Clayton with Mizuho
① German Channel
② Bento
BM7
Operator: Humio
Guide: Paula
① German Channel
② Bento
We managed to catch the last little bit of
incoming current when we entered at German
Channel but straight afterwards it changed
to outgoing… The visibility was still at
about 15 metres though! At first we caught
a glimpse of a Manta at the Koror side cleaning
station! However it only showed its face for
a second or two, and then disappeared, so
we made our way towards the Peleliu station.
On the way we found a school of blackspot
barracudas and a school of bigeye scads as
well as bigeye trevallies! When we arrived at
the Peleliu cleaning station, I was about to
point out a cute whitetip reef shark when
suddenly, behind it, a huge Manta appeared
and swam riiiiight over our heads! What a treat!
At Bento the visibility was rather poor, especially
at the bottom of the mooring line, but it got
a little better as we made our way along the
drop. We spotted a hawksbill turtle and two green
sea turtles! I’m also happy to report that the
cute Randall’s shrimp goby still doesn’t seem
to plan a move yet. 🙂 Special treat of the dive
was a bicolour parrotfish baby! They’re so cute
when they’re tiny, one half orange and one half
white – they look almost like an awkward goby!
Let’s hope the wind calms down soooooon!
Have a great day and enjoy the sunset!
Alii from Palau
How we all doing, hope all is good.
1st dive at Ngerchong Inside with
9 to 20m visibility. So we start our
dive with poor visibility and after
8mins it began to clear up. this is
one of the best visibility at this
point. It was a slow and easy dive
lots of small schooling fishes. I
was trying to look for the cuttle
fish but coudlnt find it, so i
guess its gone for good.
2nd dive at Ngerchong outside with
18m visibility. again it was a nice
easy outgoing current. so we took our
time along the reef looking for small
stuff. but toward the middle of the
channel we got to see school of
fish from 2 spot snappers, glow spot
sea breams, fusiliers and surgeon fish.
3rd dive at German Channel with
poor visibility. i made my entry
during tide change, from outgoing
to incoming. so thats why the visibility
was so poor. there were alot of
schooling fish, but with such
kind of visibility its hard for
some divers to realy see that
good. but our main thing was
the manta ray. and luckily
we saw one toward the end
of our dive. it was a huge one
just for your information.
thank you again and see you
next time.
TonTon signing out.
Happy Diving……
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
It was nice and sunny today but the wind
has picked up a little and there were
quite a lot of waves and swell.
Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on one boat.
BM6
Operator: Humio
Guides: Hiro / Paula
① New Drop Off
② Blue Corner
The visibility at New Drop Off was beautiful!
The current was steadily outgoing and we entered
from buoy 1. There were so many fusiliers out in
the blue water as well as pyramid butterflyfish.
Lots of yellow specks in the blue! 🙂
While we were hooking we didn’t only see sharks
and a large school of blackspot barracudas but
also lots of dartfish spawning!! There were quite
a few Napoleons as well!
At Blue Corner the current was also outgoing, neither
weak nor super strong, I’d say perfect! 🙂 The sharks
seemed to think so, too, because there were soooo
many of them surfing around in front of us at the
hooking area. Two large Spanish mackerels put on
a show for our divers as well. After unhooking we
had fun with the garden eels and got treated to four
green sea turtles, all of them very friendly! The
big eye trevallies were also hanging around the sandy
area, some of them pairing up in black and silver!
Just before ascending to our safety stop we found
the school of blackfin barracudas in the blue water
but unfortunately they were too deep to get a closer
look. Somebody must have gotten there before us. 🙂
Have a great evening!
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
Lovely weather all day today! No rain!
Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on two boats today.
BM1
Operator: Stacy
Guide: Yu
① Peleliu Express
② Peleliu Cut – Corner
③ Peleliu Cut – Corner
BM7
Operator: Susie
Guide: Paula with Mizuho
① Grassland
② Siaes Corner
③ Ulong Cliff to Channel
It feels like it’s been forever since we
went to Ulong so today seemed like a good
day to do so and THANK GOD WE WENT!
We chose Grassland for our first dive and
got rewarded with a black manta!!!! Wohoooo!
It was beauuuutiful! Unfortunately there were
lots of divers super close to the cleaning
station and so it couldn’t do many loops.
But it seemed to try its best for us and thanks
for that, Manta! We appreciate it!
