Palau Agressor, 1999
Author: Marc

I just got back from a journey to Palau, Truk and Kosrae. It was a real adventure, including many sharks and 'cudas in Palau, a disabling DCS hit on one of my dive companions in Truk, and virgin diving in Kosrae. I'm not quite over the jet lag, and I still don't know what day or time it is here (or anywhere else, for that matter). But I figured I'd give a report on the trip, beginning with the first leg: Palau.

The flights that were necessary to get to Palau can only be described as lengthy and uncomfortable. They are worse if one starts with Hawaiian Airlines, into Honolulu. (You must fly to Honolulu, then Guam, if you're coming from the U.S.) Hawaiian was nearly on time to Honolulu, but the wide-body DC10 was jam-packed and the flight attendants were unfriendly and not helpful. I flew straight through to Palau, with a layover in Guam to buy cigars and booze at the outrageously overpriced "duty-free" shop. (Things are cheaper in California, even with the duties.)

I got into Palau at about 10:00 p.m. local time, and the Aggressor van met me at the airport. When I finally got to the boat, the staff was friendly and helpful. We left early the next morning, and began diving on the western (Philippine Sea) side of the barrier reef surrounding the Palau lagoon. We spent the rest of the week diving all of the best sites in the area, from the southern (Pelilou corner) tip of the reef, to the wrecks and caves inside the lagoon (near Koror).

The area known as Palau is an oblong barrier reef, about 90 miles long and 18 miles wide. It separates the Pacific ocean (on its northeastern side) from the Philippine sea (on the southwest). The best diving is down at the southwestern end of the reef. The area is literally dotted with hundreds of little islands, of volcanic formation in the northern area and limestone in the south. Since the limestone islands were pushed up from the ocean bed with little or no soil on them, they are called the "rock islands."

Most of the diving involves drifting, sometimes in pretty strong currents, with a skiff following on the surface. Each day the Aggressor planned 5 dives (except the first and last days). Passengers could pick and choose any or all of the five. The captain, Tanya, is an American, who was raised in Palau, and drives a skiff as if she was born handling boats. The divemasters, Brian, Randy, Hector and Ike, were great. The cook (who apparently is the relief chef), Renee, was awesome. The entire crew was hard-working, professional and friendly. The boat is beautiful, with large cabins and private heads.

The first day of diving was relatively shallow, but on the second day we started with the famous Blue Corner. We hooked onto the reef and watched about 7 or 8 sharks (one of the other guests said thirty, but I'm cynical) about 5 - 7 feet in length cruise in front of us. We were often five or ten feet away from these guys, white-tips and grey reefs, as they glided effortlessly through currents that were too strong for humans to swim against. They were so close that we could clearly see the little cleaner fish working inside and around their mouths. One of the high points was watching a shark repeatedly snap his mouth shut, as if he was angry at the tiny cleaner, and later open up with the little fish swimming out again.

At Ulong Channel, we hooked at the front of the reef to watch the shark parade, and drifted back and forth through a huge patch of cabbage leaf coral as the current went in and then out of the reef. There were many exotic fishes at many locations, with lionfish, scorpionfish, cuttlefish, and so on. Soft corals were plentiful. Visibility ranged from 50' on the worst aftrernoon, to about 100' on the clearest, ususally about 75' or 80'. Water temperatures were about 83 to 84.

On one dive, we started down through one of the Blue caverns. We dropped vertically through a narrow hole in the top of the reef that started in about 6 feet of water. We swam horizontally through a passage to the outside, through a tunnel with a top at about 90' and a bottom somewhere around 140'. Once outside, we swam along the wall, and watched about five or ten sharks parade in front of us for about 40 minutes. My buddy got low on air first, and I was a little upset to leave, but being a good buddy, I turned away from the wall and started up. As we ascended, a school of approximately 100 barracudas surrounded us, and we did our safety stop inside the schooling 'cudas. Incredible!

The Palau Aggressor is a great dive boat. I've been on many live-aboards, and I was very impressed with both this boat and the professional staff. My buddy was on the Peter Hughes boat two years ago, and described it as being even more elegant, with both boats being "five star operations." All passengers seemed very pleased with all aspects of the Aggressor boat and operation.

The bad thing about the area is that there are a lot of people diving it. At one point, as we left, I counted ten skiffs on top of Blue Corner. The sharks are still there, but I do not know if it will last.

Anyway, that's all I have time for right now. Later I will post reports on the Truk and Kosrae parts of the journey, and give details of what happened with the terribly disabling DCS hit on one of my companions in Truk.

Marc