1. Stunning Coral Reefs: Palau has some of the most beautiful and diverse coral reefs in the world, with over 700 species of coral and 1,500 species of fish.
2. World-Class Wrecks: Palau is home to some of the most impressive wreck dives in the world, including the famous Japanese supply ship, the Iro Maru.
3. Manta Rays: Palau is one of the few places in the world where you can consistently see manta rays year-round.
4. Shark Action: Palau is famous for its shark diving, with opportunities to see a variety of species, including grey reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks, and even hammerhead sharks.
5. Jellyfish Lake: Palau is home to Jellyfish Lake, where you can swim with millions of non-stinging jellyfish.
6. World Heritage Site: Palau's Rock Islands were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012 due to their natural beauty and ecological significance.
7. Unique Dive Sites: Palau has a range of unique dive sites, including Blue Corner, which offers the opportunity to dive in a strong current and see large schools of fish.
8. Underwater Caves: Palau has a number of underwater caves and swim-throughs that offer a unique and exciting diving experience.
9. Conservation Efforts: Palau is committed to marine conservation and has created a number of marine protected areas to ensure the sustainability of its diving industry.
10. Diverse Marine Life: Palau's diverse marine life includes not only coral and fish, but also a variety of invertebrates, reptiles, and mammals, such as sea turtles and dugongs.
These are just a few of the reasons why Palau is a world-class diving destination that should be on every diver's bucket list.
Palau liveaboard diving is consistently chosen as one of the world's premiere diving destinations by several international diving publications, Palau features enchanting topside topography as well as breathtaking underwater landscapes. Experience big fish action at the Blue corner and New drop off. Shafts of light cutting through deep shadows create a near-religious experience at the Blue holes, German channel, Chandelier cave, Pelieu, Siaes tunnel, Ulong channel, Wrecks and many more Palau offers some of the most unique holiday possibilities: its natural beauty and untouched wilderness, intact culture, remoteness and stability combine to offer a fantastic destination for adventure seekers.
The spectacular walls along the barrier reef, including such favorites as Blue Corner, Ulong Channel, Big drop-off and many other sensational offer dive sites yet to be charted. You can expect mostly wall and drift diving with visibility ranging from 20m / 70 feet to 50m / 150 feet depending on prevailing conditions.
All our boats are liveaboards for people enthusiastic or serious about their diving but also welcome snorkellers and non-divers who will have their own separate itinerary.
It is located between Guam, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. Palau is a 400-mile long archipelago, which hosts one of the world's most unique phenomena - " Rock Island". These mushroom like islets are uninhabited and located in a large lagoon that has a vast concentration of corals, fish and other marine life. White sand beaches, lush jungle and remote waterfalls are just among the highlights of Palau.
The islands of Micronesia are scattered over three million square miles of the North Pacific. Palau is the Pacific’s newest nation, a Mecca for divers and home of the exquisite Jellyfish Lake. The Republic of Palau lies east of the Philippines and comprises of some 350 islands. They are grouped in six clusters stretching to 400miles from North to South, Kayangel Atoll to Tobi Islands.
Palau is world renowned as an unsurpassed dive destination that also offers the sublime Rock Islands, dramatic waterfalls, pristine white sand beaches and some of the most intriguing native flora and fauna found anywhere in the Pacific Ocean. Explore the beauty of Palau with the Big Blue explorer.
Palau has been described as one of the Seven Underwater Wonders of the World, with 700 species of coral and 1,200 species of identified fish. Palau provides some of the best diving to be found in Micronesia and ideally is suited for advanced divers.
The spectacular walls along the barrier reef, including such favorites as Blue Corner, Ulong Channel, Big drop-off and many other sensational offer dive sites yet to be charted. You can expect mostly wall and drift diving with visibility ranging from 20m / 70 feet to 50m / 150 feet depending on prevailing conditions.
Kudarah Thila
Type of dive: Reef dive
Description: One of the best dive sites for soft coral and fish life.
The marine life here is so abundant, that the divers have named it ‘fish soup’. The thila is in a circular shape and can be covered in a single dive at different depths, if the current is not very strong.
