Water Stuff in Palau

As I've said, Palau is really all about the water.   Most of the cruisers dive frequently.   Jim had a lot of fun as the group would most often hire the whole boat and sometimes get to off the beaten dive spot path.    Palau is reknowned for its beautiful world under the water.  It is also a shark sanctuary and sometimes the divers would see as many as 2 dozen sharks swimming by in the current.

I prefer to snorkel and kayak.   I've only seen one shark and it was sleeping below me.   I have followed the banded coral snakes around, though and seen lots of interesting critters and WWII junk:

 Can you spot the crocodile fish in the above picture?

 How about the gobies monitoring their nests?   Or these sea pens (I'm not sure of their real names, actually, which swim around upright?

This is a Crown of Thorns, an invasive critter that destroys coral.   We eliminate these guys whenever we see them.

 

I believe this is a school of makeral.   They look  like ghosts going by.

This is a shot of Kelaerin looking through the arch in the Rock Islands.

 

The arch without us in it.

We've had the opportunity to participate in a couple of events that benefited the islands.    Charity, our club secretary, organized the Debris Dive where we formed small groups and cleaned up the bottom or the harbor.  

Kind of tricky considering it is totally illegal to mess with the WWII stuff at the bottom, not to mention that the bottom is carpeted with the remains of fishing boats, tug boats, hulls, metal parts and a few left over depth charges.   Still, the group came back with loads of cans, bottles, fishing nets, a record player, a Japanese bottle, tires, all kinds of crud.   Work, yes, but fun too.

Sam asked if any of us would like to help out by cleaning up the camp site at Ngemelis Island which had been heavily damaged by the typhoon.   So a few of us boarded his boat and spent the day hauling brush, branches and debris away from the camp and burning most of it.   A work party from the state of Koror also came and chopped down coconut trees, clearing the back 40 while we concentrated on the front area.    In a few hours we had cleared most of the area.  Another crew would come later to rebuild the camp hut.  This is before:

And, this is after:

Malakal Cove

As I've said, we are moored in Malakal Cove.    We became Royal Belau Yacht Club members almost immediately upon hitting shoreside.    The club is also the Bottom Time Bar and Grill and we spend a lot of time there.   Its a great base for meeting up with friends, chatting about our activities, getting a meal and hoisting a glass now and then.   More now than then.    Sam Scott is the owner of Sam's Tours and the commodore of the RBYC.  Various cruisers play a role in the yacht club as board members which changes constantly with the ebb and flow of the boats.    Sam's Tours let the club build a dinghy dock at the outer end of one of their work docks.    We can get water, order fuel, park our bikes, shower and have most of our get togethers right there at the Bottom Time.  

The staff at Sam's has been pretty special.   Many of the workers are from the Philippines.   These people work 7 days a week for most of the year, taking time off only to visit their families back home once a year.    They make peanuts but it is much better than what they could make back in their villages and towns so they stay and send much of their salaries back.  Sam's Tours is one of the best places to work at for them so it is a sought after position.  They've been a big part in making our stay in Malakal such a pleasant one.

 Minda's mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer so the cruisers got together and paid for a flight home and a week's pay (which she could not afford to be without) so she could say her goodbyes.

Jahan is from Bangladesh.  He has worked at Sam's Tours for 7 years, I think, and does 2 shifts a day, about 16 hours.    He only goes home once every few years to see his wife.    His son was born since his last visit so he has never seen him except for pics which he proudly shows around to all of us.   The money he sends home supports most of his village, not just his family.

We were all about ready to say our goodbyes to our boats when Bopha (the typhoon) was headed straight for us.    We watched nervously for over a week as it built strength and kept on its course for Palau.  Usually the typhoons head farther north hitting Luzon, Guam and Japan.   Bopha had other plans than the usual.    A couple days before it was due to arrive it had achieved super typhoon status with predicted winds of over 135 mph.   We all gulped and made ready as best we could.  A couple of cruisers took off for hidey holes in the Rock Islands.  We had built a very sturdy mooring in Malakal Cove so we decided to stay fast, but we doubled the lines and stripped the boat of nearly everything that was on deck.   At the last minute Jim decided that with wind strengths that bad, if anything happened to the boat we would most likely not survive if we had to get in the water, so we left the boat.  Once we made that decision, several other cruisers decided it was the wisest thing to do as well and we all headed for shore finding safe havens at friends apartments nearby.     I can tell you we all looked pretty glum that day as we left wondering if we would come back the next morning to a scene of carnage with masts sticking up out of the water where the boats should have been.   Fortunately, the typhoon veered south at the 11th hour.   We had winds of around 70 mph for a while and then it all slowly went away.    Some of the islands south suffered a lot of damage as flimsy structures were shaken apart and foliage was stripped from the trees.    Navigation would be tricky as sand bars were built or moved.   Also the East side of Babeldoup (the main island) was hit hard and several villages sustained a lot of damage.   However, no one died and most of the damage was easily repairable.  There was no real devastation, thankfully.

Here we bide our time with Ali, Gail and Frank, playing dominoes while waiting for the storm to hit.  A mommy dog came by to drop off a couple of her pups for us to take care of during the night.  She would stop by periodically to feed them and then trot back to the rest of her litter.   In the morning, after the storm she appeared to retrieve her charges and was very grateful for the food we gave her.

 The storm was over and all boats survived intact.   Here a rainbow right over Sam's Tours signals the end.

I'm just catching up with the posts.   While Palau is beautiful and we've had a ton of fun, the internet here just plain sucks.    Trying to upload a picture is a painful and expensive experience and as I have little patience for that sort of thing, I kind of gave up.    So I'll get caught up now.

