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Diving
in Palau is, of course, spectacular. I have had limited experience diving in
warm water, and I have to say -- it's much better than cold water diving. There's
no shock and involuntary inhalation upon hitting the water, and your face and
hands aren't numb after a dive is over. After I'm suited up for diving in Monterey,
I'm already tired, but here, diving was perfect. You just step on the chase
boat in your wetsuit and booties, "kit up" at the dive location (gotta
love U.K. English), and roll into the water. :) There's a comforting warmth
upon entering the water (the water was 85 degrees F), maybe like returning to
the womb or something. Ok, maybe that's going a bit too far. I have notes and
photographs from many of the dives, which can be accessed through the table
of contents menu to the left.
When we arrived on the Big Blue, we went for snorkeling and kayaking at Mandarin Fish Lake. Even though you see these fish in tropical fish stores all the time, there are not many places in the world where they are found in the wild. There were a lot of them at Mandarin Fish Lake (which isn't surprising, given its name). Kayaking through the channel into the "lake" was a lot of fun, except that we had to squeeze by two chase boats who had decided to sit in the middle of it, effectively causing a traffic jam (because there were divers underneath them).
Four to five dives were offered each day, and the boat cruised from German Channel to Peleliu, and back. Half of one day was spend at Ulong, which required a 45-minute ride on the chase boat. The following are the dives I chose to go on:
April 14 - Mandarin Fish Lake (snorkel)
April 15 - Ngemelis Garden, Turtle Cove, Ngemelis Wall
April 16 - Virgin Blue Hole, German Channel, New Drop Off
April 17 - Blue Hole, Big Drop Off, Blue Corner, Turtle Cove (night)
April 18 - Blue Corner, Ulong Channel, Ulong Island, New Drop Off
April 19 - Peleliu Express, Purple Beach Drop Off, Orange Beach, Blue Corner,
Big Drop Off (night)
April 20 - Iro Maru Wreck, Helmet Wreck, Chandelier Cave, Jellyfish Lake (snorkel)
April 21 - Clam City, Lighthouse Channel, Short Drop Off
All were fantastic dives, except for the exploration dives we did on April 21st (we were anchored at port and were waiting for a new group to come aboard). El Niño had committed genocide on these reefs, and the sites looked like coral wastelands. However, one of these dives presented an opportunity for me to be attacked by a 2' remora (I can still imagine Silvia's underwater squeaks of terror... :). Despite knowing that it was harmless, it was fairly disconcerting! It's hard not to be afraid of a 2' fish with suckers trying to attach itself to you.
You can also check out Paulo's dive log for more commentary.