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Dive Review of Palau Aggressor II in
Micronesia/Palau

Palau Aggressor II, Apr, 2002,

by Dennis Johnson, NY, USA . Report 76.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 3 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 3 stars Shore Diving 3 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Palau Aggressor II (April 21-28 2002):
This was the second trip on the Palau Agressor II (my first trip was in Feb of 1997). A few good surprises… and a few bad. First of all the "coral bleaching" problem isn't as bad as I was lead to expect and Jellyfish lake had literally millions more jellyfish than it did first time around. The diving was even better than I remembered - Blue Corner, Blue Hole, Peleliu Corner… absolutely fantastic. Diving from the Aggressor skiff is as easy as it gets. The skiff drivers were there whenever/wherever you surfaced (EPIRBs were issues to all diver pairs just in case one of us got away).

On the bad side, the Aggressor itself according to the crew has not been in drydock for at least 7 years (it hadn't been renovated since my first trip!) and while it's kept very clean and organized the entire boat is starting to show serious wear and tear. The bilge pumps periodically ran (loudly) due to leaks in the hull and the fridge in the galley was totally dead by the end of the week. However the rooms were still OK with good AC and plumbing. My only real complaint was a general indifference by the crew (especially toward the end of the week after the tab was settled) and the lack of ability to keep to a schedule during the day - to get 4/5 dives a day in, I always felt like things were rushed and on the verge of not happening. In fact, at the end of the week on the last day we were so behind schedule that we never made it to town as planned and didn't even get to eat dinner before needing to get to the airport to leave the island. Overall the crew "did there jobs" for the most part but there wasn't any real stand-out service (except Doug the Photopro and Rick a new divemaster who seemed to really care about the guests). This was the second week for my group on back to back aggressor trips (Truk Agressor was week 1) and while the Truk boat/crew totally spoiled us, the Palau boat/crew left something to be desired - as they say "there is a choice in airlines and liveaboards today". If Palau is in my future dive plans, I may try one of the other options.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Truk, Palau, Fiji, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Thailand/Burma, Bonaire, Turks & Caicos, Cozumel, Anguilla, St. Tropez/Port Grimaud France, Hawaii, New York/New Jersey Wreck Valley, Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway.
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas calm, choppy, currents, noCurrents
Water Temp 82-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions No decompression diving
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

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

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

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Daily E-6, large camera table and dedicated rinse buckets. Most of the crew careful with equipment. Photopro (Doug) very helpful with advise and accomodating to all requests. Doug also went the extra mile taking lots of pics of all the guests for his end of the week slide show - he then gave away all the slides of the respective guests - very nice touch! Light boxes and mounting supplies provided free.
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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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