Dive Review of Sam's Tours/Sea Passion in
Micronesia/Palau

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Sam's Tours/Sea Passion, May, 2012, by Robert S Kuhn, IL, US ( Contributor 14 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 6569 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We spent two weeks diving with Sam's Tours Palau in May 2012. Sam’s seems to be the dive operation of preference on Palau for English speaking divers. Get Nitrox certified before you go as you will enjoy maximum bottom time if you are with a group of easy breathers. Diving: The diving in Palau ranged from good to excellent depending on currents and tides with visibility from 30 – 80ft, water temperatures from 81 – 85F and dives depths from 50 – 100ft. Diving was done in a swimsuit or 3/2MM for those who are easily chilled. Palau diving is not for beginners as many dives had currents, drift diving conditions and even used reef hooks to stay on the reef. Good buoyancy control skills and dive computers are needed. Most of the dive operators in Palau use similar boats and dive the same sites. At times there were up to 5 boats in the same general area but never more than two groups at one specific dive site. Our favorite sites included: Peleliu, Blue Corner, Blue Hole, Ulong Channel and Siaes tunnel. We saw sharks on most dives and turtles on many dives. A Manta and Marble Ray was at the German Channel. The coral and walls are beautiful with amazing color, quality and quantity. Travel time to the sites ranged from 45 – 60 minutes (Peleliu is farther). It’s a pleasant trip through the rock islands. Sam’s Tours: The dive operations and Dive masters at Sam’s varied greatly. Our first week, Sam’s had 5 boats operational and the second week Sam’s had up to 12 boats going out. With 12 dive boats and over 100 divers Sam’s sometimes ran out of flash lights and not enough tanks available in DIN/Yoke valve and Nitrox/Air combinations. The rinse tank and dive locker at Sam’s are inadequate for the large number of divers they have and the rinse tank is sometimes used by little kids as their swimming pool (pee pee pool) There are no fresh water rinse showers in the boats. You had to request a camera tank and the Nitrox procedures are very lax. You must check the Nitrox and air fills for all your tanks before departing as several tanks were short fills. Nitrox is free at Sam’s and the Nitrox will allow you extended bottom time if you are lucky enough to get on a dive boat with other experienced divers you may enjoy dive times that exceed an hour depending on depth and air consumption. Arrive a day early and do a shore dive to check out your weight and dive gear. Many of the dive sites were repeated during our two week trip and there could been have been better dive site planning based on tide and currents. Make sure to request any special dives early in your trip as there is sometimes a required minimum to schedule. If you want to do three or more dives a day or night diving, you need to work this out in advance before you arrive on your intentions. We had much higher expectations for Sam's and with a little work Sam’s could be a phenomenal operation. Sea Passion: We booked a two week dive package through Sam’s Tours and stayed at the Sea Passion resort where Sam’s provides a daily morning pickup for divers at the Sea Passion dock. Sea Passion has a breakfast buffet (offering Asian and American options), A/C, Cable TV, large rooms, reverse osmosis water dispensers on each floor, nice pool, deck and small beach area. Internet is available in the lobby/breakfast area. There is a one time charge. Access was sometime slow, but we could always connect. Sea Passion and Sam’s Tours are a good combination and no car is needed for divers. There are at least 5 good restaurants within a 5 – 10 minute walk from Sea Passion.
Websites	Sam's Tours
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Philippines, Hawaii, Carribean, Grenada, Cayman, Belize, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St. Croix, Cozumel
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	81-85°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	30-80 Ft/ 9-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	Nitrox 32 or Air, You are not herded but the DM sets profile. Computers are highly recommended. Get Nitrox certified before you arrive.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Camera rinse tank available by request if there is room. Boats are not designed for camera storage with minimal space for cameras. With currents and limited space on boats, cameras are limited.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Sam's Tours/Sea Passion in Micronesia/Palau

Sam's Tours/Sea Passion, May, 2012,

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 Tours/Sea Passion in
Micronesia/Palau