At Siaes Corner the current was strong outgoing
and there were lots of sharks at the hooking
area. Some Napoleons were also spawning above
our heads! After we unhooked we were treated to
a school of bigeye scads being chased around by
four bluefin trevallies! Great action!
At Ulong Cliff we were lucky and caught incoming
current which meant we got to see the huge school
of bigeye trevallies on the cliff!! There were
also lots of blackspot barracudas! As we approached
the entrance of the channel we saw THREE dogtooth
tunas! Huge!! They got distraught by a boat engine
and started shooting around super quickly. There
were also loooots of grey reef sharks and so many
whitetip reef sharks inside the channel! Great dive!
Peleliu today was a “aji matsuri” or “trevally festival”!
They saw schools of giant trevallies and got super
lucky when finding a big school of brassy trevallies as well!
Today was super duper awesome, I can’t wait for tomorrow!!
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
The day started off super sunny and hot but
now it’s raining cats and dogs outside. Ramen weather!
Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on two boats today.
BM1
Operator: Stacy
Guide: Clayton with Mizuho
① Grassland
② Blue Holes
③ Blue Corner
④ German Channel
BM6
Operator: Susie
Guides: Yu / Paula
① Ngemelis Wall
② Blue Corner
③ German Channel
Bumphead parrotfish spawniiiiiing! BM1 headed out early and
caught a lot of action!
At Ngemelis Wall we found soooo many turtles, hawksbill and
green ones, as well as some lazy blacktail snappers who were
still hanging out. We also found the cutest little nudibranch!!
The current at Blue Corner was not in our favour but we saw
lots of grey reef sharks, turtles, big eye trevallies,
blue-lined snappers, barracudas and the Napoleon came up
super close several times today!
At German Channel it was manta manta mantaaaaaa action! Soo
many mantas! First we watched one manta doing slow loops on
the Peleliu cleaning station and then we ventured out into the
blue water where we were rewarded with a beautiful somersault
loaded feeding frenzy! However, some divers were doing their
safety stop right next to where the Mantas were feeding –
WHY DIVERS, WHY??! Move away before you ascend please!!
Let’s all make sure we maintain a diving style where we don’t
get in the way of or stress out those beautiful speckle-bellied
giants. Grump out.
I wonder what we can see tomorrow?
Alii! This is Mizuho from Palau.
Today,s weather is almost all day sunny!!
Air temperature:29C
Water temperature:29C
We went out on one boat today.
BM7
Operator: SUSIE
Guide:YU / HIRO with MIZUHO
①Glass Land
②Sias Corner
③Short Drop Off
The first divesite was Glass Land
with 17m visibility.
We observed Spotted Garden eel
on the sand area.
There are many kind of table reef
coral!!
The second divesite was Sias Corner
with 18m visibility.
Current was weak incoming current.
so we swim left hand on the cliff.
We observed grayreef shark and
big school of yellowback fusiliar !!
Thank you for taking time to read all of this blog!!
Good luck!!!
Mizuho
Alii from Palau
How you all doing, hope all is good.
This is Clayton doing dive blog for 11/24/2019
1st dive at Ngemelis wall with 20m visibility.
nice outgoing current, lots of turtles, but our
main focus was the school of black tail snappers
that come together at this point days before new
moon. so today i estimate their number to be
around 500 plus fish. this number is still low,
it can increase to over 1000 fish. today we
are 3 days before new moon.
2nd dive at Blue Corner with 20m visibility.
It was a strong outgoing current, not only that
it was full of divers that it create a wall of bubble.
this dive was a disaster, not enougth space to
hook in. but my team were hooked in an the
very end, were i didnt stay to long. so i made
my escape and went to the part of the reef
were no divers and school of big eye trevally
was hanging out. as toward the end of the dive
i decided to look for the black fin barracuda.
and i know exactly where they are and when
i found them there were no other divers but
me and my team, nice.
3rd dive at German Channel with 12m
visibility. you may say this a poor visibility
but is perfect for the manta ray. so it was a
incoming current so thats means the
planktoon is being brougth in by the current.
so when we got planktoon, you know its
feeding time for the small fish plus the
manta ray. to make long story short we
able to see 6 manta ray at one time doing
the trail formtion and loop. its a priceless
experience for a begginer and first time
witness to see such graceful creature.
well folks that that it for me, thank you
for you time and see you next time.
ToTon signing out. Happy diving where
ever you are.
Alii from Palau
How you all doing, hope all is good.
