Dive Review of Sam's Tours in
Micronesia

Other Micronesia reports
Subscriber Content Preview
Active subscribers go here

Sam's Tours: "Why did we wait to return to Palau for 12 years?", Mar, 2024, by Camilla J Goble, FL, US ( Reviewer 4 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 12929 has 2 Helpful votes.
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	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	[None]We had not been back to Palau for 12 years because of covid and diving other locations (Maldives, Raja Amat, Belize and Wakatobi). Went back to dive with Sam's for the 8th time since the early 90's. We also had three days of diving with PDA (Palau Diving Adventures) in the middle of our 12 days of diving. Sam's claimed they couldn't accommodate us as well as another couple because of staffing issues. We thoroughly enjoyed our days with PDA as did the other couple. Great, professional dive masters and boat captains who were fun and took us to requested sites. They left Koror earlier than other operators so we had the best locations to ourselves for the first dive of the day and usually arrived at the next dive after other boats had left. So great scheduling with PDA. They also stayed out at sea if you were doing 3 dives a day instead of coming back to the dock between the second and third dive. So we experienced 3 dives further away from Koror rather than a 3rd dive close to the main island. Sam's is still a reliable, friendly operation with wonderful divemasters and boat captains. Neil is an outstanding dive master as is Sharon. Both point out wonderful creatures that older eyes might miss and change dive sites if really strong currents might be troublesome. They respect experienced divers but still keep watch over everyone in the group. Prices have risen substantially at Sam's but they offer dive packages that give better rates than the standard day 2 dive rate. PDA rates were a little lower. The bento box lunches that PDA supplied were exceptionally good. And we had a small, fast boat for 4 or 5 divers. They have one large boat as well. Palau's underwater scene was as beautiful as it always was. Lots of sharks, rays, bump heads, turtles, barracuda, and schools of various fish. Corals in great shape. We stayed at the Palau Royal Resort just across the road from the entrance to Sam's Tours. It's a Nikko Hotel so there are lots of Japanese guests which means there is great food (both Western and Asian) and it's very service orientated and neat and clean. We were upgraded to a corner suite which we enjoyed for our 2 week stay. It's expensive but we got a reduced rate by booking very early. All in all a great return trip and we are contemplating going back next year.
Websites	Sam's Tours [same]Palau Royal Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	[Unspecified]Egypt, Papua New Guinea, Sipidan, Raja Ampat, Bali, Philippines, Palau, Maldives, Thailand, Fr. Polynesia, Hawaii, Cozumel, Belize, Caribbean, Wakatobi,
Closest Airport	Koror	Getting There	Turkish Air to Istanbul, on to Manila then United to Palau
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	83-85°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	- Ft/ - M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]. 60 minutes
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]Retired photographers. We just enjoy the underwater magic without cameras.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here

Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 493 dive reviews of Micronesia and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

Other dive reports on Sam's Tours

All Micronesia Dive Reviews and Reports
Diving Guide to Micronesia
Diving Reviews for All Dive Destinations

Want to assemble your own collection of Micronesia reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

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.

Undercurrent Home

Page computed and displayed in 0.14 seconds

Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email. And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent
Get a free monthly email and a sample issue!

Dive Review of Sam's Tours in Micronesia

Sam's Tours: "Why did we wait to return to Palau for 12 years?", Mar, 2024,

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 Sam's Tours in
Micronesia