Where the rainbow ends

  Koror, Palau
Monday, December 10, 2007

The top of the immigration form here says "Where the rainbow ends" and look, they were right! There was more amazing diving here, not wrecks so much as beautiful coral and spectacular sea life. I did dive on one wreck here, but after Chuuk I was sort of ho-hum about it. Am I getting spoiled out here or what?! The best part of the diving here were the Manta Rays. I got to see a couple up close, each one about 10 feet wide. They circle above clusters of coral called cleaning stations because fish hang out on this coral and eat parasites off the Mantas when they swim around them. For a full 20 minutes or so we just sat there and watched these graceful creatures soaring through the water-fantastic!! Of course there was beautiful coral and plenty of sharks, turtles, and other sea life to observe. One particularly friendly and very big Napoleon Raz was following us around for an entire dive. Apparently he is used to being fed by divers so if you just had a small stone in your hand and held it out he would come over and see if it was something he could eat. In between dives we would go to nearby islands to explore or goof around.
On the way back from diving we stopped at another island which had a lake in the middle called jellyfish lake. They estimate there are 15 to 25 million jellyfish in this lake. You might be wondering who in their right mind would swim in such a lake?! Since these jellyfish have no natural enemies in the lake they have lost their ability to sting. It was a bit disconcerting however when I was swimming in the middle of them and they were bumping into me all over!

I spent a day kayaking, snorkelling and checking out some other cool places around an area called Rock Islands. The water was crystal clear and there were beautiful white sandy beaches. The sand was so fine on some of them that when you stepped on it you sunk in nearly up to your knees. There are many beautiful little islands here. This one is called Yahoo Island because apparently some commercial for Yahoo was filmed here. I'm a bit out of the loop living out here in Asia, perhaps someone else will recognize it.

I got to see some interesting sights while snorkelling. They say that is the biggest clam in Palau weighing over 300lbs. I also got to see some more fragile types of coral while snorkelling since we were in shallow water that was protected from the surf and currents.





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This area is called Milky Way because of the color of the water. This is because the sand is so fine it just stays suspended in the water. It is also the kind of sand that is used at spas to treat your skin so I had my own free spa treatment here! One jump in the water and I was instantly cleaned off!


I spent a day driving around the main island here called Babeldaob seeing the sights. I did a hike to a waterfall and on the way saw these abandoned wartime Japanese railroad tracks. The waterfall is called Ngardmau Waterfall-very beautiful! I also saw some basalt monoliths known as Badrulcha. Their origin and purpose is unknown but legend says they were put here by the gods to protect the local people




On the drive I saw the capital building which looks suspiciously like the US White House-wonder who built that?! While I was there the tv show Survivor was just wrapping up filming. The first couple of days I was there people kept asking me if I was a survivor. I thought it was an odd question, but I always said "why yes, I AM a survivor!" Later I found out they were wondering if I was on the crew-oops! It's going to be called Survivor Micronesia but it was really filmed in Palau. The secret is out!




By the end of the trip my bruises had faded and my dog bite was healing quite nicely. I was able to re-enter my life without raising too many eyebrows!