Maaysa Thila
Type of dive: Reef dive / Night dive
Description: The thila is about 80mters in diameter.
The whole thila can be done at different depths in a single dive. There are manycaves and overhangs around the thila. The large rocks on the north eastern side have large black coral trees growing on them. The site is famous for the sharks and a great barracuda which reside here. The site can be dived at any time of the day, each with different activity going on the reef. The best chance to get close to these creatures is at night time, when they are hunting. You will see sharks, barracudas, rays and eels trying to grab a morsel.
Bathala Maaga Kanthila
Type of dive: Drift dive
Description: The northern tip of Magaa reef extends into Bathalaa Kandu and is home to a number of grey reef sharks and white-tip reef sharks. They can be seen patrolling along the reef looking for food.
Maalhos Thila (Blue Curves)
Type of dive: Drift dive / Reef dive
Description: The thila is known for the abundance of soft coral growth on the thila, particularly the blue/violet colored variety that grows on the ceiling of the caves and overhangs, thus the name ‘blue caves’. In addition a large variety of fish life can be observed here.
Rasdhoo Madivaru
Type of dive: Drift dive / Channel dive
Description: The reef on the southern side of Rasdhoo drops vertically to the ocean depths. The site is home to a school of Scalloped Hammerhead sharks (sphyrna lewini). In the early hours of the morning they rise from the deep waters off the atoll into the shallower depths, accessible to divers.
South Male Atoll - some of the more popular dive sites
Guraidhoo Kandu South
Type of dive: Drift dive / channel dive
Description: Since the eastern side of the channel is Open Ocean, large predatory fish can regularly be spotted here. This site is famous for sightings of sharks, schools of eagle rays and the occasional Sail fish and Hammerheads. The best condition to do the dive is when the current is flowing into the Atoll. The dive begins on the outer reef following the current into the atoll. Most of the pelagic species can be observed on the eastern side, where the reef drops off into the deep ocean.
At the end of the dive in the channel, along the reef you can find overhangs with plenty of soft coral growth and small fish.
Kandooma Thila
Type of dive: Drift dive / reef dive
Description: Located in a channel, the reef is subject to strong currents at times. The ocean currents carry lot of nutrients to the reef, supporting an abundance of sea life.
The site is well renowned for the soft coral growth, turtles, diverse fish life and invertebrates found on the reef. At the reef slope you may find sharks and eagle rays.
Embudu Kandu (Express)
Type of dive: Drift dive / channel dive.
Description: Similar to Guraidhoo Kandu, but more sharks are likely to be spotted here.
The currents can be very strong at times. The stronger the current however the better chance of seeing sharks. Under the guidance of an experienced dive guide, the dive can be managed done easily.
Raja Ampat (or the Four Kings) is an archipelago consisting of the islands of Misoool, Salawati, Batanta, and Wiageo which are surrounded by over 1,500 small islands and cays. Formerly known as Irian Jaya, this area is now part of the newly named West Papua province of Indonesia and is located on the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula, on the island of New Guinea.
Put simply, Raja Ampat could quite possibly be the best diving in the world. It certainly is the world's most bio diverse marine region with more recorded fish, coral and mollusc species than anywhere else on Earth. The variety of marine life can be staggering. Some areas boast enormous schools of fish and regular sightings of sharks, such as wobbegongs. In Mansuar, you may encounter large groups of manta rays and turtles. From the boat and often close to shore you may get the chance to don your snorkelling gear for some unforgettable interaction with resident pods of dolphins or even some passing whales. Other highlights include the innumerable war wrecks, both ships and planes (with new wrecks being discovered constantly).
The reefs of Raja Ampat are just as varied as the marine life. There are vertical walls, reef flats, slopes, sea mounts, mucky mangroves, lagoons and pinnacles. The reefs are in pristine condition with miles of perfect hard corals and many varied colourful species of soft corals. The diving is predominantly drift dives due to the moderate prevalent currents in the area which provide nutrients for the myriad fish and coral. Currents are average to moderate and vary from none to very strong. Visibility is normally very good but can vary and is normally at its best earlier in the day so your pre-breakfast dives are not to be slept through!
