Today we were back on the boat with Joedyn, hooray!

We headed out early to German Channel, and were the first boat to arrive.  Wayne and I expected nothing, after all, in 12 years, we have only seen mantas under water at the channel once, this past summer.  Can lightning strike twice?  It seems as though it can!

We also saw sharks, a single Napoleon wrasse, and more gobies and garden eels!  On the bad side, I noticed condensation in my camera housing (I had seen some yesterday at the wreck, and brought it home to clean the o ring out), but was lucky in that the camera was unharmed. 

I tested out the housing without the camera on the next dive, and sure enough, it flooded.  I’m glad I left the camera on board.  Although I was sad since I could not photograph all the wonderful life at New Drop Off.  The joint was jumping, and there were many big fish in the water, as well as a giant moray nearby.  Wayne has become the photographer of the trip, unfortunately.  But, as he says, it just means it is time to upgrade to a new camera.                  

Our last dive of the day was Blue Holes, drifting towards Blue Corner.  We actually spent about 30 minutes in the hole, much longer than we had before.

No, it really isn’t jail!

It was pleasant to spend that much time there, especially since the corner was crowded.  We got some wonderful shots of the disco clams inside the cave, aka electric clams. 

While on the trip, I convinced the two German couples, as well as three other people on the boat, to sign up to go to Peleliu.  I’m quite excited about that!  Of course, when we went into the shop to pay for the upgrade that Joedyn confirmed, the gentlemen at the front desk threw up his hands and told us how impossible it would be to do that.  He ran out to check with Joedyn about the boat booking, and then made a show about calling to get Peleliu permits.  Fawn was dispatched to get them, and we paid for the upgrade, which none of the staff seemed to know how to do.  In fact, if I hadn’t sold the trip, I don’t think we’d be going tomorrow.  A theme keeps repeating on this trip for me right now, and it’s not looking good for returning to Sam’s in the near future.

After we got home, we headed first up to WCTC for the thermos (got it!), and then to its grocery store for cocoa and soup and snacks (success again).  The grocery store was remarkably well stocked, had plenty of fresh produce, and, surprise, Red Rooster beer in a can.  :)

We continued on to the former Outrigger to pick up wifi cards for the network in our hotel, and then trudged forward to Dragon Tei, an Okinawan restaurant up the hill.  Wayne misjudged the distance, and we wound up going about 3 3/4 miles to get to dinner.  My ankles were quite sore today, so we did wind up taking a ride back to the hotel.

Dinner at Dragon Tei was excellent - tuna carpaccio, sushi, and Okinawan seaweed noodles.  Definitely a place to go back to, but you have to be prepared for the mostly uphill hike.

Peleliu tomorrow!