Palau- KAPOW
Well, as predicted I didn't write anything while we were actually in Palau. The combination of diving every single day and going directly to the bar wasn't exactly a recipe for spare time to be spent on the internet. C'mon if you were in paradise for a week would you really make the effort? So, I'm going to write one post here about Palau and another in a few days about Tokyo, m'kay?
We left for Palau on the 28th of Feb. and finally arrived after 27 hours of flying (thats, right 27 HOURS: DC-> Houston->Hawaii->Guam->Palau) at around something late PM on the 1st of March. Hooray for crossing the international dateline and being half way around the world from home.
We stayed at the fabu. Cliffside hotel in Koror which was a lovely treat recommended by now dear friend Christopher-Tobol-Crawdaddy-Hale nee friend of Mapgirl (small world eh) We awoke to an amazing (ok, I awoke) to an amazing sunrise and after brekkie jumped in the van to head to Neco marine for our first dive day! We were whisked into Neco, down to the dock and onto the boat in approx. 2 1/2 seconds, met Marcel our dive guide and headed off to Blue Corner one of the most famous dive sites in Palau. Thanks to Cameron back in DC I was set for dive gear and despite over a month with "Mr. Talkative" Arlington Blvds. dive authority, Jon's regulator set-up was NOT fully serviced and needed a new first stage hose- oops. Way to go mr. chatty thanks for the inflated bill for "express" service. Fortunately we figured it out before we left the dock and with a quick fix we were off.
Going from plane to dive boat in less than 12 hours made our first boat ride a little surreal (given how cold DC was when we left) and the scenery in Palau is surreal to begin with (yea I know ending on a preposition, whatever!) The country consists of hundreds of islands, mostly made by uplifted limestone from ancient coral reefs. This means that as the water has risen and fallen with tides and storms over the years the islands take on a mushroom-like effect where the shoreline is erroded into the island with brush/lush jungle growth growing over and above the water line- they look like they kind of hover over the water- its breathtakingly beautiful. Add that to the incredible blues, aquamarine and tourquoise of the Pacific and its one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.
Once we got to Blue Corner it wasn't long before we had taken the plunge and quickly found ourselves around 70 feet deep in some of the deepest bluest water I have ever seen. Diving in Palau- in the Pacific I would hazard a guess is like nowhere else in the world. We didn't know diving like this even existed! The fish were HUGE and schooled by the hundreds. We arrived to Blue Corner and hooked in with our specialized Palauan reef hooks courtesy of Marcel. A few feet of cord with a non-barbed hook at the end, they are used to prevent excessive damage to the reef from people holding on with gloved hands and killing off the reef. At Blue Hole you really need these suckers as the current can blow in excess of 5 knots- it wasn't nearly that strong a current when we were there but you certainly can't hang in one place without the hook.
Diving at blue corner is kind of like watching an aquarium from the inside- sharks, napolean fish, schools of everything under the sun parading by and tons and tons of sharks!!! Also, tons of Japanese tourists, many of whom have no qualms about going straight through the schools and disrupting their activity with their bubbles- not very nice diver etiquette. But, wow what an intense first dive nonetheless.
The second dive was a wall near blue corner and after lunch and some surface time we were back in and I continued adjusting to Cam's wing BCD which was wonderful but took some getting used to...lots of gorgeous, undulating anemones and fish of all colors and sizes- even a turtle. It was a beautiful dive with amazing colors and although we only had a lame 35mm point and shoot underwater camera it was better than nothing and I'll post some pics of that after I scan them. Tobol and or Aussie friend Caroline and Ernan another dive guide have kindly passed along their pics so check for them on my Smugmug site: http://lisadalessio.smumug.com Some highlights of other dives included big grouper, lots more sharks, an eagle ray, more turtles and a lionfish.
The first day and much of the week we were diving with the world champion free diver Herbert Nitsch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Nitsch) and his friends who were on a training/fun trip and it was lots of fun watching them go down as deep as us and swim around for awhile without tanks! They also get to see lots of fish and much closer because they don't have bubbles to scare the wildlife away. Check out Herbert's blog for some up close shark footage and more from the trip: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Nitsch We were on their boat most days with not too many other passengers so not only did we hang out offshore and on it meant we didn't have crowded dives- perfect!
Once back on land we headed to the Drop Off bar, on the water next to Neco where we started what would become a daily tradition of seeing how much we could drink before the need to fall over from exhaustion by 10pm (and for me, how much insanely fresh Sashimi I could consume). We were also waiting for the elusive Mr. Hale our "long lost friend from the states" and wondering how we could not make it too obvious we had never met before. Sitting with Herbert, Wolfgang and Marcus- who plopped down and chatted like we had known him all our lives- we checked out Marcus' hysterical Palauan purchases and eventually did find Tobol. We downed some beers and quite honestly, I don't even remember where we ate that night- I want to say it was Kramer's but that doesn't sound right. Maybe it was- honestly, we were so tired, we barely made it through our meal without collapsing into it. Jet lag, diving and drinking caught up quickly and brutally and we made our way back to Cliffside and collapsed into bed.
