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Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet in
Micronesia

Aggressor Fleet: "Excellent", Nov, 2022,

by gregory moore, ID, US ( 2 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 12303 has 1 Helpful vote.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Palau is the best overall diving location I have been to (I haven’t been to Indonesia or elsewhere in Southeast Asia), but I wouldn’t rank it at the top in any particular category. For example, we saw up to eight gray reef sharks (at one time) on numerous dives, but if you really want to see sharks, there are better places to do it. We saw two manta rays on each of two of four dives at German Channel, but, again, there are better places to see mantas. The coral at Palau is prolific and varied, but not very colorful (nothing like the Rainbow Reef at Fiji, for example). Palau does have a big variety of marine life and lots of schooling fish of many varieties. It also has terrific reef topography—numerous caverns that you can drop into as much as about 100 feet down through a chimney and then exit through a huge tunnel. The most famous is Blue Holes, but others that we dived during two weeks included Virgin Blue Hole, Sias’ Tunnel and Turtle Cove. Chandelier Cave was also very cool—enter at 18 feet depth, then pop up in four air pockets where you can remove your mask and check out the stalactites. It feels like a cave, but is technically a cavern since you can always see some light from the entrance. It’s suitable for divers without cave diving experience. We had one amazing dive during a plankton swarm when I was surrounded by thousands of fish while I watched a manta about 20 feet in front of me doing somersaults with its mouth open feeding on the plankton. We also had an impressive dive watching a red snapper spawning when hundreds of males massed around the females while they sped toward the surface releasing their eggs. Many of the dives at Palau are along walls, which are beautiful but pretty similar to one another. The diving at Palau is in more or less a lagoon, so other than one very stormy day, the water was quite calm.
I booked two weeklong dive trips in a row when Aggressor was offering Palau trips at half price. Considering the long trip to get there from the U.S., I was glad that I did. Five of the dives during the second week were new ones for me. I spent one week on the Palau Aggressor and one on the Rock Island Aggressor. The boats are identical. The cabins are roomy enough and the boats are very stable, apparently due at least in part to their catamaran hulls. The food on the Rock Island Aggressor was very good and on the Palau Aggressor was superb. The service on both boats was very good and the staff friendly, except for one somewhat hostile and unappreciated lecture we got on the Rock Island boat that appeared to be scolding all of us for the behavior of one diver.
Before booking a trip to Palau, I recommend thoroughly checking the flight schedules as they can be inconvenient from the U.S. The return flight leaves at 2 a.m. followed by an almost five-hour layover at Guam.
Websites Aggressor Fleet   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Caribbean, Galapagos, Socorro, Sea of Cortez, Fiji, Tuamotus
Closest Airport Koror, Palau Getting There From LAX, then overnight in Honolulu, then to Guam and Koror

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 80-83°F / 27-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-70 Ft/ 15-21 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Buddy diving ordered, but not enforced.
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 4 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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