Place: Koror, Palau and Guam, USA
Language: English
Hello: Hello (hello)
Thank you: Thank you (thank u)
In case anyone out there is actually following our blog (and with over 1000 hits now either a few people are checking in occasionally or our moms are refreshing about every 8 minutes), the last (real) entry left off with the tantalizing, "I'll post about Palau next week, so stay tuned and HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Ok, so that was months ago, but hey, we've had things going on -- other trips, sicknesses, a new job for Brina, getting HITCHED, and a serious bout of procrastination. With all of the chaos, I (Marc) decided that I would step in as a guest columnist and post my first ever blog entry. So here goes ...
For anyone wondering what a "Palau" is, it's a place, not a thing. Actually, it's a small chain of islands in the north Pacific that, since 1994, is an independent country. It's about a 3 hour flight southeast of the Philippines in the middle of nowhere, a few degrees north of the equator (more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palau). I first heard of Palau in my SCUBA class that I took in college -- my instructor had been there and regarded it like the holy grail of diving, with lots of big and exotic fish, technicolor reefs, and shipwrecks galore. That was sort of the point in my life when the other side of the earth might as well have been the other side of the universe, so I never gave it much thought. Then, around Christmas we began eyeing the Chinese New Year as a long weekend to go someplace special, and we found out that we could use frequent flier miles on Continental to get to Palau. Bingo! We were sold.
The first stop on our journey was Manila, the capital of the Philippines. We had about a 6 hour layover, so we actually left the airport and went to the mall. Sabrina got a long, dirt cheap massage (we're really starting to dig the $10 massages in Asia), and I got a haircut. As an aside, getting a haircut in HK is tricky -- they don't use clippers, and I have found out the hard way that some terms get lost in translation. Good English is more widespread in the Philippines, so a reliable haircut was in order. We didn't see much of Manila other than the road between the airport and the mall, but it's a dirty place with lots of custom-decorated buses with jeep fronts welded on them (called "jeepneys") carting people everywhere. Without a doubt, these will be covered in a future blog, as Brina's job will be taking her to Manila occasionally.
Language: English
Hello: Hello (hello)
Thank you: Thank you (thank u)
In case anyone out there is actually following our blog (and with over 1000 hits now either a few people are checking in occasionally or our moms are refreshing about every 8 minutes), the last (real) entry left off with the tantalizing, "I'll post about Palau next week, so stay tuned and HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Ok, so that was months ago, but hey, we've had things going on -- other trips, sicknesses, a new job for Brina, getting HITCHED, and a serious bout of procrastination. With all of the chaos, I (Marc) decided that I would step in as a guest columnist and post my first ever blog entry. So here goes ...
For anyone wondering what a "Palau" is, it's a place, not a thing. Actually, it's a small chain of islands in the north Pacific that, since 1994, is an independent country. It's about a 3 hour flight southeast of the Philippines in the middle of nowhere, a few degrees north of the equator (more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palau). I first heard of Palau in my SCUBA class that I took in college -- my instructor had been there and regarded it like the holy grail of diving, with lots of big and exotic fish, technicolor reefs, and shipwrecks galore. That was sort of the point in my life when the other side of the earth might as well have been the other side of the universe, so I never gave it much thought. Then, around Christmas we began eyeing the Chinese New Year as a long weekend to go someplace special, and we found out that we could use frequent flier miles on Continental to get to Palau. Bingo! We were sold.
The first stop on our journey was Manila, the capital of the Philippines. We had about a 6 hour layover, so we actually left the airport and went to the mall. Sabrina got a long, dirt cheap massage (we're really starting to dig the $10 massages in Asia), and I got a haircut. As an aside, getting a haircut in HK is tricky -- they don't use clippers, and I have found out the hard way that some terms get lost in translation. Good English is more widespread in the Philippines, so a reliable haircut was in order. We didn't see much of Manila other than the road between the airport and the mall, but it's a dirty place with lots of custom-decorated buses with jeep fronts welded on them (called "jeepneys") carting people everywhere. Without a doubt, these will be covered in a future blog, as Brina's job will be taking her to Manila occasionally.
