Technical Scuba Diving
Background The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) Iro was an oil tanker built in the early 1920s in Osaka, Japan. It is a relatively large wreck with a length of 470 feet and a beam of 58 feet. Unlike some of the other wrecks in Palau, the Iro was NOT a merchant ship that was converted [...]
Palau has some fantastic reefs and walls. Below are some of the sites I visited during my Mar/Apr 2022 trip to Palau. One of the great aspects of Palau diving is that there is something for everyone, including wrecks, caves, shallow reefs, steep walls and a wide variety of sea life. This is a long [...]
The Teshio is another converted Japanese merchant marine ship that sank during Operation Desecrate One. She is 321 feet long with a beam of 45 feet and offers ample opportunity for penetration and exploration. There are two large holds towards the bow from the superstructure which is slightly aft of amidships and two holds near [...]
Background Chuyo Maru is one of the many shipwrecks in the lagoons around Koror that resulted from Operation Desecrate One. A "maru" is a Japanese merchant ship. During the war, many merchant ships were converted for use in wartime and equipped with guns, depth charges, etc. in order to help defend themselves as they ferried [...]
Intro The "Jake" Seaplane is a somewhat famous, if easy, dive in Palau. It is very close to the Palau dive shops and hence easily accessible for a 3rd or 4th dive of the day given the location and shallow depth. My goal on the dive was to build a photogrammetry model to document the [...]
Temple of Doom is a cave that is within the "Blue Holes" site on the outer reef in Palau. You first enter one of the blue holes and then there is an almost hidden entrance into the cave. You would probably never know it was there unless somebody pointed it out to you. The Blue [...]
Chandelier Cave is an interesting dive that is located very close to the dive shops in Koror, Palau. The entrance is a small opening that is only about 10 feet from the surface of the water in an unassuming location along the shore near where boats are moored. Entrance to Chandelier Cave The cave consists [...]
Intro It has been a little over two years since my last big, international dive trip (Grand Cayman for a KISS Crossover Course and some deep wall diving in Feb 2020). I had originally planned to dive only wrecks in Palau but I have the opportunity to return in August for "once-in-a-lifetime" rebreather speciality wreck [...]
Pardon the interruption from my normal wreck diving posts. I'm diving in Palau and hope to get a few wreck dives in and possibly a cave or two, but in the meantime... Jellyfish Lake is a very interesting spot. A lot of Palau is limestone and the lake itself is connected to the ocean via [...]
Wrecked in my rEvo 