Promising skies this morning!

I did a little test of FaceTime this morning to see if the voice only worked, and it sort of does, so we will try it tomorrow with the family for Christmas on the other side of the date/time line.

We got an awesome Christmas present this morning, we led ourselves on the first two dives of the day.  The first was Ulong Channel.  This morning, there were about 3 or 4 sharks circling the mouth of the passage, and there was a mild current.  After we saw them for a while, we headed down the passage.  We got to my favorite part, the lettuce coral, unscathed by the surrounding titan triggerfish.  There is less lettuce coral than I remember, but it is still stunning.  After seeing the coral, we came across a shark looking like it was getting its chin petted - of course, it was being cleaned.

After that was a dive called the sand bar, which is a fairly deep dive right next to a sand bar.  Funny how these names work, right?  Nice variety of big and little fish, including leaf scorpionfish, garden eels, and shrimp/goby combinations.  I’d do it again.                          

Our last dive of the day was the Hafa Adai wreck, a former Guamanian cargo ship.  It’s fairly intact, and there was a good amount of life on the ship.  We didn’t really do any penetration, though, so we mostly got the outside look.  Going up the mast at the safety stop/ascent was very reminiscent of Chuuk, and the wrecks there, so pleasant.

We got home fairly early, so relaxed a little before heading to WCTC (the all encompassing market) to get a thermos.  Unfortunately, since it is Christmas, it is closed!  We’ll get that thermos one of these days.  It is really, really cold between dives.  My magic coat that Wayne got me has been really helpful for me this trip.

Back we went to the Taj, where I had mangrove chilli crab for dinner.  Ah, the joys of Palau!  But when we walked home, I smelled liked Indian spices and pickled food.  Interesting.  Maybe it will keep the mosquitos away tonight.  :)