Day 3: Another Day in Paradise

Day 3:


Today started with class at 7:30am. Mike went over some customer service basics and a little geography/history lesson about the area of Micronesia. It was all very enlightening. After that we were off to dive again. This time NECO Marine picked us up at the resort dock and took us to the dive site called “Blue Corner”. The boat ride there whizzed us by many of the beautiful islands that make up what is Palau. The beautiful colors of the water were breath-taking. The variety of blue hues and clear waters in the shallow depths above the cream-colored sands was something that needs to be experienced personally to truly appreciate it.

Our dive site of the day, “Blue Corner”, is in the southwest are of the islands near Koror. It is another spectacular wall and as we came to experience, a fantastic place to find the giant Napoleon Wrasse. To Rod’s and my delight a very large and curious one stayed with us for a long portion of the dive and posed for many pictures. Unfortunately, the current was a little quick for me and a number of my pictures were fly-bys that turned out a bit fuzzy, or like many of us have experienced when taking pictures underwater, a lot of great fish butt shots. I did, however, get a great shot of a turtle that cruised along in the current with us. At the “corner” of the wall, we hooked into the reef and flew like kites in the current. We hung there for a while watching the reef sharks cruise by us, just out of range for a good shot for me. Once we unhooked ourselves, the current carried us to the other side of the wall and we slowly drifted upward for our safety stop and surface interval. Onboard once again, we munched on our bento boxes as the boat rode the swells above the reef and some of us tried to shoot pictures of the fantastic curls as the waves crashed over the reef.

Back in the water and along the wall again after our hour break, we enjoyed the company of many bumphead wrasse, barracuda, reef sharks, clown and redtooth triggerfish, trumpet fish, you get the picture, the list is endless and so is the enjoyment of being among these beauties.

When it was time to return toward home, Ray took us through a brief tour of the rock islands. Our destination was “Big Blue”, a large live-aboard that had invited us for a tour. This old work horse was actually set up quite nice for the hard-core diver who comes to Palau to dive, eat, sleep and dive again.

After a pleasant time with the crew of Big Blue, we were on our way home to PPR to clean up and rest before dinner. Dinner tonight was at the Penthouse Hotel where a variety of food and delicious desserts were offered at an inexpensive price. The highlight of the evening was when Kevin from Aqua Dive Academy in Portland, Maine, ordered fruit bat. The unnerving part was when his dinner was delivered to the table, Kevin found himself looking at an entire bat, fur and all, grimacing up at him from a bowl of coconut soup. After a time where several of us were taking pictures of his supper, Kevin began the task of figuring out where to start and how to eat his dinner. A few of us did sample the bat meat, including Rod and myself, and it was surprisingly good. Toward the end of his supper, Kevin was assisted by our waitress in the proper way to eat the sweet meats, but he couldn’t stomach finishing them all if you get my meaning. After desert, NECO arrived with our bus back to PPR and some much needed rest; another day in paradise over. GOOD NIGHT!