Palau

Ocean Hunter, January 1998, Trevor Sheldon, Lincolnshire, IL. Navot has an excellent thing going. Small boat, 6 divers, will go to any site. Incredible night dives; I don't think there was anything down there that Kenneth missed. Vis: 40-120 ft. Water: 84-89 degrees. Flexible operation. Solomon Is without a doubt the best chef I've had on a live-aboard. (Ph: 011-680- 488-3626, Fax: 011-680-488-1725,

e-mail: ocean.hunter@palaunet.com)

Ocean Hunter, April 1998, Robert Haak, Herrenberg, Germany. Among the 3 best live-aboards we know of and we know many. Service is top, even miracles are possible. When we asked for real espresso, we got it. Haoot and his crew know how to make customers happy. Palau-very difficult to find better areas. water: 90 degrees, vis: good to medium.

Ocean Hunter, July 1998, Mitch & Penny Kennedy, San Ramon, CA. Food excellent, small number of divers (6 max), dive flexibility and number of dives wonderful! Crew experienced and friendly. Vis: 40-80 ft, water 82-86 degrees. Boat is gorgeous motorsailer, lots of room on dive deck and gear up deck. 2 showers (warm) on deck. Lots of books, CDs and videos.

Palau Aggressor II, February 1998, Richard & Joy Visser, Rockford, MI. Palau and the Aggressor II were both great. Cabins are comfy with lower queen and upper twin beds. Individual showers and bathroom for each cabin. Lounge area is great. Food is excellent, abundant, nice variety, buffet style, delicious snacks after each dive. Free beer and wine any time of day or night-if you drink, you're done diving for the day. . . . You step onto the dive boat from the back of the Aggressor and the dive boat is lowered into the water by a hydraulic lift. Easy backroll into the water and easy climb up the ladder afterwards. After 80-90 dives in the Caribbean, I had only seen 3-4 sharks. Here they were so commonplace we only casually pointed them out toward the end of the week. Saw mantas, turtles, nudibranchs, anemones and giant clams. Corals are amazing. Blue corner is a rush! You hook onto a piece of dead coral on the top of the wall as the current blows you back and you watch for 30 min. Lots of sharks and massive schools of fish. . . . Friday afternoon picnic on the deserted island was fun and grilled ribs, chicken and fish. Take the afternoon trip to the island of Peleliu and learn how our marines liberated it during WWII. The guide almost broke into tears as he thanked we Americans for saving his country. A moving experience. . . . Spent at least 24 hrs. in the air, not to mention time spent to, from, and waiting in airports. If you overnight in Guam on Sun, strongly recommend the buffet at the Westin that includes all you can eat sushi. It took about 5 days to recover from the jet lag after we returned. (Aggressor Fleet, Ph: 800-348-2628(US) or 504-385-2628, Fax: 504-384-0817,

e-mail: 103261.1275@compuserve.com)

Palau Aggressor, April 1998, Carole Stinchfield, New York, NY. Beautiful boat with good accommodations. Lots of rules on the boat and few in the water. Many drift dives with some strong currents. Wildlife was fantastic and beautiful. Vis: 80-120 ft. Water: 80-84 degrees. Staff a little too stiff, but certainly professional. Enjoyable week. Interesting culturally and historically as well.

Palau Aggressor II, April 1998, Bruce and Linda Petrarca, Goodyear, AZ. Good boat. Good crew. Jim Church and Stan Waterman held great workshops. Palau is adventure diving, not for the faint of heart or newly certified-spend the same money and do two Caribbean trips to build time and confidence instead! Vis: 80-110 ft, water: 80-82°. Food better on Truk Aggressor.

Palau Aggressor, June 1998, Roger & Karen Housley, Norman, OK. We chartered the boat. 14 of 16 divers got certified Nitrox. Arrived and they told us the compressor was down. No Nitrox all week. We calculated costs of certification and dive computers etc. to be $4000-$6000. . . . Pelieu Corner beats Blue Corner (Phat as they say). Got to dive this and Blue Corner (and By Pass Jelly Fish Lake) 3 times. Great wreck dive. Best Aggressor accommodations yet. Vis: 75-150 ft, water: 80-84 degrees. Capt. Tonja (female) quite accomplished. Downer: All skiff diving. Missed the diving from stern.

Palau Aggressor II, July 1998, Anna Farber, New York, NY. Crew undergoing transition. Very liberal approach to diving. Only a depth limit loosely enforced. Vis: 40-60 ft, water: 82-84 degrees. Lack of attention by the crew on currents ed to us diving certain sites at inappropriate times. Diving was spectacular.

