DIVE LOG Australasia

Massive schools of fish feeding in German Channel.

Grey reef sharks at Ulong Channel.

Our group of six were the only guests on board this luxury liveaboard, as August is the Palau low season with fewer bookings. Ocean Hunter III caters for 16 guests in eight spacious cabins with ensuites. The vessel has a camera setup area, a roomy dining and lounge room, and a shaded sundeck with two spas. The dive deck is not large, but is uncluttered of dive gear, as this is kept on the chase boat that takes you to the dive sites. After a late lunch, the first of many incredible meals prepared by chefs Arlee and Sourav, we headed out for our checkout dive with guides Ace and Epi to explore a small World War II cargo vessel in the lagoon. Called Hafa Adai, this 30m long vessel rests in 24m and was a nice relaxing dive with 12m visibility and 29°C water temperature. The wreck is covered in soft corals, gorgonians, black corals and sponges, and was home to a good variety of reef fish and invertebrates. In the early morning Ocean Hunter III moved south and relocated near the Ulong Channel. There are close to one hundred dive sites in Palau for divers to explore. In the large, sheltered lagoon are dozens of shipwrecks and planewrecks from World War II, while the fringing reef has walls, coral gardens, caves and blue holes to explore. Diveplanit had timed our visit with the new moon so we could experience one of Palau’s unique attractions, the spawning of the bumphead parrotfish. An early start found as diving at Ulong Sand Bar, exploring a sloping coral reef with 40m visibility. We quickly saw schools of trevally, rainbow runners and barracuda, several grey reef sharks and a good collection of reef fish. Hundreds of bumphead parrotfish were leaving the reef and heading out into the blue, so we followed. We couldn’t find any large groups of parrotfish, but did witness several smaller groups of five or six swimming towards the surface and releasing their eggs and sperm. While it was fascinating to watch, I didn’t get any photos, so was a little disappointed by the experience.

A rare flame angelfish

Lovely reticulated butterflyfish are common at Palau.

The elusive Cocos-Keeling angelfish at Siaes Tunnel.

49

www.divelog.net.au

DIVE LOG Australasia #408 - October ‘24