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Palau (officially the
Republic of Palau)
Palau is an island country in the Micronesia area of
Oceania.
The country contains approximately 340 islands, forming
the western chain of the Caroline Islands in Micronesia,
and has an area of 466 square kilometers.
It's an archipelago of pristine limestone and volcanic
islands, blanketed in emerald forest, surrounded by a
shimmering turquoise lagoon.
Palau enjoys a tropical climate all year round with an
annual mean temperature of 28°C. Rainfall can occur
throughout the year. The average humidity over the year
is 82%, and although rain falls more frequently between
July and October, there is still much sunshine. |
The hotel
Our first choice for an hotel was the Landmark Marina
hotel, because it's located next to the Fish 'n Fins
dive center. However it was fully booked, so we had to
find another hotel.
The alternative was the Palau Royal Resort, of the Nikko
hotel group.
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The Palau Royal
Resort offers luxurious rooms overlooking the
scenic seascape of Palau' s pristine waters.
Palau Royal Resort is one of the larger and more
expensive oceanfront resorts in Koror, featuring
multiple restaurants and bars on the premises
and also a small, private sand beach.
The resort is in walking distance to Sam's
Tours. |
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The
rooms All guestrooms
and suites are equipped with LCD TV, in-room safe, mini
bar, air- condition, overhead ceiling fan and balcony.
Rooms are serviced once daily, and guests enjoy free
coffee & tea.
All rooms have a WiFi service.
We didn't had any complains
about the room, the are large enough and give you the
most beautiful view over the bay.
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Facilities
Palau Royal Resort is equipped with excellent facilities
to cater everyone’s need. It has a panoramic restaurant
for excellent all day-dining with wide array of
international and Asian cuisine.
It also has two bars: Coral Bar inside the restaurant
and Beach Bar Breeze situated next to the ocean with a
picturesque location facing the rock islands.
For recreational activities they offer a Game Room, a
Kids Room, a Gym and a Tennis court.
For full relaxation a visit to Manadara SPA at Palau
Royal Resort is totally an invigorating experience.
All-natural treatments draw on the ancient health and
beauty traditions of Asia, from cultures that celebrate
beauty and refinement and honor nature's precious gifts. |
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The dive
center
Sam's
tours
Sam’s Tours, is a 5 star IDC diving and eco adventure
center, it is located in Malakal Harbor, a short
distance from the main town of Koror.
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Sam’s award winning staff of marine biologists and
naturalists lead daily excursions showcasing Palau’s
amazing natural wonders below water.
These are also known as the 'Unique Dive Expeditions' |
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That was the
reason we booked (only 1 day) at Sam's tours. We liked
to witness the natural spawning event of red snappers in
this 'Unique Dive Expedition' lead by the microbiologist
Paul Collins. This is something we didn't want to miss, it's rare to
see anywhere else in the world. |
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The dive center is quite large. It has a large rental
section and a dive shop.
From the dive center you can directly jump in the dive
boat which resides in the small harbor directly in front
of the dive center.
There is fresh water available for rinsing your dive
equipment.
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We used a special boot used
for the expeditions, everything was arranged well. The
staff was very helpful. We were a little bit
disappointed that Paul didn't provide us more background
information with regards to the spawning and his
research, but that didn't spoil our 'unique' experience!
PS The food at the restaurant / bar of the dive center
is delicious.
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Fish n Fins PADI
Five Star Gold Palm IDC Centre
Fish 'n Fins Dive center (along with the Ocean Hunter
fleet of liveaboards) is owned and run by Navot & Tova
Bornovski.
It's a large dive center with over 40 crew members!
We dived here for 7 days, Fish 'n Fins is recognized by divers, agents and
magazines as one of the most professional diving center
in the world! |
The history of Fish 'n
Fins
Established in 1972, they were the first dive center in
palau and the true pioneer in dive operation.
Fish 'n Fins started systematically exploring the reefs.
What they discovered was beyond their imagination. they
actually discovered 'Blue Corner', the most famous dive
site in the world. Also dive sites like Peleliu Corner,
and Ngemelis Wall are discovered by Fish 'n Fins.