This is truly "Frontier Diving". Topside the beautiful islands stretch as far as you can see and are largely uninhabited. At night the lights of local fishing boats twinkle in the dark along the few inhabited shorelines while in more remote areas you may only see a distant spec of light over the entire horizon.
Raja Ampat has a high season from October to May and weirdly enough it is during their rainy season due to the winds in the dry season making parts of the park inaccessable.
The rainy season should not be mis-construed though. It is generally mostly a shower in the late afternoon and evening and most of the time the days are nice, wind is minimal and the skys are generally clear or slightly over cast.
The seas are calmer at this time of the year as the oppposite season has winds that kick up waves and make it very difficult to dive the more exposed sites in the Southern part of Raja Ampat.
The water temperature stays roughly the same around the 27-30 degrees celcius mark all year round.
Recently, due to the popularity of Raja Ampat, a lot of boats have been running trips in the so called low season (May to October) and this is also the dry season and so promotes nicer weather and better visibility but the trade off is that only the northern more sheltered part of the park is accessable due to higher winds and waves but as the area is so vast and there are so many quality dive sites the reports from these northern trips have been glowing so far and there are new dive sites being discovered all the time.
Diving in Komodo is not a new idea but recently it's being recognised as a premier destination due to the awesome variety of diving to be had.
Crystal clear water and dive sites where you never see another diver provide a little something for everyone whether it's macro or massive you love.
One day you can be crawling along the bottom looking at pygmy seahorses, frogfish and unusual nudibranch and the next you are in the big blue on an open water pinnacle as the mantas fly by, the sharks circle and the dolphins hunt and the next day diving a live volcano!!
For sheer variety there is no better place on earth.
Komodo is one of the few places left in the world where sharks are not rare and down south is one of the places where manta rays have their legendary aggregations, meaning they are here in the area in their hundreds!!!
One of the highlights of these trips is the rare opportunity to walk with the lengendary Komodo dragons.
These truly awesome beasts can reach 3 metres plus and can reportedly run at 20km an hour chasing their prey. It's the icing on the cake, Stunning diving and one of the world's last surviving dinosaur descendants all one amazing package.
Covering the best of both worlds, from up close and personal with aggragating mantas to shy pygmy seahorses and rare nudibranches Komodo diving has it all.
The beauty of Komodo liveaboard diving is in the balance between the large and small animals. One day you will be in the blue swimming with mantas and sharks and the next swimming along a bubbling volcanic reef covered with venting submerged fumeroles blowing bubbles into the water and hiding one of the worlds best kept secret macro dive sites.
In North Komodo the water temperature is normally 27-29°C. Around Southern Komodo and Rinca Islands the water temperature drops can drop a bit to 22-26°C. A 5mm long suit is advised and hood and booties are strongly recommended for the southern area.
These are some of the top sites that most liveaboards visit.
Angel reef, Moyo, Sumbawa diving
We start our Komodo liveaboard with the first dive of the trip and the check out dive. This dive site doesn't disappoint. A beautiful wall stretching down to 50 metres covered in hard and soft corals very reminiscent of Bunaken in North Sulawesi. Schools of bannerfish and trevally patrol the walls with the occasional reef sharks making an appearance. Ribbon eels hide in crevices and many different nudibranchs crawl over the vast elephant ear sponges that hang from the beautiful soft coral infested wall.
Satonda island bay
A protected bay on Satonda island north of Sumbawa hosts a treasure trove of macro critters, the more we dive here the more we find. The rare Denise pygmy seahorse lives in fans here, frogfish hang out in big barrel sponges and ghost pipefish hide amongst the featherstars that cover the reef slope. In the sandy bottom you can find jawfish with their mouths full of eggs, myriads of anemonefish, mushroom coral pipefish and spearer mantis shrimps.
