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

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Fish 'n Fins Ocean Hunter III: "Great trip, this my 4th time to Palau.", Jun, 2023, by Mark Vanderlinden, CA, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 12456.
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	This was my 4th trip to Palau (I made previous ones on the no longer operating Sun Tamarin and the Sea Hunter 1). This trip was actually two back to back trips of 10 and 7 days. In my opinion if you want max diving, the Sea Hunter III is the boat to be on. I was able to make 63 dives on these trips even skipping most night dives (I personally can handle 4 dives but I can’t push it to handle the 5 scheduled dives on all dive days except the first and last days of each trip). The Sea Hunter III is not the newest or the biggest of the liveaboards operating in Palau but is more than adequate and delivers what it advertises on the website. During the trip the weather was marginal compared to previous trips as we had mixture of rainy/windy and nice sunny days with more of the former. I must admit this is the first time I traveled there in the summer as I traveled in previous years in late fall, winter and early spring. We were always able to dive but some of the dives were in very low light with marginal visibility. The website says Palau is diveable all year around but from my prospective I would schedule future trips for the winter and spring months. This was all due to several typhoons northwest of us. The meals on both trips were some of the best I’ve had on any liveaboard (all fresh healthy food, no junk and plentiful). All dives were done using separate dive craft - fairly large to transport divers from and to dive sites. The only comment I would make about this issue, It might be quite cramped if the Sea Hunter was fully booked or if everyone had a large camera. On our trips we were not fully booked so it was a non issue. All dive gear was stowed on the boat except wetsuits which were hung on hangers on the main deck of Sea Hunter. You geared for the dive (except wetsuit) on the dive craft just before the dive. So gearing up is pretty effortless. Battery charging areas were adequate and there was reasonable space for camera work pretty much comparable to other liveaboards I have been on. They give a good briefing on safety and fire issues prior to the start of the trip . I didn’t observe anything during the trip alarming or unusual that would affect these issues. A crew member was always on watch during the night time hours. At the time of the trip, there were no Covid restrictions.
Websites	Fish 'n Fins Ocean Hunter III
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	California, Florida, Hawaii, Micronesia (Palau, Yap, Truk), Wake and Johnston Is, Malaysia (Sipadan), Okinawa, Maldives, Indonesia (Bali and Wakatobi), Solomon IS, Baja ( Socorro)
Closest Airport	KOROR, Palau	Getting There	Several ways from west coast- you can use United going thru Hawaii and Guam, or use my way via China Airlines via Taipei ( it may be longer but less stop overs)
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy, surge, currents
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-100 Ft/ 9-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	You could pretty much dive your own profile but you generally had to follow the guide as most dives were live boat and you all had to be together for pick up after completing the dive.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	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	Reasonable camera setup and charging areas comparable to most liveaboards I've been on. If everyone on a full boat had a large camera system it could be difficult to get adequate space. That is nearly always case on any live aboard I've seen or been on.

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

Fish 'n Fins Ocean Hunter III: "Great trip, this my 4th time to Palau.", Jun, 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):

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