Diving in Palau

On 18 Nov 2006 14:45:33 -0800, "bullshark" <bullshark@gmail.com> wrote:

>We've been here 3 days now.
>Staying at the Palau Pacific Resort, and can't say enough good about
>it.
>

Awaiting your full report when you return, since I'll be going in February and also staying
at the PPR.

>Dove with the house dive op yesterday (Splash), and did turtle wall and
>Blue Corner. I can't say anything good about the dive operator except
>that the people are nice, and the boats are fast, shaded and have lots
>of water. The diveguides were remarkably mediocre and apparently they
>never heard of a dive lasting more than 45 minutes. From conversation
>held with others, the short dives seem to be a common practice.

I'll be using Sam's Tours. They pick you up right on the PPR beach so that
should work out. Hopefully, they'll do better.

>This place is drop dead gorgeous. I hate to leave, but we have to board
>the Aggressor tonight.

How crowded at this time of year? What's the weather like (ie. how much percip.)?

>Finally, we leave the Aggressor for a week in Yap staying at the
>MantaRay Bay.
>
>The flights to Palau were arduous...far worse than flying to Bali.

What route did you take? I'm going CO 99 EWR-->HKG, and then CS HKG-->GUM and then
GUM-->ROR and back. And how long is the trip in total? I'll be going for roughly 1/2 a month
door to door.
____________________________________________
Regards,

Arnold

mag3 wrote:
> On 18 Nov 2006 14:45:33 -0800, "bullshark" <bullshark@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >The flights to Palau were arduous...far worse than flying to Bali.
>
> What route did you take? I'm going CO 99 EWR-->HKG, and then CS HKG-->GUM and then
> GUM-->ROR and back. And how long is the trip in total? I'll be going for roughly 1/2 a month
> door to door.
> ____________________________________________
> Regards,
>
> Arnold

EWR --> HKG --> GUM --> ROR = 8059 + 2096 + 817 = 10,972 miles

EWR --> HNL --> GUM = 4960 + 3804 = 8764
EWR --> LAX --> HNL --> GUM = 8902

The latter is 1253 miles shorter than the HKG eastern route.
Why are both you and the bullshark taking the longer route?

Unless you plan to stop and sightsee Hong Kong, the airport
in Kowloon has little or nothing to see. I am in Hong Kong now.

-- Reef Fish Bob.

true...the return to the U.S.A. (New York in my case) is a killer for me!
Somehow, going out there isn't so bad. But if it is Palau, I would prefer
the non-stop flight to Tokyo from JFK and then on to Guam where I would
overnight and then to Palau the next morning. I've done it the other way via
Honolulu, but it takes forever and is much more exhausting. For East Coast
people, I think that's the best route to Palau.

Greg Mossman wrote:

> "bullshark" <bullshark@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1163889933.378117.237850@m73g2000cwd.googlegr oups.com...
>
> > The flights to Palau were arduous...far worse than flying to Bali.
>
> You think getting out there was bad? Wait until the return flights: two
> red-eyes in a row. You'll have jet lag from hell, I promise.

Try taking Benadryl (that's what the USAF gave us aviators when were
passengers on a transport or commercial flight when we had long West
to East hops so we could rest and fly awake upon arrive), It actually
works to combat jet lag quite well! Give it a shot!

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 19:53:10 GMT, Daniel Kessler
<dkessler@pop.cybernex.net> wrote:

>true...the return to the U.S.A. (New York in my case) is a killer for me!
>Somehow, going out there isn't so bad. But if it is Palau, I would prefer
>the non-stop flight to Tokyo from JFK and then on to Guam where I would
>overnight and then to Palau the next morning. I've done it the other way via
>Honolulu, but it takes forever and is much more exhausting. For East Coast
>people, I think that's the best route to Palau.
>
>Greg Mossman wrote:
>
>> "bullshark" <bullshark@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:1163889933.378117.237850@m73g2000cwd.googlegr oups.com...
>>
>> > The flights to Palau were arduous...far worse than flying to Bali.
>>
>> You think getting out there was bad? Wait until the return flights: two
>> red-eyes in a row. You'll have jet lag from hell, I promise.

Bullshark: I'll be diving on the Palau Aggressor in January and look
forward to your full report. I'll also be diving with Sam's when land
based. By the way, did you book PPR your self or did you use a travel
agent. I'm having trouble locating an Agent with contacts at PPR. The
Aggressor office was not able to book the reservation for me.

Sport Diver lists some packages with PPR::

http://www.sportdiver.com/article.jsp?ID=43772

But you should just call or e-mail the hotel directly, they'll tell you
the scoop.

