Hi Folks,

I wonder if anyone has visited Palau? How does it compare to Bonaire?

Thanks!

There's no way to compare Bonaire to Palau. I have dived both places as well as did a day of snorkeling on Palau. There is a way to dive/snorkel from shore only near Sam's Dive shop (which I would never recommend that shop to use for your diving needs due to their arrogance thinking they are the only and best dive shop in the world!) Bonaire being the shore diving capital of the world is so easy and inexpensive to dive. Where in Palau, you have to go by boat to most sites and the cost runs about $45 a dive. Palau does have a cool kayaking program - where they load up kayaks on a boat and take you to some of the far reaches of the islands and drop the kayaks in the water and let you snorkel from the kayaks. You can see mandarin fish, large clams,manta rays,sharks, as well as bird watch this way. You can also visit jellyfish lake where you snorkel through millions of stingless jellyfish. Cost is about $90 for about 4 hours with a guide. You have to do everything with a guide on Palau - compared to self-diving/snorkeling on Bonaire. I would recommend Fish and Fins dive shop over Sam's for your needs. There is an inexpensive hotel chain called West Plaza Hotel/Malakal that is a short walk from the dive shops. Good luck!

I thought jellyfish lake was gone now.

it was there in December of '03!!

Freddie, I'm so glad it's back! I thought another one had bit the dust for good.

http://www.echeng.com/travel/palau/jellyfishlake.html

Very interesting! I don't think I could "handle" it, tho....swimming amongst the jellies like that. It is beautiful and amazing to watch (at least for me) but I know I couldn't jump in with them. Interesting place, indeed. Carole

Wow, Freddie, thanks for the amazing photo!

Seb, thanks for the link. I really enjoyed reading the essay and seeing the photos there.

Debbie, thanks so much for sharing your experience. I wouldn't be diving, only snorkeling, so I really appreciate your info about the kayak trips! Sounds fantastic!

You are very Welcome...here are a couple more...

Fascinating! Thanks, Freddie. Carole

here are some jellies that we encountered in Roatan last week. they were about a 1/2 inch in diameter..

Great pics, Freddie

They look like thimble jellies Freddie

Jellyfish lake had some problems but has comeback stronger than every.

There is NO diving in the Carribean that will compare to palau or most of the south pacific for that matter. I know that I may get some heat from the die hard "Bonaire is the best in the world" mindset. But it is not even close to the best. However Bonaire sure is fun and I love it!

There is a great snorkel spot at the beach at the Palau pacific resort too.

My experiance snorkeling Palau was in between dives from a liveaboard. The reef is 1.5 hours boat ride from shore. For that reason snorkel bonaire will be much more convienant but that is all.

I read statements that Palau is much better then Bonaire. Followed by advantages of diving/snorkeling in Bonaire :-)

What makes Palau better then Bonaire?

IMHO I believe that Palau is #1 for the South Pacific and Bonaire is #1 for the Caribbean.. Palau is magnificent for it's fish life {large and small},it's hard and soft corals,{although I think that Yap may be the soft coral king of the world}and the diversity of the undersea animals that live there...Palau is also known for its exciting dive sites Blue Corner, Pelileu corner etc..Drift diving like you have never known it!!! Very dangerous if you let the sea have it's way..{been there done that, lost at sea for a few hours!! after a dive ,bobbing around with a group and watching the sharks circle!!}
Bonaire is of course renown for it's easy diving
The fish life on Bonaire is certainly better than other places in the Caribbean. Two weeks ago in Roatan on one dive we saw one lone Angel fish!!!! The coral on Bon is slowly recovering from natures nasty blow..In some spots it is definitely reminiscent of Palau or Yap... I guess I could go on and on as these are my two favorite places in the world.. but then there is that trip to Komodo that we are planning.......

Did some searching on the internet.
Have not found out yet how to get from Amsterdam to Palau.
Palau looks real nice, but expensive though.
People don't get as old on Palau as they do on the netherlands antilles I noticed. Especially the mortality rate is much higher. GDP is also very low.
Saw some environmental issues to.


Must have been a horrifying experience to be in pacific, with the sharks circling around. What did you do that they stayed away? Or did you sacrifice some member of the group :-)

lol I guess we came to the conclusion that they were black tipped reef sharks and that they wouldn't hurt us if we prayed real loud!! The group did a wrong turn underwater and the chase boat lost our bubbles... The outfit that we dove with now uses EPIRBS
We did see some poverty but not as bad as in Roatan.....


What airlines service Palau?
Continental and Air Micronesia via Honolulu, Guam and Manila.

Palau is in the North Pacific, not south. 7N 135E

An epirb is useless in micronesia. your best safety gear is being in shape with advanced diving skills, a strobe and a little luck.
Almost everything you see on the reef can kill you at worst and sting you at least.

