The Beginning
It’s half a world away, so it isn’t surprising that it takes so long to get here. Still…this is one looooonnnnng trip. BWI to Houston to Honolulu to Guam and finally, Palau. No missed connections, no lost luggage, no real mishaps of any kind--unless you count a turkey sandwich at every meal--what’s with that, Continental?--and the truly sucky movie selection. (How is it that Eat, Pray, Love was a box-office success?) So I can’t say it was total misery; but it certainly wasn’t fun. Yet we managed somehow.
We arrived around 9 p.m., so missed an aerial view of these beautiful islands. As promised, someone from Sea Passion Hotel was waiting for us. And so was Aireen, from Sam’s Tours, who would be managing our diving. So that was good. We couldn’t see much on the drive, of course, but the construction looked very third world. It could have been Honduras, with English and Japanese signs.
The hotel is nice, but a bit odd. It’s obvious that it caters to mostly Japanese tourists. The receptionists--almost all women--are polite and helpful (if you ask them for something) so darn cute. Perhaps they are a bit reserved, but that is obviously a cultural thing. There is a sign on the dining room hall “no smoking and no betel nut chewing.” (we’ve seen a lot of the betel nut while we’ve been here, and, no, we most definitely did not try it.) Breakfast is both American-ish style (an omelet chef is at his/her station) but there is also Japanese items (stir fried vegetables, rice, meat, soup--they don’t differentiate between dinner and breakfast food.) There is some fruit--whatever is in season, so we could get no bananas-- but the o.j. is Tang or Sunny Delight and the milk is the usual stuff you get on islands,
Our rooms (506 & 507--which were recommended to us) are large, with a separate sitting area and a balcony. There is little lighting in the rooms, so forget reading in bed. We actualy moved the furniture around in the sitting area, so we could more properly look at our photos as the end of the dive day. The bathroom is the cruelest of all--truly bad lighting and a huge shower with a gargantuan shower head which promises much and delivers very little. Not much water pressure, and, because they use solar heating (kudos for that!) there wasn’t much hot water when we arrived. It’s not so bad when you get back from the diving at dinner time, but it’s never completely satisfactory.
There is a small fridge in each room and they supply you with new bottles of water each day. You can also get water refills (cold or hot) at the water station on each floor. Next door to the hotel there is a little market where you can buy extra sodas, etc. if you need them, but the big grocery store (including pharmacy) is a taxi-ride away.
We ate at the Japanese restaurant at Sea Passion the first night. It will do in a pinch--I would advise skipping the sushi or anything complicated and just get rice or noodles. Pricey and disappointing--although the Japanese who were having a party (we were the only non-Japanese there) were having a blast. They bring in busloads every night, it seems, so this restaurant must be very popular with them. You can also order food downstairs (eclectic menu) or room service (that wasn't very good, but when you are desperate...)
There is a small pool (always chilly, which is weird, isn't it?) and a little lagoon where you can swim and snorkel. There is part of a plane which they brought in, apparently, as well as other stuff--cement blocks, drums, etc, everything contributing to the distressed reef. I saw some neat juveniles out there--and there are at least 5 giant clams visible from the beach bar.
There is a small gift shop that, again, caters to the Japanese. Why in the hell do they sell black coral? (Some of the other gift shops even sell tortoise shell!) The banquet hall was used for several important events while we were there--including a dinner with the President and First Lady of Palau! They also make it into a kareoke bar--but we never heard anything from our room, so it's all good. Of course, we were asleep by 10 p.m. every night.
After more than 24 hours of traveling, we were all bone-tired when we arrived. We hadn’t signed up for a regular dive boat day, so decided we would sleep in as late as needed. I told hubby that if his dammed watch went off, I would hammer it with whatever large and heavy object I could find. We slept until about 9 a.m. Of course, we had to get the maintenance man to come to our room in the middle of the night to explain the air conditioning to us. (He was really nice about it, btw).
The ladies at the front desk called Sam’s when we were ready to go over and they picked us up in one of their vans. They have drivers at the ready all day at Sam’s, as far as I can see, ready to pick you up or take you back after the diving day is over or, if you so choose, when you have finished with drinks and dinner at Sam’s. After that first day, they would pick us up by boat at the hotel’s dock at 8:30 a.m.
There’s a lot going on at Sam’s, but it all seems more-or-less like efficient and organized chaos. Registration was easy enough and they explained everything pretty well. The boats are fairly small, flat-bottomed, and with enormous twin engines to take them where they need to go and quickly. Most dive sites are at least 45 minutes away, through the beautiful rock islands. Cannot get enough of the scenery, but they must use up a lot of gas every day, Entry is via back-roll, but there is a ladder to use when you want to get back on. There are no heads. Let me repeat that: There are NO HEADS. I was surprised by this, but it looks like I’m the only one. I mean, it’s a long way out to the reefs; you go out at 9 a.m. and don’t get back before 3 p.m.--sometimes much later. No, I didn't need one during our stay, but I didn't need the oxygen, either--still glad to see they have a tank on every boat!
We do a check-out dive at Sam’s dock (for the camera housing) It’s plenty murky, but the first thing I see are some pajama cardinals. The second thing is a juvenile Many-Spotted Sweetlips--there are four of them, in total--in varying sizes. Very cool.
BTW, we dove the dock at Sam's two times more during our stay. If you do it, stay on the wall, that's where all the action is. The Mandarin fish are right there, every night at dusk (5-ish) and the crabs and shrimp and other creatures come out later. Interestingly enough, did not see any squid or octopus--not there or anywhere during our entire stay. We did one boat night dive--to Jake's Floatplane--a Japanese wreck from WWII in very shallow water. Eerie, but not a lot going on and not really worth the extra money. We stuck to Sam's dock for night dives after that.
We eat lunch at Sam’s--sashimi!--and go on the afternoon boat dive to the Helmet Wreck (about ten minutes away) Very poor viz and a very small ship. Apparently, not much is known about this boat--not even its name. What a sad fate for a ship and crew--to live and die so anonymously as though they never existed at all. The wreck gets its name from the helmets that are fused together after so many years; there are also explosives, depth charges, gas masks and other murky stuff covered in silt. Not a great dive--I would skip it, personally. But YMMV.
This was the first place where I encountered the Palau currents--unexpectedly. Started coming up too fast at the end and nearly blew my safety stop. I think I wasn't getting all the air out of my BC jacket, but added two pounds of weight just to be sure next time.
More later...
