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Palau, Micronesia and Pacific

A scuba diving holiday in Palau offers an incredible range of diving. Part of Micronesia, Palau is a Pacific Ocean island-nation made up of over 300 mostly uninhabited islands, located just north of the equator, 600 miles to the east of the Philippines. The shape of the flourishing green islands often leads them to be described as looking like ‘mushrooms’. There is world class diving on offer in Palau, with some of its dive sites consistently named alongside the best in the world. Most dive sites are found to the south of Koror, inside the fringing reef system where the majority of diving takes place, with the extreme of this being Peleliu, which borders the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean in the world, on its western side.


Diving
Palau supports over 1,500 species of fish, which feed on the nutrient rich ocean trenches to the east and west of the island chain and can be spotted amongst an array of underwater features including a barrier reef system. Spectacular soft coral and vast anemones cover the sheer walls, there is blue hole diving, cave systems and adrenaline inducing drift dive spots. The currents in some of Palau’s dive spots can be strong, so are more suited for experienced diver. The German Channel dive site is a well known Manta ray cleaning station with giant clams and the Blue Corner, ranked by many as the one of the best dives in the world, is breathtaking with hundreds of different species of fish, turtles, mantas and rays. Also be sure to dive in the Ulong Channel with it’s eagle rays, sharks, turtle and dophins. You will also find tuna, occassional hammerheads, barracuda and shoaling jacks. An unusual dive is the Chandelier Caves, which opens up 100m inside the island with magnificent glittering stalactites and stalagmites and a sub terranean lake and air chamber and wide, shallow tunnel entry. March brings migrating Grey reef shark for the mating season and Palua hosts shark diving weeks, with experts and enthusiasts alike travelling across the world to dive here. Palau offers some of the very best wreck diving in the world as it was a significant Japanese outpost in World War II. Just 15 minutes by boat from the shore is the Iro Maru, a near-500 foot long Japanese World War II wreck, one of many wreck sites in Palau. You can dive the sites, most within 1 hour of Palau from land based resorts. Wtih liveaboard diving, itineraries vary at different times of the year, allowing access a wide variety of dives and maximising your diving time. 
 

Culture and Activities
The second largest island, Koror serves as the country’s capital. Here the majority of resorts and liveaboards are based.Of the volcanic, coral atoll and limestone isalnds, approximately three quarters is covered in native forest and mangrove. The area is famous for the inland lakes and a unique species of jellyfish that have developed in a predator free environment with no sting. Sadly due to several years of dry weather the Jellyfish are no longer present and the lake is closed to visitors. However there are many other land based and water based excursions on offer, including bird and nature trails, fishing, boat, kayaking and snorkelling tips as well as waterfall, walking and 4x4 tours where you can explore historic Japanese World World II fortifications. The surrounding islands are home to 46 species of reptiles including hawskbill, green and leatherback turtles, giant monitor lizards up to 5' long, exotic birds and plants including 23 endemic orchids. Palau has maintained much of its own culture despite its colonial past, and locals live a laidback lifestyle in tune with the environment. Palauan food is superbly varied with influences from the United States and Japan as well as delicious and exotic local cuisine, with fresh local seafood the highlight of many restaurant menus. 
 


Enquire about Palau View it on Google Maps

Fact File

Diving Conditions

House Reef Shore Diving Boat Diving Liveaboard Wreck Diving Tech Diving

Suitability:

Beginners 

Intermediates 

Advanced 

Technical 

View Video

Best Time: October - April.

Average Air temps: 29°C

Average Water temps: 27-29°C

Visibility: 25-60m

Top Dive Sites: World War II freighter, warships and aircraft including Japanese Wrecks - Iro Maru, Teshio Maru, Bichu Maru and Japanese Zero fighter, Jake Seaplane. Chandelier Cave, Peleliu Wall, Cut and Expressway. Highly recommended is the Blue Holes and Blue Corner Wall at Koror Island, New and Big drop offs, German and Ulong Channels.

Great Reasons to Dive in Palau

  • World class WWII wreck and drift diving.
  • Wall diving plus shallow, wide caves and caverns.
  • Shark diving weeks.
  • Big shoals - snappers, grunts, barracuda, Eagle rays and mantas.
  • Macro and underwater photography sites - Mandarinfish!
  • Land, snorkel and kayak tours.

 

Dive Holidays Sportif

Sportif Dive is a specialist tour operator offering a wide range of diving holidays all over the world. Our choice of destinations is extensive from established locations in the Red Sea, Maldives, Caribbean and the Far East to the exotic and unusual such as Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean, Wakatobi, Truk, Palau, South America & the Pacific. Whether you are looking to for a Learn to Dive course, group expedition or trip of a lifetime we can help. With over 30 years experience and a personal approach, we can advise on the ideal location to suit your needs, at a price to suit your budget.

Our extensive knowledge of the destinations means we can recommend the right location for you. Our diving centres are selected for their excellent standards of service and safety. Whatever your priority, whether starting out or wishing to dive a technically challenging site we can recommend a range of options offering the best diving for when you wish to travel. We can organise all your travel arrangements for you, pre-book equipment and diving packages in advance to maximise your time when you get there.

As an independent tour operator, we select only the hotels, liveaboards and diving centres that offer the best standards and quality of service but at the right price. Without the overheads of a large mass market operator, we can offer the best value diving holidays often with great discounts and special offers.

Our consultants have many years experience in travel and are divers. They are able to closely match your needs and take time to recommend from a carefully selected range of accommodation and diving packages. With first hand knowledge, they are passionate about diving and travel and providing the perfect holiday for you.

Sportif also have a specialist multisport division offering instruction and rental packages for windsurfing, kitesurfing and surfing. Our specialist centres are located in some of our diving resorts, often minutes from the Dive Centre for easy coordination of activities. Packages offered included taster and learn to right through to intensive coaching weeks up to expert level. Children can start from 8 years.

Sportif Dive are an ATOL bonded operator which means that every element of your holiday is secure. With the worry of disruption to your holiday plans from weather disruption or airline failure you can be sure that we will be there to help every step of the way.
 

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