Palau is a world-famous dive destination, often called one of the world's greatest natural wonders.

These pictures were taken in January 2012 while on the dive boat Palau Aggressor II. Our route took us from Koror down to Peleliu and back up to Koror. We also did some diving and kayaking with Sam's Tours in Koror.

All photos were taken with a Nikon D300 DSLR in a Sea & Sea housing with 16mm and 105mm lenses. Underwater light was provided by two Sea & Sea YS-120 strobes.

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Map of Palau	Palau's Rock Islands	Palau's Rock Islands	A dive skiff in the Rock Islands	The Aggressor at another dive site

Peleliu Corner dive site	The Rock Islands	Mandarin Goby	Divers exploring a cavern	Table coral and dive skiff

Longnose Hawkfish	Wire Coral Shrimp at home	Soft coral living on top of a scallop	Pink Anemonefish	Small Anthia and sea fan

Soft coral on a vertical wall	Heading back in the afternoon	Mushroom coral close-up	Tridactna clam	Green Turtle

Diver and Manta Ray, German Channel	Anenomefish at home	Small Anthia and sea fan	Diver and sea fan on a wall	The tiniest Anenomefish I have ever seen

Anthia hiding in a sea fan	Diver and sea fans	Blacktip Sharks feeding behind the Aggressor	Striped Nudibranch	Mandarin Goby

Kayaking in the jungle-covered Rock Islands	Exploring a cavern in the kayaks	Sunset at Koror	Pipefish, a relative of the seahorse	Mandarin Goby

The islands and the sea	Sunset at Peleliu	Palau Aggressor at Peleliu	Another great meal on the Aggressor	Koror sunset

Rainstorm in the jungle on Babeldaob	Waterfall on Babeldaob	Waterfall on Babeldaob

Palau is known for strong currents that bring nutrients in from the open ocean. When this happens, sharks and other large fish show up to see what's available. One of the best places to see this is Blue Corner...

Blue Holes (lower left) and Blue Corner from the air	Divers 'hooked in' against the current at Blue Corner	Gray Reef Shark at Blue Corner	Large Napoleon Wrasse at Blue Corner	Gray Reef shark

Pair of Gray Reef sharks at Blue Corner	Gray Reef shark	Divemaster John and his new best friend	Diver and turtle at Blue Corner	Diver and school of Jacks

The tiny island of Peleliu lies at the very end of the Palau islands chain. In September of 1944 it was the site of a terrible World War II battle. The 1st Marine Division landed there in Operation Stalemate. The battle lasted two months and in the end 2300 Marines and nearly 11,000 Japanese were left dead on an island only 2 miles long. We took a day to go ashore and found tanks, artillery pieces and live ammunition as it had been left in 1944. I can only hope that such destruction never visits such a beautiful place again.

Japanese 20mm anti-aircraft gun	US amphibious tank	US amphibious tank	Japanese artillery piece in a cave	Japanese artillery piece in a cave

Japanese tank

Many Japanese ships were sunk around Palau during World War II. One of the best wrecks we saw was in Koror Harbor, known as "the Helmet Wreck". The ship's name is not known. It was a small freighter carrying war supplies when it was sunk by US aircraft in the battle for Palau.

Diver and the bow gun	Ammunition box (with live rounds) for the bow gun	Stacked helmets	Mitsubishi Zero aircraft engine in the hold	Depth charges stacked in the hold

Diver photographing a lionfish on the wreck	Diver and a colorful grouper on the wreck

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