This is Clayton doing dive blog for 11/23/2019
1st dive at New drop Off with 25m visibility.
nice outgoing current, lots of schooling fish
from fusiliers, pyramid butterfly, one spot
barracuda and blue lined snappers. the
high light of this dive was a rare butterfly
that usaully stay in deep water, but this
time came up to 14m. this rare fish is
called eye patch butterfly but i call it
Panda butterfly.
2nd dive at German channel with 10m
visibility. slow incoming current, but just
4mins into our dive a manta ray showed
up. swam across the mouth of the channel
to the south side and saw 4 more manta
out in the blue water. came back to the center
of the channel to find school of big eye trevally
barracuda, dense school of fusiliers, humpback
unicorn fish and 2 silver metalic giant trevally.
3rd dive at Blue Corner with 20m visibility.
nice strong incoming current, arrived at
the hooking point in 12mins and stay for
18mins watching fish activity. spanish
mackerel chasing small fish including
the yellow fin trevaly, whatta action.
if i score this dive from 0 t0 10, i
would say a 6. not bad.
thank you for your time and see you
next time. TonTon signing out.
Happy diving…
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
The lovely weather streak continues!
Blue sky, blue Ulong!
Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on two boats today.
BM1
Operator: Stacy
Guide: Rusher with Mizuho
① Ulong Channel
② Siaes Corner
BM6
Operator: Clayton
Guides: Yu / Paula
① Ulong Cliff
② Ulong Channel
③ Aquarium
Ulong presented itself from its best side today!
At first we took our time exploring Ulong Cliff
and we had soooo much fun with the school of
big eye trevallies! We were lucky enough to have
them all to ourselves for a slow photo taking and
gazing session! They were huddled together closely
creating a super dense swirl of fish! Beautiful!
At the edge of the cliff we also took our time
observing grey reef sharks and blackspot barracudas!
We waited until we had a nice incoming current
and then decided to drift into the channel for our
second dive. At the mouth of the channel we spotted
a small spotted eagle ray! A baby one maybe? It was
swimming over the edge of the reef, down into the deep
and then came back up and did its characteristic backward
somersault! Inside the channel we met four hawksbill
turtles!
At Aquarium the current was mild and we approached with
the reef on our right side. There were lots of twin spot
snappers and of course our favourite yellowfin goatfish!
It was a slow dive with looots of picture opportunities!
Now it’s raining cats and dogs outside but I’m sure
tomorrow will be just as beautiful as today – fingers crossed!
Have a cozy evening, hot wine season has begun!
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula and Saku!
Beautiful weather today! Perfect for a sunny
lunch break!
Air temperature: 31°C
Water temperature: 29°C
We went out on two boats today.
BM6
Operator: Humio
Guides: Rusher and Mizuho / Paula
① Blue Hole / Blue Corner
② German Channel
③ Saint Cardinal
BM7
Operator: Stacy
Guide: Clayton
① West Passage
② Plenty Fish
③ 330°
Our Ngemelis boat chose two different spots
for the first dive – Blue Hole and Blue Corner!
The current at Blue Corner was weak outgoing at
first but then picked up slightly for what seemed
like the perfect current! The hooking area was an
absolute party! Sooooo many sharks! Also a genormous
great barracuda and two Spanish mackerels were putting
on a show for us! We didn’t even want to unhook but
luckily we did because after seeing many turtles and
blackspot barracudas as well as bigeye trevallies on
the reef, we were rewarded with a large school of
blackfin barracudas just before ascending to our
safety stop! They came super close as if they wanted
to pose for our cameras!
At German Channel the current was steadily incoming
and the visibility at about 15 metres. There was a
huge spectacular fish ball in the blue water, with
fusiliers being chased around by unicorn fish and
two giant trevallies! Despite all odds the mantas
seemed to have a day off today…
Clayton’s team encountered loooots of fish at Almonogui!
They also spotted a blue spotted stingray!
Have a great evening everyone!
Ali from Palau.
how are we all doing? hope all is good.
1st dive at Blue Corner with 25m
vilibility. start with a nice incoming
current.after 15mins of dive time the
current picked up quickly, by the time
we reach the hooking point the current
has become strong.stayed for 15mins
and unhooked and swam toward shallow
to avoid down stream current. we missed
the school of barracuda but rest of the
stars were present.