Sangeang island diving
Sangieng island is a perfectly round volcanic island jutting up from the sea bed. Still active and last blowing in 1996 this well kept secret is one of the world's finest macro dive areas. With diving available all around the island there is not one specific spot but always new ones to be discovered. Bubbles of volcanic gas seep through the sand creating a surreal atmosphere and a warm black sand bottom hosting rare and unusual nudibranch. Pygmy seahorses, frogfish, Pegasus sea moths and carnivorous shells and all common here, this is my personal favourite dive site as every time we dive here there is a surprise in store of something new that is often not in the books - this site is why you go Komodo liveaboard diving.
Gps point - Gili Banta diving
Gps point is an open sea mount prone to strong currents at certain times of the day. This provides prolific hard and soft coral growth that is home to hundreds of different types of reef fish. Loved by sharks, white tip sharks cruise around the whole dive in amongst the hunting giant trevallies and schooling jacks and surgeon fish, an exciting dive.
Takat Toko, Gili Lawalaut diving
This is one of my favourite sites on the Komodo liveaboard itinerary and is very similar to Gps point this site takes it to the next level. Grey reef shark, white tip sharks, occassional dolphins and a literal fish soup created by jacks, surgeonfish, giant trevallies and bannerfish surround this large sea mount as you hang on to the reef edge and watch the action. Again this site is prone to strong currents but we time our dives to hit around slack tide and a little current brings in the big fish. Great pelagic action, my favourite blue water dive.
Lighthouse reef, Gili Lawalaut diving
An adrenalin pounding drift dive along the wall and around the corner under the lighthouse. Sharks, mantas, dolphins are all frequent visitors on the dive with some of the best coral reef top in the area around the corner out of the current at the end of the dive you can hunt for porcelain crabs, cuttlefish and unusual seahorses whilst waiting for the adrenalin to funnel out of your system and your heart rate to return to normal-this is what Komodo liveaboard diving is all about!.
Crystal rock, Gili Lawalaut diving
A stunning soft coral and sea fan covered pinnacle with crystal water clarity this is a great site for those magazine cover wide angle shots. With at least 5 different types of angelfish, 4 types of trigger and butterflyfish everywhere it is a excellent reef fish dive with frequent visits from eagle and manta rays and the resident sleepy hawksbill turtle.
Pink beach, Komodo diving
Colder water and lower vis here due to the huge amounts of organic matter in the water due to the southern currents but this is more than made up for by the astounding life available to see here due to this phenomenon. Normally done as a night dive it also makes a good day dive with everything from white tip sharks to pygmy seahorses; zebra crabs, Coleman shrimp, many coloured frogfish, xeno crabs, Spanish dancers, and unusual nudibranchs are hidden amongst the dense coral growth.
Cannibal rock, Rinca island diving
Colder water than the north but touted by many as one of the worlds best 10 sites, yes I know there seems to be way more than 10 "top 10 sites" but this one really is one if you like macro. Everything is here even the rarest of the rare, the Rhinopias scorpionfish. It's nudi heaven with only the special and the rare getting to appear here, more species than I care to mention along with large and different frogfish mixed in with schools of fish and the resident dopy turtle we do 2 dives here and it's still not enough!! You will love it, I personally adore this dive site.
Torpedo alley, Rinca island diving
Just next to cannibal rock and where the boat moors is a beach that has wild pigs, monkeys and Komodo dragons in the daytime and hosts a myriad of critters in the waters in front if it at night. Named for the large amount of torpedo rays found here, a member of the electric ray family- no touching! They cover the sandy bottom along with loads of nudis obvious on the black sand bottom along with bizarre crabs and octopus.
Manta alley, Komodo diving
In the cooler waters in the south of Komodo there is a bay in which there are a series of pinnacles that seem to be a magnet for aggregating mantas. They are here in their tens, often we come up having seen over 20 different individuals. Often a little shy, their evasive spins and pirouettes makes the watching of them that much more enjoyable.
Takat Makassar, Komodo diving
This is our other manta site. A little bit more of a risk to see them as it is a huge area and we drift along the bottom in about 10 metres but along the way we always run into loads of turtles, napoleon and humphead wrasse, white tip sharks and very very occasionally you will be incredibly lucky and run into the resident dugong that inhabits this area along with scores of mantas as they migrate north.
