All in all about Palau!

Palau diving was divine, but I would not recommend the place to any other people, except maybe avid snorkelers. 

Here are my videos, amateurish but with love!

I must thank the Fish'n'Fins people, Tova for the great food, Jonathan and Loreen for a great time and everybody else for making our trip so smooth!

Also the Carp Island crew:  Please keep up the enthusiasm and dedication!  Ian for safe dives, Saki and Suzuki for fun times and all the others for a very pleasant stay.

I must say that this is not my last visit to Palau.

But my next dive trip will be to the Red Sea, I think...

Cheers!

Day five part two: Ulong Channel and Chandelier Cave

These two divesites deserve their own page.  Why?  You'll see...

Ulong Channel

THE best and most fun dive for ever!  21 meters and 74 minutes, maybe 4-5 kilometers, a huge drift dive!
We had a nice lunch at Ulong Island picnic place, then parked on top of the plateau.  Went down and hooked ourselves in a strongest current so far!  I lost my camera, the shoulder strap was undone in the current!  And here the sharks came very close indeed - me without the camera...  I told our DM Jonathan about my loss, he went away for a while and handsigned me later that he reported to the captain my loss.  I was devastated because of the pics inside...  Well, this is life. 

So I concentrated on the sights, beautiful.  But the fun part was still to come:  We let loose of our "moorings" with reef hooks and started drifting at high speed along the plateau.  Jonathan had told us how to control the direction with turning ourselves facing this way and that, but at the beginning I was in a separate current from the others and had to swim a lot to join the group!

When we reached the actual sand-bottomed channel, we could just let our hair down and enjoy!  And try to avoid big triggerfish attacking and groupers...  The biggest cabbage coral wall I've ever seen...  Passed in a hurry.  Then we ended up in a sandy area with lots of scads, trevallies and other fish schooling.  I wanted to have a closer look and grabbed a rock, and after I lost the sight of anyone else...

A flash of yellow fins in the distance, a lot of swimming to catch them up and I had caught 2 of our group!
What was the best:  The captain had found my camera bobbing on the surface...  These guys really know their currents!

Chandelier Cave

The most bizarre dive of my life!  Max 18 meters, bottom time around 1 hour.  Difficult to say, as this dive on the computer is like 5 separate dives!  We had rented torches (flashlights) from the dive shop and I was glad again, as the caves were really dark.  We had to be very careful not to stir the silt on the bottom and worsen the visibility.

There are four airfilled chambers with stalactites and stalagmites, you really have to look where you dive as these hanging rocks were everywhere!  Once up in the air, we could remove the regu and breathe normally.

Everybody was excited and we just babbled!  The last chamber was the smallest so Jonathan took us there ladies first and then the guys.  While exiting the cave, my torch stopped working...  Oh no!  It was really eerie and difficult, trying to follow the divers in front in total darkness and avoid hitting your head on the hanging rocks...  This photo was taken with a flash, so you can see how poor the viz is!

After we exited the cave and the adrenaline levels were back to normal, we then started a hunt.  For a very small and elusive creature!

The Mandarinfish!  Size 3-6 cm depending on the sex, this is a very colourful and beautiful fish.  People come from all over the world to take photos!  I was very patient so I got some very nice pics.  No use turning coral rubble over, just take a comfortable position over some corals and wait...

Palau divesites day 5: Siaes Tunnel + Siaes Corner

Four dives in a day, the most I've done so far!  And what a day...  The best diving I've ever had!  Not to mention snorkelling...  Great spots in between dives.  I was looking at Siaes corner from the surface while we had to wait for our turn:  Black and silver trevallies in the thralls of love, sharks, napoleons, barracudas...  Viz very good!

Siaes Tunnel

35 meters, 65 minutes.  Nice cave, bottom in about 50 meters.  Entrance 27 meters and consequently the roof of the cave in 26-27 meters.  Beautiful soft corals on the walls and roof of the cave.  Somebody at the bottom filming a small fish that lives there...
After the cave a very nice wall with nudibranches and lots of corals.  Big napoleons and sharks in addition to the smaller fry ever present.  Lots and lots of different fishes, butterflies to angels!

