Day
1
Australia-Taipei
Depart Australia for Taipei and stay overnight at a hotel near the airport.
Curse the human anatomy – Palau is the kind of place where a set of gills would be really useful. A marine playground dubbed ‘the underwater Serengeti’, Palau is a tropical paradise of 200 idyllic islands, shimmering beaches and world-class dive sites every bit as wonderous as you imagine. As diverse as it is beautiful, the seascape encompasses everything from sheer reef walls and swim throughs, to canyons, caves and WWII shipwrecks. The waters are teeming with more than 1400 species of reef fish and 700 types of corals, as well as sharks, turtles and manta rays. With interval time at the luxurious Palau Pacific Resort, this conference is a must for scuba diving enthusiasts.
Day
2
Taipei-Palau
Land in Palau in the evening and check in to Palau Pacific Resort. You won’t know it yet, but you have arrived in Paradise. Just wait to see what the morning brings.
Day
3
Palau Pacific Resort
Pull back the curtains and be spellbound by the tropical island oasis you will call home for the next week. Take it all in over breakfast, before hitting the water for the first of many dives.
Palau is one of the world’s greatest dive destinations, and you’re about to discover why. The western Pacific archipelago has it all – pristine reefs, spine-tingling drop-offs, thrilling drift dives, chilling WWII shipwrecks and enough marine life to justify packing an extra memory card for your underwater camera. Don’t worry if you haven’t wet your mask and BC for a while, this morning is a relaxed dive so we can assess everyone’s underwater abilities and get comfortable with our gear.
Afternoon conference session
Enjoy welcome drinks by the pool and get to know your fellow delegates – now that there’s no regulator in your mouth.
Day
4
Palau Pacific Resort
Yesterday was a warm up, today we’re ratcheting up the underwater thrills with three dives that will reinvigorate you log book. If the conditions are right, we’ll visit Blue Corner, one of Palau’s most famous dive sites. Here, an underwater peninsula festooned with corals and bursting with marine life, tapers to a point and then drops away into the abyss. See leafy scorpionfish, nudibranchs, lionfish, parrotfish, reef sharks and schools of snapper and barracuda. If you’re lucky, you may even spot a hammerhead, whale shark or manta ray.
Soak up the sun during our surface interval before our next dive, which just might be Chandelier Cave. Like something out of a Disney fairytale, the cave is as majestic as the name implies – think limestone columns and stalactites descending from the ceiling of vast underwater caverns. The five caves are gin-clear and reasonably shallow (10 metres), and the roof is dry, so you can even ascend for an above-water view and a breath of fresh air.
After lunch (diving always makes us so hungry), pull your wetsuit back on for the third dive of the day – likely to be German Channel. The history of the site is almost as remarkable as the dive itself: in 1911 the Germans blasted and dredged a channel through the reef to enable the safe passage of shipments of valuable guano (bird droppings used as phosphate). Today it’s a popular cleaning station for manta rays, which glide up and down the channel, stopping by patches of sand seabed to offload parasites courtesy of dutiful cleaner wrasses.
Day
5
Palau Pacific Resort
You’ve been dry for more than 12 hours – it’s definitely time to get back in the water. This morning we’ll let the conditions dictate our dive, but Helmet Wreck is always a good option. The 60-metre long unidentified supply vessel lies upright in Malakal Harbor and is encrusted with coral. See the gun barrel and gun mount and explore the cargo hold, littered with ammunition, rifles and helmets (hence the name).
Afternoon Conference session
Day
6
Palau Pacific Resort
Another day, another dive. This time we might visit Peleliu Wall, one of the most beautiful wall dives in Palau. Located off the island of Peleliu, the wall is pockmarked with deep canyons and crevices, each quivering with profusions of colourful corals and giant sea fans. The site is a haven for blue-water species, so keep your eyes peeled for orcas, silvertip sharks and other large creatures of the deep.
Afternoon Conference session
Day
7
Palau Pacific Resort
Today is our last opportunity to dive, so go easy on your air and make the most of this astonishing underwater playground. We might go out with a bang and tackle Big Drop-Off and Ngemelis Wall – one of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau’s all-time favourite wall dives. It’s easy to see why. The sheer wall runs the length of Ngemelis Island, before plunging 275 metres into oblivion. Expect to see myriad colourful reef fish and numerous species of sharks, as well as lionfish, stonefish and green and hawksbill turtles.
Afternoon Conference session
Day
8
Palau Pacific Resort
Take advantage of today’s rest day to explore Palau at your own pace. Swim with thousands of jellies at fabled Jellyfish Lake, glide through sapphire waters on a kayak, try your hand at stand-up paddle boarding, visit Aimeliik Rainforest or explore the country’s cultural and wartime history. Alternatively, stay resort-side and relax by the pool or bliss out in the day spa.
In the evening, re-join the group for a special farewell beach barbecue. No shoes required.
Day
9
Palau Pacific Resort
Half-day conference session
Take advantage of a late 4pm check out at the resort before transferring to the airport for the flight to Taipei.
Day
10
Tapei-Australia
Fly from Taipei to Australia.
End of arrangements. Please note this program may be subject to change