Three dives in Palau

My dive operator “83 Palau Dive Center”, picked me up at 0810.  The staff were largely mainland Chinese even thought the boss appeared Taiwanese.

We picked up a few more guests before going out to the boat.

Our first site Ulong Wall was a longish ride out.  Here the coral was gorgeous.  We saw giant clams, yellow-fin barracudas (the chevrons are a bit muted compared to the ones I usually see), white-tip sharks and a turtle.

The second site, Sandbar, gave us some more yellow-fin barracudas, this time in a tornado formation.  There were also little fish that ate dead cells from our skin and even food from around our mouth and teeth if you remove your regulator!  There were some sharks also.  Again, the reef was stunning.

The third and last dive was at Ulong Channel.  Here, we anchored ourselves with hooks and enjoyed watching the sharks go by.  In one view, there were typically six to eight sharks (mix of white tip and grey reef).

I noticed that one shark had lost its dorsal fin. The divemaster explained that it can happen during mating when the male shark bites on the female’s dorsal fin to secure itself.  Good to know it didn’t end up in a bowl in a restaurant.

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I was back at the hotel around 1630.  I then realised that my paperwork was never completed!

Chatting to German Paul again, I had heard that yesterday that the nearby German Channel had 15 mantas whereas today there were nearly none.  The German Channel is a channel dug into the reef by the Germans around 1908 to shorten the transport route of phosphate.

For dinner, I grabbed a bacon burger for USD10.25.  Then I found the only cheap thing in Palau:  Asahi’s Pacific Blue beer, sold only in this region was only USD1.25.  Scrutiny revealed that it was made in China, so that helps to keep prices low.

I had an awesome day, considering I was feverish and shivering yesterday morning!