Palau Siren, Micronesia

great dives, great crew, dinners could be a bit better

great dives, great dive guides, friendly crew, beautiful boat.

Recommended for

dives, crew, boat

14 Feb, 2018

As above

Super diving with a first class Cruise Director, Guide and Staff.

Recommended for

Guides and staff. Location. The Diving.

17 May, 2025

A week of diving I will never forget

I expect to keep the memory of my week diving Palau aboard the Siren in as one of, if not thee, my most memorable diving experiences ever. The Palau Siren is at once well-appointed while also being casually comfortable in a way that all liveaboards should strive to be. I liked the feel of a well-kept wooden boat like her much more than the metal efficiency we more often see. The shaded outside dining area at the stern was the nexus of activity onboard while not diving or sleeping. It's here that our pre-dive briefings were held, post-dive experiences shared, between-dive hangtime spent, late-night talking and drinking convened, and of course, bread broken together during our copious meals together. Though we were taken to our dive sites by two roomy and powerful tenders, the Siren's forward dive deck is roomy and well-organized so that divers needed only a minute or two to get fully prepared for our next dive and then change and rinse off after we returned. I experienced Palau to be an almost ideal travel and diving destination. I found the Palauan people to be warm and friendly even though they live in a faltering economic environment increasingly dominated by Chinese tour groups that contribute too little to the local economy. The atolls of Palau are stunningly beautiful, both above and below the waterline. The waters are very clear, and warm enough that I didn't wear a wetsuit on every dive. I can list the names of the sites I was most struck by, but you can also read virtually the same list in most other reviews you'll see online. For me, the dive I'll never forget was being at 40 meters along Peleliu Wall with the morning sun still bright enough to light the canyon walls and highlight the sharks and an endless river of wrasses flowing in formation below us. But Blue Corner, German Channel, Chandelier Cave, Jellyfish Lake all must be experienced by every scuba lover at least once in their life. The divemaster on the team I was one was Chris. He was exceptional, as a divemaster I felt safe with in his capable hands, and as a fun-loving person to be on a dive boat with. We were all lucky to have crossed paths with him. I'll say that the food on the boat was very good, though not great. Most of the staff were also warm people who we felt well cared for by. However, the captain of the boat was clearly outside of his range. And sure enough, a typhoon was coming in on the morning I got off the boat. The following night, with the typhoon at full strength, the captain anchored the boat on the windward side of the island that Jellyfish Lake is on. Without the protection from the wind that anchoring leeward would have given, the anchors slipped, causing the Siren to hit the rocks, list to 45 degrees, and the captain to call for all to abandon ship with minutes. Thankfully there was time to get a mayday call out, and the Aggressor came in to take on everybody without any injuries. The Palau Siren was refitted in the year that followed and continues to offer magical adventures like mine to divers lucky enough to book a voyage, though now with a capable captain. Palau and the Palau Siren are an adventure not to be missed.

Recommended for

Palau, the Palau Siren, the dive-masters of the Palau Siren

18 Jul, 2018