Ungil Kurismas!

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.  :)

Blue skies this morning

Today we awoke to beautiful blue skies, and we were happy about that!

We wound up diving with a new divemaster today, Matsuo, who is perhaps the longest standing dive guide at Sam’s.  It felt a little stilted today, and frustrating.  We were a large group, in a new boat.  We were fortunate to have Matsu realize that we didn’t need a checkout dive, which it seemed where we were likely headed.

Our first dive was at Ulong Channel.  Unlike most other times, there was no current there this morning, so we swam well past the entry into the channel attempting to find sharks.  There were none, but we spent over 30 minutes trying to find them, so we just swam a little bit into the channel, not even 1/4 of the way, and then we were chasing some sort of yellow boxfish, to no avail.

Then it was back to Blue Corner - truly the signature dive here in Palau, and worthy of multiple visits per trip.  There was no current here today, so we traversed the entire corner, and didn’t hook in.  There was not a lot of big life, but the Napoleon wrasses were just as friendly as yesterday, and Matsu found a giant moray, so I smiled and took more pictures.  The turtles shells here are all looking wonderfully clean, even with all the typhoons hitting.  It’s wonderful to see them so healthy, as opposed to all of ours on Oahu that have FP tumors.  We wound up going to a side of the corner we typically do not see, and it reminded me of Kosrae.  Nice location.

For our final dive, we returned to the Teshio Maru, where 8 years before we took our engagement photos.  Sadly, the tower where we took the photos suffered from storms and fell, but, for the first time today, I appreciated Matsu keeping us close at hand as he led us through some very narrow swim thrus in the ship.

Dinner was at Kramer’s - where, although I was sorely tempted by a bacon burger with blue cheese, I ate a cajun chicken sandwich.  We met a Danish gentleman who was without a valid passport, and we listened to his tale of woe about being stuck in Palau because the airlines failed to point out that he had did not have six months remaining on his passport.  Ah well, to be forced to stay and dive in Palau and take photographs while waiting on the Danish embassy in the Philippines to renew my passport would not kill me...yet.

We left and a downpour started, so we searched in a local store for a thermos for warm drinks between dives.  The rain stayed away long enough for us to make it home before another torrent began.  Very lucky.

Grey sky Monday

We got to Sam’s this morning earlier than the appointed time to begin our check in process so we could go out and dive.  What we found when we got there was nothing less than chaos.  It seems like there is an entirely new front desk staff when you check in.  We recognized no one, and no one recognized us.  No one on the staff even realized that Wayne has been coming here for 12 years and I have for 10.  We were treated like brand new divers who had never been to Palau before, much less Sam’s.  In the same year.  The worst part of check in was trying to show them the accounting error in their billing - they billed us for two more days of diving than was physically possible, something I thought I had ironed out in June this year.

When they finally got that right, they then started to still try to bill us for the same extra two days.  And looked completely baffled when I said it was $740 too much.  So there was the call to billing, and finally getting it right, and then showing us that we would have $740 deducted from the bill as the appropriate amount.  Grr.. Then we were told no DIN tanks.  Double grrr.  But as we were leaving, Joedyn and another member of the staff changed out our tanks for DIN tanks.  They were pretty banged up, but functional.

Off we went.  We were on the same boat as Joedyn, but we had Neil as our divemaster.  Despite his reservation in not knowing us as divers, we still had a pleasant time.

We first tried for German Channel, but there had to be at least 15 boats there.  So on we went to Turtle Cove, which was murky, but pleasant, and provided visibility of some turtles.

There was a huge crowd surrounding Blue Corner, so we wound up doing Dexter’s wall.  The dive was awesome, we wound up drifting to Blue Corner, where we saw the “big show” - Napoleons, Jacks and Sharks elbowing for who would hunt.   

From there, we did Blue Corner, which wound up being a lot of work, with very little big show.  The Napoleons were extremely friendly today!  And, the last two words of every dive here is “in Palau,” so it is typically worth it!   

We headed home in the rain, and I got to pull out my new Surf Fur coat (no, not real fur) and ward of the cold and wet of the ride.

Fawn made us dinner reservations for tomorrow (Christmas Eve) at Kramer’s, and we wound up walking to the Taj for dinner.  We made reservations there for dinner on Christmas night, and headed home in the rain.

We're Baaaaaaccccckkkk

It’s pouring rain right now, and probably scheduled to do so the entire week that we are here.  But that’s ok, because the last two words of every sentence will be “in Palau.”

I originally was not planning on blogging this week, but when we landed and I saw the colorful sights of Christmas, I thought I would absolutely have to share.  No one will see this until we get back and I publish it, but I am planning on sharing Christmas in the Rock Islands.

The last two weeks have been particularly stressful and difficult.  In addition to my first ever law school finals, I have been in two trials and missing multiple classes, and the the coup de gras, Wayne brought home a nasty virus from the pediatrics clinic.  I took my first final with a fever, unable to breathe, and sneezing.  Wah, wah, wah.  But it’s done.  And, as promised after graduation from the MSW program this May, we have whisked away to Palau.