Much of the week was a variation of this pattern- and what an ideal life/week it was: wake, eat, dive, drink, eat, sleep, repeat. I won't go on and on about the diving for lack of pics and don't want to bore anyone to tears so lets suffice it to say that we did 13 dives in 5 days: Blue Corner multiple times, Blue Hole (A series of underwater holes/caves that are quite deep), Blue Hole TO Blue Corner (super cool), Shark City, Oolong (an amazing drift dive), two wrecks (one at night) and I completed my Advanced Open Water diver. Whew. Thats a very short summary but I would say my favorite dives were Blue Hole to Blue Corner and Oolong. Also our night dive with Dave, Tobol and Ernan to the Helmet wreck in the harbor near Neco. Now THAT was cool- an old Japanese freighter bombed during WWII (Palau was the site of some serious battles in the Pacific Theater) it still had sake and beer bottles, gas masks, depth charges and two engines from Zero airplanes that were aboard when it sunk. Seeing such a thing at dusk/night was out of this world and so beautiful to come back up to the little boat to a sky full of stars and rum punch! Many thanks to Uncle Dave for making this possible :)
Our last day was also quite special as we did Oolong, Blue Holes to Blue Corner AND Jellyfish Lake; a saltwater lake in the rock islands FULL of jellyfish that no longer have stingers. There are millions of them and you swim right through them with no harm- its an amazing site and feels pretty crazy too. We lucked out when we went as there wasn't a single other tourist in sight until we left- a perfect end to a perfect dive day!
Ok so that was all a frenetic smattering of our week in Palau. Hanging out with the AAG's of Palau to whom we owe MANY thanks for an amazing time onland and underwater (Thanks Tobol, Sheri, Dave and Lori you guys kick ass!), diving and laughing with the crazy Austrian freedivers (you know who you are Marcus, Herbert and Wolfgang) and of course the drinking. Drop Off, Storyboard (yikes) and the bar at Cliffside. Also, the trip wouldn't have been complete without our fabulous (and VERY prepared) divemaster Marcel, and other fab Neco staff Ernan, Bert and Josie. Thanks for making our trip such a wonderful experience- we'll be back !!!
We left for Palau on the 28th of Feb. and finally arrived after 27 hours of flying (thats, right 27 HOURS: DC-> Houston->Hawaii->Guam->Palau) at around something late PM on the 1st of March. Hooray for crossing the international dateline and being half way around the world from home.
We stayed at the fabu. Cliffside hotel in Koror which was a lovely treat recommended by now dear friend Christopher-Tobol-Crawdaddy-Hale nee friend of Mapgirl (small world eh) We awoke to an amazing (ok, I awoke) to an amazing sunrise and after brekkie jumped in the van to head to Neco marine for our first dive day! We were whisked into Neco, down to the dock and onto the boat in approx. 2 1/2 seconds, met Marcel our dive guide and headed off to Blue Corner one of the most famous dive sites in Palau. Thanks to Cameron back in DC I was set for dive gear and despite over a month with "Mr. Talkative" Arlington Blvds. dive authority, Jon's regulator set-up was NOT fully serviced and needed a new first stage hose- oops. Way to go mr. chatty thanks for the inflated bill for "express" service. Fortunately we figured it out before we left the dock and with a quick fix we were off.
Going from plane to dive boat in less than 12 hours made our first boat ride a little surreal (given how cold DC was when we left) and the scenery in Palau is surreal to begin with (yea I know ending on a preposition, whatever!) The country consists of hundreds of islands, mostly made by uplifted limestone from ancient coral reefs. This means that as the water has risen and fallen with tides and storms over the years the islands take on a mushroom-like effect where the shoreline is erroded into the island with brush/lush jungle growth growing over and above the water line- they look like they kind of hover over the water- its breathtakingly beautiful. Add that to the incredible blues, aquamarine and tourquoise of the Pacific and its one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.
Once we got to Blue Corner it wasn't long before we had taken the plunge and quickly found ourselves around 70 feet deep in some of the deepest bluest water I have ever seen. Diving in Palau- in the Pacific I would hazard a guess is like nowhere else in the world. We didn't know diving like this even existed! The fish were HUGE and schooled by the hundreds. We arrived to Blue Corner and hooked in with our specialized Palauan reef hooks courtesy of Marcel. A few feet of cord with a non-barbed hook at the end, they are used to prevent excessive damage to the reef from people holding on with gloved hands and killing off the reef. At Blue Hole you really need these suckers as the current can blow in excess of 5 knots- it wasn't nearly that strong a current when we were there but you certainly can't hang in one place without the hook.