2nd dive at German reef with 18m
visibility. this dive we did over
200m drift dive with total dive
time of 57mins. along the dive school
of one spot barracuda, crescent tail
big eye goggle fish, glow spot seabreams
big eye trevally and school of baby
gray reef sharks. during our safety stop
i saw diving mask so i went to get it.
but this mask is not an ordanary mask,
its badder, expensive one. lucky me.
3rd dive at Chandeleir Cave.did a
40mins dive time and the guest were
happy about this dive. why? it was
there first cave dive and they loving it.
so what can i say, i rest my case.
thank you for your time and see
you next time. TonTon signing out.
Happy diving…
Alii from Palau
how you all doing, hope all is good.
this is Clayton doing dive blog for 11/19/2019.
1st dive at Grass land with 18m visibility.
weak outgoing current but after 22mins
the current change so i went back to the
entry. no manta around the cleaning station.
not so much on this dive but school of
one spot barracuda, white toungeu jacks.
2nd dive at Ulong Channel with 20m visibility.
again weak incoming current but was able to
make it all the way. it was a nice and easy dive.
at the center of the channel we saw spotted
eagle ray, this ray is one of the 5 ray that
stayed in the channel. this ray has becoming
big, so maybe soon it will move out of the channel.
3rd dive at Siaes Corner with 20m visibility.
double check the current and decide to enter
on the outgoing side. again weak current but
as we approach the corner the change to
incoming then after 4mins it change again
to out going. its one day to half moon so
the current become unpridictable. it can
be weak, it can be strong and it can
change during the dive and that what we
experience on our dive. again not so much
happening on this dive d cause of the current.
thank you for your time and see you next time.
TonTon signing out. Happy Diving….
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
We had good weather today with just
a few showers in the afternoon.
Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on three boats.
BM1
Operator: Susie
Guide: Hiro with Mizuho
① Ulong Channel
② Siaes Corner
③ Chandelier Cave
BM6
Operator: Konzo
Guides: Yu / Clayton
① German Channel
② Blue Hole / Blue Corner
③ Blue Corner
BM7
Operator: Humio
Guide: Paula
Man to Man: Rusher
① Ngemelis Wall
② Blue Corner
Koror Manta Koror Manta Koror Mantaaaaa!
We didn’t even have to go all the way
to German Channel today to get a manta!
And not only one, two! They were playing
around on the surface and then patiently
pausing for us to take a look after Humio
spotted them flapping their fins! Yay!
At German Channel the other team also got
two mantas so I’d say we’re even!
At Blue Corner the current was nice outgoing
and we spotted lots of grey reef sharks as
well as a huge dogtooth tuna right in front
of our faces! There was also a Spanish mackerel
chasing the smaller fish around at the hooking
area! The Napoleon also came to say hello on
the sandy area just after we observed the chubby
garden eels.
At Ulong the currents played out just right
and Siaes Corner was a spectacle of schooling
fish and sharks! Everybody had a great time at
the hooking area!
I can’t wait for tomorrow, see you then!
Alii from Palau
how you all doing? hope all is good.
this is Clayton doing dive blog for 11/17/2019.
1st dive at Ulong channel with 23m visibility.
weak incoming current, but we were able
to make it all the way in the channel. along
the dive we saw about 6 turtles. couple of
gray reef sharks and school of giant coral
cod. this was another nice and easy dive.
2nd dive at Sieas corner with 23 m visibility.
nice outgoing curent, arrived at the hooking
area and found 16 baby gray reef sharks hang
out. so we hooked in and watch the shark activity.
after 12mins unhook and drift with the current
down the reef. along the reef a school of big eye
scad was chased by couple of blue fin trevally.
toward the end of the dive we came up on a
school of black snappers and red snappers.
3rd dive at Buoy 6 wreck with a poor
visibility, because of outgoing current. anyway
this dive can only be done during half moon
when the current is weak. this site is located
in the channel so today was the perfect time.
its been awhile since my last dive at buoy 6,
and i saw that the wreck has been breaking
apart from strong current. the wreck has
been sitting under water for over 70 years,
so you know its getting old just like the
rest of the wrecks here on the island.
thank you and see you next time.
TonTon signing out. Happy Diving..
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
The weather was lovely today!
Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on three boats today!
Busy times!
BM1
Operator: Humio
Guide: Paula with Mizuho
① German Channel
② Blue Corner
BM2 – Charter
Operator: Susie
Guide: Yu
① Grassland
② Ulong Cliff
BM6
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Clayton / Hiro
① German Channel
② New Drop Off
③ Blue Corner
The visibility at German Channel was quite
good when we first entered but kept dropping
throughout the dive. We focused on the channel’s
little inhabitants today and spotted lots of
cute little gobies and dartfish! Hiro’s team
also saw a blue-girdled angelfish!
