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 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!
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!
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….
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!
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!
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….
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?
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…..
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!
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!
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!
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!!
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.
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!
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!
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.
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!!
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…
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!!
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!
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…
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!
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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
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
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?
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!!
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!
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!
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!!
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.
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!
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!
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!
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
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?
Alii, It’s Yu.
Today’s Log!!!
OP Humio
Guide Clayton,Yu
1 Blue holes
2 Blue corner
3 German channel
Just see this!!!!!!
Whale shark!!!!!!!
beautiful
We met him at blue corner 2nd dive!!
What a perfect day!!
Come and visit to Palau and meet him!
Thank you!!!!!!
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
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!!
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?
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!
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!
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!
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?
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!
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!
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!
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!
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
I took the new buoy with some weight, because it has strong buoyancy.
Staff “Yu” who came back from Japan 2 days ago with a short hair.
The look is perfect Paula!
Work done!
After installing new buoy, we started dive for new dive sites.
There were beautiful table coral root where I did not expect!
May be they are growing after the typhoon coming in 4-5 years ago.
They are not huge size but looks no damage, and were so beautiful!
Also we found some beautiful table coral and branch coral in other places.
Recently we saw only few Orange spotted filefish at regular dive sites,
but I saw many of them at the site.
I took photo of them but it is not perfect picture..
Please come here and take better photo by yourself!
See you tomorrow!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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!
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! 
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!
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!
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!!
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!
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!!
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.
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!!
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!!
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!”.
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.
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.
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.