Australia-Palau Connector – Diving Palau Has Never Been Easier!

With the recently introduced Australia-Palau Connector flights on Air Niugini, it’s never been faster cheaper – or easier – to get to Palau. Here’s everything you need to know.

Thanks to the Australia-Palau Connector, divers can now enjoy a streamlined journey from Brisbane to Palau, arriving refreshed and ready for adventure.

Australia-Palau Connector flights depart Brisbane every Tuesday, flying directly to Palau with a short stop in Port Moresby, and a total flight time of around eight hours.

Palau by Liveaboard

There is a decent choice of liveaboards in Palau, ranging in pricing, and style, from the traditional Phinisi-style Palau Siren to the luxurious Black Pearl. For travelers flying via the Australia-Palau Connector, many liveaboards offer pick-up directly from the airport, making it simple to start diving immediately.

While the Tuesdayto-Tuesday turnaround doesn’t always work for these, if you have two weeks to spare, it’s worth looking into a combination of land-based and liveaboard diving.

For a seven-day liveaboard trip that works with these flights – check out the September and October trips on Ocean Hunter III – starting from only US$2,900 pp twin share.

Ocean Hunter will pick you up on arrival Tuesday evening, take you straight to the boat and you’ll be diving the next morning – four to five dives for six days – before flying back to Brisbane the following Tuesday evening.

Land-based Dive/Stay Packages

The cheaper way to dive Palau is to start with a prepaid Dive/Stay package and add to it if necessary. Dive centres in Palau including Neco Marine, Sams Tours and Fish n Fins offer packages with accommodation, with transfers included – and as the diving here can be challenging, packages normally include free Nitrox.

Choose from a broad selection of hotels, from Budget to Luxury. If you are travelling solo, you may need to pay a single supplement.

When to Dive Palau

The visibility is great year-round, but while it is often 40 metre plus (aside from the wreck dives) during July to September, it can sometimes drop to around 15-20 metres. Expect the best conditions between November and April.

What can you expect to see?

If you like ‘Big Stuff’, Palau is the capital of big stuff. These fiercely protected waters are home to a healthy population of pelagic marine life – sharks, mantas – and lots of exciting sexy underwater events.

It’s one of the best places in the world to dive with sharks, mantas and big schools of pelagic fish including barracuda, snapper and bump head parrot fish.

There are exciting marine events throughout the year that happen in the lead up to full moon and new moon weeks, including mass snapper, bumphead parrotfish, Moorish idol and orange spine unicornfish spawning aggregations. We can help you time your trip to witness these unique events.

But wait! There’s more! For lovers of rust, Palau’s lagoons (and jungles) are littered with World War Two wreckage, including a few largely intact planes. Sharks, sharks and more sharks, natural wonders like Jellyfish Lake and the magnificent Chandelier Cave.

This article was originally published in Scuba Diver ANZ #61

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