07/02/2009, Palau
We got up early today (7:30) and talked to the governor of Angaur, Mr. Salii. He is a great guy and welcomed us to visit Angaur. His office is in Koror, like most government, but the cell coverage in Omekang was just good enough to connect us.
It took us a little over four hours to motor along our test track lines out the Denges pass, southeast of Mecherechar and around Peleliu to Angaur. We arrived in the Angaur dock at 13:00. It is a small place but as long as the state boat isn't in port, which it isn't very often (mostly on pay days as it turns out), you can just tie up to the wall. They get one or two yachts a year at present, so you won't have competition. We'd like to change that by getting the word out on Angaur. It is fantastically beautiful.
Angaur is not a big place, but you can easily spend a day biking around the island. The old WWII era roads are beautiful and the entire trek is under the cover of a lush canopy. Monkeys play in the upper branches and alert their clan members as you approach, two foot long monitor lizards slither across the limestone rocks, and brilliant red dragon flies flit about the verdant foliage hanging from the huge banyan trees and covering the ground.
Somehow the road stays clear. While you could arrange a place to stay in Angaur I would recommend a day trip, tie up at the dock, rent bikes or bust out those folders you bought but haven't used in six months and enjoy. There are blow holes, pill boxes, was memorials, a statue of the Virgin Mary looking out over the sea to protect all of the wayward fishermen, and pretty beaches.
The folks are very laid back and quiet in Angaur and there are only 80 of them. Outside of the small town we saw no one all day. Angaur is another secret treasure of Palau and we are so glad we visited. It is certainly the most lovely bike ride we have done in our recollection.
We raced the sunset at the end of the day and made it back to Peleliu South Dock. We are anchored inside and deciding whether to take another look around Peleliu (we've done one tour already) it to make for German channel early AM and keep capturing track data.
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07/01/2009, Two Dog Beach
We finished the Rock Islands section research! Today we wrapped up Mecherechar and moved to Omekang and finished the soundings we needed there for the cruising guide. It was a lovely day. It rained a bit after sunset but we were already inside sifting through the days information. We have a visit to Anguar the southernmost island in the main group planned for tomorrow and then back to town.
Palau is an amazing place. It keeps surprising us every day we go look around. Today we found a low water snorkel tunnel that lead to an otherwise land locked marine lake. There was a WWII bomb on the bottom along the back edge, not to mention an amazing selection of different coral species and lots of good sized fish. A huge cloud of squid greeted us at the entrance. It was a great snorkel.
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06/30/2009, Mecharchar
We put the polish on Mecharchar today. Mecharchar is a surprising area. The inside, which looks safe and cozy on a chart or sat image, is treacherous, with coral bars everywhere, isolated rocks, deep anchorages where you find any, and a rare plot of sand without some hard stuff on the bottom.
When you look at the outside on a chart it looks, well, like the outside. Exposed. However if you look around you will find some of the most beautiful anchorages in Palau on Mecharchar's southwest and south coasts. There is even a lake accessible by dinghy with hundreds of Jellyfish swimming about, much like the official Jellyfish lake in Mecharchar's interior.
We had a great day exploring and running routes. We left around 9AM and got home around 7PM. It was nice in the morning and then rained on us at lunch time. We found a great limestone arch on the south coast and ducked in to eat while the rain came down. The afternoon was another blue sky stretch allowing us to work late to finish up. I don't think we've ever come so close to filling the Garmin's track memory.
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06/29/2009, Mecharchar
We finished up Ulong this morning and headed over to Mecharchar. Mecharchar is the group with the famous Jelly Fish Lake and not so famous, but very cool, Clam City. We got about half of the place surveyed today. There is a large pass on the east side between Mecharchar and Ngeruktabel suitable for big boats. Some of the islands in this area have the most lovely beaches. It was a beautiful day so we got a lot of great photos for the book (and the web site when we get to a decent internet connection).
We are anchored in the back of Mecharchar which is tricky to get into. Strangely there are coral bars blocking every path to the back part of Mecharchar. We know of two passes but are hoping to find a better route usable at low water tomorrow. We shall see...
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05/25/2009, Yacht Harbor
I spent the day tricking out our dinghy for cruising guide survey duty. It has been a key start dinghy for some time, though the battery has been dead since Gizo. We were anchored in the harbor there for a while and the standard dinghy ride to the docks was less than a minute. This constant starting with no time to charge (and maybe leaving the lights on that one time) killed 'er.
