Malapascua Diving

Palau has been the dream of a lifetime for me, and so when I was offered the chance to do a liveaboard on Big Blue Explorer I jumped at the chance.

Palau is very close to the Philippines and is a perfect destination to combine with your next Malapascua or Philippines visit.

This trip was particularly exciting for me as I had been invited aboard a never-before-run trip, encompassing the ‘Best of the North and South of Palau.”  This is the blurb I received about the trip:

‘A year ago, the Big Blue was chartered by the Nature Conservancy for scientific research in the northern portion of Palau. Our dive professionals found dive sites that blew their minds. ” Think Blue Corner with Silver Tips…” 

This area is still largely un-explored but we have come up with an itinerary that combines the best of the most popular and well loved dive sites such as Blue Corner, Blue Holes, Ulong Channel, German Channel with the upcoming stars of Kayangel. We are working closely with the Governor of Kayangel to develop this attraction in hopes that income from the dive fees will make a significant impact on their efforts to preserve their marine resources.’

A few months ago, I met the Divemasters who were onboard the scientific expedition when they were diving with TSD and they attested to the amazing diving. The excitement was unbearable, I had to go…

Palau is just a short hop from the Philippines,  I didn’t realize it was only a 2.5 hour flight from Manila. The flights are reasonably priced at US$550 round trip, all inclusive, with an almost unheard of 46 kilo luggage allowance.

Soon after reaching Manila airport, I met up with some friends, some of whom were pleasant surprises. So it promised to be a fun trip.

We arrived in Palau at 2am, but yet were still met by bright eyed Boat Manager, Terry and Divemaster, Dave. This is Terry’s SEVENTH season on Big Blue in Palau and so he was our ideal host for the week long excursion.

I was in an elite dive group that included famous photographers and underwater journalists. I had left my D200 at home as I did not know about the enormous luggage allowance, and felt rather embarrassed to bring out my tiny Olympus point-and-shoot in front of them.  I am not worthy, I am not worthy…

In my dive group, unusually, 7 out of the 8 of us were of the female persuasion, and poor Carlos was mercilessly teased all week.  But he took it on the chin as did Terry who had to manage our rowdy bunch.

We had an easy first day’s diving on the Iro WWII wreck and the Lighthouse Channel wreck. These are located in the bays near Koror –  a whole fleet was sunk during WWII and for you wreck aficionados there are endless wrecks to explore.   I was amazed at the coral coverage on both wrecks.

Later in the day was the famous Chandelier Cave which is a very unusual series of 4 caverns containing stalactites, and open air spaces. You can pop up inside each one to breathe fresh air.

Palau also had a mandarin fish dive, but as I have seen a million mandarin fish in Malapascua (at least a million…), I skipped the dive in favor of a cocktail and relaxing first evening lounging on the deck.

Day 2 was the day we had all been looking forward to as we headed up through the North Passage into  (‘DUH-DU-DUUH!) undived territory.

We had two full days of – as I call them – CAPTAIN KIRK DIVES – to boldly dive where no man has dived before!!!

How exciting to dive this way in one of the world premier dive destinations.

The first dive was incredible. We dropped down and within a few minutes saw whitetips, grey reef sharks, and SILVERTIPS!!!   All at once!  The reefs were just stunning, incredible coral growth and amazing fish life.

For the next two days, we explored different parts of Kayangel and Velasco Reef. There was not another boat in sight, and why would there be? No one else ever comes here.  Yet…

The dives were variable.  Some were amazing, others were not so great. But as this was an exploratory trip that was to be expected. All the dives were all enjoyable as this was all new stuff and there is no such thing as a bad dive.

For our fourth day we headed south.  Finally it was time to dive the site I have been hearing so much about ever since I first became a diver. Possibly the most famous dive site in the world.  Can you think of one more famous? Answers on a postcard please.

BLUE CORNER HERE WE COME!

Blue Corner was everything it was promised to be and more.

For those of you unfamiliar with Blue Corner, it boasts ripping currents which bring with them incredible numbers of pelagics includes sharks, sharks, and more sharks. It is also the dive site that reef hooks were invented for.