Siaes Corner

20 meters, 65 minutes.  Very pleasant dive, a nice wall!  Lots of things to see from small fishes to big ones, like pyramid butterflies, sergeant majors, yellowtail fusiliers, local square antheas and different angelfish.  Nice plateau at 12 m with sharks chasing trevallies at the edge, lots of colourful juveniles among the beautiful corals and of course, turtles. 

Palau divesites day 4: Blue Hole + Blue Corner + Helmet Wreck

This day was promising to be wonderful:  Fish'n'Fins staff Jonathan and Loreen picked us up in the morning, after two nice nights on Carp Island.  Bye Carp - I'll be back...

Blue Holes

25 meters and 70 minutes, came up with 500 psi  (700 psi = 50 bar).  Back to Nitrox, yippee!  I had small headaches after every air dive.  This time I was first down the rope to 8 meters, spent some time taking photos and waiting for the people to come down.  Luckily looked up after 10 minutes as I saw everybody disappearing over the reef edge near the surface!  Well, just followed them.

Blue Holes is very interesting dive:  Entrance to the cave from the top of a reef through a hole.  The bottom of the actual cave is in about 20-22 meters.  When you look up, you can see one big and one smaller hole, very blue in colour.  The cave itself was not so special, rubble in the bottom, most exciting part of it is the temple of doom:  A smaller, deeper cave with turtle skeletons, but we did not go there.  The wall dive after exiting was very nice indeed!  Lots of different sweetlips, sharks patrolling, bumpheads.  In about 10-12 meters a nice plateau with turtles and lots of different reef fish.

Video: Patagroup in Blue Hole, Palau

Blue Corner - again!

My favourite divesite, this time with different current and from another angle.  20 meters and 55 minutes.
We followed the wall just under the lip because of a very strong current, that in Jonathans words could have swept us to the Philippines if we got too high...  In blue water for a while accompanied with sharks and trevallies.
Then we quickly rose to the plateau at 12 meters and hooked ourselves in a very strong current!  The regu in my mouth was wobbling and so was the mask...  I felt like a balloon on a string, with the current pulling me this way and that...  But we got a nice show again, in front row seats!  Exhilarating!

Video:  Huge marbled groupers in Blue Corner, Palau

Helmet Wreck

26 meters, 67 minutes.  This divesite is very near Koror Marina in a silty lagoon, so the viz is not good.  But for muck divers and critter lovers, excellent spot!  I was first down and last up again, saw things others did not see...
Small wreck covered in soft and hard corals, don't spend too much time there but search the surrounding coral areas.  Lots of worms and smaller fish.  Tiny cleaner shrimps on anemones.  I even photographed a mystery wrasse here;  A new species?

Palau divesites day 3: Peleliu Dbed + Ngedebos Wall + Blue Corner

Still from Carp Island with Palau Divers we did these three dives:  In between I did a lot of snorkelling, sometimes the captain parked the boat over a nice wall just for us snorkelers.  Great service and very thoughtful!  Saw a ghost pipefish and many different stingrays while snorkelling, also sharks.  While transiting from one place to another, a school of about 30-40 dolphins followed us and swam + jumped in the bow wake - excellent!

Peleliu Dbed

26 meters max and 50 minutes.  Very nice wall with beautiful fans and whips, and then a valley with sharks sleeping on brain corals.  Eagle ray!  School of big bumphead parrots, a huge green turtle and several smaller green + hawksbill turtles.  A big cuttlefish lying on some corals with a nice blue nudibranch under it, an octopus. 

Ngedebos Wall

22 meters and 57 minutes.  LOVELY!  Beautiful place, could have stayed in one spot just checking the wall.  Big morays, many different nudibranches, small crabs all over.  Also sharks and turtles galore.  All kinds of fish!  Huge napoleons!

Blue Corner

22 meters and 48 minutes...  WOW!  A huge wow!  Drop down 1000 meters from the plain, huge everything!  Groupers, sharks, tunas, turtles...  Current 4-5 knots, so we had to use the hooks again.  A nice show!  So far my favourite place!  The sharks came really close, and so did the big groupers with nasty teeth...  When I say BIG groupers I mean over a meter...  No wonder this seems to be one of the best dive sites...  And it all depends from where you approach, the scenery changes a lot.  BEST DIVE EVER!!!!

