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Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet in
Micronesia

Aggressor Fleet: "Palau Aggressor in bad weather (?)", Oct, 2016,

by Alice Ribbens, MN, US (Contributor Contributor 19 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 9416.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food N/A
Service and Attitude 3 stars Environmental Sensitivity 4 stars
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments I was on the Palau Aggressor with a group from REEF. I had been on the same boat over Xmas 2011/2012 so I was curious to see it again and dive in Palau again. The boat is fine, everything seemed to be working well, and I didn't hear any complaints from my fellow divers about issues with rooms or anything. (They do have bathrobes available for everyone--first time I've seen that on a liveaboard. We thought it was kind of funny at first, but then lots of people started wearing them in between dives.)

This was kind of a weird trip. For those of you not familiar with REEF (www.reef.org), REEF volunteers do fish surveys where we are trying to identify all of the different fish species we see on dives. Because of this, REEF divers usually request longer dive times and/or fewer dives than standard. In this instance, we requested 4 dives per day (instead of the usual 5) and asked that dive times be longer (75 minutes instead of 60). I'm sure this had been discussed with Aggressor when the charter was booked. And it actually makes less work for the crew (fewer tank fills, less time they have to be in the water). Yet the crew seemed mostly disinterested in us or annoyed with us for most of the week. First time on a liveaboard that none of the crew seemed to know my name at the end of the week.

In addition, there was supposedly some bad weather that prevented us from getting to some of the dive sites I remember fondly from my first trip to Palau, notably Blue Corner, Blue Holes, and the dive sites around Peliliu. I say "supposedly" because the Captain's log from the Rock Islands Aggressor for the same week says that they were at Blue Corner when we were told it was too rough to get there. We did have a lot of rain and were told there was a typhoon near Guam.

All of that aside, we did have a great week of diving. The Palau Aggressor has a chase boat that is carried by the mother ship via a hydraulic lift at the back of the dive deck. All of the diving is done from the chase boat and most of your dive gear lives on the chase boat for the week. There is a fair amount of biodiversity in Palau--not as great as in Indo or the Philippines, but we saw lots of different kinds of fish, some sharks, mantas, etc.
Websites Aggressor Fleet   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Komodo, Raja Ampat, Philippines, Maldives, Palau, GBR, Fiji, British Columbia, Monterey, Hawaii, Bonaire, Turks & Caicos, Caymans, Honduras, Belize, Cozumel, Akumal, Sea of Cortez, etc.
Closest Airport ROR Getting There MSP to NRT, NRT to ROR (except that Delta just got rid of the direct MSP to NRT flight)

Dive Conditions

Weather windy Seas calm
Water Temp 78-80°F / 26-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 30-80 Ft/ 9-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions As noted above, we requested longer dive times than standard. We were allowed to be out on our own a bit as long as everyone came up at the right time.
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 3 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments There is a large camera table on the dive deck. The entire lower level of the camera table is set up as a charging station. There is also a table for cameras on the chase boat that you dive from. Crew was more than willing to help with cameras.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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