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Published: February 11th 2009
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Anemone butthole
Not sure if this is a mouth or a butthole but the later is more colorful so went with it. :) We dropped a giant number of clams to spend a week in Palau, 5 days diving and 2 days trooping around the tiny cluster of islands inhabited by a scant 20,000 people. This is the most gloriously beautiful place I have ever seen in my life. And we've been to some great places as ya'll know.
Dive boats drive through a morse code of mushroom shaped islands surrounded by varying shades of startlingly clear blue water. In the shallower bays surrounding these Rock Islands the water looks like a swimming pool of filtered spring water, the sun flashing ripples of light on the white sandy bottom. As the water deepens it turns from invisible as air to Windex turquoise and then sapphire blue.
The water is a cozy 86 degrees and most dives are into clear aqua blue water with a minimum of 40 feet of visibility. There are oodles of sharks here, especially gray reef sharks which we haven't seen in great numbers elsewhere. They're a bit beefier than their white tip and black tip cousins. And they don't seem to mind us divers, coming closer to us than we have seen elsewhere. Actually, that's true of just
about everything here like giant Napleon wrasses and bumphead Napoleon fish.
And here's the best, mantas! At a dive called German Channel there are cleaning stations, the equivalent of a drive through Carnuba wax car wash. Mantas swim in tight circles while the local herd of cleaner fish run out with their vacuums and scrub brushes to give them a good once over after which the manta swims off all clean and shiny, free of pesky parasites and ocean scum. We only got to see one about 6 feet across, matt black on top and sky white underneath, but what an amazing sight. People go ga-ga over seeing babies born but I can't imagine a more graceful, peace inducing scene than watching that manta swimming in slow motion like a giant sea hawk. And there was none of that slimy, pickled, mottled, biohazard stuff that comes with newborns. It came within just a few feet of us like a goodwill ambassador from mother ocean. How odd we must look, kneeling down on a sandy bed blowing bubbles like some sort of weird worms in the bottom of a thermal hot spring.
And here's another amazing thing about Palau.
Big eyed red fish
Don't know the official name but it looks a bit like your garden variety gold fish on HGH. Most of the population lives on a tiny island called Koror which was colonized first by Spaniards, then Germans, and finally Japanese. Post WWII, the Americans were to look after it and help it become it's own nation which finally happened in the 90s. There's a much larger island a stone's throw from Koror called Babeldoab which has been home to villagers with only cows for transportation until... get this... LAST YEAR! So it's this virgin paradise of green surrounded by spectacular views of turquoise waters with nary a Hyatt or Hilton. I think there's only one small cottage style place to stay on the whole island. It's like finding the lost garden of eden in the year 2009.
Okay, all that gushing done, each person has his own opinion. Toby found the diving in Sulawesi better than Palau because there was more variety of stuff, especially the small stuff which is known as muck diving in the underwater world. Granted, Palau has great coral, a few nudibranchs, plenty of fish and some big stuff but it's not like you see much different from one dive to the other. And rather irritatingly, the most famous dive in Palau is
Blue Corner. This is a coral drop off where you attach a hook to a dead piece of coral and inflate your BCD so that you float above the coral on a dog leash like tether. You watch sharks swim back and forth in front of you which is interesting for about 10 minutes but after 40 minutes it's downright boring. Especially if you do the dive more than once which is likely because new divers show up all atwitter to dive Blue Corner.
There isn't really much to do in Palau except dive. You could stretch above ground excursions to maybe three days but there just isn't much terra firma or the attendant activities. Nightlife is great if you're into Japanese karaoke bars which cater to the massive numbers of tourists from that nation. A few restaurants operate out of boxy buildings that could use a lick of paint. There are a handful of resorts which must have great food and entertainment but they were, we guessed, way beyond our backpacker budget.
The place is gorgeous which poses a problem for this blog. I took so many pictures that I need to split them into 4 different
Bright clown fish
Wouldn't these guys look amazingly brilliant under a black light? posts or you'll shoot me for killing an hour of your time in one big photo spooge. Here's the first installment, fish and muck. Will save the big stuff, e.g. sharks and mantas, for another chapter. Enjoy.
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Jeff Ellis
non-member comment
You guys are having too much fun! Any topside shots of Palau?