PALAU | Blue Marlin

Location

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.

Climate

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.

Shark Sanctuary

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/)

UNESCO World Heritage

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)

Diving in Palau

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.

Major Dive Sites

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:

Blue Corner

The most famous dive site in Palau is Blue Corner, mainly for it schools of all sorts of fish. Here you can not only expect to meet great numbers of jacks, black fin barracudas and snappers, but you’ll also see sharks, tunas, wahoos, groupers, eagle rays, humphead wrasses (Napoleon fish), green sea turtles and hawksbill turtles — all in a single dive! And if you’re lucky you may even see manta rays or sailfish and perhaps even a whale shark! Like many other major dive sites, the currents at Blue Corner are what make it so special.

Blue Hole

Next to Blue Corner — or a northward continuation of this site — is Blue Hole. Four holes (about 5 × 3 meters each) drop down into the huge dome.

Enjoy the Blue Hole experience at depths of 22 to 26 meters as well as the huge horizontal opening (about 25 meters wide and 15 meters height). Choose to see Blue Hole only or drift to Blue Corner from Blue Hole to experience both! (Ask us for details.)

German Channel

This man-made channel cutting through a lagoon to the ocean was made by the Germans before the First World War. Although we’re not permitted to dive inside the actual channel, as it’s too shallow and its currents too fast, we can dive at the mouth of the channel.

This site is famous for its manta rays which frequent the cleaning stations. Their numbers increase during mating season, between November and February.

There is also a huge number of garden eels on the sandy bottom, and eagle rays, grey reef sharks, white tip reef sharks and schools of fish are around too.

The cleaning station lies at a depth of between 18 and 22 meters — a mostly sandy bottom with rocky outcrops.

Grassland (Blue Marlin Original Dive Site)

We were the first to develop this dive site, which is now quite famous. Come and see the impressively vibrant hard coral at Grassland as well as its large patches of coral. At a depth of 20 to 24 meters, you can see a field of garden eels craning their heads into the current to feed along the sandy bottom.

We were first in the world to discover the large spawning grounds of the Bumphead Parrotfish. Several thousands of these fish can be seen 3 to 4 days before a new moon, a very rare phenomenon.

New Drop Off

Descend the vertical wall and start drifting! You’ll see plenty of colorful soft corals and sponges, butterflyfish, angelfish, triggerfish, anemones, grey reef sharks and yellowtail fusiliers. What’s more, the W-shaped corner provides a great current, with an abundance of fish and sharks around. Humphead wrasses (Napoleon fish) are also common here, and the reef area is frequented by turtles.

Ulong Channel

This shallow channel through Ulong Island’s lagoon is where we dive from the outer reef inward or the other way around, depending on the current and tide. Usually, we start at the outer reef wall, where you can enjoy beautiful coral and big schools of butterfly fish and yellowtail fusiliers as well as turtles.

At the channel’s mouth, stop to check out the grey reef sharks and barracudas. After that, you’re funneled into the channel, which has a shallow sandy bottom scattered with coral. Its maximum depth is just 14 meters (average: 10 meters), and you can drift without fin kicks.

With slopes on both sides, you will feel as though you are walking in a canyon. Many divers come to Ulong Channel to see the huge cabbage coral, and schools of jacks and barracudas abound.

The Iro (Wreck)

The Iro was sunk in 1943 during the Second World War and is now Palau’s most famous wreck. It rests upright on the sandy sea floor, 130 feet (40 meters) below the surface.

The ship was 470 feet (143 meters) long and weighed 14,050 tons. Located in the Western Lagoon, only a few kilometers away from Koror, the wreck remains in good condition.

Once you enter the water, you can clearly see the magnificent king posts stretching down to its deck 90 feet (27 meters) below. The posts are surrounded by zigzag clams and soft corals, and its spectacular 5.5-inch gun, covered with black corals, still rests on a large circular mount at the bow. From the bridge superstructure, you can access companionways and see the crew’s quarters, not to mention lion fish and anemones.

Blue Marlin Original Dive Sites

Since our founding, we have been developing new dive sites and now have more than fifteen of these, not only in the south west but also in the north and east.

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