Blogs from Palau, Oceania - page 2

Now I am contemplating whether or not to write this blog or not. I mean, do I tell you, do I not? I want to tell you about this beautiful, beautiful place but I don't want to wreck its cozy and lovable feel. I mean it's still a non-commercialized, non-super-touristy place, where the locals say hello to you as you pass by and cars stop to let you cross the street. It's so beautiful half of you readers have stopped reading my blog and have breezed through the photo's. Don't deny it! I don't blame you either though. Anyways, I'll tell you a bit about my Palau adventures but you have to promise me not to ruin it. I'm going back one day to check on it so don't think I won't notice if it has ... read more

Dear all, Back on land now so here are the Palau photos! Wendy xxx... read more

A glowing green salt water lake lies in the middle of one of the rock islands. Jellyfish from the ocean were trapped in it ages ago and without the normal sea predators evolved so that they no longer sting. They swim a few kilometers a day in a circuit around the lake, keeping in the sun to support their symbiotic algae. You can swim in the lake with them while they harmlessly pulse their way around you. It would be brilliant for someone to film them and sell the videos as stress relieving videos like those fish videos. It's mesmerizing and peaceful to watch them harmlessly pulse all around you. Our last dive in Palau was at a site called "Virgin Blue Hole" where we dove into an deep opening in the top of the reef ... read more

My stopovers in Brisbane and Cairns, Australia, brought me back to a world that, over the past two months, I had almost forgotten existed: vast sprawling cities, flashing lights, people who do not say hello to each other when they pass in the street because there are simply too many of them, tour agencies advertising expensive “half and full-day rainforest treks”, the sort of meaningless experiences bought up by gap year students feeling the need to take a break from their year-long booze cruise around the world. Guam, an overseas territory of the USA, is also highly developed, although it has retained much of the laid-back atmosphere and physical beauty that is inevitable on a small, jungle-covered Pacific island with beautiful white sand beaches, transparent blue waters and a mountainous interior. My host in Guam was ... read more

Hopefully this will be my final enty for the Palau Blog... The day after our last dive in Palau we spent the day at the Palau Pacific Resort just snorkeling on the private reef there, which was fantastic, I spotted a moray eel, and searched again for the octopus we had spotted a couple of days previously. Grae had developed a very sore ear infection which wasent helped by the doctor stabbing him in the ear with the instrument meant to inspect the infection. It bled quite alot and Grae was in alot of pain so he absolutley couldn't get his ear wet, which was lucky that we had finished our diving but a shame that he couldn't snorkel anymore. So while I was snorkeling Grae hired a Kayak for a hour or so and pulled ... read more