At Blue Corner we met the friendliest of all
green sea turtles. It patiently posed for everyone’s
cameras and didn’t even move an inch. Apparently
the napping spot was too good to leave it. We
also saw lots of sharks and beautiful yellowback
fusiliers shoaling out in the blue!
Yu’s team spotted two spotted eagle rays at Grassland
while waiting for a manta. I wonder if they decided
to just make use of the stage and sneak in there?
We appreciated it in any case!
I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow?
See you then!
alii from Palau
how you all doing? hope all is good?
This is Clayton doing dive blog for 11/15/2019
1st dive at Grass Land with 18m visibility.
almost no current, all the fish are scattered
over the reef. but this dive was good for
first day guest, nice and easy. so we go on
small fish mode. I tried to look for crocodile
fish but no luck. first time i didn’t see a gray
reef shark on this dive, why, cause no current.
2nd dive at Ulong Cliff with 21m visibility.
again a weak outgoing current. again small
fish mode, as we approach the drop off the
schooling of big eye trevally was making the
tornado formation, really nice. then off the
distance slowly making their way toward us
was the school of one spot barracuda. while
the guest was enjoying this 2 schooling of
fish, i saw small school of bat fish close
to the surface, so i started counting. not once
but 3 times and i end up with total of 15 bat
fish. well that’s all for me, only 2 tank dive.
thank you and see next time. TonTon
signing out. Happy diving……..
Alii from Palau.
How you all doing, hope all is fine.
This is Clayton doing dive blog for 11/14/2019.
1st dive at Blue Hole with 25m visibility.
As we arrived there were 3 boats on the site,
but as we entered and on our way to enter
Blue Hole, the other group just exit. we had
a good 15mins inside the Blue Hole by ourself,
how nice. After 15mins, another group came in
as we making our way out, good timing. It was
so nice inside blue hole, cause the sun ligth
came down like a spot ligth.
2nd dive at Blue Corner with 25m visibility.
a bit strong outgoing current that it took
only 12mins to the hooking point. along the way
we saw 8 huge dog tooth tuna. hooked in and
stayed for 13mins. while hooked on, cuople of
blue fin trevally showed up and start chasing
the school of fusiliers including the spanish
mackerel.as we were hooked on i started to
count the gray reef shark which i always do
on my dive and i counted like 13 to 15 sharks.
i missed the school of barracuda but i was
able to see just 8 of them along the reef.
well, better than nothing.
3rd dive at German Reef all the way to
the mouth of the channel with 15m
visibility and a weak incoming current.
along the way saw couple of cute turtles,
nice school of glow spot sea breams. and
the funny part was 2 clown trigger fish
chasing each other back and ford that
they almost ram into me. Hey, hey slow
down fish. as i reach the main cleaning
station a big school of big eye trevally
was doing the tornado formation meaning
weak current. continue the dive to the
north cleaning station and found 2 young
manta ray usung the station, nice. they
came so close that i have to hold my
breath. we end our dive with 54mins and
60 bar of air pressure.
thank you for your time and see you
next time. TonTon signing out.
Happy Diving…..
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
Sunny today with only a little bit
of wind but giant swells.
Air temperature: 31C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on two boats.
BM6
Operator: Susie
Guides: Yu / Paula
① Grassland
② Aquarium
③ Ulong Cliff
BM7
Operator: Humio
Guide: Clayton with Mizuho
Intro: Hiro
① Grassland
② Ulong Cliff
The swells were pretty big at Ulong so the
farthest we ventured out was to our original
point Aquarium. But first we had a relaxing
dive at Grassland! Even the garden eels seemed
stunned by the swell and were mostly hiding
in the sand, but some of them bravely craned
their necks high enough for us to take pictures.
The highlight was a spotted eagle ray which even
did a little somersault for us!! Awesome!!
At Aquarium the current was very weak and so
we just drifted over the corner, having lots
of time to just look around and take lots of
pictures of the fish. There were yellow goatfish
and twinspot snappers aplenty, as well as
blackspot barracudas!
At Ulong Cliff a friendly hawksbill turtle posed
for our customers’ camera for almost five minutes,
not getting enough of the attention. As we made
our way to the cliff, we were rewarded with grey
reef sharks and lots of goggle eyes and blackspot
barracudas. The school of bigeye trevallies also
came out just as the current stopped and did its
tornado-like turns for us.