So we landed in Koror, the Palau capital, about 1:30am. Strangely, virtually all of the flights in Palau, Guam, and other islands in Micronesia come and go in the middle of the night. Sabrina asked one of the pilots about this and was told that it has to do with linking up connections to and from other places. Clearly the Palauans are used to this because the little airport was hopping with people when we landed. But for us it was a beeline straight to bed at the Rose Garden Resort because we were scheduled to dive just a few hours later.
Our accommodations at the Rose Garden were fairly spartan, but we did have a majestic view greeting us when we woke up:
We were picked up bright and early by Sam's Tours and taken to their dive shop, where we loaded up our gear onto the boat and immediately took off for the dive sites. To get there, we had to weave our way through the Rock Islands, which are scores of large limestone rock outcroppings topped with thick green foliage -- many of them looked sort of like big green cupcakes sticking up out of the water. The daily rides to the dive sites took about an hour each way, and we really loved sitting at the front of the boat as we zig zagged:
One of these Rock Islands was where they filmed Survivor: Palau -- we passed it every day going and coming. Our first dive of the trip was at a place called Blue Holes. The attraction is four or five huge vertical holes in the reef where you freefall about 50 feet to the large caverns, which aren't enclosed, and you can swim out the bottom into the blue open ocean. It was quite a beginning. The water, as expected, was crystal clear with visability of about 150-200 feet. We continued out along the reef, which was chock full of schooling fish and bright coral -- absolutely exhilarating. We also saw several big sea turtles, one of which Brina got up close and personal with:
One of these Rock Islands was where they filmed Survivor: Palau -- we passed it every day going and coming. Our first dive of the trip was at a place called Blue Holes. The attraction is four or five huge vertical holes in the reef where you freefall about 50 feet to the large caverns, which aren't enclosed, and you can swim out the bottom into the blue open ocean. It was quite a beginning. The water, as expected, was crystal clear with visability of about 150-200 feet. We continued out along the reef, which was chock full of schooling fish and bright coral -- absolutely exhilarating. We also saw several big sea turtles, one of which Brina got up close and personal with:
After another morning dive, we headed to another part of the Rock Islands to a place called Jellyfish Lake. We got off the boat and trekked up into the jungle carrying our snorkel gear (no tanks). We came to a lake that was probably several acres in size. Although the lake was enclosed on all sides, it was saltwater because of holes in the limestone below the waterline. Apparently thousands of years ago jellyfish got into the lake and, with no natural predators, over time they lost their sting. So now the lake is filled with about 2 million stingless jellyfish. We swam out into the sea of jello, bumping the critters as we went. Really, it was surreal watching them pulsate all around us. It was definitely a highlight of the trip:
In the evenings, we got to meet a 
number of the locals, often at the bar at the dive shop (where the sunset picture was taken). Many of the locals are expats from other places, and everyone was incredibly friendly. We became friends with the general manager of Sam's and his brother visiting from Ireland, whom we had actually met on the flight over from Palau. That guy had a serious trip: Ireland to Germany to Dubai to Manila to Palau. He had gone from cold and damp to snowy, to warm desert, to hot jungle, to tropical paradise in the span of about 30 hours. Wow. We became friends with the owner of another "dive" bar (no pun intended) called Kramer's, along with his wife, their best waitress. There was also the guy who owned the local tv station whose wife was a lawyer for the Palau court system, and the owner of a dive shop on Yap, an island an hour flight away where stone money is still in use. Most colorfully, our taxi driver that we used on a number of occasions was "Lou #9." This guy looked like a cross between a Pacific Islander and a Hell's Angel with a long mullet and a skull stuck to his steering wheel. We never found out what happened to Lou # 1 through 8, but Lou #9 was good to us -- even gave us betelnuts to chew on. These are the local addiction, and they can pack quite a punch. I was buzzing like crazy off mine, while Sabrina said she didn't feel a thing -- guess I got a good one!
