You are here: Home / Archives for palau

The Best Beginner Diving Site

By
There are Diving sites for noobs

There are Diving sites for noobs

Before the Oscar-nominated, inglorious basterd named Quentin Tarantino “killed Bill”, he was a video store clerk watching movies in his spare time. Before Steve Nash won back-to-back MVP’s, he was a bench-warmer who drank free Gatorade. Before Justin Beiber shared his voice to the whole world, he just kept it to himself (where it belonged). What I’m saying is, everyone needs to start from somewhere, and that includes the scuba diver.
Today, my goal in this article is to provide useful tips, helpful advices, and inevitable promotions that will guide those who are “beginners”, or as 13-year-old video gamer would say it, “noobs”, in the art of scuba diving. By the end of this article, I hope all the “beginners” who read this will be able to enjoy the fun of scuba diving without worrying about the price of a coffin.


First impressions: They are very important. If your first encounter with vampires is through the movie, Twilight, I am pretty confident that you will think of vampires as sparkly, girl-stalking moaners of the day instead of fearful, blood-sucking creatures of the night. Same principle applies with scuba diving. If you’re first ever dive happened within the waters contaminated by the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, the chance of a second dive does not look very good.

So with the point that I made in the above paragraph, it is good for the beginner scuba diver to start happy and satisfied, joyful, and fulfilled. I offer you the best, I offer you, Palau. Why Palau, you may ask? Read article about Palau below, I shall answer. Here’s the thing, if you do decide to go for Palau in your beginner scuba dive, and ended up leaving it with an unfulfilled heart, then I suggest you try rock-climbing.

Do not worry. I did not recommend Palau to you just for its visual awesomeness, I am sure that you want something that is relevant with the beginner’s necessities: safety and experience. And this is why I love Palau even more. It is because diving in Palau will also contribute to the beginner’s needed knowledge concerning safety and experience in scuba diving.

Beginner scuba divingBeing one of the best and most popular dive spots on the planet, Palau is visited by an average of 50,000 divers each year. This is good news for beginners. I am certain that a large portion of those 50,000 are advanced divers. When you want to be good at something, it is advised to surround yourselves with people who are great at it. When you are a beginner diver, it is wise to surround yourself with advanced divers. Palau has lots of advanced divers. Watch, ask, and observe, so that you will learn.

To those who are shy, lessons are available. How do I know that lessons are available? Do you believe that there is a gas station present at every highway? Well, there are diving lessons present at every great dive spot. And how can the beginner scuba diver reach that great dive spot? Remember when I mentioned “inevitable promotion” earlier in this article? It is the answer to the question. To get to Palau, one must ride the liveaboard cruise ships of Expedition Fleet; it is a company that takes great care of scuba divers.

Did I achieve my goal today? In the “promotion” part, yes I have. But how about the part about the “useful tips” and “helpful advices”? Well, that part is up to the beginner scuba diver. In time, we shall find out. Who knows? Maybe one day, it is you that will be watched and observed so that others will learn.

A paradise for divers: Palau

By

Athletes have the Olympics. Climbers have Mt. Everest. Donald Trump has a wig (or does he?). Scuba divers have PALAU. It is the ecstasy of the diving community. If a movie fan cannot “officially” call himself a movie fan without watching The Dark Knight, then a diver cannot “officially” call himself a diver without diving in Palau. It is an archipelago of 343 islands that’s located southwest of Micronesia.


The beautiful islands of Palau

The beautiful islands of Palau

To say that Palau has a clean environment is like saying that Michael Jordan is pretty good at basketball. It is an understatement. That place is so clean; your nose pickings would be considered as “a hazardous waste to the area”. Observing the scenery of Palau will give you the impression that it remains untouched by both Mother Nature and littering, irresponsible, human beings. Just imagine, the water has a visibility of 200 feet!

Underwater Heaven

Warm water- Doesn’t that sound awesome? Imagine a tub full of water that’s heated to the perfect temperature. Palau ain’t no tub, but it contains that temperature of water, and apparently some salt as well.