Video:  Sharp teeth getting close   Blue corner shark encounter

Palau divesites day 2: Peleliu Camp + Turtle Cove + German Channel

Today we moved to beautiful Carp Island in the morning and still had time for 3 dives.  This time I had to dive with air, too, or 21% nitrox as I use in my computer settings when diving with air, or mixing air and nitrox dives in one day.  Safer, you can keep tabs on your nitrogen traces.  Should never change settings to air when diving Nitrox most of the time!

The Palau Divers with brit Ian and 2 japanese DMs Suzuki and Saki took very good care of the group.  Really nice people!  After gearing up we started another dream day in the Micronesian waters.

We had bought reef hooks as we heard there was going to be locations with strong currents.  I'm glad!  We were going to need those...



Peleliu Camp

Viz was good, about 30 meters:  Bottom time 36 minutes, max depth 30 meters.  Beautiful wall drift at first with lots of small fry and sharks patrolling the perimeter.  We rounded a corner and hooked ourselves in about 27 meters (current about 3-4 knots), then settled for the show.  Excellent!  Big snappers, grey and blacktip reefsharks, bluefin trevallies, school of great barracudas, school of big circular batfish, huge napoleons.  A nice small flatworm just next to my hook.  Remember to look around if you stop for a while!  :-)

Turtle Cove

Best dive so far!!!!  Only 20 meters and 56 minutes, but the amount of fish and corals was amazing!
Sharks, black&white snappers, yellow-striped snappers, black snappers, schooling scissor-tailed fusilier, lyretail groupers, endemic square spot antheas, drop-off surgeons, millions of pyramid butterflies and big harlequin sweetlips.  Also pearly soldierfish, bronze soldierfish and reef lizardfish.  A beautiful turtle sleeping among corals...  WOWEE!  For a fishthusiast, a dream come true!

German Channel

We tried our luck again, to see if we could find the Manta rays...  20 meters and 59 minutes.
This time many really big dogtooth tunas, plenty of sharks, schooling trevallies - especially big bluefins.  Other big fish included groupers, snappers and lots of big titan triggerfish.  Viz in parts only about 5 meters.  No mantas...

Palau's divesites day 1: Fairyland + German Channel + Jellyfish lake

These first two dives we did with Fish'n'Fins, excellent service.  The plus side for me was 15 l tank and Nitrox 32%.  More bottom time...  :-)  So I did negative entries every time, first in the water and last to come up.  I gained even 20 minutes more divetime this way compared to others diving with air.  I didn't have to worry about bottom time accumulation with EANX!

All the time bottom temperatures were 29-30 degrees Celcius, some were diving with only t-shirts and shorts, but I had my own 2,5 mm Mares Tropic shortie.

Palau divesite map

The first divesite was Fairyland; 

An easy dive with slight current only to 22 meters as the DM Jonathan wanted to see the standard of our group.  Divetime 59 minutes.
Beautiful place! Plenty soft corals, even green coral. Small fire dartfish, humphead parrotfish, huge groupers, hawksbill turtle, big spanish mackerel, many big titan triggerfishes, longnosed butterflyfish, yellow mask angelfish, ornate butterflyfish and bird wrasses - male and female.

Second divesite:  German Channel

Bit  more demanding with currents, depth 22 m and divetime 61 minutes.

Very exciting, I had heard so much of this place!  Manta cleaning stations...  But we did not see even a shdow of a manta, maybe May is not the best season.  In the middle of the channel mouth viz is not so good, some big dogtooth tunas and bigger sharks in the distance.  But on the sides we saw plenty white and blacktip reefsharks, green and hawksbill turtles, huge napoleon wrasses, big unicornfish and blond coral groupers, a large yellowtail boxfish, scribbled filefish, clown triggers and plenty scads.  Nice large anemones with pink anemonefish.  All in all a nice dive, while waiting for the absent mantas there were many smaller critters to observe.

Third dive was freedive in the Jellyfish lake:

Wow!  Trekking up a steep hill and down the other side, carrying snorkeling gear, we saw a lake in the middle of an island.  The biggest jellyfish concentration is in the middle so we had to swim a bit.  It was at first not so pleasant, all the jellies brushing against your skin...  But they did not sting at all.  An experience, anyway!

