Palau is one of those mystical places divers dream about; one of those places that redefines how you look at the underwater world. As I left Chicago, I was full of excitement, but wondered: could Palau live up to the hype? Put simply, yes. Palau is an island nation located about 500 miles east of [...]
Palau is one of those mystical places divers dream about; one of those places that redefines how you look at the underwater world. As I left Chicago, I was full of excitement, but wondered: could Palau live up to the hype? Put simply, yes.
Palau is an island nation located about 500 miles east of the Philippines, which became an independent nation in 1994 (it was previously a United Nations trusteeship under U.S. administration). It is made up of hundreds of islands, the most famous being the 250+ uninhabited rock islands, which rose up suddenly when two of the earth’s plates shifted. The result is a unique group of islands that were formed in a completely different manner than most coral atolls, which build up slowly over time. Palau is most famous, however, for its diving–its reefs are often referred to as the top underwater wonder in the world. Some places you dive for beautiful coral gardens, some you dive for macro life and critters, and others you dive to see the big animals. After visiting, I can say that Palau truly has it all in one location.
No mention of Palau would be complete without tales of its sharks. Thanks to Palau creating the world’s first shark sanctuary (no shark fishing is allowed in Palauan waters), sharks are plentiful on Palau’s reefs. We saw grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) and whitetip reef sharks (Triaenodon obesus) on almost every dive, blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) were common in the shallow waters of many of Palau’s beaches, and we occasionally came across nurse sharks and leopard sharks sleeping on the reef’s sandbeds.
In the last two years, tiger sharks have begun showing up in Palau’s waters, although we were not lucky enough to see one. Silvertip sharks can also be seen occassionally, but generally inhabit deeper waters, and were not seen on any of our dives.
One of the trips most memorable moments occurred at Blue Corner (arguably Palau’s most famous dive site), where we witnessed a pack of 20-30 whitetip reef sharks hunting together. The action was fast and furious, and diving in its midst was a complete adrenaline rush. Sharks were everywhere you looked, but I barely managed to flip my camera over to video mode and capture the video of the feeding frenzy below. (Unfortunately, I didn’t connect my flash properly on this dive, so please forgive the blued-out picture and video.)
While I was under the impression that whitetips generally engage in pack hunting at night, I witnessed this behavior in broad daylight. Even more interesting, the pack of whitetips were joined by 5-10 grey reef sharks, a huge napoleon wrasse, and a male giant trevally in full black breeding color (all of which can be seen in the video, with the grey reef sharks off in the distance). In Palau, this group of seemingly unrelated species is commonly seen hunting reef fish together, along with giant moray eels (who are the prey of sharks in most other parts of the world).
Any mention of Blue Corner wouldn’t be complete without mention of what draws all the sharks and big fish (barracudas, rays, trevallies, snappers, etc.) – the currents from the deep. Cold currents rise up from the deep and mix with warm water above, creating the plankton soup, that draws hordes of smaller fish, which in turn draws the big fish. To dive Blue Corner, you drop to about 50 feet, kick like hell to get to the edge of the wall, and then hook onto the edge with a reef hook, while the upwelling current rips past you. Then you sit back and watch the show, bobbing on your reef-hook line like the human version of a balloon in the Parade of Roses. It is quite a rush to do this while dozens of sharks drift by in every direction.
