timyeo - Bluewater Dive Travel

timyeo

timyeo

My Dive Map

Reviews (37)

Fish 'n Fins Palau

5
5
5
5

Fish n Fins is the first dive center to open in Palau. The current owners, Tova and Navot are very respected divers in the Palau diving community. They have a great crew of captains, divemasters and office staff that will take care of your every need. Their dive center is located minutes from downtown Koror and many of the top resorts that divers stay at. There is also a muck dive right at their dive center dock where there are mating mandarinfish. Just ask them and they will hand you a tank and show you where to go.
They have boat sizes for all groups, from smaller speed boats to luxury liveaboards, the Ocean Hunter II. The dive shop is stocked with everything you need including reef hooks. There are large rinse tanks for all your gear, including camera gear. As a bonus, they have a bar/restaurant where you can grab a beer and some local snacks when your boat returns after an awesome day of diving.

Visited on 07/2016 - Submitted on 11/05/2017
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Quino El Guardian

5
3
5
5

This is not a luxury liveaboard, but is one of the best liveaboards I have been on. Cabins are quad share and bathrooms are located on the dive deck and shared among all the guests.
The Quino used to be, and still is a research vessel. They conduct citizen scientist trips where a scientist is on board and conducting research. Divers get to experience a marine scientist at work, with presentations from the scientist and divers can sometimes even assist in some research.
If you spend a lot of time in the cabins of a liveaboard, this one is not for you. If you like interacting with the other divers and making new diving friends, there are few liveaboard better at fostering this than the Quino. This is a very fun liveaboard for singles travelers.
While the cabins and bathrooms might be 3 star, the FOOD is nothing short of 5 STARS. Easily the best food on any liveaboard I've been on. The chef is top notch, and the rest of the crew are also really amazing.
There is also a tv lounge area, a massive camera table, nice open dining area and a large sun deck with shade.

Visited on 03/2016 - Submitted on 11/05/2017
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Palau Royal Resort

5
4
5
3

Palau Royal is a great value option in Palau. It is a large hotel with tennis courts, pool and even their own private beach. The rooms are simple but clean and well decorated, and they all have a balcony. Some balconies face the garden/pond/marina and some face the beach/sea. The breakfast restaurant is large and has good asian and western breakfast options. I didn't have lunch/dinner in the hotel. A famous Palau restaurant called Carp is about a 5 minute walk from the hotel. There is a bar in the restaurant and a poolside bar too. Downtown Koror is about a 5-10min taxi ride away and the front desk will call a taxi.
There is no shore diving, but there are wrecks within a short 5-10 min boat ride from the resort and some of the more famous dive sites like Blue Corner and German Channel are about 30 mins from the resort.

Visited on 11/2017 - Submitted on 11/05/2017
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Scuba Addicts

5
5
5
4

ScubaAddicts has a dive lodge in Umkomaas where you dive Aliwal Shoal. The accommodations are nice and modern. Their boats are well kept and the crew are all very experienced. During the Sardine Run, they head up to Port St. John's and base their operations at Cremone Resort. Food and drink options at Cremone are really good and inexpensive. Maximum 8 divers in the boat with one divemaster and one boat captain. The owners Shona and Craig are awesome.

Visited on 06/2017 - Submitted on 10/30/2017
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The Junk Liveaboard

4
4
4
5

The Junk is a very cool boat with a very interesting history including being used in a James Bond film. The cabins are adequate and there are plenty of places on the boat to hang out. The boat is well maintained and didn't have any issues with leaking cabins or broken toilets on my 10 day trip. Food is plentiful and good with a mix of excellent Thai food and some western cuisine. The crew were excellent and a lot of fun, and they brought us to a few beaches to hang out.
One of the coolest things about The Junk is that you get to help raise the sails in the old school way on the last day and go sailing.
Schedules and itineraries vary and they do go to some of the best dive sites in Thailand like Hin Daeng and Hin Muang and Richelieu Rock.

Visited on 01/2017 - Submitted on 10/26/2017
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Puerto Galera

5
5
5
4

The nice thing I like about PG's diving is the accessibility of nice easy diving right off the shore. For my first dive in PG, the boat brought me out maybe 100 yards just beyond where a lot of boats are anchored and there were nice beautiful coral heads with lots of fish. After that, I told my divemaster that I'd rather just swim from the shop out to the reef and back so I can look for critters. Around one of the big concrete blocks that act as anchors for the boats, we found 2 harlequin ghost pipefish and 2 baby frogfish.
By far the best diving in PG is on Verde Island. A group of us got the dive shop to rent a larger boat to make the long 45minute choppy trip out to Verde Island a comfortable smooth 30minute ride. Verde Island is a pinnacle that breaks the surface just a little. You can go as deep as you want and constant strong currents make it an awesome drift dive. We started at just about 100ft and slowly made our way up to our safety stop. The largest schools of fish, colorful soft corals and huge barrel sponges make this trip out to Verde Island really worth it.
The other divers I dove with at Verde Island said the conditions were perfect that day. We had 100ft viz and the water was about 78 degrees.
Topside, there is a small town to explore. Massage parlors and bars are available everywhere. The red light district is confined to one alley and easily avoidable if that is not your scene.

Visited on 02/2014 - Submitted on 07/30/2014
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Sipadan

5
5
5
3

The marine life here is incredible. No wonder this is a top rated dive destination!
My favorite dive site was Barracuda Point. There were constantly large schools of jacks and schools of barracuda every time we went back...and we kept asking to go back.
Turtle Cave was a cool dive site. It's where turtles go to retire and there are turtle bones and shells even at the entrance of the cave. Eerie but different.
Hanging Gardens is not a "famous site" but it was really beautiful with all the colorful soft corals.
There were lots of black tip, white tip and grey reef sharks and lots of turtles on every single dive. I even spotted a hammerhead on my first dive.
Most dives start deep > 100ft so get yourself nitrox certified and dive with it along with a computer to extend your bottom time. Even in the winter it was warm in the mid 80s and I think the worst viz I got on my trip was 60ft. Most dives was over 100ft viz.
Book early and let the dive operator know that you want to dive Sipadan coz a limited number of divers are allowed on the reef per day.

Visited on 12/2006 - Submitted on 07/29/2014
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