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.