Ocean Hunter 3 — Palau diving with a personal touch

Ocean Hunter 3 is for divers who want Palau's outer reefs without returning to Koror between dives. The boat reaches the sites that make the region worth the long journey: current-swept corners, reef walls, channels, tunnels, spawning grounds, and Japanese wrecks. Its character is less about a new hull than about a deliberately high-touch operation. The crew keeps the diving personal, the route can be shaped around conditions and interests, and the boat is set up for photographers who need somewhere sensible to handle cameras between immersions. That matters in Palau, where the best dive may be a fast-moving pass along a wall rather than a slow circuit of a reef. Choose Ocean Hunter 3 for access, local knowledge, and a week organised around getting back in the water—not for the novelty of the vessel itself.

Ocean Hunter 3 is an older vessel, built in 1978 and renovated in 2008. That history is part of the honest picture: the hull does not make the same first impression as a new catamaran, and the boat scores lower for the vessel itself than for its crew and food. In return, guests board a platform built around liveaboard diving rather than a floating design statement. The guest areas include an air-conditioned salon, dining room, photo spaces, an observation deck, and a sundeck with two Jacuzzis. The layout keeps the diving equipment and the living spaces distinct, so wet gear stays where it belongs. With a maximum of 16 passengers, the boat remains small enough for the crew to know who is preparing for the next dive and who needs a quieter corner after the last one.

The crew is the boat's clearest strength. Passenger feedback places it well above the hull, and that difference tells the reader what Ocean Hunter 3 gives back: people who keep the practical details moving while the vessel itself shows its age. The crew is local and international and speaks English. Their role is felt in the small transitions—getting guests from the dive deck to the tender, keeping cameras separate from ordinary gear, having food ready after a dive, and adjusting attention to the individual rather than treating the group as one unit. By the second day, a liveaboard group usually has its own habits: who goes straight to the camera table, who heads for the shade, who wants the first coffee. The boat's crew makes room for those differences. Evenings can stay quiet in the salon or move upstairs to the bar and sundeck after dinner.

The 8-day, 7-night Best of Palau routes run from Koror back to Koror, with an 11-day, 10-night version on selected departures. Weather and conditions decide the final sequence, but the route covers the main stages of Palau diving. Blue Corner is the current-swept reef projection where sharks and schooling fish gather; Blue Holes can provide the dramatic cavern entry before the corner. German Channel brings the possibility of manta rays at its cleaning stations. Ulong offers the channel, wall, sand bar, Siaes Corner, and Siaes Tunnel, a 90-metre passage through the reef lit by openings and windows. Peleliu adds the demanding Wall, Cut, Expressway, Yellow Wall, and Coral Garden, with vertical reef, strong current, and WWII history above and below the surface. Wreck divers may find Japanese wrecks such as Iro, Sata, Chuyo Maru, Teshio Maru, and Amatsu Maru in the wider programme. The Amatsu Maru rests upright at 130 feet (40 meters), making it a deep wreck for advanced divers.

The diving crew speaks English, and the operation is built around Fish 'n Fins' Palau team. Guides brief the conditions before each dive, particularly on sites where current can change quickly or carry divers toward open water. Oxygen is carried on board, and the vessel has radar, sonar, GPS, VHF/DSC/SSB radio, lifeboats, life jackets, and a fish finder. Palau's spawning dives have a separate experience threshold: participants need at least 50 logged dives and must have dived with Fish 'n Fins the previous day. The operator also limits those spawning groups to 24 divers per day, though that limit is larger than Ocean Hunter 3's passenger capacity. No guide-to-diver ratio, instructor roster, defibrillator, or onboard course programme is published, so those details should not be assumed.

The dive deck is spacious, shaded, and arranged for repeated diving. Individual storage bins keep each diver's equipment in one place, while the platform and tenders handle entries and pickups away from the mothership. The filling station supports gas mixing, and the deck has room for air and Nitrox tanks up to 100 cubic feet. Nitrox is available as an optional extra, not included by default. DIN adapters are carried, and the setup supports technical diving, rebreathers, and sidemount. Photographers get dedicated camera tables, stations for charging, and a separate rinse area for cameras rather than sharing the general rinse tanks. Rental equipment is available as an option; no equipment brands are specified. Hot-water showers are available on board for the return from the water. The arrangement makes sense for a week of multiple dives: gear stays set up, cameras have a defined work area, and the dive deck does not need to be rebuilt between immersions.

The sundeck is the main place to come back to yourself. Two heated Jacuzzis sit among loungers, chairs, and tables, with enough shade to make a surface interval comfortable rather than merely possible. The air-conditioned salon offers a library, board games, audio and video entertainment, and a computer station when a diver wants to get out of the sun. Photographers have dedicated spaces for the less casual work of sorting and charging equipment. Kayaks are carried for time away from the dive deck. These are useful choices on a route where the next site may be reached by tender or where weather leaves an afternoon without a dive: there is somewhere to sit quietly, somewhere to work, and somewhere to look out over Palau instead of at another screen.

On the first day, the hotel transfer brings guests to the dive centre at 12:30 PM. Boarding and registration follow, then gear setup and lunch on board before the 4:00 PM check dive. A night dive at 6:45 PM starts the trip properly. On the regular diving days, coffee, tea, and sweet rolls come before the first briefing and dive at 6:45 AM. Breakfast follows, the second dive goes in at 10:00 AM, and lunch arrives at midday. The third dive is at 1:00 PM, the fourth at 4:00 PM, and the night dive at 7:00 PM. The gaps are for eating, changing tanks, handling cameras, resting in the shade, or moving to the next site. Day seven keeps the full four-dive pattern before the final breakfast and morning disembarkation on day eight. It is a serious dive rhythm, but the meals and surface intervals are placed where a diver needs them.

The galley serves full-board meals in buffet form, combining Western and local cooking with a gastronomic approach. Breakfast follows the first morning dive, lunch breaks up the middle of the day, and dinner comes after the afternoon and night-dive cycle. Coffee, tea, sweet rolls, and snacks are available through the day, which is not a minor detail when four daytime dives leave a diver hungry before the next briefing. Vegetarian and vegan options are available. Beer, wine, and a selection of fine wines are on board, but alcoholic drinks are not included. The food is one of Ocean Hunter 3's strongest points in passenger feedback: the table is treated as part of the trip, not as fuel placed beside a dive schedule.

The cabins are practical rather than uniform. Standard and Deluxe cabins use two single bunk beds, while the Master State Rooms offer more living space and a larger double bed. All cabins are air-conditioned, non-smoking, and have a private bathroom with hot water; the boat provides cabin towels, toiletries, and daily housekeeping. Standard windows bring daylight and a view of the sea where the cabin position allows it. The Master rooms add a private television, DVD player, minibar, and more storage. Between dives, that distinction becomes useful: a bunk cabin gives two divers a clean, quiet place to sleep, while the larger rooms give more room to spread out after cameras, wet clothes, and several dives. The night is still a night at sea, with the boat's machinery and movement part of the setting, but the cabins have the basics needed to recover between demanding days.

Ocean Hunter 3 departs from Koror and returns to Koror. Hotel pickup and the transfer to the dive centre are included, followed by boarding at the start of the itinerary; the return transfer to the hotel or airport is arranged after disembarkation. Arriving in Palau the night before is the sensible choice, so a delayed flight does not put the first check dive at risk.