DIVING in PALAU

The majority of dives in Palau are captivating drift dives along the barrier reef located to the west and southwest of the archipelago. Most are in fairly shallow waters and can be done from 18m/60ft or shallower, though there are several cases where divers go below 30m/99ft in order to be able to catch rarer highlights. On most dives a safety stop can be made along walls that commonly offer sightings of rare species and unusual marine behavior.

Visibility normally exceeds 30m/99ft in part due to moderate levels of organic and inorganic nutrients in the water column that keep the reef ecosystem healthy and robust.

Diving in Palau is a distinct experience since currents can vary significantly due to lunar periodicity. As such, divers have not adequately explored large areas along the outer barrier reef as well as the eastern fringing reef. Most guides are more than willing to go to areas that are unexplored.

Technical diving is not as popular in Palau due to the relative ease and availability of shallow waters that present exciting panoramas of the islands' extremely diverse marine habitats. There are close to 1400 species of reef fishes found here and countless thousands of noticeable invertebrates, not to mention ones that are more cryptic and which regular divers never get to see. Consider the tantalizing array of dive sites in Palau…