Palau Siren
This was my fifth or sixth trip back to Palau, but my first time on the Palau Siren. The boat, made of ironwood and teak, in traditional Phinisi style, is spacious and quite charming. The cabins are very roomy, though be careful walking down the steep stairs to the lower deck. At night, a pump kept cycling on and off, making sleep a little difficult, but frankly there are few liveaboards where I find it that easy to sleep. There was plenty of room on the dive deck, and all diving was done from a skiff, and there were never any long rides to the dive sites. We never had to carry our gear on or off (except for camera equipment). The crew provided fresh towels and a fruit drink on returning from each dive. There is lots of room undercover for storage, setup and charging of photography gear. Among the amenities that make the Siren unique are free Nitrox and the availability of on-board massages and laundry service.
All meals were served buffet-style, on the open aft deck of the boat (and where plastic curtains can keep out the rain when needed). The food was plentiful and flavorful, each meal usually including a variety of protein foods (chicken, pork, or beef and always seafood) along with great veggies and steamed rice. The chef would begin the evening meal with a "dinner briefing" which he ended by saying "ATTACK!", which we all gratefully did.
The crew were all very friendly and helpful, and it was pleasant spending 10 days getting to know them along with the guests. Traveling in June, I should have expected the frequent wind and rain. It didn't really dampen the diving much though, as the seas were never really rough.
When I was there, the Siren had been operating in Palau only for a year or so, and unfortunately, the crew was often confused by the presence or absence of current at various dive sites. You want to dive at The famous Blue Corner, when the current is roaring, to hook in and see the dozens of sharks on parade. Sadly, though we dived Blue Corner several times, on most occasions there was virtually no current, and no sharks. Other times there was current at locations where there shouldn't have been. The Siren begins and ends its week at Sam's Tours in Palau. One evening we dove right in front of the place, hopefully to see some mandarin fish just at sunset. I would have preferred a different setting, away from the boats docked there (and the trash that collected at the docks). Some of the divers were unhappy at these small misfortunes, but it's always fun to be on a dive trip.
The diving in Palau, no matter the conditions, is always spectacular, and the beauty of the islands above water is matched by the incredible variety of life underwater. The reef is generally in excellent condition, and there are opportunities to do drift dives, wall dives and night dives. There are always large numbers of small and larger reef fish including parrot fish, groupers, snappers, barracuda and Napoleon wrasse and ... of course ... reef sharks, to be seen, along with a broad array of morays, nudibranchs, turtles, sea fans and coral. In addition to seeing the sea life, we dove on a couple of wrecks including a well-preserved WW II plane. I recommend seeing the famous Jelly Fish Lake and the Chandelier Caves, which make up a memorable part of the unique Palau experience.
It's a long trip to Palau, no matter where you start, but it surely is one of the premiere dive destinations in the world!