The only battery I could find that I really wanted to own was one of those fancy spiral AGM deals sold at NAPA. It was painfully expensive and required a new battery box because it is way bigger than the old one. It cranks like crazy though.
After replacing the bat I had to hook up the new depth sounder (basic Garmin NEMA model) and mount the little GPSMap Chart plotter. There is a short somewhere in our lights and after fooling with them for a bit (and eating through a pack of fuses) I just unwired the lights and wired the GPS power and the Sounder power to the switched side.
It all worked out well and it is particularly nice to be able to go out recording tracks with depth without having to worry about the batterries running out.
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04/30/2009, Malakal
Eric, Hideko and I went diving off of our dinghy today. We have been sitting right next to one of the more famous Palau dive sites since we got here but have never dove it. A case of, "oh we can dive that spot anytime, let dive over there instead". I didn't want to miss it in the long run though so we made a point of it today.
The dive site in the anchorage is Chandelier Cave. It is an underwater cave that has three (four depending on how you count) chambers with air pockets and a maximum depth of 60 feet. It is pretty dark in the cave as there is no overhead illumination, just the faint blue glow from the underwater entrance. It is pretty errie.
I took the video rig in while Eric ran the reel. I had two lights on the video and a backup and Eric had a primary and a back up. Hideko was set as well but after the first chamber her mask was giving her problems and she signaled that she was going back out. Eric stayed in chamber one while I buddied out with her.
Eric and I spent about 20 minutes exploring the cave and the various chambers. There is not much to look at in the dark limestone interior but just the strange lightness enclosure is an interesting experience. The structures inside the cave are intriguing and there are some small fish here and there hiding in the black water.
On the way back out my lights shut down. the lithium batteries have an astonishing propensity to die within a minute of each other if turned on at the same time. When the lights went out Eric was at 50 feet coming up from the absolute back bottom of the cave and having troubles reeling in the line, so his light was pointed at his lap. After floating in the dark at 40 feet for a bit my eyes adjusted and I could see the faintest blue glow from the entrance. It was an experience.
Once Eric got the reel under control I turned on my back up light and then after we were in synch I shut it back off and returned to filming. The footage is amateur but interesting. I'll try to post a clip.
After a surface interval we set out to one of the ship wrecks in Malakal harbor. Hideko ran surface support and Eric and I did the dive with the video again. It was a nice wreck but the vis in the harbor was pretty bad, maybe 30 feet. fun dive all the same with a 120 foot bottom. We stayed around the deck level at about 100.
Back at the big boat I loaded the footage into Vegas for some editing so see what I could cut together.
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Safe travels and smooth sailing
GPS
04/29/2009, Koror
We had planned to go diving with Sam's today but we discovered that Hideko was on her last day of visa validity, and though it was a close call, we decided that extending her immigration credentials took precedence over scuba.
Parker, the local cruiser cabbie, dropped us off at the Immigration office above the police station. We had to fill out a form and run across the street to pay a $50 extension tab. On return with the recipt we were issued a 30 day extension. Hideko gets one more 30 day extension and then if we want to stay longer we have to fly her to yap or tokyo or something for a day. then she can come back in for another 90 (at $50 per 30 days).
US citizens get a year before having to depart. Hideko has a green card but that didn't make any difference. Other than USA, RMI and FSM, all nationals of other countries get 30 days in Palau and can extend twice for a total of 90.
After getting Hideko extended, which was pretty easy, we brought the big boat in to Sam's for fueling. We came in on a half tide and parked on the north side of the dock near the fuel pump. The dive boats are out during the day and most of the dock is available. You have to watch out for some shallow rocks just north of the dock at any tide. We came in close to the double raft of power cats at the end of the dock and settled in with no problem.
Ramil helped us top up the gas jugs for the dink, the diesel tanks and the starboard water tank. At $3 a gallon we were pretty happy with the tab after paying some pretty radical prices in the hinterlands from whence we came.
The Whistler crew, hideko, Miki and I as well as Zack from another boat in the anchorage made way to the sushi place below Taj for dinner. That's a long name, "The Sushi Place Below Taj", but it is all anyone has been calling the place and we can't come up with the name. I'll post the proper name asap.
It was the best sushi we have had on Palau, which only rate ok to good depending on what you ordered. Some things were very good butt the toro was severely lacking and not doing the toro right is a sushi sin in my book. The tab was sushi like (large). We had fun and the staff were great so I would rate it a neutral.
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