Neco Marine picked us up at the hotel at around 8:00 a.m. After a stop at another dive shop so the two rebreather divers in our group could pick up some bottles, we made our way to Neco.

The morning started out warm, but a heavy rainstorm ensued shortly after we started setting up our gear. We had a quick stop at Palau Pacific Resort to pick up four other divers and then head out to our first dive site – Turtle Wall.

The aptly named site was fraught with turtles and bright corals. One the drift dive, we saw several black tip reef sharks, spiny lobsters, anemones and clownfish (although not the Nemo variety). Visibility was about 50 feet – the recent storms had mucked up the water a bit, but it was still a great dive. Definitely a good way to start the trip.

We then headed out to Ngerbagerau State Park (an island) for a picnic lunch. It was one of the more unique surface intervals we have had and definitely an enjoyable lunch. We then headed back to the harbor area for our second dive on the Japanese ship – Iro.

Sunk during World War II, the Iro sits upright with the bow of the boat at around 60 ft. The 400+ ft. vessel had an amazing amount of coral on it and a large number of large clams. There were schooling jacks around the midship and a ton of anemones. It was an incredible wreck that you could spend multiple dives on and still not see everything.

A third dive to Chandalier Caves was offered, however we had to pass (which was not an easy thing for us). Sara’s sinuses were in distress after the long day of traveling and the jet lag was starting to catch up with both of us. We made our way back to the hotel where we showered, took a quick walk and then fell asleep before dinner. Only three people from our group ended up doing the third dive, but they said it was very interesting. We are going to try to go back later in the week.