Qantas flights to Palau

[Mattg]

Looks like today’s ROR-BNE service is making a stop in CNS.

 

[Saab34]

Looks like storms across SEQ on each TAF so might be a fuel and alternate issue if they are using MCY or OOL.

Not that great in Sydney either or further up the QLD coast. Melbourne looks good though

Might be some interesting diversions later on today.

 

[Melburnian1]

I suppose the question is - is Palau worth visiting? Enough to do for a week? Accommodation, for us, is expensive. Is it just because of low supply and high demand? We'll soon have direct access to the Cookies, yes, with that airline that those of us without limitless budgets fly. We love the Cookies. Comparable experience if you've been?

Interestingly, in FY 2008, almost 30,000 Japanese and 23,000 Taiwanese visited Palau.

By FY 2024, this respectively had fallen to under 7,000 and under 13,000.

South Korean arrivals have dropped from above 14,00 to just 860 over the same 16 year period.

In contrast, mainland China arrivals have increased from 600 to almost 22,000.

USA and Canada are lumped together, oddly: arrivals have risen but slowly, from above 7,500 to almost 11,000.

Australian visitor numbers are small but the QFi weekly flights will help to record a large rise off a very small base.

I'm guessing the other nations' performance has much to do with whether nonstop or direct flights were cancelled or commenced.

I like snorkelling but Palau is as pointed out an expensive destination. That the mainland Chinese are arriving in numbers may be pushing up accommodation rates per night.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

I like snorkelling but Palau is as pointed out an expensive destination. That the mainland Chinese are arriving in numbers may be pushing up accommodation rates per night.

Agree -- and with the number of Chinese travellers to Japan massive and suddenly declining, they'll be looking elsewhere.

Wish I'd been able to tag on to Palau to the end of my Island Hopper a few years ago but alas was not meant to be. I'd love to visit but just can't see myself making the effort to visit just Palau in the near future. Someday.

 

[Catweazle]

....I like snorkelling but Palau is as pointed out an expensive destination. That the mainland Chinese are arriving in numbers may be pushing up accommodation rates per night.

What are your favourite snorkeling places?

 

[Melburnian1]

What are your favourite snorkeling places?

Philippines, but you have to be selective: small white sand islands off Port Barton in Palawan are quite good. Panagsama near Moalboal on Cebu Island has the famous 'sardine run', which unfortunately is now very popular. However if you rise early - getting up at 0530 in the tropics seems easy - you can beat the crowds. Note that neither are within an hour of an airport served by the major carriers Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines or if you must - I avoid - AirAsia Philippines. The traffic in Cebu City can be shocking, so again, best to leave your hotel at 0600 or even earlier for the three hour trip to Moalboal, which has White Beach a few kilometres away, past Panagsama.

Balicasag Island (offshore from Alona Beach on lovely Panglao Island (connected by causeway to Bohol Island) has excellent snorkelling. , Panglao Island has a nearby international airport after latter relocated from Tagbilaran City.

Apo Island is tiny - but not too small to lack a Catholic Church and when I was there, a priest - and offshore from Dumaguete that has an airport. Turtles swim at the front beach. I've not been there for quite a few years: there was a subsequent typhoon that saw the back beach snorkelling area closed but from memory it has reopened. Latter had many clown fish.

Lovely Siquijor Island, also reachable from Dumaguete has Coco Grove Beach Resort with its own very good snorkelling area. More than a decade since I've visited. Doing a day trip around this uncrowded island is a good experience.

Famous Boracay Island has some limited snorkelling on brief half day trips but it can be extremely crowded. However if you are visiting, the wonderful front beach area is way better as within the last few years, buildings were cut back and the former so-called 'boat stations' relocated to an area at one end of this small but exceedingly popular island. Heaps of white sand beaches.

Hiring 'bangkas' (small outrigger boats) in Philippines is relatively cheap, and the A$ has just risen to about 40 pesos per dollar, a good rate historically. The bangkas typically have a crew of three: often, the two assistants are c.14 but can already freedive and have quickly learnt the ropes of sailing. Once or twice I have been caught in afternoon storms but was dropped back at my destination without incident.

I had a disastrous experience in Thailand in 2018, catching a ferry to an island but when I snorkelled, no evidence of aquatic life. The guide blamed 'wind'.

In previous years, dynamite fishing and cyanide fishing have destroyed many reefs in these nations. I can't guarantee it but you'd hope locals now realise the economic benefits tourism can bring, exemplified by whalesharks on Cebu Island attracting many tourists, though locals still have to eat.

 

[RSD]

I can add a little bit here about the Philippines, good snorkelling for most people requires coral life etc in shallow water - but corals in shallow water get easily busted up by typhoons etc, so if you look in the southern half of the Philippines you will probably find better reefs etc as the typhoons tend (in general) to hit the northern half of the Philippines. If you jump on various websites and check out average rainfall in different areas for when you want to go then that will help you narrow down where as less rainfall equals better underwater visibility. Then jump on google earth as all of the shallower areas can be clearly seen on there and you can get an idea of what the reef structure is like in each area - basically look for areas with more dark patches and a lower percentage of white sand.

 

[Melburnian1]

Interestingly, Palau, Philippines and Thailand all have a dry season from December to April, or longer.

For the latter two, my experience is that February is normally a terrific month to visit: in much of Philippines, for instance, pleasant temperatures and relatively low humidity.

In contrast, visiting in July or August is to be avoided. Muggy and unpleasant.

If QFi runs out of subsidies, it may cancel the Palau service, or better, operate it during the dry season that happily coincides with Christmas holidays for Australians.