I hope the weather stays like this, fingers crossed!
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
Very sunny today but weird wind!
Air temperature: 30C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on two boats.
BM1
Operator: Humio
Guide: Clayton and Mizuho
① Ngerchong Inside
② German Reef
③ Chandelier Cave
BM6
Operator: Susie
Guides: Yu / Paula
① Iro
② Crescent Wall
③ Butterfly Park
The waves kept us from getting out to Ulong
today but we still had a great day!
At Iro the visibility was quite poor but we
enjoyed ourselves at the “Kumanomi Tower” –
Anemonefish Tower!! Sooo many dusky anemonefish.
There were also lots of cute koror anemone shrimps.
At Crescent Wall we saw a huuuuge school of
blackspot barracudas. There was also a smaller
school of goldspotted trevallies. Before heading
out into mid-water we also had fun with the
spaghetti garden eels and orange-barred garden
eels.
Butterfly Park is still a fish paradise as we
know it and today there was almost a “school” of
longnose filefish! Five or six of them hanging out
together! We also spotted a signal goby and two
adorable nudibranches, as well as a small school
of yellowfin goatfish. The red-eyed gobies were
also there, and lots of baby butterfly fish!
At Chandelier Cave we hit the jackpot with a
mandarinfish that basically posed for the cameras,
two genormous signal gobies and adorable pajama
cardinalfish.
Here are some pictures from today,
courtesy of Ms Ikegami.
Have a great evening!!
Alii! This is Mizuho from Palau.
Today,s weather is almost all day sunny!!
IT was rain only time at 2nd Dive.
Air temperature:29C
Water temperature:29C
We went out on one boat today.
BM7
Operator:FUMIO
Guide:HIRO/MIZUHO
①New Drop off
②Blue Corner
③German cnanel
Today’s first dive site was New Drop Off.
There was weak outgoing current.
Visibility was nice kile more than 25m.
We observed big school of black fin snaper
and big eye trevally and LongspotSnapper.
there were many kind of fish school.
Second dive site was Blue Corner.
There was weak outgoing current and getting weak,
and finaly stop.
so it mean relax diving we can take enough time
to observe fishes.
There were smoll and big … many size of
gray reef shark,looks like family!!
Third dive site was German cnanel.
Current was very weak.
biiiig news!!!
We encounter many many Manta ray
morethan 10!!!!!
In addition we met Leopard Shark!!!!
Today was very lucky day(*^^*)！！
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
Alii from Island of Palau.
how you all doing,i hope all is well.
this is Clayton doing dive blog for 11/10/2019.
1st dive at Grass Land with 18m visibility.
begining of the was little bit against the
current. but the school of one spot baracuda
was on the sandy area making circle formation.
a small school of white tuonge jacks also was
at the sandy area.after 25mins of dive time
turned around and went back to the entry point,
just to check if theres a manta on the cleaning
station, but there was none.
2nd dive at Seias corner with 25m visibility.
really nice incoming current. was able to hooking
and watch fish activity. couple of blue fin trevally
showed up and chase the school of big eye scad
around the reef. a dog tooth tuna also showed up
and wanted the piece of action. after 37mins,
drift out into the blue looking for the school of
black fin baracuda and was able to see them.
3rd dive at Ulong channel with 18m visibility.
saw the school of big eye trevally in the biginning
of the dive. came to the entrance of the channel
to find 15 gray reef sharks hanging out in the current.
stayed for awhile checking out the sharks action and
then the school of red snappers showed up, nice.
its 2 days before the full moon, so its time for them
to mate. continue our classic drift dive all the way into
the channel finishing our dive with 51mins of bottom
time. thank you for your time. TonTon signing out.
happy diving, see you next time…..
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
The weather has gotten slightly better
at last!
Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on two boats.
BM1
Operator: Stacy
Guide: Hiro
① Ngerchong Inside
② Blue Corner
BM6
Operator: Susie
Guides: Yu / Clayton
① Big Drop Off
② Blue Corner
③ German Channel
Open Water Course: Paula
The conditions at Blue Corner are still
rough so our teams all did a blue water
entry. There were lots of sharks and
barracudas.
At German Channel the visibility was a little
off but there was a Manta at the new cleaning
station hanging out for almost five minutes!
Have a nice evening and be careful not to
be blown away!
Mataneee!