Diving at blue corner is kind of like watching an aquarium from the inside- sharks, napolean fish, schools of everything under the sun parading by and tons and tons of sharks!!! Also, tons of Japanese tourists, many of whom have no qualms about going straight through the schools and disrupting their activity with their bubbles- not very nice diver etiquette. But, wow what an intense first dive nonetheless.
The second dive was a wall near blue corner and after lunch and some surface time we were back in and I continued adjusting to Cam's wing BCD which was wonderful but took some getting used to...lots of gorgeous, undulating anemones and fish of all colors and sizes- even a turtle. It was a beautiful dive with amazing colors and although we only had a lame 35mm point and shoot underwater camera it was better than nothing and I'll post some pics of that after I scan them. Tobol and or Aussie friend Caroline and Ernan another dive guide have kindly passed along their pics so check for them on my Smugmug site: http://lisadalessio.smumug.com Some highlights of other dives included big grouper, lots more sharks, an eagle ray, more turtles and a lionfish.
The first day and much of the week we were diving with the world champion free diver Herbert Nitsch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Nitsch) and his friends who were on a training/fun trip and it was lots of fun watching them go down as deep as us and swim around for awhile without tanks! They also get to see lots of fish and much closer because they don't have bubbles to scare the wildlife away. Check out Herbert's blog for some up close shark footage and more from the trip: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Nitsch We were on their boat most days with not too many other passengers so not only did we hang out offshore and on it meant we didn't have crowded dives- perfect!
Once back on land we headed to the Drop Off bar, on the water next to Neco where we started what would become a daily tradition of seeing how much we could drink before the need to fall over from exhaustion by 10pm (and for me, how much insanely fresh Sashimi I could consume). We were also waiting for the elusive Mr. Hale our "long lost friend from the states" and wondering how we could not make it too obvious we had never met before. Sitting with Herbert, Wolfgang and Marcus- who plopped down and chatted like we had known him all our lives- we checked out Marcus' hysterical Palauan purchases and eventually did find Tobol. We downed some beers and quite honestly, I don't even remember where we ate that night- I want to say it was Kramer's but that doesn't sound right. Maybe it was- honestly, we were so tired, we barely made it through our meal without collapsing into it. Jet lag, diving and drinking caught up quickly and brutally and we made our way back to Cliffside and collapsed into bed.
Much of the week was a variation of this pattern- and what an ideal life/week it was: wake, eat, dive, drink, eat, sleep, repeat. I won't go on and on about the diving for lack of pics and don't want to bore anyone to tears so lets suffice it to say that we did 13 dives in 5 days: Blue Corner multiple times, Blue Hole (A series of underwater holes/caves that are quite deep), Blue Hole TO Blue Corner (super cool), Shark City, Oolong (an amazing drift dive), two wrecks (one at night) and I completed my Advanced Open Water diver. Whew. Thats a very short summary but I would say my favorite dives were Blue Hole to Blue Corner and Oolong. Also our night dive with Dave, Tobol and Ernan to the Helmet wreck in the harbor near Neco. Now THAT was cool- an old Japanese freighter bombed during WWII (Palau was the site of some serious battles in the Pacific Theater) it still had sake and beer bottles, gas masks, depth charges and two engines from Zero airplanes that were aboard when it sunk. Seeing such a thing at dusk/night was out of this world and so beautiful to come back up to the little boat to a sky full of stars and rum punch! Many thanks to Uncle Dave for making this possible :)
Our last day was also quite special as we did Oolong, Blue Holes to Blue Corner AND Jellyfish Lake; a saltwater lake in the rock islands FULL of jellyfish that no longer have stingers. There are millions of them and you swim right through them with no harm- its an amazing site and feels pretty crazy too. We lucked out when we went as there wasn't a single other tourist in sight until we left- a perfect end to a perfect dive day!
Ok so that was all a frenetic smattering of our week in Palau. Hanging out with the AAG's of Palau to whom we owe MANY thanks for an amazing time onland and underwater (Thanks Tobol, Sheri, Dave and Lori you guys kick ass!), diving and laughing with the crazy Austrian freedivers (you know who you are Marcus, Herbert and Wolfgang) and of course the drinking. Drop Off, Storyboard (yikes) and the bar at Cliffside. Also, the trip wouldn't have been complete without our fabulous (and VERY prepared) divemaster Marcel, and other fab Neco staff Ernan, Bert and Josie. Thanks for making our trip such a wonderful experience- we'll be back !!!
posted by WanderLust at 3/15/2007 12:50:00 PM
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