Tourist boards’ marketing materials tend towards hyperbole, but it took me just a few hours at sea to concede that the tagline that branding eggheads had contrived for Visit Palau wasn’t arrogant — it was simply accurate. Stupefied by the vistas surrounding me, I struggled to think of a more apt description than the one I’d seen plastered across Visit Palau’s website. As promised, everywhere I looked was a “pristine paradise.” I was aboard the Four Seasons Explorer Palau, an 11-cabin expedition vessel that had dallied between the hospitality group’s Maldivian resorts before recently being redeployed to this pinprick of an island nation embedded deep in the Pacific.
West of Hawaii and Guam, east of the Philippines and a four-hour flight south of Taiwan, Palau is the fourth-smallest sovereign state on the planet; its population of nearly 18,000 people lives across just nine of its 340 islands.
That means it’s easy to quickly leave any semblance of a crowd far behind. Because the vessel sails around petite Palau perpetually, rolling itineraries have no start or end date: Accessing the boat via a swift tender transfer, passengers can board whenever they wish and stay for as long as they like. You could be checked in and sipping your first fresh Palauan coconut water within an hour of leaving the airport.
Although the Explorer’s location changes continually, every itinerary will almost certainly include time roaming Palau’s remarkable Rock Islands. With their base eroded over so many millennia by the ebb and flow of gently lapping waters, these countless towering islands seem to hover over the water like mushroom caps. Or perhaps it’s better to liken them to gigantic bushels of broccoli. Covered from top to bottom in bobbled blankets of untouched tropical forestry, they radiate the most vivid greens. Sometimes I’d notice flashes of violet and tangerine shimmer against that lush emerald canopy — a sudden burst of sunlight on the neon feathers of a Palau fruit dove, one of the country’s endemic bird species.
The Palauan people take their role as custodians of this landscape seriously. Before clearing immigration, each tourist must sign the Palau Pledge that is stamped in their passport. A promise to the children and future generations of the country, this full-page declaration affirms new arrivals’ intent to “tread lightly, act kindly and explore mindfully.”
In 2020, the creation of the Palau National Marine Sanctuary protected 80% of the country’s waters — an area larger than the entirety of California. Though the amounts won’t trouble anybody who comfortably vacations at Four Seasons-standard properties, a range of compulsory visitor fees support local conservation efforts and additionally deter mass tourism. As a means of perpetuating the validity of that tourism board slogan, government officials have spoken frankly about their intent to create a tourism model that caters to a small number of big-spending, low-impact travelers rather than one that courts everybody. In 2023, only 35,000 tourists visited Palau; Four Seasons is the first international hotel brand to enter the country.
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Those factors have contributed significantly to conditions that make this one of the preeminent diving and snorkeling destinations on the planet — activities Four Seasons guests can expect to indulge in almost daily. Though I don’t dive, I took to Palau’s temperate, clear-as-air waters repeatedly. With many of the ship’s crew from the Maldives, floating over Palau’s immaculate, technicolor corals was somehow bittersweet. We mourned how much of the former nation’s once-vibrant reefs have been devastated by coral bleaching, but knowing just how imperiled so many of the world’s diving destinations are today made us appreciate Palau’s underwater vibrancy and diversity all the more.
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Some 400 species of hard coral and 300 species of soft coral thrive here, alongside more than 1,000 species of reef fish, a curious assortment of giant clams, elusive dugongs and other people-pleasers like manta rays, sharks and turtles. On my first afternoon, my guide and I slipped into a hidden lagoon and swam entirely alone in perfect clarity above a coral landscape with all the texture and detail of a hand-knotted Persian carpet. Swirling discs of glinting copper, alien-blue funnels, splintering coral branches in peppermint greens and gently swaying tufts of lavender were among the curios coalesced beneath us, a kaleidoscopic and mysterious realm I felt immensely privileged to see.
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Contrasted with all that luminous beauty, the Four Seasons Explorer Palau, while completely comfortable, feels a touch utilitarian. It isn’t designed for travelers who simply want to laze and loll on board for days on end, so people who don’t gain pleasure from such profound marine marvels are better off skipping the ship — and perhaps even Palau itself — entirely. But alternative activities are offered, so guests have more to do than repeatedly jumping into the water.
I never quite made it to the yoga sessions scheduled at dawn each morning, but a somewhat rustic spa setup (a massage table placed on a corner of the top deck, around which a curtain is drawn) allowed for leisurely rainy afternoon treatments.
Four Seasons Explorer’s marine biologist Óscar hosted regular presentations to educate us on Palau’s immaculate ecosystem, and a nightly screening showed us highlights of our day’s explorations, captured by Explorer’s very own onboard videographer. Often themed to different national cuisines, set menus at lunch and dinner showcased the likes of smoked moonfish carbonara, Vietnamese summer rolls and pineapple tart with cinnamon. Though the results didn’t always wow me, those new culinary experiences each day provided an opportunity to take pause and reflect on our latest adventures.
There were other unexpected highlights too. One rainbow-flecked evening, after we’d settled within a sheltered bay that overlooked a cluster of the undulating Rock Islands, I kayaked through a natural limestone arch to take in the full grandeur of this primordial landscape, all alone from water level. Bursts of forestry surrounded me, elegant snow-white terns swirled overhead — and that’s all there was. I had nothing to do but sit back, take it in and occasionally swish my fingertips through glassy, sage-green waters. I’ve rarely experienced such a profound sense of calm and tranquility.
That’s a moment that still lingers strongly in my memory, interspersed with recollections of other excursions that provided sometimes startling insights into Palau’s mottled history.
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Another sweltering day, we ventured to Peleliu, a sleepy island home to just 500 or so unhurried locals. But during World War II this was the site of ferocious onslaughts between American and Japanese soldiers that resulted in the deaths of thousands. Deeply respectful of this challenging legacy, a guide led us to the few stark ruins and exhibits that signposted this devastating period: Abandoned tanks now tangled in enveloping greenery; the crumbling shell of what was once a Japanese military base.
One other humid morning provided an immersion in Palau’s past that was significantly more uplifting. We made our way to the state of Airai, where a group of local women, influential figures in Palau’s enduring matrilineal society, gave us more insights into the color of their heritage and history. Despite past incursions from Spain, the US, Japan and Germany, the Palauans’ way of life has remained remarkably and beautifully intact.
The Palauan language — highly complex, entirely distinct — persists, and the country’s young people, now increasingly assured a secure future in Palau through the development of thoughtful and responsible tourism outfits developed in cooperation with the likes of Four Seasons, are building their own lives in Palau rather than seeking their fortune elsewhere.
As we ended our meeting, the women, wearing earrings fashioned from papaya leaves, performed a song that paid tribute to their ancestors, village leaders and all the natural abundance that surrounded them. It was languid, reflective and surprisingly moving; as they sang, I understood even more how proud the Palauan people understandably are, and why keeping this pristine paradise intact remains so fundamental to them.
From $3,696 per night, based on double occupancy.
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