Palau - Trip Report

[cottage]

While in Palau, we stayed at the Palau Pacific Resort from April 2-9 and April 16-28. We also took the Tropic dancer live-aboard dive boat from April 9-16. (i.e. in 2011)

Tropic Dancer
The boat is in excellent condition. The only minor negatives were the air conditioning and the toilets. The air conditioning worked but wouldn't keep the room as cool as we would have preferred. The toilets are marine heads operated by a manual foot pedal. If you didn't operate the foot pedal perfectly, the valve wouldn't completely close. On a couple of occasions, another cabin's valve wasn't totally closed and we could smell the holding tank in our room.

Other than that, everything was outstanding! The food is excellent and plentiful. The bar is included in the price and is self-serve. No one did much drinking because we were constantly diving but this is a nice convenience. The staff is excellent. They couldn't do enough for us. Every request was quickly and happily granted. The drive briefings were thorough.

The dive plan was to have all 15 divers dive as one group with a divemaster at the front, in the middle and at the rear. I consider myself an excellent diver but I'm also an underwater photographer and I know that we make the worst dive buddies! Therefore, diving as part of a group of 15 doesn't fit my style (or anyone who is forced to dive with me) I never make a big deal out of the issue, but I always gradually start to do my own thing as the divemasters get to know me. (If they object, I do as I'm told.) The staff did a great job of tolerating me. Ultimately, they either let me do my own thing or had a divemaster stay close to me. When a divemaster was close to me they did an outstanding job of pointing out the little critters that I may have missed. On a dive prior to the live-aboard, I saw the most beautiful anemone that I have ever seen but I didn't get pictures because of a memory card problem. I told the Captain (Mark) about this. He knew exactly where it was located and made a point of getting me back there to get pictures. (WOW!!!!)

The quality of the diving was very good. The visibility ranged from poor (20'-30') in Korror harbour to excellent (60'-100') at most other locations. Many dives had stiff currents and a reef hook was necessary at sites like Blue Corner. Prior to this trip, I had been told by other divers that Palau was the best diving that they had experienced. It was very good but not as good as the Great Barrier Reef, Fiji or the Red Sea off Saudi Arabia. However, there was a good variety of critters (sharks, mantas, bumphead wrasse, nudibranchs, flatworms and the coral was mostly in great shape.)

My wife is not a diver but she is wonderful for many reasons one of which is she happily accompanies me on dive trips. However, she is a eager snorkeler. I usually miss a few dives to snorkel with her (fair is fair). However, she wanted to snorkel the dive where they took me back to see that beautiful anemone. The captain snorkeled with my wife and we both had a great dive/snorkel. We also got to see the same Mantas! Now that's service!!!!!

On our last day on the boat, we snorkeled Jellyfish Lake. We did this early in the morning and were the only people there. We talked to others afterward who did this at the end of a land based 2 tank dive. We were told by them that it was a zoo with many dive boats and snorkelers. It is a bit of a challenging climb up and over a hill to get to the lake. Good shoes with a good gripping sole are recommended. It was definitely the best idea to go early from a live aboard dive boat to avoid the crowd. Jellyfish lake is just as you have seen on many TV specials. Lots of non stinging jelly fish. It's a great experience!

Overall, I highly recommend the Tropic Dancer!

Palau Pacific Resort (PPR)
This is truly a 5 star resort. It's a little expensive but well worth the price. The rooms are well decorated and in great shape. They even have electronic toilets! i.e. they have controls to clean and dry you after business is taken care of. This is an experience! The pool is beautiful although there were a few too many small children for our liking.

The food and the restaurant were excellent. Their Sunday morning brunch is great. They have all the usual fare and all the champagne that you can drink for $25. They have a theme buffet every evening but you can also order from the menu. We particularly enjoyed the seafood buffet.

The beach is a little small but has nice white sand and is well equipped with lounges and umbrellas. The snorkeling off the beach is also quite good. Look for an incredible variety of giant clams.

