Fish 'n Fins Palau — Attraction in Koror

Need to understand 40 years worked in the maritime Industry, over 1000 dives and a minimum of 6 liveaboards. What made this trip poor was the attitude of the Master and the complete lack of help empathy zeal by the crew except the catering staff and Tong the small boat. If your a snorkelling, tuff luck. No effort made, my wife told by staff we do not cater for snorkeling No wifi advertised as available . No computer system onboard for photo down loading. It was not 5 star , lucky to be 3.5. All missing or not working. No communication or discussion on what sort of dives people want to do. No onboard discussions on ecology at night or Palauan culture. Many asked why the vessel did not move at night. The idea of a live aboard is to go to dive sights day trippers can’t get to too. This boat did little cruising. We lost time due the fact moved the ship on the day time. The team from Israel forced the issue on a night dive due to tardiness and made the Master do the required night dive. Crew were openly not happy. Some were openly rude. Some dive sites there could be some 8 to 10 day trip boats. Made a joke of spending a load of money on a live aboard. It must be also noted some dive sites were 20minutes away by fast boat. All fire fighting, safety and dive tanks out of test. Told due to remoteness, does not seem to be a problem on other boats I have been on. Black out or loss of power(electricity) , engineer and master on a dive. Power off for over 30 minutes. There was No emergency lighting or power which seemed very strange. Then the Master gets angry with the chef for not getting the power back on when he gets back. He was loudly castigating him in front of other passengers. When moored or at anchor there is meant to be a Fire watch. Went for a walk at about 0100 and fire watch sound asleep on aft deck. This is so wrong. Whilst transferring petrol , passengers were smoking while putting fuel into boats on the next deck up. Fuel went into wetsuit washing bin . I was yelled at when I told a crew member. Master- is a misogamist and not helpful, extremely self important and arrogant. He comes across as management by bullying. Ask him a question and he barks back. No people skills. He needs to learn that you don’t yell at crew any time but more importantly you don’t do it in front of Customers. Many people commented on this and not happy. One of the guys had done this live aboard some 12 years ago and said the same Capt was there and he was a misogamist then. Re diving safety. No safety culture. There for a week still awaiting to be given a dive buddy. Faulty hire gear, regs, computers and hoses. No spare diving gear held onboard. No diving protocols regarding air usage. Only interested when you hit 50. No antiseptics for wet suits etc so equipment did not start to stink. No recording of depth, dive time or air remaining.

Crew- Catering staff were excellent they were five star. Food was fresh and wholesome. The chase boat driver, Tong, was helpful, courteous and always had a smile on his face. The rest were surly and not looking interested Master and Engineer not nice people. Crew have little zeal or enthusiasm, been there too long. Keep them away from the Customers as there negativity rubs of on passengers. Crew quite happy to sleep in the dining room and or lounge. Didn’t seem to bother them Customers had paid thousands of dollars for this diving adventure.

Customers Most people were not happy especially the people who have done previous live aboards. Bad luck if you were a non smoker. No where to sit outside if there were smokers No excursions were offered which is the opposite to the garbage in the advertising .

Overall diving was nice to good but nothing mind blowing. Water cleanliness on the surface heaps better than Indonesia. Vis was a mix but mainly good vis. Master’s and others attitude screwed it for many people, lot of money spent on lots of promises made but minimal delivered in regards to service especially for...

Shop | Comparison (Late 2022) __] | Both have Free parking & hotel shuttle service [FF] | Fish-n-Fins (Easiest to find, on Main St.) [CC] | Cruise Control (Not as easy to find - entrance at back)

PAY | Cost (AVE) of Two divers, Two BCDs, One REG, nothing* else) [] | Ten (10) day “Rock Islands” park pass (mandatory) sold separately ($50) [] | Note: Enquire about significant (Local / Expat / Military) discount. [FF] | ~$81 / dive before tips, $84 / dive with tips [FF] | Complicated fee structure, No Deposit Required [FF] | EQUIP: (BCD $10, REG $10, SMB “Sausage” Not Mentioned [FF] | Credit Card Service Charge 3% (You can pay cash to avoid this) [FF] | Three [3] errors per bill; all corrected, but we had to wait 30 minutes [CC] | ~$77 / dive before tips, $81 / dive with tips) - includes *SMB (required) [CC] | Easy to understand fee structure, Deposit Required (First two dives) [CC] | EQUIP: BCD $12, REG $12, SMB Mandatory $5 (no reel), due “State Law.” [CC] | No Credit Card Service Charge (Visa, MasterCard, JCB, no AMEX) [CC] | No errors in bill, quick.