Looks like a really high-end place.


mag3 wrote:
> On 22 Nov 2006 22:01:51 -0800, "NJDiver" <NJDiver@aol.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >Bullshark: I'll be diving on the Palau Aggressor in January and look
> >forward to your full report. I'll also be diving with Sam's when land
> >based. By the way, did you book PPR your self or did you use a travel
> >agent. I'm having trouble locating an Agent with contacts at PPR. The
> >Aggressor office was not able to book the reservation for me.
>

On 23 Nov 2006 11:52:37 -0800, MetriRN@gmail.com wrote:

>Sport Diver lists some packages with PPR::
>
>http://www.sportdiver.com/article.jsp?ID=43772
>
>But you should just call or e-mail the hotel directly, they'll tell you
>the scoop.
>
>Looks like a really high-end place.

It is. Actually Bullshark was the OP but thanks anyway. I've booked my diving activities with Sam's Tours.
They pick up right on the beach at the PPR so same difference.

>> >Bullshark: I'll be diving on the Palau Aggressor in January and look
>> >forward to your full report. I'll also be diving with Sam's when land
>> >based. By the way, did you book PPR your self or did you use a travel
>> >agent. I'm having trouble locating an Agent with contacts at PPR. The
>> >Aggressor office was not able to book the reservation for me.
>>
____________________________________________
Regards,

Arnold

mag3 wrote:
> On 18 Nov 2006 14:45:33 -0800, "bullshark" <bullshark@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >We've been here 3 days now.
> >Staying at the Palau Pacific Resort, and can't say enough good about
> >it.
> >
>
> Awaiting your full report when you return, since I'll be going in February and also staying
> at the PPR.

> I'll be using Sam's Tours. They pick you up right on the PPR beach so that
> should work out. Hopefully, they'll do better.

Another couple dove with them and seemed happy with them.

> How crowded at this time of year? What's the weather like (ie. how much percip.)?

The resort was full. Weather was perfect. Sunny, breezy and dead flat
seas.
Water temp was 84-86F.

> What route did you take? I'm going CO 99 EWR-->HKG, and then CS HKG-->GUM and then
> GUM-->ROR and back. And how long is the trip in total? I'll be going for roughly 1/2 a month
> door to door.

We went FLL-IAH-HNL-GUM, 3+8.5+7.5+2=21 hrs in the air+ a couple more
on the ground.
CO was late, late, late all the way.
We walked off one plane and on to the other as they closed the doors.
Amazingly, four out of four checked bags made it too. I was impressed.

bullshark


> ____________________________________________
> Regards,
>
> Arnold

Reef Fish wrote:
> bullshark wrote:
> I did a shore dive at PPR because I had much better dives on the
> liveaboard ahead. It was surprisingly GOOD! Visibility wasn't much
> to crow about, but I saw some giant clams (a foot or two in size), and
> some colorful Pacific Reef Fishes on that shore dive.

Did a couple of those too. The coral is very sad. There are a few
butterflies and angels, but its hardly worth the trouble. Free diving
it is much better, since you can get access to the shallows on the
other side of the dock where we saw pipe horses (many) and a couple of
rare blennies as well as all the fish we saw on the shore dive.

> I think that's called the Manta Ray Resort.

No, bob, it's not. It's called just what I called it. "Manta Ray Bay
Resort". Do you really think that someone who travels all over the
world diving doesn't know where they are going, or where they are
staying?

http://www.mantaray.com/


>That was where I stayed on
> one of my trips because the flight schedule allowed only a 3 night stay
> there -- but I was sorely disappointed and was SICK of seeing the
> Mantas because for FIVE consecutive dives (in three days) the Manta Ray shop
> took the group back to the SAME spot to watch the same Mantas
> gliding over the same rock.

That's *your* failure, not theirs. Other dives are offered, you just
have to plan for it.

> Flight to Palau is a piece of cake on CO (Air Mike)

No it's not. Its a piece of shit. You might like like it, but not
everyone is you, bob.

>Flying to Bali (or back) on CO is pure hell.

Going to Bali by Singapore is not the best choice.

LAX-TPE-DPS - 19 hours total air time - two planes.
Coming East is always bad.

> The next generation of flying -- the Airbus 780 had its debut landing
> in Kowloon (Hong Kong) yesterday on its test flight (with the crew of 78).
> It's passenger capacity is over 800.

Do you mean the A380? Or are those bankrupt jerks trying to design
another behemoth that nobody wants? They are behind schedule, over
budget, overweight and airlines are cancelling orders for the 380 right
and left. If they ahve another one in the works they eill likely be Out
of Business before they deliver it.

bullshark

bullshark wrote:
> > Why are both you and the bullshark taking the longer route?
>
> Uhhh...what makes you think I took a longer route?
> I said the flights were arduous, I didn't say what route I took.

True. Mag3 took the HKG route which would be arduous.
I don't see anything arduous (for a frequent traveller of course,
but I can see why it's arduous for bullshark).

You later wrote:

bs> We went FLL-IAH-HNL-GUM, 3+8.5+7.5+2=21 hrs
bs> in the air+ a couple more on the ground.

You didn't even realize you left out ROR after GUM, which
was what the last 2 hours was.

Less than 24 hours total? That's a piece of cake, as I had
said initially.

-- Reef Fish Bob.