Drift diving in Palau is exciting, fun, and very memorable. When you go to Palau, some of the best dive sites are drift dives. Blue Corner, German and Ulong Channels are all drift dives, and also always ranked as some of the top-dive sites in the world.
Here are a couple tips for SCUBA divers, not from a book, but from our lead guide, Jason, he has over 6000+ dives in Palau, and would like to share these tips with you!
1. Pay Attention to the Dive Briefing.
Seems simple and it is, “Just Do It” 🙂 . Here we will go over where and how to enter the water, pick-up point, general dive profile and what we will see. If you have any questions or concerns PLEASE ask NOW.
2. Dive as a Group.
We enter the water together and dive together. We can spread out but, keep the guide(s) in site. When you get low on air (700psi) let the one of the dive guides know.
3. Carry a “SMB” and a “SPD”
Each person should have their OWN Safety Marker Buoy (SMB) also know as a safety sausage. We recommend the large one 72″. Also carry a sound producing device (SPD), like a whistle. The SPD can either be manual or powered. The powered one goes inline with your BCD. Here at Palau Dive Adventures we feel so strongly about this, that we will provide this to each of our divers.
4. Relax and Go with the Flow (Current).
Relax and have fun. If the conditions underwater change, Jason will adjust the dive profile. FOLLOW his lead!
5. Surface with the Guide or Deploy your Safety Sausage.
Some of the best dives in Palau are in a channel. Ulong and German channel are both AWESOME!!! There is also heavy boat traffic in these channels. On all dives, at the end, our guides will deploy their safety sausages, this warns boats that divers are below and to stay clear.
If you get separated from the group, you should deploy your safety sausage before surfacing. Deploying a safety sausage for the first time is not easy, it should be practiced beforehand. Better to stay with the group and have the guide do it :).
We hope these tips have been helpful. If you would like to share any comments or thoughts about this, please join in on the conversation, we love to hear from you!
Click here to contact us directly if you would have any questions or would like to book a scuba dive package with us.