There are a wide variety of restaurants in Korror but we found that the best food was at our resort. Others raved about the Taj restaurant. We enjoyed it but wouldn't go quite so far as to rave about it. The Palm Bay Bistro was very nice with good food and service. Their garlic bread was a treat! The Carp restaurant was recommended to us as a place that served a local specialty. We went there, found that they didn't have the local specialty and we didn't like to look of the place so we left. That took us to the Penthouse Restaurant to have the local specialty - Fruit Bat! This was a real experience! The waitress seemed thrilled that I ordered it. She made a point of telling me that she would help me cut it up. She stayed with me for the entire meal, cutting up the Bat and feeding me. I haven't been fed like that since I was two years old! The entire bat comes cooked in coconut milk - head, teeth, wings and all! ....and you eat everything - wings, tongue, liver, guts and all! Truly a once in a lifetime experience - and I mean once! (Actually, it wasn't that bad.)

The dive operation at PPR is called Splash. They too were excellent. All dive boats in Palau are similar - about 30' with a rigid top and twin 225HP outboards. They are comfortable and get you to the dive sites quickly. We usually had 4 to 7 divers on the boat with a capacity of 16. The divemasters were a little hard to understand but they gave good briefings and were attentive underwater. The only negative is that you don't know the dive site until immediately before departure. The choice is made based on tides, currents the experience level of the divers. On one dive, we went to Blue Corner and I didn't have a reef hook with me so I simply held on to a piece of dead coral. The divemaster saw this and gave me his reef hook. Great Service!

There were usually many dive boats at each dive site. Most of the dive boats from other shops seemed to be much more crowed than Splash. One day we had a land tour booked with Sam's Tour's (one of the largest dive shops). We were taken to Sam's for registration. I'm sure that they are a great dive operation but their dive centre is a zoo. Many divers, many boats. I prefer the smaller and quieter operation at Splash.

We booked a private full day land tour with Sam's Tours. It was much more expensive than our private tour on Yap ($300 vs $95). Our tour guide was quite young and didn't seem to have the depth of local knowledge that we expected. However, he was a very nice young man who spoke excellent English and seemed eager to please. The highlight of the tour was the waterfall. It is a grueling walk of about a mile through steep hills, jungle, ankle deep mud and a waist deep river. We quickly gave up trying to keep our running shoes dry and clean. Our advice - wear dive booties with a good rubber sole. We wish that Sam's had told us that before the tour. The National Capital is also interesting. The island has population of about 20,000. Their national capital building is modeled after the Capital Building in Washington DC and is almost the same size. It has massive columns out front that look grand. However, knock on them. They are plastic or fiberglass! Interesting!

Overall, we had a great trip and would heartily recommend both the Tropic Dancer and the Palau Pacific Resort.

 

[bonairefans]

It was disappointing to read that the poster felt compelled to consume fruit bat soup.

Fruit bat populations are plummeting throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Guam’s Mariana fruit bat is listed as an endangered species. Palau’s fruit bat is also in trouble.

The Palauan fruit bat is a sub-species endemic to Palau. They live in densely forested areas, such as the Rock Islands, Babeldaob, and Koror. The Palau Conservation Society says that fruit-bat numbers in Palau fell in the seventies and eighties as many were exported to Guam, threatening the species with extinction. In 1994 it became illegal to export bats from Palau.

Visitors to Palau who think it’s cool to eat an exotic species are placing tremendous pressure on dwindling population. Hunting in Palau has made fruit bats vulnerable to extinction, and the latest survey shows that the number of bat colonies is shrinking and the colonies have fewer bats in them.

The preparation of the soup is barbaric and unspeakably cruel: the bat is boiled alive.

Concerned visitors can take action, beginning with boycotting any Palau restaurant which has fruit bat soup on the menu. Then write to the restaurant management expressing your concerns and asking them to end this practice It would also be helpful to write a polite letter to the President of the Republic of Palau calling for an end to this exploitation.

 

[rkj1969]

It was disappointing to read that the poster felt compelled to consume fruit bat soup.

Fruit bat populations are plummeting throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Guam’s Mariana fruit bat is listed as an endangered species. Palau’s fruit bat is also in trouble.

good point!

 

[Doubler]

While not arguing about the Fruit Bat, as I agree with you, but have you ever eaten a Maine Lobster? It is also boiled alive. Just sayin".

