We came, we saw, we dove . . .
BUT IT WASN'T EASY - As I mentioned last week, this trip almost didn't happen for eight of us who had booked on China Airlines. Due to a storm in Taipei, our in-bound plane never left Taiwan so they cancelled our LAX flight 14 hours before we were to leave. Although we managed to re-book everyone on United (but it's a brutal sked), we had further complications when the Tokyo-Guam flight that one of our folks was on was delayed, meaning he missed the flight to Koror, Palau. Fortunately, unlike our issues getting to Yap in September, United flies to Palau every evening from Guam. So he missed a day of diving but he made it eventually.
SOME OF US WERE OUT OF RHYTHM - Anytime you do a trip like this, there's a lot of adjusting. Obviously, time zones and jetlag are at the head of that list. The difference between LA and Palau was eight hours. On top of that, then you need to get used to the rhythm of the boat. For the Palau Aggressor II, that meant dives scheduled for 7AM, 10AM, 1:30PM, and 4:30PM with meals in-between. (The food was excellent BTW.) By arriving late - we literally got to the boat at 2AM with the first dive being five hours later - you lose the settling-in time that we normally try to build into these trips. So you're somewhat a day behind getting into that rhythm and then when you do, it seems like the trip is over and it's time to go. C'est la vie. As I've been saying a lot lately, First World Problems.
CONDITIONS - Overall, both the topside and underwater conditions were good. Topside, there was NO wind to speak of during the week which meant for fairly smooth rides all the way around. Many times we'd wake up in the morning to see the sun come up over glass-smooth waters. Water temps were a very consistent 86F and visibility generally ran 50-100' on the outer reefs and 20-50' on some of the dives we did in the protected harbor areas.
ON THE REEFS - Although the reefs seem healthy, there is coral bleaching evident everywhere. Worse in some places than others. Certainly no dead reefs. But it also seemed to those of us who have been here before, that there we less fish than we saw on past trips. Some places were very fishy, but some not-so-much.
THE HOT SPOTS - We had three nice dives at Blue Corner (probably THE dive at Palau), got skunked at German Channel, had a nice fast drift dive at Peleliu Corner, and experienced one of the strongest currents I've ever felt at Siaes Corner (rip-your-mask-off strong).
OVERALL - A good time was had by all. We got off the boat at 8AM Sunday morning (November 10) and my part of the group has encamped at the West Plaza Lebuu which we like a lot. Very nice hotel, only four years old, six stories, reasonably priced, in the downtown area so you can walk to a lot of stores and restaurants (and the jail if you want to get storyboards), big rooms, and a restaurant on-site (Red Rooster). The downside is that our journey home starts tonight at 2:05AM for our flight to Guam and we eventually get back to LAX at 6:18AM on Monday, November 11. Especially for those of us who don't sleep well on planes, it's a brutal return sked. (This is why we originally booked the China Airlines flights because the flight times were more reasonable.) Again, First World Problems.
PICTURES??? - Of course!!! Despite massive camera issues, including my shutter button disintegrating in my hand, I was able to get a few good shots (I shoot 1,000 frames overall - about half of what I'd normally shoot on a trip like this) which will be included in the trip report and SmugMug slideshow which I'll start working on during the travel back. In the meantime, here are six of the animals we saw: |
