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

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Fish 'n Fins Ocean Hunter III: "Good Diving in Palau", Aug, 2019, by David Marchese, PA, US ( Sr. Contributor 20 reports with 29 Helpful votes). Report 11085.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
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	We returned to Palau after our last visit in 2002, and the diving was better this time around. The reefs are generally quite healthy with some being the healthiest we've seen in a long time. While not like Indonesia, there were quite colorful soft corals and large fans on most wall dives. Fish density was generally very good. We saw sharks and 3-6 turtles on every dive. The sharks generally kept their distance except for a couple of sites where the currents were strong and we hooked in. On those sites, multiple sharks (mostly gray reef) came in quite close and made dozens of passes. The variety of diving was quite good from shark dives (natural - no feeding), to coral gardens, to wrecks, to caverns. We saw large schools of jacks, barracuda, and reef fish. We only saw two mantas and both encounters were fleeting. We also saw two eagle rays, but they too kept their distance. We had great bumphead and Neapolitan wrasse encounters too. We did not spend much time looking for little critters and the guides didn't point many out, but we went with the understanding that this would be a wide angle trip, so that wasn't a problem. As good as the day dives were, the night dives were very disappointing with virtually nothing happening. We sailed with Captain Kenneth and Dive Master Troy in 2002, and they are still on the OHIII! I can't imagine anyone knowing the sites better than these two. After all those years, they are still enthusiastic and made this trip great (as did the rest of the crew). Chef Arlee had to leave for a family emergency, but assistant chef Sourav did a great job. We thoroughly enjoyed every meal. With all the reports of Palau being over run with divers and dive boats, we were very happy to be able to avoid other divers throughout this trip. We passed some sites with up to 11 boats moored, but we always found a great site where we were the only divers. We had rough seas on a few days and strong currents on several dives. Perhaps that is why we were able to avoid other divers since the day boats didn't venture out into the chop or to the more advance sites. We were in an upper level Master cabin, which was one of the best rooms we've had on a liveaboard. The ship is clean and in great shape throughout.
Websites	Fish 'n Fins Ocean Hunter III
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Caymans, Turks & Caicos, Bay Islands, Bahamas, Fiji, Saba, Maldives, California, Revillagigedo, Cozumel, Midway, Kona, Galapagos, Panama, Palau, Tahiti, Cocos, Malpelo, Tonga, PNG, Komodo, Sulawesi, Holbox, Solomon Islands, Belize, Komodo, Raja Ampat, Wakitobi, Alor, Marquesas, GBR
Closest Airport	Koror	Getting There	San Francisco to Taipei to Koror
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	83-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-100 Ft/ 6-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	We were asked to dive in a group and limit dives to 60 minutes, but that wasn't strictly enforced
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	There is a whole room dedicated to cameras. It's probably the best camera set up I've seen on a ship.

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

Fish 'n Fins Ocean Hunter III: "Good Diving in Palau", Aug, 2019,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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