West Plaza Coral Reef Hotel Koror

... Below the water's surface, divers and snorkelers are treated to a diverse technicolor paradise of fabulous drop-offs, blue holes , breathtaking reefs, crystal caves and World War II wrecks. My favorite dives were the Blue Corner and Ulong Channel. We also went to Jelly Fish Lake and visited the Clam Farm... with abandoned Clam shells way bigger than me. Jellyfish Lake is a well-known dive site. It is one of the rock islands, known to Palau's natives as Ongeim'l Tketau, is one of over ...

... one.   I hear a 'hi, how are you?' after diving one day. A boy on a bike. I waved and saw ... a dog on his back. Sitting like a child on daddy's back. The next day at the diving shop a boy said: 'I saw you jogging yesterday.' 'Where you the one with the dog on your back?' Yes: he brings his dog to work and home like that every day.   The last day I was shopping when a weird man stepped in. Tall and skinny. With a white beard, at least half a meter ...

When we arrive at the dive shop, Steve has news for us: we are going to the jelly fish lake, after our 2 dives. For me, 2 dives a day is enough. And we made it clear, we did not want to go to jelly fish lake. It gets worse: one does not dive there; one snorkels. Wait a minute: I hate jelly fish and I hate snorkeling and we need to pay 70 bucks extra for that? They can also dump us on a beach and pick us up an hour or 2 later. No, we cannot be ...

... It can be very dangerous. Good start... . It IS very nice. And the current behaves. Why do we have pitures? Because of our diving buddy: Bob. He is from New York and lives in Indonesia. Richard is filming during the dive and we actually end up buying the video, He did a great job! Dinner at the corner of our street: dodgy Chinese. See you tomorrow at the diving.

... It does not appear on the surface either. We were diving a wall, 250 meter down. My Hubby is great as usual. He is sad because my new year's present is gone. But goes: ah well, ... . Does not get angry, nervous or blames me. We quietly sit out our surface interval and go for our second dive. It is weird without camera. Bob, our only dive mate, offers his camera if we want to do a land tour. Big expensive Nikon! Tomorrow, we have a dive break. No plans.

... two, when we are back at the dive shop. We will do this different tomorrow: take rain coats, extra towels and dry t-shirts. Late afternoon, we install ourselves in the American diner, after buying 3 hours of wireless next door. We have a couple of beers, answer mails, write stories and play computer games. And look very nerdy, I guess. After dinner, we go back home where I watch Ratatouille for a change. Yes: I almost know it by heart. So what?# Tomorrow: a diving day again.

... meet the water. This is for 3 reasons. First the acidity of the rain eats away at the stone as it travels down the roots of the plants. Also the waves are constantly pounding into the rock. Lastly these little critters eat bugs out of the small holes in the rock. Their tongues are so sharp that they actually cut away at the ...

... wide. They circle above clusters of coral called cleaning stations because fish hang out on this coral and eat parasites off the Mantas when they swim around them. For a full 20 minutes or so we just sat there and watched these graceful creatures soaring through the water-fantastic!! Of course there was beautiful coral and plenty of sharks, turtles, and other sea life to observe. One particularly friendly and ...

... catering to Japanese tourists. The island is surrounded by coral reefs, which makes for excellent diving and fishing, and not so excellent beaches. Tuna crowd the waters off the shore of Palau, and just about every single local flying out of here the other night checked several coolers filled with fresh tuna to sell abroad. After spending the day snorkeling, we are really looking forward to getting to Yap so we can go scuba diving!

... Then you start seeing a jellyfish here and there. Finally, you start swimming through what seems like a lake of gelatin because there are so many jellyfish of all different sizes swimming around you. It was hypnotic and mesmerizing and surreal. I took some pictures but I have to wait until I get back to the US to develop them. Hopefully they'll turn out but I'm not sure that a still picture can really capture the amazing quality of the lake.