4 Days and Counting

So four days, 17 hours and 30 minutes...but who's counting. I am getting extremely excited and nervous at the same time. I have multiple check lists to make sure I am not forgetting the necessities. I am trying to take as little as possible, and with all the new airline regulations, it's a good thing to pack light. I am just in stress mode with packing, unpacking, repacking, deciding if I really need that and if I am forgetting anything.

I am going on the trip with a long-time customer of the store, Joe who is also a Dive Instructor and his really good friend Andy who is a Dive Master. There were originally three other people who were signed up to go but due to unfortunate circumstances, they were not able to commit. Joe mentioned the trip to me early January and I have been excited about it ever since. I took classes with him to get my Advanced Open Water Certification, and again I had to use the quarry for our dives. This time, the quarry was not as exciting as my Open Water Certification. Being a lot earlier in the season, it was very cold and so murky that you couldn't see two feet in front of you. I went over navigation, wreck, deep, peek buoyancy and photography (even though you couldn't see). It was also nice to get the refresher because I hadn't been diving since my Bahama's trip. I felt very comfortable diving with both Joe and Andy and hope they feel the same as we will be dive buddies in Palau.

I have done research about the islands and already knew some about Palau through the CBS show Survivor. We are diving through Sam's Tours which is a Five Star Dive Center. I am extremely excited and hopeful to visit Jellyfish Lake to snorkel with jellys that do not sting. Can you imagine?!

Our flight plan is crazy! We leave from Dulles at 6am on the 8th and arrive in Koror at 8pm on the 9th. We stop in Houston, Honolulu, and Guam between Dulles and Koror. I have to try and get some good sleep the night we arrive because our first dive is scheduled for early morning on the 10th. We have three boat dives per day and some optional night dives. I am not sure that I will go on each dive as I want to explore Palau and of course lay out on the beaches. There is also wakeboarding which I may check out since I board at Lake Anna any weekend that I can. It would be awesome to say that I wakeboarded in Palau.

The dives themselves are considered drift dives. There is the possibility that we will do a night dive where the guides will chum the water throughout the day so the Nautilus surface for feeding. These are just magnificent creatures. Check out some more info about the dives I will be doing. And check back as I plan to update throughout my trip...as long as I have access to a computer with an internet connection.