 

[deeper thoughts]

Thnx for the report

 

[bonairefans]

Doubler asks if I have ever eaten a Maine lobster.

The answer is no, I have not. I’ve never eaten an animal that was boiled alive.

But it raises several issues about the culinary ethics of boiling animals alive. Research suggests that crustaceans do feel pain when boiled. Others may argue that this is not the case, as crustaceans lack a central nervous system.

But all mammals by definition from humans to bats have spinal chords and most definitely register pain responses. One wonders how a diner could be enjoying the buzz of a pre-dinner glass of wine knowing a few feet away in the kitchen a mammal was being boiled alive. The fact that the animal is headed for extinction adds greatly to the revulsion.

But we’ll leave the above to the Humane Society, as the primary issue at hand is the ethics of eating a threatened or endangered species, not the manner it was prepared.

If green sea turtle soup was advertised as the specialty of a Koror restaurant, one can only imagine the flack that eating establishment would receive from the diving community. The reaction of outrage should be the same for the exploitation of any species listed as threatened or endangered.

 

[farsidefan1]

What about fresh vegetables that are boiled - steamed? Plants including flowers have shown a "response" when plucked. Guess it depends on where you want to draw the line. I totally agree with you about the bats though.

 

[cottage]

bonairefans' response bothered me for a couple of reasons. Therefore, let me respond....

First, I intensely dislike anyone preaching to me. However, after being a diver for over 35 years, I tend to me somewhat of an environmentalist. Therefore, I'll let the preaching pass.

Second, had I known that the Fruit Bat was endangered, I "probably" would not have eaten it. (I’ll expand on “probably” later.)

After I read bonairefans response, I actually called the restaurant manager in Palau to ask if the bat was really cooked live. He didn’t laugh at me but you could hear the “mirth” in his reply. He said “…and how do you expect that we could keep live bats in a restaurant in the city of Koror? No. The bats are kept frozen in our freezer.” So much for urban legend!

Let me expand on "probably"......

While in Palau, as we always do, we tried to absorb as much local culture as possible. With reference to bats, we were told that they are considered a nuisance by many locals. Apparently many people live traditional lifestyles. That is, they do not work in regular jobs. Instead, they live in their village, raise their own crops and livestock and possibly harvest betel nuts to sell for a little cash. They don't like fruit bats because they destroy their fruit crops. In fact, they shoot them to protect their crop. Thus, I felt free to taste this unique local delicacy.

On a recent trip to Cairns, Australia, there was a lot of press concerning an infestation of fruit bats in local parks and the concern about potential disease from their droppings. There was a lot of discussion over the means of ridding the parks of the bats. Of course, there were many who were against the disruption of the bats. However, we didn't see any mention of "endangered".

We also have an unfortunate history with bats…..
We lived in a very nice condo in Grand Cayman for a few years. While we were out of the country for a few days, the condo manager called in the exterminators to get rid of brown bats in the attic. When we returned, our condo was full of over 100 bats. Apparently, their normal exit from the attic had been sealed so they found an exit into our unit. We managed to get rid of them. However over the next few weeks, we were constantly finding individual bats in closets, in boxes and under beds.

Back home in Canada, our attic was also infested with bats. We have a lakefront property in a heavily wooded area and we know that the bats are beneficial in that they eat mosquitoes. We installed many bat boxes in an attempt to provide the bats with more favourable home than our attic. This didn’t work so I spent great amounts of time attempting to seal every possible opening where they might have been gaining access. (I did this in the late Fall after they had left to hibernate for the winter). This didn’t work, so we called the exterminators. They don’t kill them. They seal cracks and install a “one-way bat door" for them to escape. That worked at a cost of well over $2000. However, we were left with a lot of smelly bat droppings in the attic which are a hazard to health because of Histoplasmosis. We investigated removal of the droppings but this turns out to be a HASMAT operation due to health concerns. The operation involves removal of the roof and a specialized HASMAT cleanup. We didn’t get a specific quote but were told that the cost would start at $30,000 and go up depending on complexity. The alternative was to leave the droppings in place and let the smell dissipate. It has now been 5 years and the smell is almost gone.

So you will excuse me if I don’t have a warm fuzzy feeling toward bats!