Palau

The Republic of Palau is only an hour’s flight from Yap and we were very keen to see if the diving lived up to the hype. Palau is one of the smallest and youngest nations, having only left UN Trusteeship in 1994. It’s made up of several islands but most people live in the former capital, Koror.

We booked a dive/hotel package with Sam’s Tours and stayed in West Plaza 'by the Sea' - one of 5 West Plaza hotels in Palau. It's basic, but clean and convenient with friendly Filipino staff too. As with most pacific island towns, Koror isn't pretty, but it has a wide variety of restaurants for the tourists (who are mostly Japanese, Taiwanese & Korean). We had a great Japanese meal at ‘Dragon Tei’ and an Indian at ‘The Taj’ but most evenings we just ate at Sam’s Tours onsite bar, ‘Bottom Time’. With fresh sahimi, draft beer and a free shuttle home whenever you are ready, it was hard to beat!

Sam’s Tours have a large fleet of vessels offering a wide selection of tours (diving, snorkelling, kayaking, sightseeing etc.) which allow you to mix and match what you want to do and see each day.

The Rock Islands in the Southern Lagoon are the main attraction in Palau. Over 250 limestone outcroppings sit in beautiful turquoise lagoons and the boats zip through the islands bringing tourists to kayak, snorkel or dive each day. The bigger islands have fantastic beaches for surface intervals & lunch and you can even be dropped off to camp overnight if you want to. We picked up a Norwegian family one morning who had camped out and they said it was good - except for the rats that kept trying get at their food cache!

The dive sites are very varied – walls, caves, WII wrecks of planes & ships, and reefs like the famous 'Blue Corner' where you attach your reef hook and just float in the ripping current while the sharks and enormous humphead and maori wrasse swim around you.