The next day it was out to a world renowned dive site called "Blue Corner." The reef at Blue Corner has a strong current pushing past it that brings in all sorts of huge fish. You hook yourself into the reef with a reef hook, inflate your BCD, and bob like a kite while reef sharks, humphead parrot fish, huge napoleon wrasses, and many others swim by. It's like standing on a street corner in NYC watching traffic:
number of the locals, often at the bar at the dive shop (where the sunset picture was taken). Many of the locals are expats from other places, and everyone was incredibly friendly. We became friends with the general manager of Sam's and his brother visiting from Ireland, whom we had actually met on the flight over from Palau. That guy had a serious trip: Ireland to Germany to Dubai to Manila to Palau. He had gone from cold and damp to snowy, to warm desert, to hot jungle, to tropical paradise in the span of about 30 hours. Wow. We became friends with the owner of another "dive" bar (no pun intended) called Kramer's, along with his wife, their best waitress. There was also the guy who owned the local tv station whose wife was a lawyer for the Palau court system, and the owner of a dive shop on Yap, an island an hour flight away where stone money is still in use. Most colorfully, our taxi driver that we used on a number of occasions was "Lou #9." This guy looked like a cross between a Pacific Islander and a Hell's Angel with a long mullet and a skull stuck to his steering wheel. We never found out what happened to Lou # 1 through 8, but Lou #9 was good to us -- even gave us betelnuts to chew on. These are the local addiction, and they can pack quite a punch. I was buzzing like crazy off mine, while Sabrina said she didn't feel a thing -- guess I got a good one!The next day it was out to a world renowned dive site called "Blue Corner." The reef at Blue Corner has a strong current pushing past it that brings in all sorts of huge fish. You hook yourself into the reef with a reef hook, inflate your BCD, and bob like a kite while reef sharks, humphead parrot fish, huge napoleon wrasses, and many others swim by. It's like standing on a street corner in NYC watching traffic:
Blue Corner was our favorite hands down. We dived there twice, and it's definitely the best site we've ever seen. The sheer amount and variety of fish was just stunning!
In the afternoon of day two we dived a wreck called Helmet Wreck -- a Japanese ship that was sunk during World War II. It was neat because many of the artifacts (e.g., helmets, hence the name of the wreck) were still intact and sitting on the deck of the ship. Here's Marc holding a rusted gun that was lying amongst the artifacts:
The third day was more fantastic reef diving, and then in the afternoon we dived a cavern system that was hollowed out of one of the limestone islands. The entry to the caves was below the surface of the water, so that you swim through a tunnel, then surface into the caves. Apparently there is a chimney in the caves somewhere (not visible) so that there is oxygen inside the caves and you can surface and take off your mask:
We had a great time exploring both above and below the surface. You really get the sensation of flying in the underwater portions of the caverns, where you can float right up to the ceiling of the room.Back at the dive shop, right beside the docks, one of the highlights of the trip was spotting several tiny and rare -- but ridiculously neon --mandarinfish:
On our final (no dive) day, we took a guided kayak tour through an inland "lake." Our guide, TJ, led us through tunnels in the mangroves.
We saw all sorts of cool things -- huge 2,000 pound clams, more secret inland lakes accessed through tunnels in the rocks with poisonous jellyfish floating all over the flourescent blue water, huge underwater fields of multi-colored brain coral, a Japanese Zero fighter plane that had been downed in WWII, and a place to get a limestone mud facial from the ocean floor. For lunch we stopped at a secluded beach on a deserted island. It only could have been better if no one were around to take this picture!
Unfortunately, we were NOT ready to leave Palau. It absolutely lived up to its billing as one of the world's best diving locations, and we felt fortunate to have been able to make it to a place that is so difficult to access.Because of the crazy flight schedules going through Micronesia, our trip home actually called for a full day layover in Guam. The best thing about it was that it's American! We went to KMart (twice, actually) and stocked up on American toiletries and other supplies that are difficult to come by in Hong Kong. We also rented a convertible and drove on the ring road around the entire island. Guam is a pretty poor place and there really wasn't much to see, but there were a few scenic vistas:
Unfortunately, I got some sort of crazy head cold with a high fever the morning we got to Guam, so I don't really remember too much about it, but Sabrina tells me we had a good time. And of course, being the nice guy that I am, when we got back to Hong Kong I gave the crud to her. We literally felt bad for a month, but as we'll soon explain, it didn't hamper our travel schedule too badly ...
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