Alii! This is Mizuho from Palau.
Today,s weather is wind and sometimes it rain.
Tt makes our body cold,
so you must bring boat coat especialy like todays weather.
Air temperature:29C
Water temperature:28C
We went out on one boat today.
BM7
Operator:Susie
Guide:Yu/Mizuho
①New Drop off
②Blue Corner
③German cnanel
Today’s first dive site was New Drop Off.
There was storong wave, however incoming current was weak.
We swim follwing the drop off on the right hands.
We observed big school of Blue lined snapper and Black Snapper.
Its lucky that we find Panda butterfly fish.
We can find this fish only this site in Palau.
This fish has black pattern around eyes,
Its looks like PANDA, soooo cute!!!
Second dive site was Blue Corner.
Underwater incoming current was weak.
We dived <Ageshio side>.
And we saw a big green turtle.
He is very friendly, so we were able to approach very close.
We had nice time becouse of this turtle.Thank you!!!
Finaly we could meet big school of black fin barracuda
in the blue water!!!
Third dive site was German cnanel.
Current was very weak.
Visibilty was not good like less than 12m.
Thats why we expected to meet Mantaray.
Finaly we could meet big Manta ray!!
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
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
It’s still windy but we got lots of sunshine
today!
Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 28C
We went out on two boats.
BM1
Operator: Humio
Guide: Paula
① German Channel
② Big Drop Off
③ Butterfly Park
BM6
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Yu / Hiro
① Bento
② German Channel
③ German Channel
German Channel wasn’t boosting the greatest
visibility ever recorded today, but there
were two adorable fantail stingrays lying
on the bottom, posing patiently for our
pictures. Two mantas also stopped by.
At Big Drop Off we had macro fun with gobies –
Randall’s shrimp gobies, candycane dwarf gobies
and fire dartfish! Also lots of peach anthias,
Bartlett’s anthias, yellowstripe anthias and
purple queens.
At Butterfly Park we spotted a really cute
little flatworm and lots of butterfly fish.
There was also a signalfin goby, a graceful
shrimp goby and yellow coral gobies. We also
found lots of red eye gobies and longnose
filefish! The customers were super excited
about the healthy corals! 🙂
Have a nice evening everyone!!
alii from island of Palau.
how you all doing, hope all is good!
This is Clayton doing dive blog for 11/05/2019.
another stormy day in paradise, strong wind
from the west side of the island, so that’s no
can do Blue Corner.
1st dive at German Channel with 12m
visibility. weak incoming current, didn’t
see manta, to many divers and disorganize
diving style, piss me off.
2nd dive at Big Drop Off with 20m
visibility. nice drift dive with the wall
on the right. most of the divers had
go pro so i just write down fish name
and let them take photo or video.
it was a nice dive,cause no diver in the water
that time. yeah..
3rd dive at Ngerchong outside with 20m
visibility and a nice incoming current. lots
of schooling fish including sharks and
surprising two 40lbs dog tooth tuna. after
15mins of dive i saw a manta out in the
blue close to the surface. bad news about
this is, only me saw the manta. it doesn’t
count, any way i just want to let you know.
once again than you for your time and
see you next time. Tonton signing out.
Happy Diving….
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
Wow, dreadful weather today! So much wind
and rain! But we had a great time anyways,
no worries! 🙂
Air temperature: 29C (Tomi thinks 25 but I disagree)
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on three boats today.
BM3
Operator: Susie
Guides: Yu / Tomi
① Ngerchong Outside
② Short Drop Off
③ W Reef
BM6
Operator: Humio
Guides: Clayton with Mizuho / Paula
① German Channel
② Bento
③ Hafa Adai
BM7 – Snorkel Charter
Operator: Stacy
Guide: Hiro
At German Channel the current was incoming but
somehow the visibility wasn’t uber great. However
it was good enough to see lots of big eye trevallies,
black spot barracudas and bigeye scads! There were
also loooots of baby grey reef shark circling at the
mouth of the channel.
Bento was great! Just after entering, after having
taken lots of pictures of the garden eels, we were
surprised by a big school of circular spadefish!
They were so pretty!
We then found the ultimate goby rock of the holy
trinity of gobies – a Randall’s shrimp goby,
a graceful shrimp goby and a signalfin goby ALL AT ONCE.
Jackpot. The graceful shrimpgoby was very tiny and shy
and kept hiding in the sand whilst the Randall’s
shrimpgoby seemed to have more confidence and was
strutting his stuff for our cameras. The signalfin
goby on the other hand was hardly bothered by any
of the action. Oh I love gobies!
