Rock Islands, Palau
Palau
Micronesian archipelago where incoming tides drive water across reef corners and through channels, concentrating sharks and schooling fish, alongside more than fifteen WWII wrecks and a marine lake full of stingless jellyfish.
- Reef manta ray
- Drift
- Wreck
- Strong current
Best season
Best Nov–Apr
Minimum cert
Advanced
Water
27–29°C
Current
strong
Season
When this place works
Diveable all year with no closure. Jun-Sep is the wet season with rougher seas, visibility down to 15-20m, and exposed sites like Peleliu frequently cancelled, hence 'limited'. Dec-Apr is dry season with 40m+ visibility and is also the…
Why dive here
What this place is known for
- 01drift
Blue Corner and the channel dives
The product, not the hazard. Blue Corner is a coral plateau where the incoming tide stacks grey reef sharks, jack schools and Napoleon wrasse against the edge; you hook in and watch. Ulong Channel and Peleliu Express work the same way. Reef hooks are standard…
02wreckWWII wrecks
Surprise relative to the headline: Palau is booked almost entirely on Blue Corner, and it holds over fifteen wrecks from the 1944 campaign, including the Amatsu Maru tanker, the Helmet Wreck, and a Jake seaplane sitting upright at 15m. Chuuk gets the wreck…
03pelagicGerman Channel manta cleaning stations
Nov-Apr. Cleaning stations on sand at the channel mouth, plus Devilfish City.
Seasonality — peakpeakpeakpeakoffoffoffoffoffoffpeakpeak
Marine life
Twelve-month species timelines
Resident year-round on the corners and in the channels. Unbaited; they hold in current for the same reason the fish do. Palau declared the world's first national shark sanctuary in 2009, which is…
Large habituated individuals at Blue Corner. Endangered and heavily fished across most of its range.
Endemic subspecies in Ongeim'l Tketau (Jellyfish Lake), snorkel only. The population crashed to near-zero during the 2015-16 El Nino drought and subsequently recovered; encoded 'shoulder' throughout…
Conditions
What the water is like
Water temp
27–29°C
15°C — 32°C
Visibility
15–40 m
0 m — 40 m
Current
strong
mild — strong
Thermoclines
Not typical
unlikely
Minimum certification — Advanced
Warm and clear, but this is hook-in current diving and the corner dives are timed to the incoming tide. Peleliu Express in particular can produce serious downcurrent and is not a beginner site regardless of what a shop will sell you. Reef…
Entries — boat
Recommended & required
- nitrox — recommended. Standard on liveaboards; repetitive 30m+ corner dives.
Logistics
How people dive it
5-10 days
scuba
Koror-based operators running fast boats to the Rock Islands. Covers Blue Corner, German Channel and the wrecks comfortably. State and dive…
7-10 days
scuba
Better access to Peleliu in the south, which is exposed and often unreachable on a day boat.
1 day
snorkel
Jellyfish Lake is snorkel-only by regulation; scuba is prohibited in the lake because bubbles disturb the stratified anoxic layer. Rock…
Operators
Who to book with
Loading operators…
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