Big Animals, Pristine Reefs and Conservation Done Right

Marine biologist and underwater pictures information Tiani Dun waxes lyrical about diving within the Palau Marine Sanctuary.

Last month I launched into the journey of a lifetime, on an expedition to Palau Marine Sanctuary. I used to be guiding an underwater pictures group with my expedition firm, Dive and More, and for sure, we weren’t disenchanted with our vacation spot of selection!

Palau is a number one nation in marine conservation, and has one of many largest Marine Protected Areas on the earth. With 80% of its waters absolutely protected against fishing and different damaging actions, the marine sanctuary is stored in pristine situation, supporting the economic system primarily by way of tourism, diving and snorkelling. The remaining 20% of the sanctuary is a home fishing zone, which permits conventional small-scale fishing for native consumption and restricted export. I had executed quite a lot of analysis on Palau earlier than our journey, and was excited to see the consequences of such a big protected space by way of my very own masks.

Getting to Palau and First Impressions

I opted for a 17-hour in a single day journey from Brisbane, with a fast layover in TaiPei. Qantas affords direct (solely six hour) flights from Brisbane, however sadly they solely fly on Saturdays, and the dates didn’t line up with my journey. So after a protracted journey, I arrived at a tiny airport in the course of the Pacific Ocean, excited for the journey to come back.

The air was heat after I stepped outdoors the airport. Our luggage had been fast to reach and my taxi driver greeted me holding an indication with my identify. I sat within the air-conditioned automotive whereas we waited for an additional diver to reach on the identical flight. Together, we headed to the (splendidly ocean-themed) Palau Hotel to relaxation earlier than our departure.

Things To Know About Palau

The airport in Palau is tiny, and it’s very laborious to get a taxi! Make positive you pre-book one together with your resort, a couple of in our group didn’t, and needed to wait a few hours to get a experience. If you possibly can, deliver some money (USD) with you while you arrive, as a result of quite a lot of the taxis solely take money. If you arrive within the daytime, you may as well ask your driver to cease previous an ATM.

Wifi on board most liveaboards might be patchy at greatest. You can purchase an area SIM card from the shop for a stronger sign whereas at sea, however you’ll nonetheless be with weak reception for a couple of of your days out. (We managed to solely get a weak sign from the highest deck on most days, and it was higher at night time). We obtained free copies of the waterproof Palau Manta Ray ID guides from the Neco Marine Dive store regionally.

More info on native manta rays is offered at no cost on the Manta Trust web site: www.mantaIDpalau.org

Seven Days of Diving within the Palau Marine Sanctuary

The subsequent day, we launched into the Black Pearl liveaboard, which, from the get-go, was an absolute delight. The inside lounge space was glowing, and all of our rooms (together with the bathe) supplied pristine ocean views. The employees and the meals had been unbelievable, and the format was effectively designed for diving and pictures alike. Our group may very well be incessantly noticed within the scorching tub, having fun with a cheese toastie and a juice after every dive.

We had been handled to seven of probably the most superb days above and under the ocean. From watching barrel-rolling manta rays to the snapper spawning occasion, to World War Two wrecks and a shark-feeding frenzy, Palau exceeded all of our expectations and extra! I’ve narrowed it all the way down to a listing of my high 5 favorite dives that shouldn’t be missed in case you plan a go to.

Top Dive Sites in Palau

German Channel

Known for its manta ray cleansing station, this web site was the undisputed favorite for our group. Here, we received our enamel cleaned by cleaner shrimp, and even encountered a juvenile leopard shark. After exploring bommies on the underside, we swam off into the blue, the place we had been rapidly encircled by faculties of big sweetlips and fusiliers. Suddenly, we encountered not one, not two, however 5 manta rays, barrel rolling and feeding between 5m-10m! We even noticed a manta soar out of the water and belly-flop! In my entire scuba profession, I’d by no means seen such a tremendous spectacle. This dive had us drooling into our regulators and coming again for much more manta motion the very subsequent day.

Blue Corner

Another web site we dived twice was Blue Corner. Located within the south of Palau, this web site is understood for its stronger currents that appeal to all kinds of species. Here, we hooked onto the reef to look at gray reef sharks education and feeding, which was like being in an underwater documentary! We then drifted throughout the underwater plateau, the place we witnessed education barracuda, jacks, triggerfish, crimson big-eyes, bumphead parrotfish, and that’s solely what I can keep in mind from the highest of my head! Living as much as its identify, the visibility right here was 30 metres plus on each of our dives, nonetheless we seen a unique number of species on the ingoing vs outgoing tides. The mixture of range and crystal clear water was wonderful for pictures, and I captured a few of my favorite photographs from this web site.

Shark City

This web site made it to my high three as a result of right here was the place we watched the crimson snapper spawning occasion. Every month across the full moon, the crimson snapper combination to spawn in an underwater spectacle! The snapper all swim as much as the floor to launch their eggs and sperm concurrently. We watched them altering colors (doubtlessly to camouflage or sign to mates), and we even noticed bull sharks getting concerned in all of the motion!

The snapper are inclined to spawn on an outgoing tide, in order that their eggs have the best probability of survival out within the open sea and away from predatory fish. They then settle again onto the reef as fish, to start out the cycle another time. If you possibly can’t make it in the course of the full moon, the humphead parrotfish spawning happens on a brand new moon. I might extremely advocate scheduling your liveaboard throughout one of many spawning occasions to witness these unbelievable phenomena!

Blue Holes – Light, Caverns and Atmosphere

With blue mild rays casting attractive mild beams down right into a deep cavern, the Blue Holes had been any underwater photographer’s dream panorama. To me, this was a really spectacular dive web site, and whereas there wasn’t a loopy quantity of fish to see, we did catch some sleepy sharks beneath a rock, numerous fairly sea followers, electrical clams and even just a little nudibranch within the cavern.

Ulong Channel and Palau’s Iconic Drift Dives

The coral gardens within the Ulong Channel are well-known for good cause. While drifting down the channel, we noticed sharks, rays, and an entire number of reef fish. The spotlight although was the picturesque corals, together with a huge Montipora coral we encountered on the finish of the channel. Aside from being attacked by a territorial triggerfish, this was a really enjoyable dive for our group.

Why Palau Is a Global Leader in Marine Conservation

I most likely wouldn’t have visited Palau if not for work. Now, it’s certainly one of my high locations (even perhaps my very high one) that I like to recommend to divers! Here, we skilled wildlife in its most-pristine situations, in among the greatest dives I’ve ever executed. To me, the consequences of the marine sanctuary had been very evident. Palau’s strategy to marine conservation serves for example for different nations to observe, and reveals how defending our seas can contribute not solely to rehabilitating marine life, but additionally to meals safety, financial development and resilience to local weather change. Do I miss it? Every rattling day. Did I contemplate selecting up my life and shifting over there? Perhaps. Will I be again? Absolutely.

Underwater Photography Setup for Palau Diving

On this journey, I used to be capturing with Sony A7C, 28-60mm equipment lens and wide-angle dome. I introduced alongside my 90mm macro lens, however solely ended up utilizing it for the one night time dive that we did. I used to be additionally testing out a brand new strobe – the Backscatter Hybrid Flash HF-1 from Underwater Australasia. Having shot primarily video prior to now, it was truly my first time utilizing a strobe. Without wanting to surrender on movies, I personally liked this strobe due to its functionality to do each! The mild was straightforward to arrange, and the batteries lasted me for 3 dives each day, so I solely wanted to cost them at night time. I positively felt that my images leveled up with this new addition to my underwater set-up.

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