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First, just a small note about my last entry on Tubbataha...I forgot to let you know that not only did I see a
whaleshark, easily between 8 to 10 meters long cruising at 21 meters deep...but I had also two of the best night dives
ever. Quite easy to understand when you see the amount of fish. But this time, you can imagine that in a single
torch light, I had the chance to see at the same time a huge turtle, as well as 2 white tip sharks cruising just below
the turtle...amazing! But let's go back to Palau...
If you are a diver, you heard of Palau...if not, you may wondering where is this place. Easy, 3 hours (1035 miles),
west of Manila. 20,000 people for this independant state...not much behind great Ahi Tuna capital of the world. But
the highlight is definitively the diving.
Some charts put Galapagos first, Palau second and Tubbataha third when it comes to diving...I don't care, I did all
of them the last 4 months, and loved all of them.
This is my second trip to Palau. The first one was back in Summer 2006 on the liveabord Ocean Hunter
I.
So let's get back to this trip. I didn't want to do a liveabord this time, as they are all for minimum 7 days, and
I needed to be in Vietnam end of the week. Great news, day tripper do dive the same sites. We just have to face longer
hours transfering through great landscapes...but long gorgeous leisurely boat transfers under the sun...On my last visit
I did 28 dives in 6 days...so this time, I was only up to do again the best ones....just for the fun of it!
On the program...a lot of great things, diving this time with Sam's tours...guys, you were great!
First day, Blue Corner and German Chanel, second day diving Blue hole, Blue Corner and Iro Wreck, third day doing
the Peleliu Express and Peleliu Wall, and fouth and final day, back to Blue Corner and finishing with Ulong Chanel.
Blue Corner has the reputation of being of the the top 10 dive sites on earth. Tens of white tips sharks, grey reef
sharks, napoleons, tutles, etc...and after the dive, tens of Pigmy pilot whales came to play around our boats...
amazing!
At German Chanel, another rare thing,
a hammerhead shark....even if after Galapagos, a single hammerhead is not that
impressive anymore. You can also add to this a huge feather tail stingray laying down in the sand.
For Blue Hole and Iro wreack, just great leisurly dives...
Peleliu Express is a little of an extreme dive site...not really for your basic diver. Not only do you do a huge
drift dive, but you face serious down current who can suck you down below pretty fast...but we ended up enjoying
it a lot.
Peleliu Wall, is a deep wall, going down to 3000 feet. Enjoyed even more sharks, turtles, eagle spotted ray...but
mainly my first swordfish. That was a first for our divemaster who is over 2100 dives in Palau. After the dive, ended
playing with dolphins...what a day!
Back for another amazing dive at Blue Corner...with tens of sharks...but this is a kindergarden compare to Darwin's
Arch in the Galapagos...
And finally, Ulong Chanel, a drift dive, did it 2 years ago, loved it...loved it this time also...amazing to go
full speed like this for hundreds of meters...all this after waiting an hour to have the perfect tide.
I did 27
dives over 8 days of diving the last 9 days. I'm an happy guy...even more happy to know I will see
Tiffany saturday in Saigon and back to Leslie and Ma'ri this Sunday to Shanghai.
So if you think this is it for diving...guess what...not yet...not soon...next diving is in less than 6 weeks...
and yes, it will be another amazing diving destination...because you only live once...with love! But guess what,
you can expect few more entries before this. It's school holidays in less than 2 weeks...when Leslie and Tiffany
will be back on the road with me.
And now a small note of humor...
There are very, very few entries on Palau on travelblog...well, my first trip in 2006 is one of them, I was the full
organizer and sponsor of that trip on the Ocean Hunter I, so if you want to read about it, just search Palau. Just
a small note, the author of that blog never mentioned that none of the underwater pictures where ours, but they were
"borrowed" from a fellow diver. So let's give him the credit for the pics, and I will get the sponsor credit...but
guess this should hold for
many other entries...everybody has the right to be the fake they want to be on internet.
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