My eventful trip home!

Not a nice start:

My departure from the Bangkok Golf Resort came a bit suddenly, because of the curfew;  After 20.00 hrs it was not allowed for people to move anywhere around Bangkok, so I heard, and therefore my dep was already at 19.00 hrs instead of 23.30 as planned.  Later I learned that tourists on the way to or from the airport were an exception with valid passports and tickets, but at the time nobody really knew anything.

So I got to the airport very early, it was chock full of people wandering around.  Checked the monitor for my China Airlines flight to Amsterdam:  CANCELLED!! OMG!  Icelandic ashes in the atmosphere again...  There was no staff for the airline anywhere, I tried a couple of phone numbers but to no avail.

What to do?

I had no place to go as a large japanese group had colonized my hotel as I was leaving and because of the curfew there were virtually no taxis anywhere.  I called my husband and let him know the situation, then I called my contact for China Airlines in Norway:  He had no idea that the flight had been cancelled.  I did not want to spend the next 30 hours at the airport, so I went outside, had a cigarette and weighed all the possibilities in my mind.

Blue and white to the rescue...

I knew there was a Finnair flight departing at 00.20 hrs and as I was at the airport before eight o'clock, I decided to try my luck.  Went to their ticketing counter and luckily for me there were seats available in the plane, for 750 Euros one way trip.  But I could only get the seat as far as Helsinki, as the domestic flight to Jyvaskyla (my home town) was very full and the ticket all the way there would have cost me much more.  So I called my husband and asked him to organize the ticket from Helsinki to home, via my workplace (travel agency).

My colleague booked the flight but she thought it was expensive so she didn't print the ticket out, thinking I could decide in Helsinki what to do.  Well, the Finnair flight was over an hour late, so when I got to Helsinki I had to let arrival counter know that I was in a hurry for the 07.35 plane and leave my luggage behind, to be sent forward on the next plane.
BUT:  As I went to Finncom Airlines check in desk, they only had the reservation and no ticket number - and I had only 20 minutes to get in the plane...  So I didn't have time to actually go to their ticketing office, buy the ticket, come back to the check in, go through the formalities and then board the plane...

Now I was sooooooo tired and pissed off...

So I marched back to arrivals service counter and picked up my luggage, begging their pardon for bothering them unnecessarily.  Then I thought I would go to the toilet and change my travelling clothes, after buying a bus ticket home (300 km north of Helsinki).  Then I noticed that my suitcase had been broken...  Oh no!  Obviously it had got stuck somewhere as the canvas had been burned away and the wheels were all broken and loose...

No help:  Back to the arrivals counter for the third time to do property irregulation report (PIR).  I had to call the staff from a phone outside again, as the arrivals counter was before the customs, so they had to come and take me in the back way every time...  Finally I got some documents so that I can have the luggage repaired at home. 

Then it was too late to change my clothes as the bus was due to leave in 10 minutes, at 08.35 hrs.  I went to the dedicated bus stop and waited, many buses passed but none had Jyväskylä written in front.  I had asked a few of the bus drivers where they were heading but was in no luck.  Finally a very courteous bus driver on his way to Tampere told me I should have boarded a bus going to the eastern border of Finland and changed buses somewhere along a motorway...  I had no idea that I should board a bus going in the wrong direction!

OMG again! 

My bus finally arrived at 10.00 hrs, I had to change buses at Lahti town.  The driver was so nice, he kept my luggage (all 30 kilos) in the bus for the 40 minutes that I had to wait for my new bus and brought the luggage to the correct place 5 minutes before the bus departure.  Chivalry is not dead!  So I had a nice cold beer, sitting in the sunshine at Lahti bus station before the final leg of my very eventful journey home!

I will write some of my best memories here later...

Bad news from Thailand!!!

In Thailand very bad news; Central World and Paragon department stores are burning, so is the stock exchange. Hard core reds! 
Curfew at 20.00 hrs, so I have to leave to the airport already at 19.00 instead of 23.30.

Hotel sent somebody to get me away from the golf course...

Military now at the airport, reds moving there... I try to get out of here quickly!

