Ryoma I — A Spacious Palau Liveaboard Built Around Diving

Ryoma I makes sense when the aim is to dive Palau's famous sites without spending the best part of every day travelling out from Koror. Points that take day boats 45–60 minutes to reach can be around 10 minutes away from the liveaboard, leaving more time for the dive and less time sitting on a moving boat. The other advantage is timing: the crew can shift dives away from the busiest arrival window and work around tides when a particular encounter matters. Routes commonly cover Ulong and Ngemelis, with longer cruises adding Peleliu. For divers who want Palau's major areas, repeated dives, and the option of reaching farther reefs, that difference is the reason to choose Ryoma I.

Boarding begins from DayDream Palau's shop at Malakal. Ryoma I lies offshore, so a tender takes guests out from the dock rather than having everyone walk straight aboard. The first impression is of a broad, stable catamaran with unusually open passageways and enough room to move without turning every suitcase or camera case into an obstacle. The boat was built in 1986 and renovated in 2010, giving it the character of a working vessel that has been kept in service rather than styled as a hotel. Once aboard, the layout is easy to read: cabins on the upper deck, open space for meals and rest, and the dive operation concentrated aft. The sea remains close on every side.

Ryoma I is large enough to give 18 guests room, but nine cabins keep the group small enough that faces become familiar quickly. The crew combines Japanese, Palauan, and Filipino staff, with English and Japanese spoken aboard. The working crew covers the parts of a dive day that matter: the captain and boat operators manage the tenders, the dive team handles the water, and the engineers and compressor staff keep the boat and tanks ready. A Japanese chef anchors the social side of the trip with familiar, generous food. In the evening, guests drift between the tatami room, the dining deck, and the rooftop jacuzzi, then look out over the water rather than disappearing into separate hotel rooms. The boat feels organised around diving, not decorated around it.

The standard six-day, five-night route links Koror with Ulong and Ngemelis, placing sites such as Ulong Channel, Blue Holes, Blue Corner, New Drop Off, Big Drop Off, and German Channel within the liveaboard's working area. Ulong Channel is the route's signature drift-dive setting, while the Ngemelis group brings together the named wall, channel, and open-water sites that make southern Palau so sought after. German Channel is especially valuable when tide timing matters. Longer itineraries add Peleliu, where the diving becomes more remote and current management more demanding. The exact order and selection change with weather, sea conditions, guest requests, and group experience, so the boat is not selling one fixed list of sites. It is selling time in the right area, with the tender already close when the window opens.

The dive team works in English and Japanese and includes professional dive guides. The cruise is not one single skill level: the general Level S routes are aimed at divers who can descend independently, control themselves underwater, hold neutral buoyancy, and complete a safety stop without assistance. The suggested experience is 80 dives for divers under 60 and 150 for those 60 or over. Level G requires 150 or 300 dives respectively, recent experience, fast-current drift diving, free descents without a line, underwater regrouping, and independent ascent decisions; nitrox is mandatory. Level P is for highly experienced divers, with suggested minimums of 200 or 400 dives, depending on age, and includes remote offshore areas and stronger, more complex current. Guides can refuse a dive when conditions or ability make it unsafe. Oxygen, first-aid kits, radios, satellite communications, GPS, and emergency beacons are carried aboard. Nitrox training runs during the cruise.

The aft deck is dedicated to divers, with shaded working space, camera rinse tanks, and drying areas for wetsuits and other gear. A spin dryer helps get swimwear ready for the next entry. Ryoma I has an onboard nitrox filling system, and nitrox is free throughout the cruise; a Nitrox Specialty course is available on board for divers who are not yet certified. DIN adapters and sidemount diving are supported. Rental equipment can be arranged, but every diver must carry a dive computer and an SMB; both can be rented if needed. Diving is done from one of two Suzuki 250 HP speedboats, which take groups to the site and collect them after the dive. The short transfer is often around 10 minutes.

The quiet places are spread across the boat rather than confined to one lounge. The bow deck has deck chairs for watching the islands and the wake, while the rooftop jacuzzi gives the day a different view of Palau after the dive gear is put away. The tatami room, Take-no-Ma, is the practical retreat: divers use it for logs, photographs, videos on the large-screen TV, or simply lying flat for a while. The open dining deck also becomes a place to sit between meals. Because the dive tender handles the short run to the site, Ryoma I does not spend long stretches carrying divers back and forth from Koror.

A day aboard is built around diving rather than a fixed sightseeing timetable. The compressor and dive operation prepare before the first briefing, then groups move from Ryoma I to the speedboat and on to the selected site. Up to four dives can fit into a day, with meals separating the water work from the recovery that makes the next dive worthwhile. Between entries, divers return to shade, rinse cameras, hang wet gear to dry, and compare what they saw in the tatami room or on the open deck. The boat may reposition while guests rest, or remain close to the next site so the tender run stays short. Night diving is available as an optional activity on suitable itineraries. After dinner, the day ends above the water, often on the rooftop deck under Palau's night sky.

A Japanese chef runs the galley, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner are generally served buffet-style on the open deck on the second level. The cooking moves between Japanese, Western, and Chinese dishes, with Palauan food and organic island fruit adding a local note. Drinks include water, tea, coffee, fruit juice, and non-alcoholic drinks; beer and wine are provided with dinner. Food matters more on a liveaboard than it does on a day boat because four dives can leave little patience for a slow or thin meal. A buffet lets divers eat to their own schedule and return for more without turning the table into another appointment.

The nine cabins are split between three Deluxe Cabins with private shower and toilet facilities and six Standard Cabins using shared facilities. Every cabin has a sea view, a regular bed rather than a bunk, storage space, air conditioning, and a standard window. Standard-room guests use separate men's and women's facilities, each with two shower-toilet rooms and an additional toilet. The toilets have washlets, and the water-making system keeps shower pressure steady during the cruise. Nights are therefore less about a cramped berth and more about closing the door on a quiet room after a full day in the water. For extra space outside the cabin, the tatami lounge gives guests somewhere to stretch out, review photographs, or finish a log before sleep.

Ryoma I cruises from Koror and returns to Koror; the boat is moored offshore from the DayDream Palau shop at Malakal, between Fisheries Dock and the Koror ranger's office. Guests board and disembark by tender from the shop. Hotel-to-shop transfers within Koror are included, while airport transfers are optional. Arriving in Koror the night before boarding is the sensible choice, leaving time to reach the shop and board from 18:00 without tying the cruise to a tight arrival.