Since we arrived in Palau in June we've met lots of really fun cruisers.    The group changed and morphed a bit but there has been a core group that we've grown very close to.    Richard and Lee of Before (from Seattle), Walt and Jane of Callisto, Mike and Haesung of Second Jump,  Jim and Katie of Asylum, Dave and Gail of 5th Season, Steve and Laura of Zen,  Joe and Jo of Jubilee, Linda and Mark of Creola, Chuck, Ivy, Carla and Charlie of Mowe.   Not to mention all the shoresiders and crew like Charity, the RBYC club secretary and principle good times motivator; Sam, the owner of Sam's tours and the commadore of yacht club and his really super kids; Steve, the young Irish crew aboard Jubilee and so many others that have come and gone added to the mix to make for some really great times.

Jim gets a lot of advice from Dennis Whelan who's been in Palau for going on 17 years.
Carol Whelan took a group of us around the island one day to show us the local art.    We visited the Etpison Museum and met Elvis,( the cockatiel, not the music legend).     We also saw one of the artisans who makes storyboards, the most popular souvenir of Palau. 

A resort it a resort, so I took a picture of this upscale potty feature at one of the major resorts in Palau. 

We've had many events as a group.   Several of the cruisers celebrated milestone birthdays so we grouped them all up to have a "Big 0 Bash" for those celebrating a 50th, a couple of 60ths and a 70th and, just for fun, we threw Charlie in the mix who had his 6th around the same time.

We've been in Malakal Cove, Palau now for nearly 3 months.    Americans get a great deal in Palau.   We are automatically given a one year visa upon entry and we can renew it and renew it and renew it.  In other words, we could stay here forever if we wanted to.   And some cruisers do.   There are some boats that have been here for years.    We intend, however, to sail off in January heading for PNG and the Solomons, we hope.   In the meantime we have developed our own mooring, a necessary thing here in Malakal Cove as it is very crowded and one cannot just drop an anchor.  The bottom of the cove is littered with wrecks, including fishing boats, tugboats, and WWII ships as well as, yikes, depth charges.  We have one just behind the boat.     One we are here for a consecutive 90 days, we can apply for resident status. We can tour around the islands without buying special permits.

Our activities really involve water here.    While Joy snorkels and kayaks, Jim goes diving.   The cruiser group is an active bunch and they can easily get 10 divers together, charter one of the boats and go out for a day of diving.  The diving here is awesome.  So is the snorkeling.    The visibility is usually very good and the sea life so abundant.    Divers can hook on in the channels and watch as dozens of sharks and other pelagics float by in the current. 

  

The Royal Belau Yacht Club is a funky, fun place.   We are in it every day, as that is where our dock is and many times during the week we meet up with our friends for an evening drink and chat.    We've had a lot of parties, dinghy raft ups, movie nights, dinners out and that with all the diving and snorkeling makes this a very fun place to hang out for awhile.   You don't have to twist our arms to stay here.

Helen Reef

Craziest thing.     Helen Reef maybe gets 4 or 5 visiting yachts per year and we show up on the morning with another yacht arriving from the opposite direction.     The caretakers came down to the opening to lead us through the maze of reefs and up to Helen Island where we anchored.    Good thing, as our charts did not accurately reflect the reefs here at all.    The other yacht, a mega yacht, anchored outside of the lagoon while we were lead inside to a mooring.    Fine, we thought.  Nice, calm, peaceful.     For two days, then all hell broke loose.    The SW monsoon regularly breeds super squalls and we got 3 of them over two days.   We were up all night for two nights, fighting boarding waves, dragging on the mooring, which we finally dropped just before hitting the reef, and then the next night dragging on our own anchor.    The squalls were like pit bulls on acid, ferocious, packing 50 knots in front of them.    Jim and I both thought for awhile we were going to lose the boat on the reefs.      Unlike me, Jim is skilled and keeps his head during these things.    While I was screaming as loud as the squalls, Jim managed to get us re-anchored in unimaginable conditions.  

Other than that, Helen Reef was an amazing stop.    The caretakers, Hercules, Frano and Petra, were very welcoming and invited us ashore to see the turtles laying their eggs and be a part of the releasing of the babies. 

 They came by the boat with gifts of fish and lobster and pointed out the best snorkeling spots.    Every time we went in the dinghy we saw turtles and rays swimming in front of us.   

  Three types of birds call the tiny island home and there are thousands of them with hundreds of fresh hatchlings every day.  

Turtles come in every night to lay their eggs and dozens of baby turtles are picked up by the park rangers every night to be protected and then released when they are able.  

 
The island is small and getting smaller.   It has moved east over the past 10 years and according to one of the caretakers, Frano, who has come here a lot over the last 20 years, the island is only 1/4 of its original size and he predicts it will be gone in 10 more years.

Here's some more underwater shots I took while snorkeling.   I'm using a Canon G12 with a housing.  It's a great camera and highly recommend it.   

Cruising notes:    DO NOT GO HERE WHEN THERE IS A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM ABOVE PALAU!!!!!!!     Anchorage ((02 52.504N; 131 43.841E (entrance))(02 57.9N; 131 48.5E (mooring).  There is room to anchor in sand rather than take the mooring.     Beautiful spot and can swim to snorkel on at least 3 reef sections.    Walking around the island is great and you can watch the turtles being released or stay into the night to watch the big turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.    Caretakers welcome visitors and appreciate any gifts.   We left them a bunch of DVDs.