Dive Review of Tropic Dancer in
Micronesia

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Tropic Dancer, Nov, 2012, by Gary D Simms, MD, US ( Reviewer 5 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 6765.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The Tropic Dance is all about service - on shore, on board, in the water. The staff was really outstanding, friendly, professional. and eco-aware. Safety was always important. Food and drink terrific - wake up coffee service at the cabin door, continental and regular breakfast before the 7:15 am first dive (I know it's early, but we got quite used to it), lunch buffet, plated dinners, and snacks after each dive. There were always veggie options, and the chef was amendable to helping those with food allergies or special needs. Because Palau diving is highly dependent on current conditions, the staff knowledge of the local area was great. They usually briefed at least two possible dives, and made a final decision when personally inspecting the site. The boat uses a hydraulic lift skiff (where gear is stored after initial set up)making us the first ones to particularly popular sites. Great ease of entry and exit, and most rides to dive sites were 5 minutes or less (the exceptions being when currents at the site were too difficult, and an alternative was selected). When we've been on previous trips, we made a point of asking more experienced divers where to go. They often mentioned Palau. They were so right! The upside is that in one place, you can find extraordinary unspoiled hard and soft corals of all kinds, little stuff and big stuff, schools of sharks, huge schools of fish, wrecks, and caves. The downside is that it takes forever to get there, and it's a long trip back to the US (took us 28 travel hours from Palau to the east coast with 4 plane changes). Highlights: swimming with 8-10 giant manta near sunset (not once, but on two days). By staying within a huge bait ball of snapper, we got within 10 feet of these beauties. Here. I have to thank Captain Ike, who was leading the dive. He spotted a group of 9 mantas overhead, and grabbed my wife's hand and (using his extra large fins) pulled her along until she was just a few feet away. She's a strong swimmer herself, but his help was wonderful It was only later that we realized that this extraordinary experience came on her 100th dive. The "hook in" dives at several key spots allowed us to watch the pelagics in huge numbers swim by; large schools of sharks (white tip, black tip, some leopards, reef, etc) came within 5-10 feet as the 2-3 knot current kept our tie-in lines fully extended. Great, great experience. Most of the diving is of the drift variety, which for less experienced divers can be a bit unnerving. The crew and dive masters made it a snap. In addition to requiring use of sausages and horn alarms, they usually made a clear, tank banging ascent near the end of the dive used regulators to inflate a bright yellow safety sausage and gathered those who were a bit anxious about being found by the skiff (there were times when the skiff was loaded with 17 divers; this made for some initial crowding on descent, but we generally broke into several groups, made possible by 2-3 dive masters on each dive who took the time to check on us and point out some of the really great sites). Pick up could take up to 10 minutes of surface bobbing in relatively calm water. We had one rough pickup when a sudden squall during the dive resulted in 2-3 waves, some surface current, heavy rain, and difficulty in spotting the skiff. The dive master with the 6 of us was calm, cool, collected and eliminated our concerns. Palau offers some of the best diving anywhere. The live aboard helped us avoid long (1-2 hour) rides from shore operator locations to the best dive spots, and gave us the luxury of 4-5 dives daily. The Dancer crew carefully filled out tanks with nitrox which was remarkably stable percentage-wise, and easily read on a big wall mounted gauge. (Tanks consistently were at the 3200 pound fill level, too). Water temps were high enough (80-84 F) so that I was always comfortable in a 1 mil suit (although some of the divers used as much as 5 or 7 mil suits). The last day included a snorkel in Jellyfish Lake, an experience not to be missed, and a shallow dive into air-pocket laden caverns that was kind of fun. This was our first live-aboard experience. It's how we plan on diving in the future whenever possible.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Caymans, Bonaire, Roatan, Turks, Eilat, Panama
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	50-150 Ft/ 15-46 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Recreational noDC limits (eg, 110 ft, 60 minutes)
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Excellent, supplemented by staff photographer and videographer

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Dive Review of Tropic Dancer in Micronesia

Tropic Dancer, Nov, 2012,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Tropic Dancer in
Micronesia