Planning a Trip to Palau–tips and recommendations

This post is a summary of numerous things to consider when planning a trip to Palau including things for non-divers to do.
Basic Tips and Comments
Flight route and times – no matter how you get to Palau from the US it is a difficult and long trip. The shortest duration is from the mainland US to Hawaii, layover, then to Guam, layover, and then to Palau. It was about 20 hours of travel but as mentioned it was worth it.
Besides the Hawaii Guam route you can fly into Tokyo or Seoul which have direct flights to Palau on a semi-regular basis. The connections and layover times tend to be longer than going through Hawaii and Guam but you can always plan a short weekend stay in Seoul or Tokyo as an add on.
Also, if you are already in Southeast Asia you can go through the Phillipines to Palau which has semi-regular flights from Manila.

Trip Expense – this was a very expensive trip, no question. We could have done it slightly cheaper by staying in budget accomodation and eating at more local establishments but there is really no super cheap way to do Palau. The flights are consistently expensive and goods in general are expensive because they are almost all imported (food, clothes, scuba equipment, drinks, etc) and Palau uses the US Dollar and you get no exchange rate advantage. THat being said I thought we got more than what we paid for with Palau Dive Adventures (small group, high quality customer service, and tailored trip) and our resort, Palau Pacific Resort, was expensive and dated but the beach front property was nice on our days off and the service was very good.

Time of year – there is no bad time of year to do diving per se, but the summer months in the US can be very hot in Palau so July through September are generally slower while November through May are cooler and typically busier. There is also some wildlife that can occur during particular times of year (mating fish, etc) so be sure to email local dive operators to determine what to expect. Also spring break in the US can be very busy because more people have time off.

Land based compared to live aboard – we operated on a land based diving tour instead of going on a live aboard boat for a number of reasons. It was a good decision for us but in reality you should consider how many dives you want to do, how long you want to be on a boat to the dive sites, and whether you want to sleep on land at nights. The liveaboard experience provides shorter daily rides to dive sites as they move at night or in the morning (land based boat rides are 30-60 mins), live aboards provide for 4-5 days per day while the land based tours dive 2-3 times per day. We enjoyed the flexiblity of eating at different places at night, not having to dive too much (is that possible?), and exploring the scenery of the rock islands going out in the mornings. 

Packing Tips
Besides the standard things (swimsuit, rash guard, scuba gear), I would recommend the following:

• Jacket (we had a few days of very heavy rain when a rain shell was a god sent)
• Reef Hook (most dive operators rent these but bring one if you have it)
• Surface Marker Buoy – SMB – again these are generally rentable but good idea to have in case of an emergency as a safety measure. The currents in Palau can get strong and you may get separated from the group.
• 2-3MM Wetsuit or Skin – some people dive in just rash guards and shorts it was cooler at a few dive sites and if you get cold be sure to bring one or rent one.

While we dove almost everyday, if not a scuba diver there are plenty of things to do in Palau, some of which I have listed below. 

• Kayaking
• Relaxing on the Beach
• Snorkeling
• Land Tour in Pelelieu
• Fishing
• Rock Island Tour

Operators, Restaurants, Hotels I recommend in Palau(see TripAdvisor for full reviews):

• Palau Dive Adventures
• Palau Pacific Resort
• Fuji Restaurant
• Drop off Bar and Grill