Well i made it safely, not comfortably, back home. I had a wonderful time in Palau and hope to go back yet again sometime. I do have to admit that last year's trip was better but i think it was mainly because of the weather this year. We got a lot more rain, heavier seas and limited dive sites. All-in-all i had a great time and added 22 more dives to my log book. It is good to be home but still working on getting back into the groove of things. Went back to work the day after getting home, gotta jump back in at some point so just as well the next day. Jet lag didn't hit me too hard, got as much sleep as i could on the plane and made sure i stayed up till my regular late bedtime hour once home so that i could get back in gear faster. Our flight felt like time travel because we left at 1:45 am on the 15th and arrived home at about 2:00 pm on the 15th. Stopped in Honolulu and said good buy to Andy, Jim and Melanie as they were staying in Hawaii meeting up with Andy's wife and Jim and Melanies daughters for an extended vacation. I wished them good weather and lots of sun so hopefully they are getting some! Joe was not staying in Hawaii so we got our bags, rechecked them in and headed to our gate for the final boarding call of our flight, that was a close one. Onto Houston on another 8 hour flight then our final flight home.
Joe - I want to thank you for giving my arm that final twist into commiting to the dive trip. I had a great time and am excited to further my SCUBA training. Thank you as well for all the assistance with the planning and bookings.
Andy - It is always a pleasure diving with you. You make the waters feel very comfortable and enjoyable. I look forward to helping you with furthering your DAN certifications in any way that I can be of assistance. Glad to be concidered a niece to you :) Enjoy Hawaii with your wife!
Jim and Melanie - It has been great getting to know you throughout this trip. I look forward to diving with you again in the future. May you have a wonderful time in Hawaii and hope the sun warms you up Mel :)
Friday, June 19, 2009
Kayaking on Our Final Day - Day 8
Sunday, June 14, 2009
So i didn't get much sleep last night. I think it was because it was our last night and I had a lot on my mind about making sure things were getting dried and packed. We had another early morning pickup since we were going on the Kayak tour so we all met for breakfast at 6:30. It was another gloomy, rainy day. At breakfast Joe and Andy asked if I had heard the rain last night. The AC unit in my room is so loud, never shuts off unless you turn it off so I can't hear anything but that. Apparently it got really bad out there. We were in for another rainy day.
The group of us got picked up by Lalii at about 7:45am. Joe and Andy were not joining Mel, Jim and I on the kayak tour as they were spending their time with Nick taking some lessons about underwater videography. So the three of us got our snorkel gear and were breifed my Lalii our kayak guide. Her and our boat captain, Jefferson, got our kayaks ready and we headed out about 15 minutes to Nikko Bay. It was looking like it was going to clear up but we soon realized after about 10 minutes of kayaking that we were going to get wet no matter what. We ducked under "Bugger Cave" while it downpored for about 15 minutes then continued to make our way along the rock islands to our first snorkel area. Lalii was chatting along about the birds, corals, rock islands and overall nature of Palau. She definitely liked to talk. It continued to rain off and on for the few hours we were kayaking and then took a break for our first snorkel area, Lettuce Wall. Because of the rain, the water had a lot of cold spots and very few warm spots so we didn't snorkle long. We finished up and got back on the boat for lunch. The storms were really rolling in so Jim, Mel and I decided to cut the tour short and head back. I was a bit bummed about the weather but still happy we got to get in some kayaking. We got back to Sam's and got a ride to the hotel so we could shower and change into some dry clothes. I got pretty much all of my packing done except for the stuff that got soaked earlier today. I left that out to dry and met up with the rest of the gang around 3pm to swing back to Sam's, have drinks and some dinner. I was hoping to see Siksei so he could sign my logbooks and i could say good buy but he didn't show up before we were ready to get back to the hotel and finish up anything we needed, get some rest and meet back up at 11pm for our ride to the airport. Only one flight leaves out of Koror, Palau which is at 1:45am. I am not looking forward to the trip home.
Jim and Melanie on our Kayak tour
Lalii giving us the tour in the rain
Pajama Cardinals schooling in a Porites coral
Lalii showing us a Dogface Pufferfish
a really pretty Nudibranch feeding off of Sponge
Melanie and Jim bracing the storm
Jason, our guide from last year, and myself
So i didn't get much sleep last night. I think it was because it was our last night and I had a lot on my mind about making sure things were getting dried and packed. We had another early morning pickup since we were going on the Kayak tour so we all met for breakfast at 6:30. It was another gloomy, rainy day. At breakfast Joe and Andy asked if I had heard the rain last night. The AC unit in my room is so loud, never shuts off unless you turn it off so I can't hear anything but that. Apparently it got really bad out there. We were in for another rainy day.
