Palau October 2012 Day 6

10/20/12

It is sad to say but today was our last day of diving.  It is amazing how fast time passes when you are on vacation.  We met up at the boat at 7:55 a.m. to get an early start to head out to Ulong Channel again.  I was hoping the visibility and current would be good again so I could get some video here after the mishap with the camera.  Unfortunately, the visibility was not as good and the sharks were not hanging out where they were last time.  Instead of drifting down the channel, we criss-crossed back and forth along the wall and found a large school of jacks and also a group of sharks that were hunting some small schools of scads.  Because we did not go down the channel I did not get any video of the large lettuce leaf coral formation.  

We slowly motored to our next dive site, Saies Corner, which is a corner similar to Blue Corner where they can get some really good currents flowing.  After our surface interval we all back-rolled in and dropped down.  Again, there was not really much current here either.  We were told that the currents really have not picked up here yet because the winds have not changed direction for the season.  We did see a few bumphead parrotfish, a gigantic puffer fish, and lots and lots of sharks circling around in what current there was--of course they were just a little to far out of range to get any really good video or pictures of, but they were amazing just to watch.

We then had lunch on the boat as we slowly made our way to our third and final dive of the day and of the trip, a site that is not really known about by many people and is not a regular dive site.  This is the site of a Japanese Zero from World War II that was discovered by Mandy in the 1980s and Eric’s dad became involved in an effort to raise and restore the plane to be displayed as a museum piece in Arizona.  The plane is pretty much intact laying upside down in the sand at about 50-60 feet.  The day before Shallum had mentioned to Eric that he now had the GPS coordinates to its location.  Eric and I and Fabio had attempted to find the site when we were here in 2010 to no avail.  Back then Fabio, Eric and I swam around for about an hour in a horrible current and extremely bad visibility and never did find the plan.  

Since Shallum had the GPS coordinates he sent a boat out and placed a buoy at the site so that we could find it.  Once we reached the site Eric gave everyone some history on the site and then Eric and I dropped down first to get some pictures and video before everyone else got there.  Everyone really enjoyed seeing the plane and knowing some of the recent history behind it.  Eric and I stayed behind after everyone went up and got more photos and video.  

Unfortunately, this was the end of the diving portion of our trip.  Tomorrow we have a free day for everyone to do whatever they would like to do.  I think some people are going to go watch the boat races, some people are just going to hang out and relax, and at least one person was going to go do a kayak tour of the islands.  We were very fortunate on this trip to have such wonderful people to dive with and wonderful weather to do it in.

Palau October 2012 Day 5

10/19/12

We all made it to the boat around 8 a.m. to set out a little early to see if we could hit the current right at Ulong Channel.  I think this is one of the prettier dives here in Palau, but like I said before, they are all pretty.  This dive can vary greatly depending on the current.  If there is a really strong current this dive can be a pretty wild ride.  Today we dove when the current was in its change-over from incoming to outgoing.  

The water was extremely clear and the current was very mild.  There were quite a few sharks at the beginning of the dive on the outside of the channel and quite a few people got some good photos and video.  Jody got some really close up video of a shark that swam right toward her.  She is becoming quite the shark enthusiast.  Unfortunately, I did not get any video on this dive because when my camera got installed in the housing Eric did not notice that the silica packet was in front of the lens.  This is unfortunate because I could have gotten some awesome shark video.  

Even thought the current was pretty slack we did manage to make it to the huge wall of lettuce leaf coral.  This is one of the most amazing underwater formations of coral I know I have ever seen.  I think everyone else that had not seen it before was pretty much in awe also.  Eric and I like to call it the giant fish condo.  We ended this dive right after the two giant clams that can be found fairly shallow on the reef.  

For our surface interval our boat captain took us over to Ulong Island (the Island where Survivor Palau took place).  This is a beautiful island with a very large incredibly soft white sand beach.  We spend about half an hour here wandering around checking out the island.  Fabio took some group photos of us on the beach.  

Then we headed out for a dive spot called Sandy Paradise.  This is a very pretty dive with tons of beautiful coral of all different colors and a nice sandy bottom where you can sometimes see white tip sharks resting and sting rays in the sand, etc.  Fabio took some group photos of us underwater here.  We saw another crocodile fish on this dive and the usual school of big eye snapper that hangs out here.  

After we surfaced we had lunch on the boat and slowly headed for our final dive site of the day--Chandelier Cave.  This is an amazing four-chambered underwater cave.  The first chamber has a really amazing formation hanging down from the ceiling, thus the name Chandelier Cave.  Everyone had fun checking out the different chambers.  We then turned off all our lights and exited the cave simply following the glow of sunlight coming from the exit hole.  It was really neat seeing everyone’s silhouettes as they exited the cave.