There is a range of 100 to 500 times the biodiversity in the far pacific as in the caribbean, indeed the direction of migration of almost all sealife was from the pacific to the atlantic oceans.

Other then being islands, there is no comparison between the two. It would be like compairing boot camp to a retirement home.

Prices for food and lodging are cheap on Peleliu.
$79/nite. Peleliu is the almost southernmost island of tha Palau group and is very close to the good diving. Except for the plane ticket, Palau is cheaper than Bonaire if you are diving from a boat, but then why would you ever do that??

Palauans got hooked on spam (the first one, the one in a can)after WW2 and I do believe it is killing them before their time. or maybe its all that killer weed the peace corps planted a few decades ago, maybe both now that I think about it.

Baseline: 8 bonaire trips starting in 1986 through 2002, with no plans to ever return. 4 trips to Peleliu, Palau from 1996 to present. going again in December. Hope to meet Lord Keely there in 2005.

imo Fiji is the soft coral capital not Yap, but Yap is worth a few days diving in one lifetime.

to the original question, In my opinion some advice in here was good, go to the PPR and stay in the more controlled inshore areas for some world class free diving.

Have a nice day.

out

Geo Dave! Long time no see....good to hear from you again...I thought you became one of the casualties of the tunnel collapsing of last year.....oh my, what a disaster that fiasco was...remember?? I think Keely is still down there with a torch in hand, somewhere! LOL. Welcome back, stranger! Love the profile page, too! LOL.

What next....Keely jumping in here?? Sir Fancypants, himself? Come on, Andy...jump on in..the water's great! Carole

Hello Carole, yes I've been entraped in the tunnel, with a keyboard only inches from my grasp, there was a slight tremmor yesterday and the board slid right down to me. Don't know how long the connection will last tho.

As it turns out, Keely and I trade insults via email from time to time. This morning he sent me a shocking photo of our president and Osama in a bed doing something that I'm sure is illegal, at least in the south(US).

Hope you're doing well.

Now I'm getting curious.
What tunnel are you trapped in?

Bob,
Do a word search in text of messages on "tunnel" and read the first two threads:
"Car Thief Caught", &
"Kralendijk Destroyed"
L--O--N--G threads

L--O--N--G isn't the word for it, Chet! LOL. I hadn't realized there were any survivors down there....we'd better send down a cable for Geo Dave to grab onto and haul him the heck out of there! LOL. Boy...what luck there was another tremor and the keyboard slid down to his fingertips....what were the odds on THAT happening???!! LOL. Carole

Remote odds I'd say.

And I may have been too harse saying "no plans to ever return" to Bonaire. I'm thinking of buying some waterfront property and building a new invention of mine "Dive Hoists". Picture a location like "Oil Slick" with a bunch of ramps inclined down and into the shallow reef floor. On the ramps would be "seats" which would hold a tank/bc, the seats would be hoisted from the multiple handicap parking area which I would install.

Well it sounds gosh darn good to me; pull my old bones out of the car, hobble over to a ramp, strap in, get dunked to about 25fsw and take off for a relaxing dive, then back to the GEODAVE Bonaire Dive Hoist Park.

Shoot, I'd pay about $40 bucks for that.

It would also be good at the Palau Pacific Resort(PPR) as well.

and on the epirb, it would work but probably not in near enough time to prevent one from getting smashed in to the rocks of Anguar Island which is about 7 miles down stream, the current approaches 7knt on the surface, The chain of emergency communication originated in the US back to Koror, then side band marine radio, well too much time. There is a system which will provide RTK (real time kinematic) position on multiple transcevers, but I'm not aware of one designed to submerge to depth. could be wrong tho.....nah.

Maybe you should make it a bit more KOA like. With pull trough seats. Then the hobbling is not necessary.

Once that part of the buisness plan is established I plan to expand into "Hoist Diving Safari". Start with say 3 1000 ton cranes with 120' extension booms on a 4x4 carrage and open up the entire coastline to "Hoist Diving"

This thing has baby boomer written all over it.

People are weird enuff that it just might work and take off, Dave! I can picture it all now....flashing colored lights at nightime....a dunking ferris wheel for those with a little more adventure/spirit in their blood.....this will avoid a backlog on land with folks waiting to get onto the hoist....load them onto the ferris/hoist wheel and spin them down into the waters! LOL. Carole

I thought of a wheel, something like a skilift type thing, Carole, then I saw a bunch of old divers piled up in a hideous "dive wheel" accident. What a vision!

No, think its best to stick with one diver, one hoist (or crane).

Aw, shucks.....it could've been interesting to see how it would've unfolded! Or collapsed. LOL. Carole