Sun Dancer II, October 1997, Dwayne Miller, Neosho, MO. Probably my finest experience. Sun Dancer and crew are great. Chose to do only 4 dives per day and will never regret that. NITROX was great and allowed dives to 85 ft with durations of 50 to 65 minutes 4 times daily. Water: 80-82 degrees. Vis: 70-120 ft. All dives multilevel with computers. Blue Corner great (did 3 times), don't miss Peleliu. . . . Go with Ron at Sam's Dive Tours for a Kayak trip. Ron is great, knowledgeable and puts land, sea and air (birds) together for a cohesive understanding of the area. You see only 80% of Palau without the kayak trip. Make sure you have Guide to Coral Life and Tropical Pacific Invertebrates. (Peter Hughes Diving, Ph: 800-932-6237 (US/Can) or 305-699-9391, Fax: 305-699-9475, e-mail: dancer@winnet.net)

Sun Dancer II, November 1997, Doug Hook, Toronto, ON. Fantastic boat. Free Nitrox, but dive it using air tables or computer for extra safety margin. Currents unpredictable; some long swims into current at Peleliu and Blue Corner. Snorkeled with false killer whales for hour at Peleliu. Vis: 40-100 ft. Water: 78-84 degrees. Dive restriction: depth 130 ft. Land Tour at Peleliu given by steward Eric very enjoyable. Food not as good as other reports suggested, but plentiful. Lots of camera space for six photographers/videographers on board, but more would crowd the tables. Dive boats good for this location, no rinse bucket or shade for cameras. All the diving we wanted, 4 or 5 a day, were available. Cabins spacious and well laid out. Excellent on board photos and video by Matt and Angie.

Sun Dancer II, February 1998, Matt Brandt, Los Angeles, CA. Crew led by Frank and Jessica made for an incredible dive vacation. Diving great, with mantas, grey and white tip sharks, sea snakes, every nudibranch in the Micronesia fish book. Vis a minor complaint (40-100 ft), however not enough to put a damper on the visuals. Water: 79-82 degrees. Dive staff professional and made me feel like I was at a 5-star hotel. Boat videographer friendly with plenty of 110 outlets for batteries and lights.

Sun Dancer II, Peter Hughes, February 1998, Jim Ferguson, Chevy Chase, MD. Crew was great! Vis: Wow! water: 78-82 degrees. Before I wentI had done about 25 dives, there I did 30. Reefs, wrecks, holes, caves, night dives-fantastic!

Sun Dancer II, March 1998, John Zeiss, Minnetonka, MN. Palau is to the Caribbean as Colorado skiing is to Minnesota skiing. Vis: 30-150 feet, water: 79-81 degrees. Continental lost my bags and those of many others in the group.

Sun Dancer II, April 1998, Dave Lake and Linda Wright, Savannah, GA. Dense hard and soft corals, schools of sharks and game fish. Although Blue Corner is famous other dives even better such as Peleliu cut. Current ranged from none to 5 knots. Vis: 100+ft., water: 82-84 degrees. After Yap, surprised that there were not more nudibranchs. Boat and crew terrific. Staterooms spacious with large windows. Tender boats Magic Bus and Magic Tram were efficient dive platforms.

Sundancer II, May 1998, John Dalbec, Kihei, HI. Met my high expectations. Boat well maintained. Stateroom comfortable. Crew knowledgeable and helpful. Food plentiful and excellent, especially the sit down dinners. Felt safe and confident with the crew. Always available for advice and assistance. Deck hot showers and hot towels a big plus. Tanks always full. Tenders set up well and easy to board. Vis: 80-100 ft., water: 81-83 degrees. Never had to touch the gear after initial set up. Rinse tanks always fresh and full. The slides given to us as a gift at the end were a big plus but could have been a few more.

Sun Dancer II, May 1998, Howard Markowitz, Wayne, PA. Mostly sunny, flat seas. Excellent boat and service/crew. Food good and plentiful. Only negative: lagoon dives late Friday and Saturday. We did all the best dives Monday through Thursday. Sharks, saw a sailfish and an hour 3 manta ballet at night in the lagoon in the ship's lights. Vis: 20-100 ft., Water: 84-85 degrees. No unpleasant surprises. Trip N Tour Micronesia did an excellent job.