3 sisters, Padar island diving
A series of underwater pinnacles reaching nearly to the the surface off the coast of Padar island next to Komodo this site constantly springs surprises on you from silvertip sharks and mobular ray schools to marbled rays and rare nudibranchs.
Maldives dive sites
Kudarah Thila
Type of dive: Reef dive
Description: One of the best dive sites for soft coral and fish life.
The marine life here is so abundant, that the divers have named it ‘fish soup’. The thila is in a circular shape and can be covered in a single dive at different depths, if the current is not very strong.
Maaysa Thila
Type of dive: Reef dive / Night dive
Description: The thila is about 80mters in diameter.
The whole thila can be done at different depths in a single dive. There are manycaves and overhangs around the thila. The large rocks on the north eastern side have large black coral trees growing on them. The site is famous for the sharks and a great barracuda which reside here. The site can be dived at any time of the day, each with different activity going on the reef. The best chance to get close to these creatures is at night time, when they are hunting. You will see sharks, barracudas, rays and eels trying to grab a morsel.
Bathala Maaga Kanthila
Type of dive: Drift dive
Description: The northern tip of Magaa reef extends into Bathalaa Kandu and is home to a number of grey reef sharks and white-tip reef sharks. They can be seen patrolling along the reef looking for food.
Maalhos Thila (Blue Curves)
Type of dive: Drift dive / Reef dive
Description: The thila is known for the abundance of soft coral growth on the thila, particularly the blue/violet colored variety that grows on the ceiling of the caves and overhangs, thus the name ‘blue caves’. In addition a large variety of fish life can be observed here.
Rasdhoo Madivaru
Type of dive: Drift dive / Channel dive
Description: The reef on the southern side of Rasdhoo drops vertically to the ocean depths. The site is home to a school of Scalloped Hammerhead sharks (sphyrna lewini). In the early hours of the morning they rise from the deep waters off the atoll into the shallower depths, accessible to divers.
South Male Atoll - some of the more popular dive sites
Guraidhoo Kandu South
Type of dive: Drift dive / channel dive
Description: Since the eastern side of the channel is Open Ocean, large predatory fish can regularly be spotted here. This site is famous for sightings of sharks, schools of eagle rays and the occasional Sail fish and Hammerheads. The best condition to do the dive is when the current is flowing into the Atoll. The dive begins on the outer reef following the current into the atoll. Most of the pelagic species can be observed on the eastern side, where the reef drops off into the deep ocean.
At the end of the dive in the channel, along the reef you can find overhangs with plenty of soft coral growth and small fish.
Kandooma Thila
Type of dive: Drift dive / reef dive
Description: Located in a channel, the reef is subject to strong currents at times. The ocean currents carry lot of nutrients to the reef, supporting an abundance of sea life.
The site is well renowned for the soft coral growth, turtles, diverse fish life and invertebrates found on the reef. At the reef slope you may find sharks and eagle rays.
Embudu Kandu (Express)
Type of dive: Drift dive / channel dive.
Description: Similar to Guraidhoo Kandu, but more sharks are likely to be spotted here.
The currents can be very strong at times. The stronger the current however the better chance of seeing sharks. Under the guidance of an experienced dive guide, the dive can be managed done easily.
Some of the most frequently asked questions about Maldives Diving
When is the Best time to Go / Maldives Dive Seasons
About Maldives Diving and the Dive Sites
How to get to the Maldives
The top 10 reasons to join a Liveaboard in the Maldives
What are the advantage of a Liveaboard over Shore diving
Are these trips suitable for non-divers / snorkellers
Some of the most frequently asked questions about Indonesian Diving
When is The Best time to Go
Raja Ampat Diving and the Dive sites
Komodo Diving and the Dive sites
The top 10 reasons to join a Liveaboard in Raja
What are the advantage of a Liveaboard over Shore diving
Are these trips suitable for non-divers / snorkellers
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