Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Best snorkel spots? Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Palau
jvainio 01:48 UTC 09 Mar 2016 | Hello Thorn Tree, Once upon a time I asked many questions from this community, and in return got a beautiful 16 month trip. Now again I am dreaming of travel. Do you experience about snorkeling in Palau? I would like to hear from good spots from you. The more detailed your story, the better, but no pressure. Any information is good. I consider myself an experienced reef dweller, and would use a canoes with my partner to get any spot that is safe for such access. Also can pay for tour trips if absolutely necessary. This is to tell that we are not afraid of "snorkelling off the beaten path", if you know what I mean. I have heard that these spots in particular are good for snorkeling, so please verify or invalidate/disprove these, going from North to South in terms of locations: Outer Kayangel Reef, Blue Sea Lake, Tim's Reef, Short Drop-Off, Brown Corner, Clam City, Wonder Channel, Soft Coral Arch, Two Dogs Island (Little Omegang Island), Big Dropoff (Ngemelis Wall), Barnum Wall, Turtle Cove, Ngercheu Garden (Matthew's Place), Honeymoon Beach. Also, these wrecks have been mentioned, what do you think, are they good for snorkeling or are they in too deep water; Wakatake Destroyer, Teshio Maru, Jake Floatplane (water won't be a problem, high tide better for this?) and Iro Maru. If anyone has been to these spots in particular, please give feedback. I would love to hear what you have got to say, or better yet, if you have some footage. To give you something in return, check out our last trips' snorkeling albums (the blog is encrypted in a very hard language, so you can't read it) - Location given after the album; Oz http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/michaelmas-cay http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/snorkeling-whitsundays New Caledonia http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/kayaking-snorkeling-in-noumea http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/amedee-island-day-trip http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/snorkeling-jinek-bay http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/snorkeling-wadra-bay http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/snorkeling-ouvea Fiji http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/waitabu-marine-park http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/rainbow-reef http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/snorkeling-caqalai http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/snorkeling-around-caqalai Cook Islands Two single pics from Muri Lagoon; http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/rarotonga-cook-islands/6912344 & http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/rarotonga-cook-islands/6912343 http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/snorkeling-aitutaki-lagoon http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/aitutaki-snorkeling-trip http://www.offexploring.com/sonjaevita/albums/aitutaki-snorkeling-trip-ii I am posting this to Diving & Snorkelling, and the Palau area of Thorn Tree. I hope this does not offend anybody, I just want the maximum exposure and information for my question. Sincerely, Jaakko "Jack" Vainionpää TL;DR; Have you snorkeled in Palau? Where in particular, and how was it? |
jvainio 19:10 UTC 11 Mar 2016 | @Laszlo @newfie43 @bluereef @5waldos @dxb1969 @silvanocat If this mention thing works, could you please share some info if you got some? (I am not sure if you get a note for a mention) I am sure you are the best guys on this TT forum to answer these. | 1
5waldos 16:10 UTC 14 Mar 2016 | Wow-so many of the dive/snorkel spots have changed names since I was in Palau that I will not be a lot of help here. Also with changing climate, etc, spots that once were amazing are now so so, but other spots have been identified. It has now been nearly ten years since I have been out and about in Palau-my last more recent trip was during very stormy weather so we never got out at all. Rather than lead you astray I would suggest that you might see what the local dive shops are doing-they are there daily so have a good idea of where he best places to go are. One thought though is that Kayangle was very badly hit by a typhoon about two years ago and. Would think that the reefs were also damaged. Since it is not easy to get out there you might want to find out the current situation. Also I understand that whale sharks have been found in Palau- if that is of interest to you I'm sure a quick Google would help. Hope you get responses from some folks with more up to date information. | 2
newfie43 23:48 UTC 14 Mar 2016 | Like 5waldos, my information goes back to 09 - I write a journal so this is the information I have. Most of our snorkeling was done on boat trips with Sam's Tours. We did the Planet Blue Kayak Tour to Risong Bay where we snorkeled at Lee Marvin Beach, which I noted as only an okay snorkel. We mostly explored by kayak but did have an amazing snorkel at Mandarin Lake where I was able to get some great shots of the mandarin fish there - this was a great spot to see coral and fish life. We did a private boat tour with two couples we met at PPR - we started at Ngemelis Wall - this was just fantastic. We snorkeled over a ridge of coral 3-4 feet deep with an amazing drop off - the coral variety was super and the most fish I have seen - it was here that I got over my fear of being in the water with sharks - after awhile it was "ho hum - another shark"! It was a drift snorkel with not much of a current - the boat picked us up at the other end of the wall. We stopped next at Ngermeaus Island where we snorkeled again with numerous sharks and huge napolean(sp?) wrasse. We ended up snorkeling Jelly Fish Lake - another amazing, if somewhat surreal, snorkel. Our final tour with Sam's had us snorkeling the German Channel - this was a real blast - the current just took you along at a good clip - awesome coral and fishlife - one of my very favorite snorkels! We did the Big Drop Off a second time - just as great - then a stop at the Blue Hole - really a series of blue holes that were great for snorkeling.The last stop was The Cementary - the coral here was like large cabbage or roses - lots of large napolean wrasse and angel fish. Hope this helps! | 3