The group of us got picked up by Lalii at about 7:45am. Joe and Andy were not joining Mel, Jim and I on the kayak tour as they were spending their time with Nick taking some lessons about underwater videography. So the three of us got our snorkel gear and were breifed my Lalii our kayak guide. Her and our boat captain, Jefferson, got our kayaks ready and we headed out about 15 minutes to Nikko Bay. It was looking like it was going to clear up but we soon realized after about 10 minutes of kayaking that we were going to get wet no matter what. We ducked under "Bugger Cave" while it downpored for about 15 minutes then continued to make our way along the rock islands to our first snorkel area. Lalii was chatting along about the birds, corals, rock islands and overall nature of Palau. She definitely liked to talk. It continued to rain off and on for the few hours we were kayaking and then took a break for our first snorkel area, Lettuce Wall. Because of the rain, the water had a lot of cold spots and very few warm spots so we didn't snorkle long. We finished up and got back on the boat for lunch. The storms were really rolling in so Jim, Mel and I decided to cut the tour short and head back. I was a bit bummed about the weather but still happy we got to get in some kayaking. We got back to Sam's and got a ride to the hotel so we could shower and change into some dry clothes. I got pretty much all of my packing done except for the stuff that got soaked earlier today. I left that out to dry and met up with the rest of the gang around 3pm to swing back to Sam's, have drinks and some dinner. I was hoping to see Siksei so he could sign my logbooks and i could say good buy but he didn't show up before we were ready to get back to the hotel and finish up anything we needed, get some rest and meet back up at 11pm for our ride to the airport. Only one flight leaves out of Koror, Palau which is at 1:45am. I am not looking forward to the trip home.
Jim and Melanie on our Kayak tour
Lalii giving us the tour in the rain
Pajama Cardinals schooling in a Porites coral
Lalii showing us a Dogface Pufferfish
a really pretty Nudibranch feeding off of Sponge
Melanie and Jim bracing the storm
Jason, our guide from last year, and myself
Great Last Day of Dives - Day 7
Saturday, June 13, 2009
So today is the last day of diving, boo! Another good nights sleep then breakfast with the gang. The sun was shining and it was going to be a beautiful day. Needed to break out the suntan lotion, nice! We ate breakfast and got our stuff ready to head over to Sam's. Siksei got to the hotel early again for us so we took a ride and got our dive gear ready on the boat. Since we had rinsed all our gear and got everything ready from the night before, we got to hang out at Sam's for a short bit before heading out to our first dive, another wreck. We decided to stay a bit closer to Sam's as the water was still really rough and just wanted to have a relaxing day so we went about 15 minutes out to the Bouy 6 Wreck/Lighthouse Channel.
I got a few group pics while on our way out and even a couple of me with the crew, Siskei, J5 and Arson. The Bouy 6 Wreck which was a wreck of a fishing boat turned into a vessel during the war. There were lots of Sea Fans, Fromia Starfish, Tiger Cowries, interesting Nudibranchs, lots of pretty Basket Starfish, Tomato Clowns, Crown of Thorns Starfish etc. As we finished with the wreck and made our way along the Lighthouse Channel, we were greeted by a Remora in search for a host. It kept swimming up close to each of us checking us out and wondering why we didn't look like their usual hosts. I guess it didn't care too much as it attached itself to Andy's leg and really scared him since it got close to swimming right up his shorts! Melanie, Jim and I were watching the whole thing as Andy was checking out some coral and once Andy realized what was going on, he allowed the Remora to hang around for a bit. It then swam around again and I was trying to get it to attach to me but it found Melanie more appealing. It settled on her leg and stayed there for quite a bit, so cool! Finally it was time for us to surface so we said our goodbuys to the Remora and got back on the boat. Since we were so close to Sam's we just headed back there for our surface interval and layed out to finally take advantage of the sun as we weren't sure how long it was going to last. We took just over an hour surface interval then headed out to our second wreck, the Amatsu Maru.
dive buddies: me, Andy, Melanie, Jim, Joe
the crew: Arson, me, Siksei, J5
Fromia Starfish
checking out the wreck
a cool Nudibranch species
can you spot the Leaf Fish?