It's all about golf

In Finland, not depending of the latitude either, we don't get to play golf in the winter.  Unless you play icegolf with orange balls.  So it is really nice to open the golfing season by practising a bit here in Thailand.  Even though it's very hot (+38 Celcius), with a golf cart one manages to go round 18 holes.


So many nice courses with good price greenfees around Bangkok.  Different layouts from hilly to flat, some very tight and some more park-like.

Anyhow, for two days I've been playing in Bangkok Golf Club, Pathum Thani.  Can recomment to anyone, a very nice course with really fast greens.  Nice hotel 200 m from the course with big rooms and for hotel guests the greenfee is only 1000 THB.  The weather has been very unpredictable with thunder and heavy showers, but so far I've been very lucky starting to play early in the morning and keeping dry.

Today I visited Muang Ake Golf Course:  Not quite as good as Bangkok Golf Club, but still a very nice course with lots of character and interesting wildlife...  This monitor lizard was about 1,5 meters in length...

Here you cannot pay with credit card, all in cash.  They have another course 10 minutes away called the Vista, no golf carts, only walking.

Plenty of water, lakes and ponds so it is challenging enough.  Some nice long holes, especially from the black back tee.  On many courses in Thailand they have a really weird grass with thick leaves;  Plays havoc with my game!  After rain when the ground is soggy and wet, this grass sucks the clubhead into the ground causing a lot of duffing.  Very thick and sticky!

The bunkers were ok, some with water still in after rains, here I was extremely lucky with my approach shot that I pulled a bit left and long, just staying out...

All in all, very nice golf experiences!  Maybe I will play another 18 holes this afternoon here at the Bangkok Golf Club...  My departure from the hotel is at 23.30 hrs, so I have the whole day to kill.  Then China Airlines flight to Amsterdam, KLM to Helsinki and Finncom domestic flight to Jyvaskyla.  A long way...

Sawadee khaa, Thailand

Our flight leaving from Palau was over an hour late and as we only had had one hour and fifteen minutes to change planes, this was a tricky situation.  Part of our group headed home via Vienna, I continued to Bangkok.  We told the flight attendants that we had planes that we probably would miss, but they assured us that we would make them.  So when we landed, I had 3 minutes to the departure of my next plane...  There was a China Airlines guy waiting for us and we ran to the transfer counter and then all the way to terminal A building.  The planes were waiting for us!  Our suitcases stayed in Taipei, though.

I had a car with driver waiting at the airport, it took us an hour to reach Bangkok Golf Spa Resort in Rangsit, Pathum Thani.  About an hour away from Bangkok center.  Here everything is quiet, no Red Shirts, no mobs. 

I was supposed to move to a Silom Road hotel on Tuesday but I definitely will give it a miss!  In central Bangkok there is a curfew, so I would be stuck inside the hotel.

Nope, I'll stay put and play golf instead of shopping.

Today we had the biggest thunderstorm I've ever seen!  Luckily I started to play early and as I was alone, the round of 18 holes only took me 2,5 hrs with a golf cart and caddie, so I only got slightly wet on the 18th hole.

Tomorrow, on Tuesday, I'm playing in a tournament!

Snorkelling and kayaking in Palau

As an island nation, Palau offers a lot of activities for non-divers, too.

A boat trip along the quiet lagoons, kayaking in the shallows or in the mangrove areas, snorkelling in the lovely warm waters surrounded by colourful fish...  Lunch on an island in the shade of trees with birds singing and wading into the gentle wawes of the Philippine Sea

The colour of the water is all shades of blue, dotted here and there by small lush mushroom islands and dazzling white beaches.  We had the kayaks strapped on our boat bow, waiting for the perfect spot and tide. 

In the morning we checked on a short snorkel trip the remains of a WWII Japanese fighter plane that was lying in the shallows.  The Americans put a big pressure on them after Pearl Harbor and shot this one down.  The pilot had rescued himself to a close by island that had a Japanese camp.  He came back to see the wreck in the 1970 's. 

Milky Way is a lagoon that has extremely fine white clay in the bottom that colours the water white, too, also called the Palau Spa.  Locals use the clay for skin rubs.  So did we! 

Onward from the Spa lagoon and a tour round the nice islands;  The limestone is soft and water erodes the islands all the time.  Caves appear, in some of them we can see Japanese anti-aircraft guns.

