West Plaza by the Sea Koror

... tip. We also saw turtles and several extraordinary corals and fish. There was this one fish called the Napolean fish. They are huge and so friendly! The one we saw was my size and since they are so curious, they swim up to you and follow you around. We were able to pet it! Palau's famed "Rock Islands" are a collection of rounded, foliage-covered isles which seem to float above the surface of the water. A boat trip through them revealed a number of magnificent white sand beach ...

... The flight takes 2 hours and we get a small glass of water. 'Thanks for choosing continental airlines' they sat but there is no choice! It is expensive they fly at impossible hours, the service in zero but they have the monopoly. We land at 5 in the morning and call our next hotel for pick up, which arrives 10 minutes later and indeed: our hotel is only 10 minutes drive from the airport. In fact, hotel is a big word: but that is Guam so for tomorrow.

... back home. Hubby is still asleep, so I need to take action. We skip diving today and go for a ... helicopter ride! Poor Tomcat has to dismantle all equipment on board. Bob was so nice to offer us his camera, if we wanted to go on the helicopter ride. Unfortunately, there is often a difference between what people say and what they do. Not with Bob. He gives us his expensive Nikon and goes diving. We go back home, I call the helicopter company and ...

... to our diner for dinner: http://www.gecpalau.com/ Diving today. This is our dive shop: http://fishnfins.com/About%20us.html Dive site is Peleliu Express, the nr 45 on our list. Our dive master says: IF divers do not come back from a dive in Palau, it is from here. The Pacific Ocean meet de Philippine Sea: the currents are unpredictable and change all the ...

... But, I am sucking my air faster than usual. Probably already consumed a lot before I was down. Coming up, there is panic: where is the camera? No longer there! It has a strap around your wrist, but does not close firmly. It can slip off your wrist in a second. And it did. We go back down. Which we should not do. Does it float or sink? We have no idea. We look around for a couple of minutes. No camera. Dive master instructs us to go up. He is right ...

... how cold water and air of 28 degrees can be! Yes, the boat does have a roof but that does not protect you from the rain, which comes from all sides. Sharp, cold drops in your face, feels like needles. The sea is rough and sea water also spatters in. only our dive master stays dry. The captain has a small metal box in front of him, on which the steering wheel sits. And the dive master crawls in there. He has a view on the balls of the captain. But stays almost dry. It is ...

Now I am in Palau which is a small country made up of many islands just west of Micronesia. Many of the islands look like the one in the first picture. This area is called the milky way because of the color of the water. These islands are made of limestone and look sort of mushroom shaped--bigger on the top and skinnier where ...

The top of the immigration form here says "Where the rainbow ends" and look, they were right! There was more amazing diving here, not wrecks so much as beautiful coral and spectacular sea life. I did dive on one wreck here, but after Chuuk I was sort of ho-hum about it. Am I getting spoiled out here or what?! The best part of the diving here were the Manta Rays. I got to see a couple up close, each one about 10 ...

... that I feel like I work for Continental Airlines. So it was great to finally land somewhere in the early evening and actually check-in to a hotel with a bed! Before coming here, I had not heard of Palau, had no idea it was its own country, and could not have picked it out on a map. While Palau seems like it is certainly off the beaten path, it was much more developed than I was expecting, with its 7-11s, Shell Stations, and big ...

... of the non-stinging sort. But, according to our divemaster it's a salt water lake and the jellyfish do sting. However, I didn't get stung so I'm not sure what she's talking about. It was incredible. After a short hike, the trail opened up to the lake. When we arrived we were the only people there (four of us). We got in and started swimming across the lake. At first you don't see anything except for these really friendly but really ugly little ...