Dive Review of Black Pearl Palau in
Micronesia/Palau

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Black Pearl Palau: "Trip of a Lifetime", Feb, 2023, by JD Box, VA, US ( 1 report with 1 Helpful vote). Report 12357 has 1 Helpful vote.
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	Trip of a lifetime to celebrate our 25th anniversary. This was our first liveaboard experience and was originally planned for Chuuk three years ago but changed to Palau due to never ending COVID lockdowns and as my wife is more interested in pretty fish than wrecks. Palau did not disappoint. Hardworking Gabriel and his very thorough pre-dives and Maria were great cruise directors. The crew and dive staff (Whoo hoo Charlie!) were attentive and professional. We were also fortunate to have a varied, interesting and fun loving group of divers from all over; Romania, UK, Germany, Austria, Singapore and the US. Had so much fun we kept the party going for several days after our cruise in Koror. Highlights include incredible diving: Shark TV at Blue Corner (amazing). Mantas, mantas, mantas at German Channel, Chandelier Cave, Ulong Channel and the shear numbers and variety of marine life was truly amazing. I also loved the trip to Peleliu but wished we had more time there to explore. We also had a couple beach breaks that were great fun (giving the crew a much needed break that is). So many more great memories! Areas for improvement would include a compressor upgrade to allow for complete fills (versus a dive limiting 2600-2800 psig) and supporting side mount (which I was told was supported, but was not, unless you wanted to pay for an extra 15L tank every day). Spacious and organized setup on the aluminum dive boats. Accommodations on board were very nice and clean but with very limited room storage for bags and such. Lessons learned for us: bring an electrical adaptor and multiple plug extension cord. Also bring rail clips for handing wet items outside. All in all I would highly recommend booking a trip on the Black Pearl!! Biggest problem is where to go from here -- The Black Pearl may have set the bar too high for future expectations!
Websites	Black Pearl Palau
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Florida, Keys, Caribbean - Roatan, Cozumel, Grand Caymen, US Mid-Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Diego Garcia.
Closest Airport	Koror	Getting There	Washington, San Francisco, Honolulu, Guam, Palau. Layout in Guam on way home was rough.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	surge
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	max 100'
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 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
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Subscriber's Comments

By Kendall Raine in CA, US at Aug 02, 2023 13:52 EST

Do you know why the fills were 2600-2800 psi? Is the compressor/bank system too small for the number of divers so they're short filling to speed things up/get in more dives? Did other divers have the same results (possible your SPG reads low)? Thanks

By report author: JD Box in VA, US at Aug 02, 2023 16:04 EST

Tanks were consistently short filled. When I questioned it, I was initially told the cylinders were limited to a lower working pressure - which was not the case (same AL80s used everywhere else in the world and clearly marked as 3000psi). Can't say for sure but suspect it was more to due with under sizing of the compressor/bank setup. That said, fill time didn't seem an issue partly because the manifold system permanently installed on the boats allowed for efficiently filling in place. Made me wonder at the time if this was intentional, but I see no reason to do that if not to shorten bottom time. Curious for sure but the Black Pearl was still an awesome experience!

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Dive Review of Black Pearl Palau in Micronesia/Palau

Black Pearl Palau: "Trip of a Lifetime", Feb, 2023,

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):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Black Pearl Palau in
Micronesia/Palau