After we exited the cave we found the resident group of razor fish that hang out there and then spent some time trying to see if we could get some photos/video of the mandarin fish that live in the coral head just outside the cave.  I spent quite a bit of time there and finally got some good video of the male (probably the best video I have gotten to date of a mandarin fish).  They are extremely hard to get pictures or video of because they tend to dart in and out of the swiss-cheese like coral head that they live in.  They generally only come out of their coral head to mate every evening.  This is an amazing site to see if you ever get the chance.  Just after sunset (every evening) the male and female will rise together above the coral and in a split second they mate and dart back down into the coral.  We actually got an opportunity to witness this on our trip to the Philippines earlier this year.  It was pretty amazing.  

I also got some good video of a really cute big eyed goby or blennie type fish that was living in a coral head just next to where the mandarin fish were living.  After that we surfaced for the short boat ride back to the dive shop.  We all got cleaned up and several people met us in our room for drinks and snacks and to swap and look at photos before we met up with Fabio in the lobby at 6:30 to head to dinner.  We decided just to go back over to the Drop Off because it is so handy to the hotel, the food is good, and they have free internet.

Palau October 2012 Day 4

10/18/12

We met up at the boat again around 8:15 this morning.  Our first dive site of the day was  the Iro Miru, a large Japanese freighter hauling gas and supplies that was blown up in World War II.  A lot of the guys in the group wanted to dive a wreck and this is one of the best ones in the area to dive.  Visibility was actually pretty good today for this particular site.  We started at the bow and made our way down the top of the ship, swimming through the engine room and the crane operators room, etc.  There are tons of coral and clams and anemones covering the surface of the ship after all these years.  

Our next dive site was Ngerchong inside.  This was a very nice, easy, fairly shallow dive with very little current and lots of little critters.  There was a large coral head with glass fish and an eel living underneath.  There were also cleaner shrimp, garden eels, gobies, etc., but the highlight of the dive were the cuttlefish.  I took a lot of video and Eric got some really good pictures.  They make nice subjects because they usually stay in one spot.  

After our dive we got back on the boat and headed to a nice sandy beach for lunch.  We spent quite a bit of time hanging out after lunch, waiting for the current to be right so we could go and dive German Channel again.  When conditions looked good we headed out for German Channel.  We ended up diving between the change of the currents, which was not great but gave us a fair chance of seeing something good.  We actually did end up seeing a one manta and there were tons of schooling fish and of course sharks.  

After this dive we headed back to the dive shop/hotel.  We all got cleaned up and then met up over at The Drop Off for dinner and so everyone could compare and share their photos from the day.  Several people were pretty tired so they headed off to bed early.  We are meeting at 8 a.m. tomorrow so we can see if we can hit the current right at Ulong Channel.

Palau October 2012 Day 3

10/17/12

After another good breakfast at the buffet here at the hotel we all met up at 8:45 at the boat for our first dive of the day--the nautilus dive.  Fabio had gone out the night before and set the traps to catch the Nautilus.  Apparently these prehistoric creatures have a taste for chicken, who knew.  He then went out about 6 a.m. to see how many took the bait.  They caught 10 nautilus, which worked out great because we had 10 divers so each diver got their own nautilus to hold and photograph.  

We took the nautilus out into the open water to take photographs, etc. to keep them away from any fish that might try and attack them on the reef.  After we all got our pictures of our individual nautilus’ we then gave them back to Fabio to put in his mesh bag.  We then swam along the reef at Short Drop Off for a while and then toward the end of our dive we swam back out into the open water and Fabio released all the nautilus together to let them make their way back to their home in the deep ocean.  Typically Nautilus live in deep water around 600-800 feet deep.  They generally only come up a bit shallower at night to feed and mate.  It was an awesome experience to be able to see such amazing creatures that have been around since prehistoric times.  

We then took another amazing boat ride to our next destination--Blue Holes.  Unfortunately the current and surge here were pretty intense so we were not able to drop down into the holes from the top, but instead we entered through the widow on the side of the reef.  It was still a really cool experience for everyone.  Then we swam out another of the windows on the side of the reef and swam along the reef down toward the Blue Corner area.  This is a really beautiful wall, but then again all the walls in Palau are beautiful.  There are fish everywhere you look.  Towards the end of the dive a large Napoleon wrasse circled Eric begging for his picture to be taken.  Then the wrasse spotted some other people and headed toward them to get his picture taken.  The fish here are so used to divers they have no fear of having their picture taken.

For lunch we ended up anchoring in a very shallow channel.  The view was spectacular, but then again pretty much every view in Palau is spectacular.  We enjoyed our lunch and some good conversation and then headed toward our final dive site of the day, New Drop Off.  The current was pretty strong here as well and we ended up hooking in at the corner of the reef and several people got some really good shark photos as they were coming in pretty close to the reef.  We stayed hooked in for about 30 minutes and then we headed on down the reef.  We also saw a very pretty turtle and another large group of fish. 