a Longnose Hawkfish on a Sea Fan
a Basket Star
a curious Remora checking out Andy
now it's after Melanie
Clarkii Clowns in a Carpet Anemone
Crown of Thorns Starfish
a rock full of Basket Stars
Amatsu Maru Wreck, also called the Black Coral Wreck, was a Japanese Navy fleet repair ship from the war. It is a huge ship and would take a few days of diving to safely examine the whole wreck. We only did a small portion on our dive. Not many corals are along this wreck but there were some very curious Batfish hanging around us. Saw lots of Sea Fans, Mushrooms, Goniopora, huge Lobophyllias, Bubble and Pearl Corals, some small Gobies and Blennies but mainly just checked out the structure of the wreck since it wasn't overgrown in coral. I didn't penetrate this wreck though i easily could have. I tried to stay shallower since we had done a deep dive on our first dive and this one got pretty deep. We got to the bow were Jim and Melanie stretched out like the scene from Titanic, "I'm the king of the world!" scene. Again since this wreck was only minutes from Sam's, we headed back there to get some lunch and more sun.
The Amatsu Maru
the sun came out for a short bit :)
Mel and Jim catching some rays
Bottom Time Bar & Grill
catching some rays
gear
pool's open!
green Bubble Coral
Goniopora coral
curious Batfish
Lobophyllia coral
Hairy Mushrooms
Melanie and Jim, "I'm the king of the...Ocean!"
Jim and Melanie planned to dive Chandelier Caves since Melanie hasn't been here before. Jim has been here twice 10 yrs ago and 8 yrs ago so he as seen it plenty and I dove it last year and earlier this trip. Andy, Joe and I were going to sit out but then Andy decided to try out Joe's video camera. Joe and I then decided to come along and just hang out outside the cave entrance and search for macro-critters like Mandarins, Pipefish, Seahorses etc. I didn't come across much at all but some really beautiful Chalice and Pectinia coral. I even came across a tiny Filefish and some Green Linkia Stars. After about half an hour we got back on board and back again to Sam's but stayed all geared up to dive along the dock in search for more Mandarins since we didn't see any at Chandalier Caves. Sam's dock is the best place to see them and within minutes, they were all over the place. Lots of Pipefish, Mandarins, Urchins, Clams, Blennies, Damsels, Crocodilefish and some Butterflies. I came across the same Long Spine Urchin in pretty much the same spot as I did last year. It looked exactly the same except there were no Cardinalfish schooling in its spines, just a couple Damsels. I spent about 20 minutes along the dock wall then got out, rinsed off and started drying while enjoying a Mai Tai and some popcorn.
a Linkia Star
Pectinia Coral
Filefish
Blue Linkia Starfish
Fromia Starfish
Close up of a Deresa Clam
Little Spotted Sharpnose Puffer
Pipefish and Mandarin Dragonet
Joe and I had planned to do a night dive so i could finish up my specialty but Jim, Mel and Andy all were done so they got all their gear rinsed and hung up to dry before packing. I just left mine on the boat since I was going out again in a few hours. Arson, Siksei and J5 met us at about 6:45pm to head out to the Chuyo Maru for our night dive. We were not going to go down to the whole wreck, just stay up on the two masts which were down about 50'. I have to admit i was slightly nervous but much more comfortable now that i have done a couple night dives and Siksei is a great guide. So we made our way down the line and on to the furthest mast. I got to see the same Clownfish sleeping in their anemones, lots of huge Banded Coral Shrimp, Arrow Crabs and other big crabs, lots of smaller Cleaner (Paracleminies) Shrimps, sleeping Groupers and Angels and corals with their feeding tentacles out. The Sun Corals were neat to finally see all open up and bright beautiful yellows. We decided to move on to the closer mast that we had passed when we first got in off the boat. Just makes for a better profile dive to start further and make our way back. Again i saw lots of large and small shrimps and cool crabs. I was pointing a few critters out to Siksei when he started flashing his light over one spot and "whoo whooing" through his regulator. He grabbed my shoulders and gave me that excited shake and took my hand to give me a high five. It took me a few seconds to become as excited as he was when i realized what he had pointed out was a huge gorgeous Frogfish! I even almost went to hold on to it as i was pointing some critters out to him. Siksei was extremely excited as that same Frogfish was found there about 2 yrs ago during the day and hasn't been seen since. I got a lot of pictures and wish i could have gotten some of Siksei's face as you could tell he was just beside himself on such a great find! We decided to dive the Chuyo Maru over the Helmut Wreck since both Joe and I already did the Helmut Wreck as our night dive last year and Siksei had never dove the Chuyo at night before, so it would be a first for each of us. An awesome choice it was and a great find to end our diving on. Once we got back on the boat Siksei was still all excided and shouting out to J5 who did not dive with us and Arson our captain that we saw the Frogfish. I showed them the pics and they were so excited. Word quickly got around and i showed quite a few people some pics once we got back to Sam's and even the next day. Jim, Mel and Andy were still there waiting on us and helped us get all our gear out of the boat, rinsed and hung up since it was getting late. Melanie and Jim went back to the hotel while Andy, Joe, Siksei and I had beer. I then, packed all my gear up got a ride back to the hotel and started packing. I hung up my wet diving gear to dry overnight and the next day before packing it, showered and went to bed! What a great but exhausting day!
