Palau

Matt's take:

We went to Palau for about a week. We were fortunate enough to get 3 full days of diving and a day of kayaking and snorkeling. A really great trip. The pictures below can't begin to compare to the reality of how beautiful these islands are. It's rare that I would want to go back to a place so soon, but we are thinking about going again in August, its that pretty and that awesome of an experience. The diving is unparalleled to anything I've ever seen above or below sea level. We dove in some pretty cool sea caves and this one place called Blue Holes, which are basically 5 blue holes that go down about 80 feet then open up into a gigantic cavern to the sea. It was unreal. One of the most unique and memorable experiences of my life. The visibility was 100+ feet every day. There is much more sea life in Palau compared to Guam because the reefs are a bit more healthy so it supports more life. The fish are bigger in general and there are more of them on every reef. Every dive we were accompanied by sharks. Mostly little white or black tip reef sharks, but Vic did really good. The biggest one was only about 6 feet, so we felt pretty safe. There were lots of sea turtles and all sorts of pretty fish. At Palau's most famous site (The Blue Corner) there is a Giant Napolean Wrasse that was about 30-40 lbs that let us pet it and scratch its sides. It was unreal for a fish to allow us to play with it so much. Usually most fish dart away really fast, especially if you don't have food, but this Wrasse was just as cool as can be and loved to play with us. It was very atypical. He is somewhat well known throughout Micronesia and pretty used to divers, so I was glad to get to play with him for a bit. The whole experience was very memorable and I would recommend to anyone interested in the diving trip of a lifetime to head to Palau.

We found that most people that visit Palau are pretty hard core into diving. It was a bit strange to be there with so many experienced divers since Vic and I are pretty new to it. So, on our boat each day were dive masters from around the world taking the trip they've always dreamed of. Vic and I feel very comfortable in the water together and its a new experience that I'm really glad we can share. We haven't gone out and bought all the nerdy equipment, but its tempting. You can really get bogged down with gadgets when it comes to diving. Its pretty funny to see what some people hook on to themselves.

Overall we went on 9 dives and spent our last day snorkeling before our flight home. Normally I would be a little apprehensive to dive in some of the places we went (like caves and shipwrecks) but having the other dive masters and instructors as a part of our group put us at ease. One of our last dives was down to a Japanese supply vessel that was sunk during WWII. It still had all sorts of stuff in it from the war. Like a few airplane engines, lots of ammunition and some depth chargers that we didn't get too close to. (you never know) The whole ship is considered a museum so it has been relatively untouched since it sank. I'm not that into WWII stuff but its hard to avoid out here, there is just so much of it.

One of the more unusual things we did was snorkel in this place called Jellyfish Lake. Appropriately named for the thousands of jellyfish that float around soaking up the suns rays. Luckily over the years (hundreds) they have mutated/adapted (i don't want to get into a debate here) but the point is that they don't sting and are safe to swim with. The Japanese especially like this kind of attraction. It was the most formally organized thing we did. And I'm pretty sure I ran into more Japanese kicking legs than jellyfish. First of all, when you go snorkeling, its ok to remove your life jacket. And does 50 people getting pulled around a lake by a boogie board with a 100 foot rope tied to it really qualify as snorkeling? Also, when you are in a really cool and beautiful place, its ok to put down your camcorder and look at the place with your own eyes. This is not a part of the Japanese mindset. Plus there is this crazy fascination with giving the peace sign in every picture they take. For a culture so filled with honor and respect they are the most silly and goofy group of people I've ever seen. It can be quite strange and its just the tip of the iceberg. I'll stop now because I know that as Americans our past is full of annoying the world, but may I formally submit that the Japanese and Chinese have officially taken our place. I apologize if you are Japanese or think differently, this is just part of my experience.

Aside from that, we had a wonderful time. We were mostly on our own with our own dive boat in quite a bit of solitude. I guess that's why when we came across a bunch of other people it felt so inundating. At many times it felt like we were the only people within hundreds of miles civilization. There is not much else to do in Palau aside from the water sports, so our top side experience was pretty lax. But we ate at some good spots, had lots of fresh tuna and pretty much went to bed at around 8pm every night. The entire trip was almost as fun as watching the Showbiz ventriloquist wolf.

