Palau is the pearl God left behind in the Pacific —
a string of pearls, radiant and beautiful.
Have you seen God's pearls? Have you heard of the non-stinging Jellyfish Lake?
Have you heard of Blue Corner? Have you heard of Blue Hole? Have you heard of German Channel?
If not, why not come to Palau?
Seven of the world's greatest underwater wonders are right here in Palau.Internationally acclaimed underwater photographer Yorko Summer
First Dive into Palau's Top 3 Dive Sites: Blue Hole, Blue Corner & German Channel — A Warm-Up for Spawn Diving ft. LT Dive
On this trip, the Editor was invited by LT DIVE to visit Palau for the very first time. Having been a diver for years, the Editor couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed to be making a first visit to one of the world's premier diving destinations. Since this was a packed trip with a specific mission, only a single day with 3 dives was scheduled — so we went straight for Palau's top 3 dive sites to tick them off the bucket list. Were they really as breathtaking as everyone claims?
Palau Dive #1: Blue Hole
Yorko Summer descending into the Blue Hole — photo credit LT Dive
What Makes Blue Hole So Magical? A Dive Site Even the Guides Rave About
What is it about Palau's Blue Hole that makes it the first thing every diver mentions after leaving Palau? From the boat, you can clearly see a deep blue circle beneath the surface. Underwater, there are approximately 4 openings of varying sizes, and light filters down from the surface, layering and intermingling with the cave's own luminescence. Fish of all kinds glide along the dome of the cavern — when you look up from below, they appear to be swimming upside down, creating a wonderfully surreal sight. Reef sharks appear intermittently among the reef just outside the openings, and flame scallops are scattered across the rocky surfaces nearby — take a moment to stop and observe their remarkable bioluminescent display.
Recreational divers can explore freely within the open sections of the cavern — photo credit LT Dive
Advanced Blue Hole: A "Turtle Tomb" Hidden Inside the Cave-Within-a-Cave at 30 m
Two turtle tombs can be found inside the inner cave
A Heart-Pounding Blue Hole Experience
At around 25 m inside the Blue Hole, there is an entrance to a cave within the cave. Once inside, you find yourself in an enormous enclosed chamber. Because of the significant depth and confined space, the cave interior ranges from 25–30 m, making neutral buoyancy and pressure gauge management absolutely critical. Only divers assessed by the dive guide as sufficiently capable are permitted to enter.
Enter through a narrow opening — be careful not to kick up silt
Before the dive, LT Dive's Lance gave a detailed briefing specifically covering the inner cave section. Once inside, the darkness is total. Two "turtle tombs" appear in the beam of your Flash Light — the skeletons of Green Sea Turtles, bones still intact but shells long gone, clearly at rest here for a very long time. The "turtle tombs" serve as a sobering reminder of the inherent risks of cave diving.
Do not touch the guide line inside the cave
Slow your breathing, monitor your pressure gauge, watch your depth — your dive computer is indispensable here. Do not fin in a way that stirs up silt. Because so few people venture into this inner space, visibility is exceptionally clear, which gives the environment a mysterious, hushed quality — as though time itself has stopped. A guide line runs through the cave, serving as the critical lifeline leading back to the exit. Under no circumstances should anyone move or touch it.
Turn off your Flash Light. Let the faint blue glow from the cave entrance guide you forward — like the light of life itself, pointing the way.
LT Dive Lance
Switch off your Flash Light and embrace the stillness of total darkness
Lance signalled everyone to turn off their Flash Lights (as briefed beforehand). Looking from deep inside the cave toward the entrance, a shaft of blue light suddenly appeared — watching your dive buddy swim toward that opening felt like a scene from a movie, full of mystery. Combined with Lance's pre-dive talk about the "light of life," the moment was deeply evocative.
And when you're ready to ascend back to the surface, don't forget to look up and admire the beams of sunlight pouring down through the vast opening of the Blue Hole above you — you'll be left in awe of nature's craftsmanship all over again.
As you ascend, don't forget to look up and take in the sunlight streaming through the opening above
Palau Dive #2: Blue Corner
At Blue Corner, you may be lucky enough to spot a Humphead Wrasse — photo credit LT Dive
Blue Corner ranks among the top three dive sites where Yorko Summer has logged the most dives. Beyond the familiarity and nostalgia he feels for it, he enthusiastically recommends it to every diver as a must-visit — a place to experience its sheer, overwhelming spectacle firsthand.
As the name suggests, Blue Corner is an underwater promontory — a plateau at roughly 25 m depth, with both sides dropping off at 90° angles into water over 50 m deep. The powerful currents generated by the daily tidal changes attract a tremendous variety of fish to feed, creating a magnificent, life-filled underwater tableau. When the current runs strong, the dive guide will signal everyone to deploy their reef hooks, anchoring on the edge of the cliff wall to take in the marine life theatre unfolding before them — fish feeding and giving chase in every direction.
Near the cliff face, hook in with a reef hook and watch the marine ecosystem in stillness
At Blue Corner, you can observe an astonishing diversity of life at different water depths. In the mid-water column, vast schools of trevally and barracuda swirl and sweep past. Occasionally, a spotted eagle ray glides by or settles on the bottom to feed. Turn around and you might catch a fleeting glimpse of a bumphead parrotfish or a Humphead Wrasse. In the strong current zones, groups of sharks can frequently be seen cruising and hunting — a truly spectacular sight.