You’re in that perfect water, minding your own business, and then you start gliding. You are gently swept by the ocean’s currents. The influence of the current on your body acts as your own personal tour to Palau’s wonders. It is an enjoyable tour because (1) you don’t have to walk all the way and (2) you don’t have to hear that annoying old man with the map who asks all the obvious questions. “Yes Sir, that is, indeed, a shark. No Sir, it will not swallow you alive.”

Now, you’re out there, living the diver’s dream, enjoying your current and warm water. Asking for more would make you selfish, right? Well, you don’t have to, because “more” is everywhere. Throw a giant net on the waters of Palau, hoist it up a minute later, place your catch on a giant glass tank, and you’ve got enough fish to open Marine World. If you’re net is lucky enough, you might hear Zeus one day, screaming, “Where’s the Kraken?!”

A rich variety of a multitude of underwater creatures

A rich variety of a multitude of underwater creatures

Places to Go. Sights to See.

Pretty much everything about Palau is worth mentioning, but there are some that are the favorites of divers. The most requested dive site in all of Palau is the Blue Corner. I’m not sure which corner exactly it can be found. The name suggests, “Blue”, but the ocean is blue, and Palau is mostly ocean. I’m sure they have tour guides for that. Yes, those tours that do involve that annoying old man with the questions.

To those who are looking for more adventures, I give you Chandelier Cave. It is a cave system that’s located near the Rock Islands. It extends a few hundred meters under the islands of Palau. Why is it called Chandelier Cave, you may ask? You see, the stalactite formations are very unique. When observed closely, their shapes represent that of, guess what, a chandelier! My common sense applauds me.

And by the way, while you’re diving; the 200 feet visibility range might cause you to notice some moss-ridden vehicles on the bottom of the ocean. No, Palau doesn’t have underwater parking spaces. They are actually some of the wrecks from World War 2.

So there you have it: Palau! Indeed, it is quite and extraordinary and mandatory place for scuba divers worldwide. An experienced diver is sure to get my point. Those who do not should head for Palau immediately and go get it.

Expedition Fleet has a promo for it’s next live aboard diving cruise in Palau.

Interested parties can check out the Palau promo HERE

3 reasons why diving is best from a live aboard cruise

By

I never thought that staying on a boat with 15 strangers for a whole week, far away from civilization and nothing else to do except diving, eating and sleeping would be a great and exciting experience.


My very first day on our Palau trip on board the Big Blue Explorer last month changed my perspective about living aboard, when we saw dolphins next to our boat during breakfast, had manta rays before lunch, lots of sharks until dinner and in between nudibranches in every color and shape.

Live aboard diving is a must-try

Live aboard diving is a must-try

Dive as much as you like

The first and for me most important reason to dive from a live-aboard is the fact, that you can dive as much as you want. This might be a pretty daring statement, but after about 5 dives in a day, I’m sure you’ll get more than enough of the deep blue sea. I enjoyed every minute, every second in the ocean. And guess what, I also enjoyed the moment when I was able to go to bed. Haha! J

Everything and everyone is relaxed

Imagine waking-up with the sunrise, listening to the sound of the waves and knowing that hammerhead sharks could just be right under you – isn’t that a great nature wake-up call? It definitely was for me. I’m not the typical morning person, but during this certain week when I lived aboard – between the most beautiful island and coral reefs I’ve ever seen – getting up was easy.

And during the day you don’t have to care about anything except remembering all the incredible creatures you have seen under water to fill up your logbook or look for the names in one of the encyclopedias on board. The staff takes care of the rest.

The good thing on the Big Blue Explorer is that it is big enough to enjoy some privacy – either in the Jacuzzi on the top deck or in the lounge under deck – and small enough to be close to all those people, who love diving as much as you do. Which takes us to reason number three.

The big blue explorer ship we lived in

The big blue explorer ship we lived in

People with the same fascination for diving

It was a pleasure sharing all my experiences of the day with people from all over the world, with different backgrounds and of different ages but all with the same passion for scuba diving. And if I couldn’t find one guest, who could explain which creature it was on this picture I took on the dive before, there was for sure one of the dive guides with the correct latin and common name in mind.

I could continue listing reasons, but I really think that no explanation could reach the experience of staying on a live-aboard. You just got to try it for yourself!

Related Posts with Thumbnails