Palau 10/26/13 Tom H (Pink Man), John (the Dive Angel), Brian L (Shutterbug), Dan C (Danno) and Jason (the cougar hunter) checked into our Hotel, West Plaza, at 2am after a 30 hour flight just glad to be able to chill out, lay down and snore for a bit. Peter C (Peatie Dog), Curtis and Kim F., (a great couple I met in Cozumel several years ago), would be arriving late the next evening. I woke up at 9ish hungry and jonesing for coffee. The restaurant at the hotel is called the Red Rooster….sounds cool to me so Jason joined me for a bite and I asked him if he was interested in getting a dive in today….Hell yeah! We were diving with Neco Marine this week so I rang em up and made it so. Our first day of diving wasn’t supposed to be until the 27th but arriving a day early and getting some sleep motivated me to schedule a 2 tank charter and the 5 other early birds were game as well. Woohooo!!! Let the adventure begin………… #1469 Iro Wreck Sunday 10/26/13 Our Captain for this leg of the journey in Palau was Logan, a large Palauan, with Dale hailing from South Africa, as 1st mate and Divemaster. This wreck was a Japanese Military Transport coated with corals and Giant Sea Clams making quite a haven for smaller creatures and tons of fish. Jacks, Queen Triggerfish, Clownfish, Barracuda, and Butterfly fish were just a few examples of the huge array of marine life inhabiting this defunct war machine. Moored at the bow as a starting point I finned to the stern marveling at the size of the gun on her aft section. I turned my dive at this point and headed back to the bow to make my ascent. Max depth of 95 ft for 37 minutes in 85 degree water with 60-80’ viz.. #1470 Sandy Paradise 10/26/13 This was a really sweet reef starting at the surface with the mooring at 25 feet and cascading down to between 70-80 feet until it ends in the white grainy sand. With the azure backdrop of the water contrasting the many colorful, cool fish here, our DM Dale, found us a Leaf Fish (in the Scorpion fish family) atop of some corals. There were several very large 2’ Queen Trigger Fish, a Bumphead Parrotfish, a White Tip Reef Shark sleeping in the sand, a Grey Reef Shark off in the blue water and a Wahoo swam by followed by a school of small Yellowfin Barracuda. Max depth of 82 ft for 48 minutes in 85 degree water with 70’ viz.. #1471 Virgin Hole Monday 10/27/13 Today Dale and Jenny were our DMs and Nick was Captain….This was a great site with a gradually sloping wall covered in soft as well as hard corals and colorful sponges. There were valleys, grottos and swim-throughs parting the wall with fish and turtles at every turn….I saw at least 5 turtles on this dive. In one of the grottos I saw a small school of 6 or 7 12- 18” Helmut (or Big Mouth) Mackerel feeding on some small organisms swimming with their mouths wide open like a Blue Whale scoops up krill. It was very amusing and quite a site to see. Max depth of 73 ft for 53 minutes in 85 degree water with 80’ viz.. #1472 New Drop Off 10/27/13 This was supposed to be a routine drift dive but turned into a “Turbo Drift Dive” in unmanageable conditions with currents too strong to swim against and upwellings as well as down wellings breaking up our group of 6 careening us off in all different directions. The boat picked us all up in different locations, some out of breath, some bleeding from minor cuts from coral and some just glad they didn’t bring their cameras. It was short but exciting and fun once I had all my divers back on the boat in one piece. Dale, who has been on this site regularly for a year and a half said he never saw this site so violent….I believe him because both he and Jenny were pretty shaken up. Max depth of 68 ft for 7 insane minutes in a rotating vortex of 85 degree water with 70-80’ viz.. #1473 Chandelier Cave 10/27/13 This site is a beautiful sea cave that was once dry as there awesome speological formations in all 4 chambers. Stalagmites, stalactites, crystalline stalactite formations growing sideways in all directions out of limestone stalactites, caramel colored veins crawling limestone walls and soda straws still forming new growth in the air chambers. There were some dry cave portions up in the high points that were probably sumps leading to more passages. Tom and I wanted to push but our DM belayed that request. Upon our exit into the open water we found many Mandarin Fish, one of the most ornate and colorful little fish in the