Sun Coral opened up to feed
Cinnamon Clowns sleeping (saw them on the day dive)
tiny Cleaner Shrimp
a Banded Coral Shrimp
a really cool crab
another big Arrow Crab
a large Banded Coral Shrimp
the awesome find, a Frogfish!
So today is the last day of diving, boo! Another good nights sleep then breakfast with the gang. The sun was shining and it was going to be a beautiful day. Needed to break out the suntan lotion, nice! We ate breakfast and got our stuff ready to head over to Sam's. Siksei got to the hotel early again for us so we took a ride and got our dive gear ready on the boat. Since we had rinsed all our gear and got everything ready from the night before, we got to hang out at Sam's for a short bit before heading out to our first dive, another wreck. We decided to stay a bit closer to Sam's as the water was still really rough and just wanted to have a relaxing day so we went about 15 minutes out to the Bouy 6 Wreck/Lighthouse Channel.
I got a few group pics while on our way out and even a couple of me with the crew, Siskei, J5 and Arson. The Bouy 6 Wreck which was a wreck of a fishing boat turned into a vessel during the war. There were lots of Sea Fans, Fromia Starfish, Tiger Cowries, interesting Nudibranchs, lots of pretty Basket Starfish, Tomato Clowns, Crown of Thorns Starfish etc. As we finished with the wreck and made our way along the Lighthouse Channel, we were greeted by a Remora in search for a host. It kept swimming up close to each of us checking us out and wondering why we didn't look like their usual hosts. I guess it didn't care too much as it attached itself to Andy's leg and really scared him since it got close to swimming right up his shorts! Melanie, Jim and I were watching the whole thing as Andy was checking out some coral and once Andy realized what was going on, he allowed the Remora to hang around for a bit. It then swam around again and I was trying to get it to attach to me but it found Melanie more appealing. It settled on her leg and stayed there for quite a bit, so cool! Finally it was time for us to surface so we said our goodbuys to the Remora and got back on the boat. Since we were so close to Sam's we just headed back there for our surface interval and layed out to finally take advantage of the sun as we weren't sure how long it was going to last. We took just over an hour surface interval then headed out to our second wreck, the Amatsu Maru.
a sunny morning
dive buddies: me, Andy, Melanie, Jim, Joe
the crew: Arson, me, Siksei, J5
Fromia Starfish
checking out the wreck
a cool Nudibranch species
can you spot the Leaf Fish?
a Longnose Hawkfish on a Sea Fan
a Basket Star
a curious Remora checking out Andy
now it's after Melanie
Clarkii Clowns in a Carpet Anemone
Crown of Thorns Starfish
a rock full of Basket Stars
Amatsu Maru Wreck, also called the Black Coral Wreck, was a Japanese Navy fleet repair ship from the war. It is a huge ship and would take a few days of diving to safely examine the whole wreck. We only did a small portion on our dive. Not many corals are along this wreck but there were some very curious Batfish hanging around us. Saw lots of Sea Fans, Mushrooms, Goniopora, huge Lobophyllias, Bubble and Pearl Corals, some small Gobies and Blennies but mainly just checked out the structure of the wreck since it wasn't overgrown in coral. I didn't penetrate this wreck though i easily could have. I tried to stay shallower since we had done a deep dive on our first dive and this one got pretty deep. We got to the bow were Jim and Melanie stretched out like the scene from Titanic, "I'm the king of the world!" scene. Again since this wreck was only minutes from Sam's, we headed back there to get some lunch and more sun.
