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Dive Review of Fish 'n Fins Ocean Hunter III in
Micronesia/Palau

Fish 'n Fins Ocean Hunter III: "Beautiful Palau", Oct, 2015,

by Martha & Jeff Hubbard, NY, US (Top Contributor Top Contributor 32 reports with 17 Helpful votes). Report 8628.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Like most liveaboards in Palau, diving is all done from a chase boat, which is commodious but no shower or head. The ride to the dive site can be 10 to over 30 minutes each way, so a 60 minute dive can take over two hours. This makes it difficult to get in five dives a day, and the “Night dives are offered every night.” on the website doesn't happen. (We did 25 dives including 1 night and a couple of dusk dives, and skipped 1. Dive Sat. afternoon+Sun. through Thurs.+Fri. a.m.) Gear stays on chase boat & tanks are filled there. They have 110 cu ft tanks beside the regular 80 cu ft - nice. Nitrox is $200/wk/diver. Back-roll entry. Diver recovery is by a good size ladder over the gunnel, but the crew will lift your gear if you want to shuck it in the water.
We had a top deck master cabin with good double bed and plenty of room; also a couch which could be another bed. Lower deck cabins are smaller, with bunks. There is a nice lounge but it doesn't get much play, for lack of time. Nice "sun" deck but shade if you want it.
Dive crew, especially the friendly & skillful Ogie, are ever-helpful and busy. They cleaned our gear (as well as we would have) at the end of the charter! Chef & kitchen staff work very hard and produce excellent and abundant food. We had a diver who doesn't eat cheese or fish, and the chef always accommodated him (in fish-rich Palau!)
We saw a confrontation between a guest, who complained that his rental regulator failed at depth, twice, and an incensed crew member who retorted, "You didn't rent it from ME." The rest of the crew was maximally friendly & helpful. (I woke the same crew member up in the middle of the night to tell him the electric toilets weren't working; he quickly roused the engineer and they fixed it.)
Vis was excellent except for 1 wreck, Iro Maru, which was very poor. We've been on it when vis was good, but this dive we surfaced early.
Excellent week with great crew and diving.
(We didn't see any coral bleaching, but the next week in Kona, Hawai'i, it was rampant.)

My experience is like that of others: email inquiries are likely to be read and answered by the owner, Navot Bornovsky, with careful and patient detail. The same attitude pervades the ship.
Websites Fish 'n Fins Ocean Hunter III   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Caribbean, Australia, Yap, Chuuk, PNG, Bahamas, Fiji, Hawai'i, Fernando de Noronha
Closest Airport Koror Getting There HNL-GUM-ROR Long, no difficulties

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, choppy
Water Temp 82-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility -60 Ft/ -18 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Back with 500 psi, no deco diving (which is pretty much not within reach.)
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

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

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 5 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 5 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Good work tables on ship. No special area on chase boat but open floor space & gentle crew.
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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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