We stopped in many nice reefs for snorkelling, the amount of fish and corals is astounding.  Very beautiful all over!  Kayaking was fun, too.  In clear waters you can see the bottom and the fish swimming about, all you hear is the wind and wawes.

 I really recommend Palau for snorkelers and divers!  Bye, beautiful Belau, I'll be back!

More photos here

Palau on land

The islands are very hilly and covered in dense jungle.  Most of the people live in villages, so there is quite a lot of forest growing freely.  Here and there around the islands are signs of the Japanese occupation from 1919 until the end of WWII when Palau was passed under US jurisdiction.  Anti aircraft guns, bunkers, bauxite mines and an old not-in-use railway in the jungle.  At 1994 Palau gained indipendancy, but still the US dollar is the currency here and everybody speaks english.

We did a nice full day jeep tour taking in most of the sights of the big island, trekking to a waterfall, wondering about the stone monoliths, looking at mangroves and even getting a peek at the local prison!

The Palauan chiefs had meeting houses around the island called the house of whispers:  No nails were used in the building process.

Fun dives

I will never forget the diving in Palau!
When I look at the dives we did, all were excellent but some were really fun or exciting!  Blue Corner with it's sharks, turtles, huge groupers, steep walls and hard current was one of the best.

Ulong Channel with a 4 knot drift over corals and sand was the most fun;  Try avoiding many attacking Giant Triggerfish in full speed!  Like a rollercoaster ride!   Also caves Ulong Tunnel and the Blue Holes were great, with very nice wall diving after the caves.

Chandelier Cave was different, without torches an impossible dive, and mine stopped working on the way out...  So I just had to follow the others and try not to bang my head on the hanging rock formations...   There are 4 air pockets inside the different caves, so we could breathe normally above water.
Outside the cave we discovered the elusive mandarinfish, very small and very colourful.  I managed to take several good pictures by patiently waiting for 15 minutes on top of a rock with my camera ready on macro settings.  This fish was only about 3 cm long and very quick in movements! 
I heard people are coming from all over the world to see these...

Carp Island to Koror

Goodbye Carp Island

The evening here in Carp Island was stunning!  Beautiful sunset with an outdoor BBQ followed by lots of talk about diving, and a few beers...

Everybody was very happy, mostly due to the last dive in Blue Corner;  We just couldn't stop wondering about the amount of fish and sharks, and the beauty of it all!

The food was excellent, the staff really attentive and nice:  We really feel bad to leave this place.  Everything was as it should be and more, even without aircon in the rooms.  Beautiful beaches, very friendly and endearing dogs wanting to be scratched.  A puppy kept stealing everybody's shoes and kept us amused, too!

There is nice jungle trekking and kayaking available also, the famous "stone money" - a huge coin on the ground - at the other end of the island, a 30-minute trek away.

Now we get ready to move back to Koror, but we do 3 dives on the way...  :-)

In Palau, finally!

Divers paradise!

400 rock islands with lush green cover, set in turquoise and emerald waters, here and there a golden white beach on an uninhabited island...  Heaven!

So far the hotels have been pretty basic, but it doesn't matter.

There is not so much to see on land, but oh boy underwater!  The sea is amazing with millions of teeming fish and other critters.  From sharks to Manta rays, from turtles to dolphins and all kinds of tropical fish.  It's like swimming, snorkeling or diving in an aquarium...

The exception is the Jellyfish lake:  Full of non-stinging jellies!  In 15 m there is a toxic layer, so we only did snorkelling there.  The lake is on an island, you have to trek up and down a jungle slope to get there.

Even riding a boat among the islands is so beautiful;  The colour of the water changes from aguamarine to turquoise to emerald...

The Blue Corner was the best place I've seen so far!!!  Lots of reef sharks, HUGE groupers and snappers, big tunas...  Would have liked to spend many hours there but the air is limited, unfortunately.  I recommend for all to get straight down to the corner, stay there for as long as you can (about 16 m on the reef shelf) and then come up again.  It's impossible to take in all the fishes in one go, though...  Next time I'll just hook myself in one spot and watch the ocean go by!

There are lots of photos on my Facebook page!