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Published: August 22nd 2023
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This trip has been in preparation since November last year. It has actually been on top of my wish list for years. To do this trip required few stars to align properly. I call the availability of flights, this is actually the main challenge. Then there is the availability of time, to do this trip requires a minimum of a month. Well, I do have a month and not a day more this time! Next, the finance needed to be on your side, and we are working on it!
First stop, Palau. This is my third visit to the small archipelago. I visited first for a week on a liveaboard back in 2006. I came back 2 years later, this time for four days of land base diving. Palau is a mecca for divers and easily in the top 10 of any chart when it comes to diving, so not stopping would be a sacrilege!
Last time I dived with Sam's tour and was super happy with them, so this time again, 15 years later, it's Sam's tour again! But first, the logistic. You can reach Palau on scheduled flights with China Airlines from Taipei, or with United, twice
per week from Manilla. This is my third time going with United. The cheapest one-way ticket from Manilla is around 600usd....on the day I fly, it was 970usd in economy, and 870usd in business...and yes, Business class was cheaper than economy. What I did? I booked back in November a one-way using miles. For 25,000 miles on United and 150usd, I did Denpasar-Singapore on SQ....6 hours lay-over in Singapore to experience the Jewel shopping mall as well as some touring of lounges. Jewel is super impressive, Gold Star Alliance lounges in SIN, way less impressive!
Next was Singapore-Denpasar on TG, and a night over in town plus a morning of shopping around. Then came the Bangkok-Manilla-Koror...lengthy transit, and to top it up, United doesn't even offer a lounge...don't get me going on the crap Terminal 3 of Manilla!
I was happy to reach Koror at 2.30am! Taxi was waiting for me, and I reach my hotel at 3.30am. I'm staying for 2 nights at the Palau hotel. The hotel is actually pretty cheap for Palau. Bear in mind, nothing is cheap in Palau! My diving pickup was a 7.45am, so instead of paying an
extra night, I simply crashed into the lobby sofa.
Diving while not sleeping more than 2 hours is never an easy task. I did it before and the first input is that you breath through your tank way too fast. I'm doing three dives today. The good news, I must have improved through the years as my shortest dive was 48 minutes...and the two other ones closer to 60 minutes! Over the next 2 days it's 6 dives for me. Fun fact, the leading DM is a South African from Sodwana...it's a small world!
Over the next 2 days, we have dived world famous Blue Corner, Ulong Channel, German Channel and the next three were Siaes Tunnel, Siaes Corner and Turtle Cove. It is interesting to go back to Palau after 15 years. I realize that I'm a true spoiled diver/kid when it comes to dive the world. But I have to admit, Palau is still pretty impressive with the abondance of fishes below the water. Enjoy the pictures...water was 29 degrees, let's hope it doesn't get much warmer as with this year El Nino's, all the reefs are in danger of bleaching! Sad
reality!
My flight out of Palau is at 3am. Sadly this means it's impossible to dive the day before even if you only respect the 18 hours no-fly rule. Not a lot to do in Koror either. So I decided to rent a car for the day. This would allow me to save on the expensive 30usd and only 10 minutes taxi trip to the airport.
The small city of Koror is actually only a long single main road. Everything is happening around Koror, shops, hotels, etc. But North, where the airport is, lies the much bigger island of Babeldoab. The two islands are connected by a bridge. I drove around 200kms in a single afternoon. Went all around Babeldoab. Here it's mainly jungle all over the place and very few houses...but a very nice road...with some roads leading clearly to nowhere!
The most "interesting" part of Babeldoab is the Capitol of Palau. This is where the administrative capital of Palau is, in the area of Melekeok. In the middle of nowhere, they have built this "fake roman or not sure which style" crazy buildings! I stopped there at around 4pm
on a Friday afternoon. It was not a public holiday! But still, there were not a single soul around. Made it for a very weird experience walking around this ghost place! I cannot even imagine how much money has been wasted here. To note, not a single shop, restaurant or anything else around this place!
Hope you enjoy the pictures. More blogs will come over the coming days, I'm first moving East, jumping from Island to Island!
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