Ricky, our boat captain then took us for an amazing ride back through the islands to the dive shop.  Jody and I had fun riding on the very front of the boat, enjoying the wind in our hair and the amazing views.  

Palau October 2012 Day 2

10/16/12

After a very filling breakfast at the buffet here at the hotel we all met up at the dive shop at around 8:15 for our first day of diving.  After everyone made sure they had all their gear we headed out for our first dive--coral garden.  This was a good easy dive that gave everyone a chance to test out their camera gear, make sure they were weighted properly and make sure everything was working properly, etc.  This was a very beautiful and easy dive.

After everyone climbed out we headed toward our the next dive site--the famous Blue Corner--one of the top dive sites here in Palau.  On our way to the dive site we came across a large pod of very playful dolphins.  Our boat Captain, Ricky, ran the boat around and around so that we could get the dolphins to bow surf and jump for us.  It was really great.  The dolphins were having a lot of fun playing.  Several people got some really good video.  

Then we made our way to Blue Corner.  After Fabio, our guide, checked the current we proceeded to get in.  The current was not overly strong but we had a lot of surge so it probably was not the best day to hook in at the corner, but Fabio had fun watching us all sway back and forth and try and hang on.  We did see quite a few sharks and several schools of different types of barracuda and MANY large Napoleon wrasse.  At the end of the dive we came across several really big Napoleon wrasse and three or four white tips hunting something in a coral head.  The white tips were going in and out of the rock and the wrasse were chomping down on stuff.  It was a real feeding frenzy.  Everyone really enjoyed watching the whole scene unfold.  

Unfortunately, that was the climax of our dive at Blue Corner and it was time to get out.  We then head to a nice white sand beach to have our lunch.  After lunch then we headed to German Channel to see if we could find some mantas.  We were told when we arrived that the mantas have been pretty scarce so far this season, but they should start coming in right about now.  After we all got in the water and dropped down we got really lucky and Fabio pointed out a young manta that ended up swimming around us.  We also saw several types of tuna and some other large schools of fish.  Everyone was just amazed at the numbers of fish everywhere.  Unfortunately, we had to get out eventually and then we headed back to the dive shop.

We made plans with Fabio to join us for dinner at The Taj.  Fabio called the owner of the restaurant and had him send a van to pick us all up.  We had heard a lot about Taj when we were here before but never went.  We were not disappointed.  The food was amazing and everyone had a great time.  Several people wanted to go back again tomorrow night.  By the time we all got back to the hotel I think most everyone was exhausted and went straight to bed.  Tomorrow we are doing our Nautilus dive, so it should be really fun.

Palau October 2012 Day 1

10/15/12

We made the long journey to Palau just fine.  All our flights were pretty smooth and uneventful.  Jordan, Eric, Tim, Jody and I were on the flight from Phoenix to San Francisco and then San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii.  When we got to Hawaii we were joined by Jared.  So then it was six of us on the flight from Hawaii to Guam and Guam to Palau.  We got to Palau about 8:30 p.m. and Neco Marine picked us up at the airport and took us to the Sea Passion Hotel.  We all got settled in our rooms and climbed into bed.  I think we were all pretty tired by this time.  Jeff and Vicki arrived about 2 a.m. and then Matt and Scott arrived about 4 a.m.

We had plans to do a snorkel/jellyfish lake tour the next morning at around 11:00.  We planned it for later in the morning to give the people that arrived late a little bit of time to sleep.  So around 10:30 the dive shop showed up to pick all of us up and haul all our gear over for the week of diving.  

Then we headed to jellyfish lake.  Everyone really enjoyed swimming with the jellyfish.  Everyone was amazed at how soft and delicate the jellyfish were.  After we left jellyfish lake we headed to a nice beach to have lunch.  After that we snorkeled a spot nearby that had quite few giant clams.  

Our final stop we snorkeled along a shallow reef area.  The current was really moving so everyone got to experience a nice current.  Several people in our group got to see a couple black tip reef sharks.  There were also quite a few fish feeding because of the strong current.  

We were all kind of tired after that so we decided to head back to the dive shop and call it a day.  After we took our stuff back to our room we decided to go down the road to the supermarket and stock up on beer, soda, and of course mango juice.  

After everyone got cleaned up, a couple people had appointments for Thai massages, some people started drinking, and others started looking through their pictures and video from today.  We all had plans to meet Fabio for dinner at The Drop Off.  After everyone had a nice dinner we were pretty tired and called it a night.  We have plans to meet at the dive shop to head out at 8:15 tomorrow morning for our first day of diving.