The visibility at Hafa Adai was unexpectedly good
and there were lots of red-bellied fusiliers and
fragile cardinalfish.
Time for ramen now, see you tomorroooooow!
alii from Island of Palau.
How you all doing? hope all is good.
1st dive at German channel with 12m visibility.
Weak out going current, arrived at the north
side cleaning station stayed for 7mins and no
manta showed up. then i moved toward the center
of the channel then slowly a small manta came up
from the deep, came toward us and made one full
turn around and above us. with a weak current
the manta did not stay long.
2nd dive at Blue corner with 20m visibility.
entered on the 2nd buoy on the incoming side,
almost no current at the biggining of the dive.
after 20mins the current started outgoing.
was able to reach the other side of the reef,
stayed for 7mins and went back close to
the shallow reef were school of big eye trevally
was hanging out. all the stars were there except
the school of baracuda.
3rd dive at Jake sea plane with 15m visibility.
spend 18mins around the seaplane taking photo
of everyone around the seaplane, especially the
one diver who had his 50th dive. after i took the
divers around the shallow reef to explore and
i showed them the dusky anemonea fish.
this visibility is one of the best for a 3rd dive
on jake seaplane. nice.
thank you for your time and see you next
time. Tonton signing out. happy diving.
Otsukarechan! It’s Paula!
The weather was super nice today, just in
time for our busy week!
Air temperature: 32C
Water temperature: 29C
We went out on not one, not two but THREE
boats today!
BM3
Operator: Susie
Guides: Yu and Mizuho / Paula
① Ulong Cliff
② Grassland
③ Chandelier Cave
BM6
Operator: Stacy
Guides: Tomi / Clayton
① Ulong Cliff
② Siaes Corner
③ Grassland
BM7
Operator: Humio
Guide: Hiro
① German Channel
② Blue Holes
③ Blue Corner
Ulong Cliff was a festival of big eye
trevallies! I’m not sure if it’s just me
but the school seemed particularly big today,
and it basically followed us from the cliff
to the entrance of the channel. There were
also lots of blackspot barracudas and twin
spot snappers as well as many goggle eyes.
We also spotted a small school of circular
batfish!
At Grassland the visibility was super nice
and the teams on BM3 had the dive spot all
to themselves for the whole duration of the
dive! Due to the good visibility the garden
eels were super well recognisable and everyone
had fun taking lots of pictures. As we continued
along the sandy area there was a school of
sawtooth barracudas that came to say hi not
just once but even twice! More great pictures!
Tomi’s team found a spotted eagle ray playing
on the sand.
At Blue Corner Hiro’s team came across a great
barracuda and even greater visibility! 25 metres!
In the meantime we took our time watching the
pajama cardinalfish and signal gobies in front
of chandelier cave.
Tomorrow we’ll also have three boats out and
lots to tell! Stay tuned!
alii from island of Palau.
how you all doing? I hope all is good!
this i Clayton doing dive blog for 11/10/2019.
another beautiful day in paradise, calm water,
blue sky and lots of sun shine, yeah….
1st dive at german channel with 18m
visibility. today at german channel was
full of divers. i kept my dive plan on
shallow water, nice and slow, trying
to avoid other divers.n after 20mins
of dive time a leopard shark came up
from the deep side right strait for my
team. it swam so slow that all my
divers were able to get a good photo.
the other dive team from the same boat
were able to the manta but off the
distance in deep water. good for them.
2nd dive at blue hole with 25m visibility.
the condition for this dive was so good,
because the sun was high up that the
sun rays came down in the hole like
a spot light. perfect for photo opportunity.
as i exit the blue hole, i continue dive until
blue corner. 2 dive point with one tank, its
like killing 2 birds with one stone. thats
Tonton style.
3rd dive at blue corner with 22m visibility.
we entered with the reef on the left and a
nice outgoing current. able to hook in for
a total dive time of 40mins. as i unhook
i notice that the current is starting to
change, and i can see fish heading to the
other side of the corner. as i was heading
to the other side a fish called African Pampano
appeared behind us. this fish is a cold water
fish, it usually show up in Palau toward the
end of the year when water temprature
change by 1degree. meaning that cold
water is heading for Palau from deep sea.
well, thats all for me. thank you for your
time, every time and all the time.
TonTon signing out. happy diving….