We were carefully briefed in advanced of reef hook use and I assured by Paul that I would be an Expert Hooker by the end of the week (ba-boom).  I had never used a hook before and it was a novel experience, but once I had go the hang of it… what a great idea!  You hook onto a piece of rock (not coral!) which is attached to a rope which is attached to you. Pump a little air into your BCD and BINGO! You are floating motionless over the reef, facing into the current – at the forefront of the shark action. Prior to coming here I could not imagine how there was any reef left at Blue Corner with the daily onslaught of divers hooking on, but that is not the case.

Once the hooks had been sorted and I was sure I would not be swept away in the current, it was time to take my bearings.  Goodness me.

Whiteip sharks, grey reef sharks, Napolean wrasse, bumphead parrotfish, turtles, barracuda, tuna, spanish mackerel… the marine life just kept on coming at me. I put aside my camera for the most part and just enjoyed the show.

All too soon our no-deco time was coming to an end. We let loose our hooks and drifted towards the point of Blue Corner. Barracudas and schools of jacks were waiting for us as we made our way up to the surface. Great dive, and all the better from a liveaboard as our early morning start meant we were the only group there.

The rest of the day brought on more of Palaus most famous sites. German Channel (aptly named for the Germans who blasted through the reef in the Second World War) is a manta cleaning station. After waiting patiently and getting a manicure from a cleaner shrimp myself, the manta came in for his own turn and swooped right over my head. Always awed by the sight of a manta, I forgot to take any photos.

Blue Holes was a beautiful series of openings into a giant cavern.

Inside was my absolute favorite marine creature of the trip. DISCO CLAMS!!!

I had never heard of such a thing. This is not the best picture in the world but you can get the idea, and kind of see the electric running though the Venus Flytrap type opening.

After a little research I have found that it is actually more commonly known as an Electric Flame Scallop but was unable to find out much more solid information.

The first chance I get in Malapascua I am going straight to Gato Cave to see if I can find any. They were SO COOL!

There are a load of other sites and there were not enough hours in the day to fit them all in. Ulong Channel is another famous site with a hook on area for sharks and the largest terrace of lettuce coral in the world. Pelileu Express was one of my favorites due in part to the fighting turtles that materialized mere inches from my nose. And there are many more…

Last day, flying that night and sadly the diving was done. But there was still some snorkeling trips to do and we headed of first to the famous Jellyfish Lake. The thinking is that this slightly salty body of water was somehow isolated from the sea and the population of almost only jellyfish grew and grew, and without any predators they gradually lost their sting. They now feed from the xoothantehellae algae that live inside them and photosynthesize in a very similar manner to those in corals.

During our briefing Paul tried to explain what they are like and eventually reverted to base “It’s like swimming through a huge vat of silicon breast implants…” Nice.  But a perfect description.

We jumped in at the pier, that is home to one of the handful of other species that inhabit the lake – cardinalfish, known locally as ‘spitfish’ – you literally spit in the water and they dart over to devour your saliva!

After I had finished with the juvenile amusement of the spitfish, it was time to find me some jellies.   I started the snorkel and could see one or two here and there, and in a few minutes I could see literally thousands.  I simply could not believe how many were there.

Our final stop was in Clam City, an area which has a colony of cultured Giant Clams.

And after a beautiful speedboat ride around the amazing formations of “Rock Island” including a stop of at the famous arch of Palau, it was time to head back to the boat for a last meal and head home.

As well as the diving, everything about the trips was excellent, I can’t think of one bad point. The diving was well organized and the guides were all superb. The food was incredible and just kept on coming. It was a variety of mostly Western, Filipino and Chinese food. As this is a Filipino owned boat, the crew were all Filipino and everyone was amazing.  My personal favorite touch was the dude who made sure he wrapped a warm towel around me immediately after each dive. Even at the end of the trip when I went to wash my kit, I found it had already been done, even my SMB taken out of my pocket, unrolled, rinsed and dried.

It was a wonderful trip. I did some incredible diving, met some great people, ate (too much) yummy food and took some pretty poor photographs. But I have Carlos’ photos to remember it by as well. Can you believe we were seeing the same things??? I guess that’s why he gets the big bucks.

I plan to return as soon as I can.

If Palau has always been YOUR dream of a lifetime too, Big Blue Explorer is great way to fulfill that dream.

If you are interested in a trip like this, just let us know. We can book the whole thing for you including the flights from Manila. More details here.