Sun Dancer II, Peter Hughes, May 1998, Howard Markowitz, Wayne, PA. Weather excellent. Boat, crew and diving excellent, except the last day and a half in the Lagoon. Poor vis and much less to see. On first four days saw grey and white tide reef sharks, Napoleon wrasse (see them before they are all taken for sushi), tuna, a sailfish on the surface, and a nighttime ballet by three manta rays in the light behind our boat. Went in with them for a short time before being forced out by diesel fumes. Vis: 15-100 ft, water: 84-85 degrees. Stopovers in Guam and Hawaii helped with jet lag but it still took 2 weeks to recover fully eastbound. Trip-n-Tour Micronesia knows the ins and outs of travel to this part of the world. Their choice of hotel on Guam could have been better however.

Sun Dancer II, Peter Hughes, September 1998, Scott Campbell, Seattle, WA. Some coral bleaching. Sole complaint: too many dives at same sites. Three at Alice's Garden (worth one dive). Three dives at Blue Corner (two was enough). Two at Blue Hole (one was enough). Vis: 30-100 ft, water: 86-88 degrees. Had group of ten people who were together and crew catered more to them than to other passengers.

Truk

Thorfinn, 1998, Shawn Feliciano and Ray Barry, Costa Rica. We picked the Thorfinn as opposed to the Truk Aggressor because the literature said: continual flow of delicious meal, snacks, baked goods prepared daily by the ship's crew; by using the mother ship principle, the Thorfinn can put its guests on 4 different wrecks, simultaneously. Spacious hot tub spa, etc. Full bar facilities, Plentiful hot water, million dollar refurbishment. First day dived the same wreck 4 times. Boat never moved. Only water between dives. They told us not to take a shower after every dive, even if cold. Next day we moved but not far, where we remained the entire trip. The boats that took us to spots, some 25 minutes away, were aluminum, open, hard riding boats; had motor problems almost every day. I am a beginner and we missed all the first dives, except one, and all the night dives as many were into the deep wrecks. Even on a lot of the others I could only go to the deck, could not penetrate as I do not have the experience. Very frustrating. Meals were barely edible. The first day we had an omelette, with 3 pieces of salami on top, some cabbage, no seconds. Portuguese sausages for lunch, no option. Another meal was spaghetti, which kept on coming up in my regulator. Always cabbage, no fresh produce, frozen vegetables, barely edible, rancid juice every morning, only one day did we have canned grapefruit juice. Pastries were store bought, 2 day old. Fruit-pieces of brown apples and oranges. Same dessert, fruit with some milk stuff. Got sick two times. I told them that I did not eat meat; they gave me fish, one day, and the rest of the time, meat. Warm Koolaid twice a day. Wine, plentiful first night, and downhill from there. No open bar, only Budweiser and flat Coca-Cola. . . . Every time we needed something we needed to find one of the girls; they were nice and all but not very polished. Sheets burned and soiled, towels not washed just dried and therefore smelled of body odor. Ice machine did not work, E6 developing, 3 pax, had 12 rolls developed by Lance. First came out OK, second not so good, third bad. Shower flooded: told to take foot and push the water into the drain. Million dollar refurbishment, which he reiterated during our orientation, my ass! We asked about whether it was the rainy season, we were told it was not; it rained every morning and affected the visibility. We own and manage a sportfishing operation in Costa Rica and know what service is all about. (Ph: 011-691-330-3040, Fax 011-691-330-4253, e-mail: seaward@mail.fm, Website http://www.thorfin.cm)

Truk Aggressor, April 1998, Carole Stinchfield, New York, NY. Best crew ever! Friendly, professional, accommodating, fun, organized, the best. Boat is a little old, but the crew keeps it pristine. The wrecks were amazing with fabulous soft corals. Vis: 60-80 ft, water: 80-84 degrees. Fantastic week that included the San Francisco. (Aggressor Fleet, Ph: 800-348-2628 (US) or 504-385-2628, Fax: 504-384-0817, e-mail: 103261.1275@compuserve.com)

Truk Aggressor II, April 1998, Bruce and Linda Petrarca, Goodyear, AZ. First location where we felt limited by depth/time. Wanted to stay deeper longer than prudence would allow. Aggressor moored directly to wrecks so navigation no problem. Comforting that spare regulators, air and hang lines were just a few feet above us always. Crew worked overtime to assure a good trip. Vis: 60-80 ft, water: 79-82 degrees. Continental changed schedules at last minute-shortened our trip by one dive day and required an overnight in Guam. Nitrox course $150 plus $15 for card. Could do at home for $75.

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