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In the 80's they started finding and documenting a fleet
of lost Japanese war ships, also known as the "Lost
Fleet of the Rock Islands". Together with Klaus
Lindemann they rediscovered over 30 Japanese WWII wrecks.
In 1996, Fish ‘n Fins became the star of the Academy
Award nominated IMAX documentary film, "The Living Sea,"
which focuses on the incredible wonders in the living
sea of Palau. |
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Blue Corner
Palau |
In 2000, Navot led a crew of technical divers in the
discovery of the USS Perry, the only US shipwreck in
Palau, continuing the Fish ‘n Fins tradition of
pioneering the waters of Palau.
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Tova & Navot |
Tova and Navot have
contributed their expertise and services to numerous
projects in Palau, including research expeditions,
articles and movies (Skin Diver, National Geographic,
Discovery Channel, BBC), and conservation efforts.
They
founded the Micronesian Shark Foundation in conjunction
with an annual Shark Week festival at Fish ‘n Fins,
aimed at gathering research and raising awareness to
protect sharks throughout Micronesia. |
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Their dive center includes:
Dive Shop, Photo Shop, Repair
Shop, Rinsing Facilities, Gear Room and hot showers !!
Hotel Pickups service is also available.
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We also had a
very good experience with Fish ‘n Fins!
The pickups from our hotel was well arranged and in
time.
We usually dived with Tova and Nabot’s son ‘Udi’, who
grow up in the waters of Palau. He’s an excellent
guide and showed us the most beautiful places.
The dive center is very well managed, and you can see
that the entire crew is one big team.
The center has a (large) dive Shop, a Photo Shop and a
repair Shop.
They have excellent rinsing facilities, and a gear room
where you can store your personal diving gear.
After the dives you can also enjoy a hot shower at the
dive center !!The (small)
restaurant serves great food and icecold drinks, great
location to chill-out after a hard day of diving.....
Their 14 boats are decent and fast! Lunch onboard is really good
as well.
Under each seat there a dry compound to store your
stuff.
They also provide free Nitrox to all (certified) divers. |
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Our
evaluation
Our ratings below are based on our personal
experiences. They are also adapted to our needs
as divers. Meaning that we’re less focused on
additional features.
Therefore you should only pay attention to our
ratings if you’re planning a diving holiday.
Where we base our score
on:
Accommodation: |
Room size, beds,
cleaning, bathroom, location,
environmentally friendly, etc. |
Hotel / area facilities: |
Pool, sport
activities, organized trips, TV,
Internet, phone, etc. |
Dive center: |
Quality of equipment, boats, crew, dive
guides, location, service, marine
conservation, etc. |
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Scoring
matrix
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Conclusion:
The Palau Royal Resort is a high standard hotel.
It has all the features you might expect from a
4 star classified Luxury resort.
The location is beautiful, especially the view
on the Rock Islands directly from your balcony
is breathtaking.
The service is great, you feel welcome and
appreciated.
Don't expect this resort to be cheap... maybe
it’s even overpriced
(They easily charge $450,- per night for a
standard double room)
However that choice is up to you.
The divecenter(s)
Sam’s Tours
First of all we don’t want to include Sam’s
Tours in our overall rating because we only
dived there for 1 day.
However we can ensure you that Sam’s tours is a
good diving center. Compared to Fish ‘n Find we
missed the ‘personal touch’ with this dive
center. It feels more a scuba diving factory…
However that only based on a 1 day diving trip. |
Our
verdict (Dive center = Fish 'n Fins)
Accommodation: |
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Hotel / area facilities: |
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Dive
Center (FnF): |
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Total
score: |
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Fish ‘n Fins
We can be really short about them, this is the
dive center you always want to dive!
We knew about their reputation, and they didn’t
let us down. Especially the personal involvement
with each customer and the tremendous work they
do on a conservation level is exceptional.
The staff, equipment, boats and the dive center
itself are absolutely high standard.
So, if you have a choice, we would absolutely
recommend Fish ‘n Fins ! |
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