Day 4 - The Live-A-Board

Day 4:

Well today we did not have a classroom session at the hotel. Instead, after breakfast we were picked up by Fish-n-Fins who then took us to their dive shop to fill out the paperwork needed for diving. We then boated down to the north side of German Channel where we boarded the Ocean Hunter 3 live-a-board. This ship was very nice, much nicer than Big Blue that we looked at the day before. Today we used Ocean Hunter 3 as our diving base. Once we got there we were taken into the lounge. There Tova, owner of Fish-n-Fins and both the Ocean Hunter 1 and 3, talked to us about their operations. It was nice to know that they are aggressive in marine conservation; they try to preserve and clean the reefs. They also host several annual functions. One of which they have some very powerful lights used to illuminate wrecks and Chandelier Cave for photographers, both pro level and amateur. Their company will do its best to ensure you are happy; they do this by catering to the groups’ desires. If it is safe and doable they will make sure it happens. Now off to do our first dive of the day.

Dive 1: Blue Holes: We were going to Virgin Holes which is one of my favorite dive sites but the swell was a bit rough for it so we sent to Blue Holes. I did get to see a couple of nudibranchs that I have not seen before and I took a couple of pictures of them. I will post some pictures when I get back home some type of photo blog of each day. I have not figured that out yet. It was fun dropping from about 7 feet deep into the main hole down to around 100 feet. Once inside you can see the sunrays coming from the other holes in the reef above you. It is a really a nice dive. After the dive we went back to Ocean Hunter 3 to eat lunch. Today was a Japanese theme. The food was great, but soon it was time to go blow bubbles again.

Dive 2 – Big Drop Off: This site is a shear wall. We kept the wall on our right side and just went along it. There was not much of a current here today which made taking macro pictures a bit easier. We did see another nudibranch, again a new one to record as my first. There were a lot of pigmy gobies on the corals so I took some pictures of them as well. This was our longest dive to date, 66 minutes, and I still had plenty of air. Then it was back to the Ocean Hunter for a rest and tour of the cabins.

The photo area of the ship is large with 110 and 220 outlets all over the place. No getting crowed here. They can also cater to the tech diver being able to pump air, nitrox, and trimix. The standard cabins were, I think, the perfect size. If you wanted a bigger room, they do have two suites which have just one king bed. This ship is smoothly operated. They have crew all over making sure you are taken care of. I must have a brownie before heading back to the chase boat for our 3rd dive of the day.

Dive 3 – German Channel: We motored to the other side of German Channel to dive the dive site. This site is known to be a Manta ray cleaning area. The current was a bit strong to start with but once we got the cleaning rock it was not bad. No Mantas, so we searched the area for other animals. Two thirds of the way into the dive our dive guide, Silas, spotted a manta. It was very large. It did not really come down to us; it was not as deep as we were. I started to go up to see it and swam into 4 dogtooth tunas. That was really cool. I tried to get pictures of them, but with my macro and their speed it was difficult. To end the dive we drifted into the channel toward the Ocean Hunter. Once again we had another nice dive. Some of the divers got onto the chase boat just in time for sunset. Dinner was perfect. The chef on the boat is top notch. If you are interested in a live-a-board in Palau, Ocean Hunter 3 is the one.