Dive Review of Sam's, Neco/Cliffside Inn in
Micronesia

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Sam's, Neco/Cliffside Inn, Aug, 2005, by NEAL LANGERMAN, CA, United States ( Contributor 17 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 2621.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	UNDERCURRENT COMMENTS (Note: This is the first part of four entries covering a five week trip to Micronesia in July of 2006) Palau – Land-based My wife and I have more than 65 years of diving experience between us around the world on live-aboard and land-based operations. We dived Palau on a land-based basis for three days before and four days after a week on the Palau Aggressor II. During the seven days we dove with both Sam’s and Neco Marine. In general both operations were good, though our Sam’s guide – Daniel – connected with us and really provided an exceptional experience on the three days we dove with him. Both operators picked us up at our hotel and provided lunch, along with the diving. The rides out to the outer reef – “Blue Corner”, “New Drop-off” and “Blue Holes” was long and often bumpy, but well worth the ride. The large pelagics and the soft corals were spectacular. Visibility was good, but milky. This caused low contrast which contributed to difficult photography. The overall quality of the dive experience was totally dependent on the guide, not the operator. Once we met Daniel, we stayed with him and had excellent dives. Neco provided a guide named Marcel who did a great job of showing us the reef walls. The next day, Neco provided a guide named “Greg” who was on his last day of employment as a guide. Conditions were rough and we could not go to the outer reefs. He insisted we do a live-prop entry along a wall called “Short Drop-off”. I refused to allow my wife and me to do a back-roll entry off of a skiff with the prop engaged and turning. After an ugly confrontation, Greg agreed to have the engine killed just before we entered the water. While Greg was leading the dives, he lost the group immediately, and never looked back. He is an example of the type of dive guide one never should dive with. We stayed at “Cliffhouse”, a rustic inn outside of Koror. The accommodations were very comfortable and the staff was extremely helpful. The location looks out over a lovely lagoon, and the poolside bar – if open – is a beautiful place to relax. This was a really nice place to stay while visiting Palau. All in all – a week of land-based diving in Palau gave us some superb dives and excellent photography. (see www.sharneal.com)
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Around the world; see related reports on Palau Aggressor, Yap and Pohnepei
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy	Seas	surge
Water Temp	82-85°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	2
Water Visibility	50-200 Ft/ 15-61 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Nitrox Limits or Sport Diving Limits
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	The boats had a semi-secure location for cameras, but I would up lap-holding my housing to prevent damage during the long rough rides out to the outer reefs

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Dive Review of Sam's, Neco/Cliffside Inn in Micronesia

Sam's, Neco/Cliffside Inn, Aug, 2005,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Sam's, Neco/Cliffside Inn in
Micronesia