jvainio 04:18 UTC 15 Mar 2016 | Thanks for replies, both of you! Newfie43 I almost burst in my pants when you tell about your experiences! Oh my goodness that sounds just absolutely mindblowing. I love to drift snorkel and the thrill of outer reef wall (of an atoll) snorkels with the amazing life (and the sharks), that variety! | 4
erikastravels 20:38 UTC 20 Apr 2016 | Sorry for such a late reply. Hopefully you can still find this post helpful. I visited Palau last November and, as a non-diver was keen on doing some snorkeling on the island. The snorkeling is some of the best I've done anywhere, period. Of course, Jellyfish Lake is incredible and a must-do...but you probably already knew that. On a day trip to Jellyfish Lake with Impag tours, we did some snorkeling at Paradise Island that was out of this world (incredible coral and napoleon fish--though I didn't see any that day). I joined another tour with Impac to the South Rock Islands. This was not a snorkeling-intensive tour, but we did stop at the Big Drop Off, which was unbelievable. Clam City was slightly underwhelming...Big clams, yes, but most of the reef seemed dead and the visibility wasn't great. Looks like you've done snorkeling in some pretty incredible places! I look forward to checking out some of the photos in your blog! In return, here are the posts I wrote (with pics) of my two snorkel excursions. Hope they help! http://www.erikastravels.com/palau-for-non-divers/ http://www.erikastravels.com/day-trip-jellyfish-lake/ | 5
naurasd 07:11 UTC 13 Jun 2016 | do you still need info or is the topic closed for you :-) maybe you saw everything for yourself already. | 6
jvainio 14:29 UTC 13 Jun 2016 | Thank you Erika for your in-depth reply! Sounds like you didn't have much in in Palau regarding what came to snorkeling. I wonder where have you snorkeled - how does Palau compare to those places? naurasd: You could have already given me the information in your first message, why do you need to ask, of course I need it? :-P I haven't been to Palau yet, I have a lot on my life at the moment, so this still "In the works" so to say. Definitely still going in the future, though. So, keep 'em coming my dear Thorn tree members! :) | 7
naurasd 06:54 UTC 15 Jun 2016 | had to ask because dont have internet all the time so before writing about my experieces wanted to know if help is still needed otherwise i would have spent my online time with something else :-D did a week long self guided kayak trip last november. you should definitely consider that because you can kayak through the rock islands, camp on isolated beaches and snorkel where ever you want on your way, just have to tie the kayak to your leg. concerning the places you mentioned, i have seen big drop off/ngemelis wall, wonder channel, turtle cove/barnum wall and clam city. big drop off/ngemelis wall: drift snorkel, spectacular wall. they where listed at two different spots when we went but its basically one single wall. amazing wall snorkel. wonder channel: very nice corals, also bit of current, nice fish life, shark. we really enjoyed the corals there. turtle cove/barnum wall: also really nice wall.i think they are very close or even the same spot, turtle cove being the shallow flat reef part of barnum wall, but not sure. no turtles when we were there. clam city: few nice huge clams, but reef not good. what i would add to your list of sites: german channel: amazing site, but snorkel a bit off the boat route, lots of dive boats. but you see where they moor they are probably gonna be more snorkellers from other tours. the snorkel spot is not really where the bombed out part of the channel is, but rather further out towards ngemelis wall where the natural entrance to the channel area is. really nice spot, sandy bottom and lotta nice fish, turtles, sharks and mantas if you are lucky/can see them in the deep. but totally recommended. darwin/einsteins garden: nice secluded bay, really nice colorful and huge brain corals. brain corals are the drawcard there. jellyfish lake, of course. when you kayak there you have the chance to rock up in the morning before all the tour boats arrive. mandarin lake: very nice and secluded corner of risong bay. calm. obviously chance to see amndarin fish. so the most spectacular snorkeling for us was the german channel - ngemelis wall/big drop of area. really nice. usually the snorkelling off the beaches wasnt really nice. hope thats enough for you for now. the draw card about kayaking is that you can enter loads of small secluded bays jown your own in tranquilty without a tour group/motorboat. in general: palau is prime snorkeling territory. but visibility isnt stunning at all the spots or depends on the tide/weather. | 8
svenbad 17:36 UTC 29 Mar 2017 | Hi Where can you rent a kayak and for how much? | 9
Thorn Tree 01:00 UTC 30 Mar 2018 | This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you. | 10