Incoming tide, outgoing tide, full moon, new moon, the time of year, the time of day — all these variables mean every visit to Blue Corner holds a fresh surprise.
LT Dive Lance
Trevally and barracuda storms are a guaranteed feature at Blue Corner
If you're lucky, you might witness a shark feeding spectacle at Blue Corner — photo credit LD Dive
Palau Dive #3: German Channel
A Man-Made Channel Blasted Open Before World War I
In 1911, Germany blasted an artificial channel approximately 360 m long through the shallow reef to allow cargo ships to transport mined phosphate more efficiently between the islands. German Channel is the gateway to the "Great Dropoff," one of the Seven Underwater Wonders of the World. Along its length, the explosive excavations created a coral reef topography of varying depths. Combined with white sand and crystal-clear water, the surrounding sea has earned the poetic nickname "Seven-Colour Sea" or "Seven-Colour Channel."
Where coral reef meets sandy seabed and sunlight bathes the reef flat, cleaner wrasse gather to form cleaning stations that attract manta rays to congregate.
The Dive Guide's Ability to Read the Tides Is Crucial
German Channel was our third dive site of the day — though it hadn't originally been planned that way. During the first dive of the morning, our dive guide Lance assessed the actual tidal and current conditions on the day based on his experience, and ultimately recommended swapping it to the third dive slot. After the second dive, we returned to German Channel for lunch and to wait for the right moment. By this time, several other dive boats had already moored there. After giving us our briefing, Lance kept a close eye on the divers from the other groups — reading small details in their body language and facial expressions.
Then, suddenly, Lance called out: "Quick — gear up! Everyone in the water!"
It turned out Lance had overheard the boat next to us reporting a manta ray sighting. Drawing on his experience as a dive guide, he knew that manta rays circulate continuously — jumping in at that moment would give us an excellent chance of encountering one almost immediately.
The highlight of German Channel: watching manta rays up close
50 Minutes Swimming with Manta Rays
And sure enough — about 5 minutes into the dive, at a depth of approximately 15 m, a manta ray came into view. To avoid startling it, Lance positioned each of us behind different coral outcrops, using the reef as a natural screen while we photographed and observed — all without disturbing the manta ray as it fed and was cleaned.
Thanks to Lance's precise timing, we spent a full 50 minutes watching a manta ray glide above the reef flat undergoing its cleaning ritual. A second manta ray joined partway through. The greatest stroke of luck? For the entire 50 minutes, our group had the experience entirely to ourselves. Even during our 5 m, 3-minute safety stop, both manta rays continued to move back and forth in the same spot. In the end, we reluctantly called it a dive — bringing to a close an unforgettable third dive swimming alongside manta rays.
A full 50 minutes of close encounters with manta rays — absolutely exhilarating — photo credit LT Dive
Palau Bonus Dive: Semi-Enclosed Stalactite Cave Diving
The stalactite cave interior offers atmospheric, highly evocative photos
Compared to the cave diving in Blue Hole, this semi-enclosed stalactite cave is far more accessible for beginner divers. Surrounded by islands on all sides, it also makes an excellent alternative site when the weather turns or the swell picks up. Does that mean it's dull?
Far from it. You can enter the cave at just 2 m depth, and inside there are 4 stalactite chambers — none of them fully enclosed. That means you can surface for air whenever you like. This site is ideal for split-level photography, shooting from just below the surface upward, with results that are equally stunning.
Diving inside the stalactite cave is a genuinely rare experience
First Impressions of Palau Diving: Exceptional Value — Can't Wait to Return
Due to scheduling constraints, we only had one day of diving on this trip. But even in that single day, it was clear that Palau diving offers extraordinary richness: tropical fish, Humphead Wrasse, sharks, manta rays, giant clams — plus remarkable stalactite and cave formations, and the historical relics of war including aircraft, tanks, wrecks, and cannons. Palau's dive itineraries are genuinely diverse. If you're worried about bad luck and missing the headline marine life, the geological features and historical wrecks — which aren't going anywhere — will absolutely not disappoint.
Angelfish and reef sharks at Siaes Corner — photo credit LT Dive
Palau also takes marine conservation extremely seriously — you'll barely spot any floating debris. The overall environment is free from overdevelopment, making for a very comfortable dive travel experience. If you're planning a Palau diving trip, it's worth obtaining your enriched air nitrox (EANx) certification and Advanced Open Water Diver certification beforehand, and having at least 50 logged dives. Palau's most celebrated dive sites frequently require the use of reef hooks and involve greater depths and higher difficulty. Of course, beginner divers are welcome too — but the dive guide will likely assess your level and take you to easier sites. After travelling all that way and spending all that money, missing out on the iconic dive sites would be a real shame, wouldn't it?
Yorko Summer shares the spectacle of red snapper spawning
Yorko Summer shares the spectacle of red snapper spawning
On this trip, our schedule also meant we weren't able to witness Palau's famous Spawn Diving. Palau is one of the few places in the world where the spawning behaviour of various species can be predicted with remarkable precision. You can observe bumphead parrotfish and red snapper (Red snapper) spawning at close range — and during spawning season, there's even a chance of Bull Sharks and other large shark species appearing nearby.
Palau truly is a wild, untamed diving holy grail!
EP3 (Part 1) — Palau Diving Is Pricey! Running a Dive Shop Is Tough! The Road to Living the Ocean Dream ft. LT Dive & Guest Yorko Summer
Related Links
More Palau Content
Further Reading
