Dive Review of Sam's Tours/Palau Pacific Hotel in
Micronesia/Palau

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Sam's Tours/Palau Pacific Hotel, Apr, 2007, by Chip Kamin, PA, USA ( 2 reports). Report 3300.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was our first trip for our dive group to the Pacific. Our 8 divers had about 6,000 dives accumulated but mainly in the Caribbean. Although it was difficult to set up, we planned on visiting Palau and then Yap. This turned into an eighteen-day adventure. This was about the minimum amount of time considering the long air flights we were looking at since we were all based in Pennsylvania. We found Tina at Island Dreams www.divetrip.com to help us with making reservations and figuring out how to put this complicated trip together. Palau had been on our radar for a long time so we had high expectations. Those expectations were met in every way. The Palau Pacific is a wonderful resort. We were met at the airport at 8:00pm and within minutes made a stop to pick up liquor, sodas and of course a beetle nut kit. The Palau Pacific has beautiful grounds but it is a bit spread out. Our particular room was at the far end of the resort and required a 6-minute walk, many times a day. One might prefer a more centrally located room. Ocean view was not terribly important since the view to the front was limited by the small deck. We opted for the breakfast package $22 per breakfast and it was the best meal of the day. An incredible buffet of just about anything you might want with many Japanese and American delights. Dinner was a different story. When the buffet ($30) was good (seafood night) it was a treat but normal meals were on the expensive side. We ended up eating in town and found many good inexpensive restaurants. A short $7.00 cab ride got us into town. Emaimelei was a local’s restaurant recommended by one of the guides. It was very cheap, had a great menu and had great air-conditioning; well recommended by everyone in the group. We did a customary stop at the local jail and bought storyboards. Sam’s Dive Tours was selected based upon reader comments in Undercurrent and we were not disappointed. We had Dexter as dive master and Jake as boat captain. I cannot say enough about both of those fellows. They were very knowledgeable as to the marine life, dive locations, and above water life. It is unusual to have both a talkative dive master and a talkative and knowledgeable boat captain. I would highly recommend the pair for any future dive trips. Our group of 8 was perfect for the twin-engine outboards they use to move quickly between dive sites. Lots of cold sodas and a varied lunch was provided each day as well as cold water. Diving in Palau is a bit tricky due to currents and wind. Dexter grew up diving on the Island so he knew currents and locations intimately. He rarely guessed wrong as to the time and direction of the dive. We opted for three tank dive days with Nitrox (it is free). This made the boat rides less of a problem since we were out most of the day. The rides could be long, up to an hour but they were always fun since we were high speed cruising between the rock islands and discussing local fauna and flora with both guides. Diving was some of the best we had ever done. Visibility was good to excellent and the water was warm. I ended up diving with a shorty wet suit. The group quickly figured out the use of reef hooks after the first stop at Blue Corner. Our favorite dive was Ulong Channel which started off with a reef hook shark fest, followed by a fast cruise up the channel catching huge lettuce coral, anemones, turtles, giant clams and the most incredible ending to a dive we had ever seen, a huge (25 feet in diameter) ball of swarming fish that was being herded by resident sharks. Dexter told us this fish ball had been around for years and could be found at the end of this dive. We came back to do the dive again and found it a second time! We made it out to Peleliu and did two dives on Yellow Wall and then did the 2-hour land tour. The dives were worth it but no better than what we had on the main Island. The land tour brought home the magnitude of the war and was well worth it. In general we saw a lot of big fish. Sharks and turtles were everywhere, lots of small stuff, and schools of fish. Things looked pretty healthy and we never had a disappointing dive. We did the Chandelier Cavern dive on a two tank “rest day” and although it was a short shallow dive it was fun to visit the three caverns and just relax a bit. We did 17 dives and averaged over one hour per dive. We did a land tour and spent some time at the Ngardmau Waterfall. This was a great waterfall; the rest of the land tour was just OK with one other highlight, a restored Men’s House near the new Capitol building. If I were going again I would just go to the waterfall and then drive to the Men’s House and call it a day. On our other rest day we did a kayak Rock Island tour that included Jelly Fish Lake. We went straight to Jelly Fish Lake to beat any other boats and had the place to ourselves. It is better to do the lake on an off day than to try and squeeze it in at the end of a dive day. The kayaking was fun but a little kayaking goes a long way. We were off at 3:00am to Yap to complete the dive trip. Going to Palau first was the only way we could make the airlines work but we were looking forward to a more relaxed time on the Island of Yap and again we were not disappointed.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Mainly Caribbean including Bonaire, Aruba, Cozumel, Roatan, Utilla, St. Lucia, Dominica, Truks & Caicos, Florida
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy, currents
Water Temp	83-85°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Come up with 500 PSI
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
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
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	When asked we were provided with water on the baot for camera. We had three small digital camers in our group so there was no problem.

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Dive Review of Sam's Tours/Palau Pacific Hotel in Micronesia/Palau

Sam's Tours/Palau Pacific Hotel, Apr, 2007,

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/Palau Pacific Hotel in
Micronesia/Palau