Matthew R.

I recently took a week long liveaboard dive trip to Palau, aboard Palau Aggressor II. I’m not sure I can say anything bad about the trip, except it ended too soon. Starting at the beginning… All of my flights were on time, without issue. Luggage even made it. Yayyyy!

The overnight stay at Cove Resort, before the sailing departure, was perfect. The transfer from the hotel was right on time. In fact, he even had to wait for me to get through Customs/Immigration. He waited patiently, and was very polite. As were all of the hotel staff I encountered. Great choice, for pre and post sailing. Now, the boat. I don’t know what these people get paid, but I’d have to say it isn’t enough. Every single one of the crew, from Capt. Jim on down, we’re amazing. They bent over backwards to make us as comfortable as possible, and to make it the best dive experience. They were all very interactive with the guests, and easily accessible. I’d definitely recommend this boat, if someone were looking at Palau. The diving provided me the exclusive Manta Ray’s. We tried a few times to see them at a sight, and sure enough, out of the blue come six of them. They circled us until our dive time was up. I’ve been so wanting to see one, and sure enough saw six. We were even lucky enough to experience Bump head Parrot Fish spawning. It’s an event that evidently takes place once a month, 3 days prior to the New Moon. We got it!!!!!  There were tons of them there. Lots of sharks, and turtles, and many other critters to see. All of the dive sites were amazing. A fair amount of current, but the dive masters had us at reef hook lines when it really counted. Few of us skipped a dive to take a land tour of the island of Peleliu. For those who don’t know, it’s a site of one of the nastiest battles in the Pacific. We saw lots of real battle sites and so many artifacts from the battle. Both in the the museum, and scattered all over the island. This experience was very surreal, to say the least. To be standing and walking around a place of such history really makes a person think. Thank you to our guide, and the crew of PAII for setting it up, and allowing us this side trip.

I hope this wasn’t too long winded.