Our Daily Schedule
The Amatsu Maru
the sun came out for a short bit :)
Mel and Jim catching some rays
Bottom Time Bar & Grill
catching some rays
gear
pool's open!
green Bubble Coral
Goniopora coral
curious Batfish
Lobophyllia coral
Hairy Mushrooms
Melanie and Jim, "I'm the king of the...Ocean!"
Jim and Melanie planned to dive Chandelier Caves since Melanie hasn't been here before. Jim has been here twice 10 yrs ago and 8 yrs ago so he as seen it plenty and I dove it last year and earlier this trip. Andy, Joe and I were going to sit out but then Andy decided to try out Joe's video camera. Joe and I then decided to come along and just hang out outside the cave entrance and search for macro-critters like Mandarins, Pipefish, Seahorses etc. I didn't come across much at all but some really beautiful Chalice and Pectinia coral. I even came across a tiny Filefish and some Green Linkia Stars. After about half an hour we got back on board and back again to Sam's but stayed all geared up to dive along the dock in search for more Mandarins since we didn't see any at Chandalier Caves. Sam's dock is the best place to see them and within minutes, they were all over the place. Lots of Pipefish, Mandarins, Urchins, Clams, Blennies, Damsels, Crocodilefish and some Butterflies. I came across the same Long Spine Urchin in pretty much the same spot as I did last year. It looked exactly the same except there were no Cardinalfish schooling in its spines, just a couple Damsels. I spent about 20 minutes along the dock wall then got out, rinsed off and started drying while enjoying a Mai Tai and some popcorn.
Nitrox Rocks!
a Linkia Star
Pectinia Coral
Filefish
Blue Linkia Starfish
Fromia Starfish
Close up of a Deresa Clam
Little Spotted Sharpnose Puffer
Pipefish and Mandarin Dragonet
Joe and I had planned to do a night dive so i could finish up my specialty but Jim, Mel and Andy all were done so they got all their gear rinsed and hung up to dry before packing. I just left mine on the boat since I was going out again in a few hours. Arson, Siksei and J5 met us at about 6:45pm to head out to the Chuyo Maru for our night dive. We were not going to go down to the whole wreck, just stay up on the two masts which were down about 50'. I have to admit i was slightly nervous but much more comfortable now that i have done a couple night dives and Siksei is a great guide. So we made our way down the line and on to the furthest mast. I got to see the same Clownfish sleeping in their anemones, lots of huge Banded Coral Shrimp, Arrow Crabs and other big crabs, lots of smaller Cleaner (Paracleminies) Shrimps, sleeping Groupers and Angels and corals with their feeding tentacles out. The Sun Corals were neat to finally see all open up and bright beautiful yellows. We decided to move on to the closer mast that we had passed when we first got in off the boat. Just makes for a better profile dive to start further and make our way back. Again i saw lots of large and small shrimps and cool crabs. I was pointing a few critters out to Siksei when he started flashing his light over one spot and "whoo whooing" through his regulator. He grabbed my shoulders and gave me that excited shake and took my hand to give me a high five. It took me a few seconds to become as excited as he was when i realized what he had pointed out was a huge gorgeous Frogfish! I even almost went to hold on to it as i was pointing some critters out to him. Siksei was extremely excited as that same Frogfish was found there about 2 yrs ago during the day and hasn't been seen since. I got a lot of pictures and wish i could have gotten some of Siksei's face as you could tell he was just beside himself on such a great find! We decided to dive the Chuyo Maru over the Helmut Wreck since both Joe and I already did the Helmut Wreck as our night dive last year and Siksei had never dove the Chuyo at night before, so it would be a first for each of us. An awesome choice it was and a great find to end our diving on. Once we got back on the boat Siksei was still all excided and shouting out to J5 who did not dive with us and Arson our captain that we saw the Frogfish. I showed them the pics and they were so excited. Word quickly got around and i showed quite a few people some pics once we got back to Sam's and even the next day. Jim, Mel and Andy were still there waiting on us and helped us get all our gear out of the boat, rinsed and hung up since it was getting late. Melanie and Jim went back to the hotel while Andy, Joe, Siksei and I had beer. I then, packed all my gear up got a ride back to the hotel and started packing. I hung up my wet diving gear to dry overnight and the next day before packing it, showered and went to bed! What a great but exhausting day!
a large Arrow Crab
Sun Coral opened up to feed
Cinnamon Clowns sleeping (saw them on the day dive)
tiny Cleaner Shrimp
a Banded Coral Shrimp
a really cool crab
another big Arrow Crab
a large Banded Coral Shrimp
the awesome find, a Frogfish!
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