Equipment | Gloves [FF] | Prohibited due, “State Law” [CC] | Usually prohibited.  After they see what kind of diver you are, [CC] | …you may be allowed.  (I.E for wreck penetration, when qualified)

The Boat(s) [FF] | Seats (Hard) in ‘bus bench’ configuration (Economy knee room) [FF] | Storage (Under your seat - requires 1-2 people to stand for access) [FF] | Marine toilet (No) [CC] | Seats (Comfortable) with foam-covered benches and floor.  Tanks are backrest [CC] | Storage (Under Bench, easy access) [CC] | Marine Toilet (yes)

Equipment | Hooks [FF] | N/A.   Only strong Drift [1 mps (200 fpm)] Dive done was at Lighthouse Channel [FF] | I would recommend this dive for strong swimmers only (more advanced divers) [CC] | Hook & tether provided, better for (weaker/newer) swimmers (divers) [CC] | For “Blue Corner,” hooks radically change the dive experience (recommended)

Facilities | Outside [FF] | More spread-out [around a restaurant], no hot shower, no soap for Wetsuit [FF] | Toilet is change room, with a roof [CC] | Less spread out, hot shower, soap bath for suit (tubs less intuitive - ask) [CC] | Dedicated change room; but no roof (Not ideal when it rains) [CC] | Toilet with washlet (bidet) inside (Japanese Culture - use provided sandals)

Facilities | Storage [FF] | One room on other side of restaurant, self-organize, lacking hangers [FF] | My white rash-guard shirt fell on floor due strong wind… [FF] | ... shirt permanently stained red from Micronesian beetle-nut spit… [FF] | ... I’m sure the shop has a no spitting policy, but, someone did. [CC] | Separate Rooms/Areas for (Gear, Suits, weights, REGs) [CC] | Very Clean, more organized, not lacking hangars

Facilities | Inside (Office) [FF FF CC CC

Boat If dietary constraints, inform (shop) in advance [FF] | Captain | Two good drivers (We preferred “Cecil?”) [FF] | Lunch - Pick from a dozen menu items, (in advance) [CC] | Captain | Robin (Amazing fish knowledge, good management of weaker diver) [CC] | Lunch - Set menu, changes each day of the week (Seven [7] variations per week) [CC] | …We preferred CC’s food, which includes hot soup! (Great if...

My husband and I spent a week in Palau and spent 5 days diving with Fish 'n Fins. We would have loved to go on their Ocean Hunter live-aboard, but due to our limited time, we stayed in Koror and made day trips.

I’m impressed how well maintained and top notch every aspect of the operation is - from the dive shop and everything they have to offer, to the gear rental, tanks, boats, on-site restaurant and everything in between.

Each day they offered a menu for us to order our meal for the next day - with several choices of bento-box style lunches. By far the best food I've ever had on a dive boat! We always took the time to enjoy lunch - whether it meant pulling up to the beach of one of the islands during a surface interval, or staying on the boat in a calm cove surrounded by beautiful turquoise waters. Dives were never rushed, and everything was meant to be enjoyed at an easy and calm pace. Dive guides are very experienced and the dive sites they take you to are incredible.

We were in complete awe on every dive, and surprised by how different each location was. Using nitrox kept us feeling fresh and the dives felt easy and effortless. Wheh there was a current, they would simply pick us up where we surfaced, so there was never any swimming against it. If you see a school of 200 fish somewhere else, it feels like you see schools of 10,000 fish in Palau. The reef seems untouched, with everything alive and thriving. We saw sharks and turtles on nearly every dive, and a number of things we had never seen before. On our last day, we did a 3rd dive at Chandelier Cave, which we're very glad we did since it was another awesome experience on its own.

Navot and Tova clearly take pride in ownership at Fish 'n Fins. In addition to diving, they have a great restaurant on-site and offer helicopter tours, ATV tours, kayaking, and much more. A testament to their commitment and love for Palau is the Diving and Snorkeling Guide book they've written. We stumbled across this awesome book in the dive shop and were impressed when we saw that Navot and Tova are the authors. The book covers a ton of information on Palau and gives pictures and details on all the dive sites. Even better than that are their conservation efforts, which includes Tova making Palau the world's first shark sanctuary by establishing the Micronesia Shark Foundation, dedicated to researching and protecting the sharks in Palau and Micronesia. Way to go. We love...