Our friends from Guam, Steve and Katrina, were with us throughout the whole trip and we really had a good time. They actually spent a few days on Yap before we met up in Palau and had some really authentic experiences. Check out their blog to hear all about it. Below are some pics of our time in Palau. But again, they don't begin to reflect the reality of this beautiful place.

My attempt to be artistic with air, water, land and umm....air.

Surface Interval after lunch and between dives on the island of Ulong. (where we were repeatedly told they filmed the last survivor) I saw lots of Survivor T-shirts on Palau, I guess many of the locals were a part of the crew who helped with the show.

With hundreds of tiny islands, most of the water is pretty calm, which makes for good snorkeling and I can imagine awesome water skiing and wakeboarding. I really was craving a ski or wakeboard but I couldn't get them to bring one along.

The water is even bluer (if that's a word) than this picture reveals. A truly pristine playground.

Vic's take:

I also really loved Palau. To me, it was comparable to Kauai in it's seemingly untouched beauty and simplicity. I was especially excited for this trip because of all the diving we had planned--I am a brand new scuba diver, I just got certified out here on Guam (post coming soon), and I couldn't wait to try out all my new skills. Besides the class dives, I had only gone on one other dive at Gun Beach on Guam with Matt before this trip. I knew it would be babtism by fire, in that we'd be going to maximum depths and that I could expect to see sharks on pretty much every dive, which we did. Some people have a healthy fear of sharks; I have more of an irrational trepidation. But people kept promising me that reef sharks are different than all the other sharks, that they "hardly ever" (is this supposed to be comforting??) attack humans, etc., etc. Even though these statements did not do much to quell such a lifelong horror, there's no way I could pass up diving in such a famously spectacular spot, so I decided I'd just have to get over it. And make Matt hold my hand. And carry a knife. Only kidding, but we did consider it.

It was one of the most exciting things I've ever done. It's just so much fun--after every dive we did I couldn't wait for the next one. The Blue Holes were incredibly exciting--I really had no idea what to expect which made it even more thrilling. Sinking down and down through this blue tunnel with coral, and sea fans, and fish on all sides and all you can hear is your breath going in and out of the regulator and you keep wondering how much deeper you're going to go. You look up and see a circle of light and you watch as it gets further and further away. And then when the tunnel opens up into this huge underwater cavern, oh my God, it's just incredible! You realize you had no idea such a place existed, and now you're seeing it first hand, not in some National Geographic magazine or on Animal Planet. You are there. I'll never ever forget it, and I just felt so very very lucky to get to see it. I could have spent the whole dive right there in that cave. It was exquisitely and breathtakingly beautiful. I literally felt my chest tighten up and my breath quicken I was so struck by it.

The sea life was equally amazing...even the sharks. We saw hundreds of different fish, including some unusual ones like the clown triggor fish and unicorn fish (it looks like it has a big prosthetic nose sticking out from it's face) as well as lion fish. The giant clams were so much fun--people would stick their arm inside and get it caught--it was funny to watch them do it, but I wasn't taking a chance with my arm. The sharks really didn't end up being that big of a deal--they were exciting to come across but not scary per se, and after the first one I didn't even need to hold Matt's hand anymore. Mostly you'd see them swim by at a distance and then they'd disappear out of sight. There was one encounter that, as it turned out, gave both Matt and I a little scare--we were swimming along with the reef on our left when suddenly we noticed to our right, about 20 yards away and at our eye level, this six-foot gray reef shark, looking right at us. He just sat there staring at us. That time I got a little sick to my stomach. But after a few minutes he took off in a different direction and we were cool. During that encounter I held onto Matt with both hands. Oh yeah, and at one point during the dive I came within 30 ft. of a banded sea snake which is apparently the most venemous sea snake in the world. Thank God you can pee your pants underwater and noone notices.

I guess the only drawback about the diving being so good is that we didn't spend much time on land, learning about Palau and the local culture, which is something we always try to priortize any time we travel. But like Matt, I would go back in a heartbeat, so maybe we'll get the chance...but we're both so hooked on the diving that if we get the chance to go back you can bet that's probably what we'll end up doing!

Below are some of our amateur cinematography skills. Enjoy!!!

Some underwater shots:

Giant Clam, dont get your head stuck in one of those.

Snorkeling at Jellyfish Lake.

Starfish and coral.