ocean, hiding within the pencil corals. SHWEEET freakin’ dive! Max depth of 39 ft for 47 minutes in 87 degree water with 30’ viz.. *Snorkel Tour at Jellyfish Lake Tuesday 10/28/13 We started off today by snorkeling at Jellyfish Lake arriving at the Island by boat, hiking up a path, then up a cement staircase from hell with uneven risers ranging from 6’’ to 18’’ 60 or so steps high then down a rocky path and down the same kind of staircase we just climbed, then down another path to a dock where we donned mask, snorkel, and fins. The jellyfish here have evolved to the point where they have no stinging nematocysts in their tentacles but instead get nourishment through a symbiotic relationship with a type of algae that gives them their rusty color, sugars and proteins through photosynthesis. There were hardly any at first until we started swimming towards the sunny side of the lake where there were millions of them from the size of a cheerio to a softball sized gelatinous, pulsating organism. (If there were only some Peanut Butterfish we could have had a sandwich.) Their only natural predator is the White Anemone found by the shores clinging to rocks, tree roots and fallen branches. If there were turtles here they would be some extremely fat, happy turtles! It was interesting and certainly good exercise but after ¾ of an hour we had enough of the Jellyfish, turned and swam back to the dock, hiked both up and down the stairs and boarded the boat to get to motor off to the first of 3 dive sites for today…. #1474 Ulong Point 10/28/13 The healthiest reef I have ever seen with the huge Tabletop Coral formations bigger than myself, Hawksbill Turtles, White Tip and Black Tip Reef Sharks, and all the other usual suspects one would expect to see. Max depth of 95 ft for 50 minutes in 85 degree water with 100’ viz.. #1475 Ulong Wall 10/28/13 The most interesting thing I saw on this dive was a small Dog Face Pufferfish curled up, getting groomed at a cleaning station. There were White Tip and Black Tip Reef Sharks, Hawksbill Turtles, a big black and white Pufferfish with beautiful geometric markings hypnotically covering its entire body at 80 feet on the wall. Max depth of 79 ft for 54 minutes in 85 degree water with 80’ viz.. #1476 Iro Wreck Nite Dive 10/28/13 Returning to this wreck at night was exciting and very enjoyable…..The out of the ordinary marine life here were Harlequin Sweetlip Fish, Urchins, Really pretty, ornately marked Squid feeding on some kind of worm at 30 feet with tentacles raised as I made my ascent. They seemed to enjoy my Greenforce Lights effect on whatever worms they were feeding on as it seemed to draw them in. Max depth of 83 ft for 51 minutes in 85 degree water with 45’ viz.. #1477 Blue Holes Humpday 10/30/13 This site is a massive coral archway with 4 big chimneys allowing light to penetrate under the dome. There was also a cave entrance I would have loved to explore but we were asked not to enter and honored that request even though the darkness beckoned. We exited through a round window like hole through the coral. We swam at 50-60’ along the wall seeing beautiful soft corals and sponges, Sharks, Tuna and Mackerel. Max depth of 94 ft for 47 minutes in 85 degree water with 100’ viz….. #1478 Blue Corner 10/30/13 Here is a peninsula that juts out into the channel and the current runs pretty strong so we use reef hooks and hook into some dead coral watching the show starring Dog Tooth Tuna, Giant Mackerel, Huge Napoleon Wrasses, White Tips & Reef Sharks A Hawksbill Turtle, Trevale Jacks and a Morey Eel. Max depth of 75 ft for 50 minutes in 85 degree water with 70’ viz…… #1479 German Channel 10/30/1 Besides all the usual beautiful fish inhabiting this reef we swam by a big 100 lbs Napoleon Wrasse, and spotted a Feathertail Sting Ray, then a free swimming Giant Morey Eel and out of the Blue swam a 10’ Manta Ray and started doing summersaults feeding on plankton. We finned across a sandy patch between reefs and a pair of Mantas even bigger that the first were trying to settle into a cleaning station, Black Tip, White Tip and Grey Reef Sharks Max depth of 71 ft for 53 minutes in 85 degree water with 50’ viz…..Apparently they saved the best for last….What an incredible dive! We have a no fly day for Thursday so it’s time to pack for Truk Lagoon.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 11:44:18 +0000
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