As we headed out the door this morning, my first error (that I recognized) was leaving my iPhone and iPad in the kitchen on the counter.  Doh!  As soon as Wayne started the car, I realized that and ran back in to get them.  Too bad I didn’t look in the bedroom one more time.

And then it was off to the airport.  We left early because POTUS was on his way in, and sure enough, there was traffic.  Yuck.  But, as we went through, it turned out it was for an accident on the side of H1, where I noticed a small car appeared to have been run off the road by a truck, and in running off the road, it went 2/3 the way up the surrounding embankment.  Impressive.

Luckily, no one was hurt.

And then to the airport.  We were there 3 hours early just in case the President’s arrival caused a ruckus.  So, we had a relaxing lunch at Kona Brewing Company, and then went up to the lounge.

Things snagged a little after we boarded.  The connecting Houston flight was delayed by an hour, so we were waiting for them before proceeding.  The pilot said 20 minutes max, but it wasn’t until an hour later that we left.  Luckily, our original layover time was 1 1/2 hours, and the pilot made up about a 1/2 hour en route, so we had time to hit the lounge in Guam, check email, and then board.

The flight to Palau was uneventful, we landed and taxied to the gateway.  We were met (on time!) by both the Sea Passion Hotel representative, and the Sam’s Tours representative.  There was Christmas music playing in the terminal, and it was the coolest weather I can ever remember here in Palau.  I hope that doesn’t mean that the water temperature has dropped to 82 degrees.  That would be awful!  And require a 3 mil wetsuit.

The towns on the way to Malakal were decorated so brightly that I decided to blog while we are here.  It will probably be much shorter, just with pictures, but I will definitely document for posterity’s sake.

In the room, after unpacking, I discovered my second mistake.  I didn’t pack the power cord for the CPAP.  It’s at home on the waterbed waiting to go in the backpack.  Oh well.  :pMemory.  It’s the first thing to go after stress, right?

We are now in the midst of a thunderstorm - there was one violent clap (Wayne slept through), and now a lot of wind and rain.  I am headed to sleep to try to get some more rest (unlike on the airplane, where I napped and dreamt of personal jurisdiction scenarios - gotta just let the law school release!).

Good night!

Packing for Kona

After Maria left for church, I folded and packed my bags for heading home.  I think I brought about half again too much - I have to remember the packing advice of put out what you think you absolutely need, and then cut it down in half.  Will have to remember that next year, so long as I am reinvited to Kalaupapa!

I will miss the tour to Kalawao, the original settlement, location of Saint Damien's original church and grave.  It is ok, I did see those when we hiked down in 2006.  Maybe next time.  Sadly though, it was the perfect opportunity to talk about Damien and Brother Joseph Dutton.  Again, more on that next year.  Maria also wants to do a "treacherous" trail in the valley which takes all day to go out and back.  Seems like it is double walking stick time for me should I be part of that.

We drove to the black sand beach, right next to the former slaughter house, and Maria scampered down the rocks to the beach.  Me, I lumbered down.  Sometimes the apple sits still on the tree.  I did make it down unscathed, and stepped back to view the beach/dumping ground of the peninsula before looking for eels.  Maria found one in a tide pool, so I went over and started talking to it.  As I was asking the eel to come pose for a picture, it uncurled and swam a little closer to us.  I think Maria turned very white under the tan while I tried to coax the eel closer.  After a while, it was through posing and it left.  I think Maria remains unconvinced of the lure of morays.

A quick shower and change of clothes later, and my bags were being loaded on the pickup truck.  The plan was to head to the fishing hole near the airport and to look for more eels.  Aunty Erma and a host of others came along for the ride so that they could fish, but it was very hurried, so most people didn't bring their appropriate rock climbing shoes/felt bottom booties.   Maria clambered out over the rocks (yet again!) as I caught up.  Marina, well out in front of us both, found an eel, but it disappeared back into the ocean before we made it over.  By that time, it was after 9 am, and I was getting anxious about by 9:45 return flight.  As it turns out, I shouldn't have been, but that's ok.                              

Maria and I made our way back to the truck, and took off for the airport, where I waited about 15 minutes for the plane to arrive.  One passenger and the pilot got off, and I was the only one headed back to Honolulu.  We had heavy cloud cover, and a very bumpy flight as we headed back, but nothing much to worry about.  We landed just fine, emerging from the cloud cover to a free runway, and then it was back to my little car unscathed.  I got a text from Maria saying that I was already missed at Kalaupapa, and I certainly missed our group.                          

I really want to thank Aunty Erma for allowing me to come, Maria for arranging my presence, and for all the group for sharing their time on the peninsula with me.  We all came for different reasons, but we were all there, and it was like an extended Hawaiian `ohana, into which I was hanai.

Mahalo nui Aunty, mahalo nui Maria, mahalo nui ke Akua!