Palau Aggressor II

Welcome aboard the Palau Aggressor II, the liveaboard dive boat offering a week-long scuba diving adventure to the beautiful island nation of Palau. Palau is located in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 500 miles (805 km) east of the Philippines, 900 miles (1,449 km) southwest of Guam, and 2,000 miles (3,200 km) south of Tokyo, Japan. The warm waters of Palau offer a rich marine environment that present an amazing variety of diving and snorkeling opportunities. Underwater you will experience unspoiled and spectacular reefs, caves, sheer walls, and blue holes, teeming with aquatic treasures such as lush, soft corals and huge anemones, jellyfish, sharks and much more. Remnants of World War II add to the diversity and thrill of your Palau adventure. Above water the tropical beauty, white sandy beaches, rainforest foliage, waterfalls, and azure lagoons provide an unparalleled vacation experience.

Palau, with its tropical climate, is pleasantly warm year round. Air temperatures can range from lows of 75°F (23.9°C) to highs of 88°F (31.1°C). Relative humidity hovers around 82%. Water temperatures are equally warm, averaging 82°F (28°C). Palau’s rainy season occurs from May to October. Because of the strong currents that can occur at several of the dive sites, Palau diving is recommended primarily for intermediate-level scuba divers. You may want to make 3-4 dives each day, including night dives, so we also recommend that you bring a 3mm wetsuit, which should offer sufficient protection and keep you comfortable.

Each week, the dive sites are selected by the boat’s captain, and may vary according to weather conditions and logistics. With a Sunday-to-Sunday itinerary, you will board the Palau Aggressor II on Sunday afternoon, and once you receive your dive briefing on Monday morning, your diving adventure begins and will last till the following Saturday at noon when the boat returns to port. In addition to unmatched scuba diving, guests aboard the Palau Aggressor II always enjoy excellent accommodations and delicious meals as part of their vacation package.

Palau has been distinguished by being named one of the Seven Wonders of the Underwater World, worthy of preservation and protection. There are few places on earth that can boast the diversity of marine life and variety of diving opportunities such as those in Palau. Much of the Palau Aggressor’s scuba diving occurs around the islands Koror and Peleliu, both of which are located within the same barrier reef.
During a typical week, your diving opportunities may include Blue Corner, Big Drop-off Wall, German Channel, and Siaes Tunnel.

Palau’s world famous Blue Corner dive site is one of the most requested dive sites of all, with its ridge that jets out to the ocean and then drops thousands of feet. Diving to approximately 90 feet (27m), you will see beautiful Gorgonian Fans, Eels, Soft Corals, and Anemones along the wall. Gray Reef Sharks cruise these waters, enjoying the strong currents that upwell from the depths. Eagle Rays and large Napoleon Wrasse also come to feed on the smaller fish and other marine organisms. You will also find White-tipped Sharks and schools of Barracuda, with Black Snappers and Jacks darting all around. You will want to have your camera along, as the Blue Corner site presents numerous photo opportunities. The strong, unpredictable currents make this an advanced dive.

With moderate to no currents, Big Drop Off wall is popular with both scuba divers and snorkelers. This sheer vertical wall drops straight down to 900 feet (274m), with visibility down to 100 feet (30 m) depending on the direction of the tides, and diving from 3 to 120 feet (1-40m). The entire top of the reef can be exposed when there is extreme low tide. You might be able to approach the Hawksbill Turtles, who like to rest and feed along the top of the reef. Visible along the bottom are Nurse and White-tipped Sharks. You will also find Yellowtail Fusiliers, Pyramid Butterflyfish, Moorish Idols, and Sargeant Majors along the top of the reef. Of interest in the dive area is a large chain connected to a six-foot (2m) steel sphere that was used during WWII for preventing the Japanese from entering the waterway that led to German Channel.

German Channel, a channel the Germans blasted and dredged through the barrier reef between the islands for shipping mined phosphate to town during their occupation of Palau from 1899 to 1914, funnels the incoming and outgoing tides from an inner lagoon to the ocean. Photo opportunities abound at the mouth of this channel which is home to virtually every form of marine life, including Manta Rays, Jacks, Barracudas, Trevally Fish, and Snappers. At the outside mouth of the channel there is also a cleaning station where Reef Sharks and Manta Rays gather to allow cleaner Wrasses and ButterflyFish to do their work. Diving at the cleaning station goes to approximately 60 feet (18m). The sandy bottom of this area slopes off to about 75 feet (23m) and contains scattered mounds of hard corals.

Siaes Tunnel, another amazing dive site, is situated along the west coast of the island of Koror. The entrance to the tunnel starts on a sheer wall at a depth of 75 feet (23m). The tunnel, which is 20 feet (6m) high and 52 feet (16m) wide, stretches for 164 feet (50m) and contains a huge cavern with depths ranging from 100 to 130 feet (30-40m). The inside walls of the cavern are covered with a number of soft and hard corals, and you might also spot White-tipped Sharks resting at the bottom. Exiting the cavern is done through a small exit hole which leads to the open ocean. At the exit divers will see Sting Rays, Turtles, Jacks, and a large variety of reef fish. Because of the depths, this is considered an advanced dive.

Other well-known sites the Palau Aggressor II may visit include Jellyfish Lake, Chandelier Caves, and Ulong Channel. Both on land and under water, you may explore any number of war-time relics reflective of Palau’s role in WWII’s Pacific theater, including the Peleliu War museum and the battlefields of Orange Beach and Bloody Nose Ridge.

To assure guests will be in close proximity of the finest dive sites Palau has to offer, all dives are made from the Palau Aggressor II’s high speed, outboard skiff. The expert crew assists passengers with their every need. You will need to provide proof of certification to the boat’s divemaster before making your first dive. The Aggressor Fleet strives to provide scuba divers and vacationers with the highest quality and most innovative liveaboard experience possible. Their dive boats afford guests both safety and comfort as they travel to the best diving locations around the world.