Palau Snorkeling

Here’s another deep dark confession. I’m just horrible at snorkeling. I’m so inept, I always get my hair caught between my goggles and my head, so the goggles don’t fit right and water gets in my eye. I can’t dive below the surface at all, because I’ll always end up taking a big giant gulp of ocean water through my breathing tube. The salt water makes me tear up and get all boogery.

Despite all that, I absolutely love snorkeling. Even with water trickling in my eyes and having to surface and wipe the snot off my face ever ten minutes or so, I just love it.

So I was very much looking forward to today’s snorkeling itinerary, which was to be hosted by Fish N Fins. I’ve heard so much about the wonderful dive/snorkel sites in Palau and despite the build up, the excursion beat all expectations.

Big Drop Off

We first went to a popular dive location known as Big Drop off. Here snorkelers could float on top of the coral reef, while serious divers could submerge down the coral wall. Having (for once) planned ahead, I rented an underwater camera from the hotel, and boy am I glad I did.

For the education of visitors, our crew had sent a trap into deep waters where the elusive Nautilus lives (generally 600-2,000 feet by day and 300 feet at night. Not to wax eloquent on the Nautilus (because there is so much more to say) but it is one of the oldest sea creatures on the planet, and very rarely seen in its natural habitat, so this was quite a cool experience.

Also interesting is that the cage used to bring up the Nautilus had also caught an errant Moray Eel. The eel was clearly not long for this world, and despite our guides’ gentle attempts to revive the eel and encourage it to swim away, it hung loosely in front of us. While sad that the eel was unwell, it was my first time to ever see a moray completely removed from the rocks they normally hide behind, and see just how long they actually are.

Soon, however, I became quite distracted by the Black Tip Shark swimming just below us. Generally he seemed pretty uninterested in the humans (there were a lot of people swimming about) These bad boys of the sea were hungry though, and if you look closely, you can see this one chomping on a small, yellow fish. (Right about now, my sister the marine biologist is shaking her head at my hugely scientific definition of sharky’s lunch.)

At any rate, the shark was so hungry, that while we were all watching his maneuvers, he swam directly in front of us, grabbed a hold of the Moray eel and took off like the proverbial bat out of hell. Wow, it was like the discovery channel unfolding in front of us.

Lunch on the Beach

Our next stop involved enjoying a leisurely lunch on the beach. I pretty much scarfed through my snack box, and couldn’t wait to jump back in the water. I swam some 100 feet out, where a boat from another tour company was dumping snacks in the ocean in an attempt to bring the fish close to their boat.

The fish were ecstatic and thousands of them began to swim about me. What started out as really cool took on a sort of EEK! feeling when five or six huge (okay at least five feet) sharks figured out that where there are thousands of fish, there’s a fine sashimi lunch to be had.

As a few of the sharks swam around and took a second pass, two of them swam by me, almost nose to nose. Umm, not sure on exactly how much human sashimi these sharks feel a need to consume, I felt my heart slam into my throat. Melson was close by, so I did the typical tourist thing, handed him my camera, and swam back to the safer waters of our own boat. What you are looking at here, is some of Melson’s fine photography work, as I was far too chicken to be THAT close to the action.

Jellyfish Lake

Now if you’re thinking, wow, “swimming with the sharks, what could be better than that?” I’d say, “I know, right? How could the day get any better?”

Unbelievably it did.

We’d been told of a mythical lake, one that was once part of the ocean, but as the sea waters began to recede (gillions of years ago, after the ice age), the waters became trapped inland. Now the lake, a brackish mix of salt and fresh waters, still houses jellyfish that have made their home there for millennia. The jellyfish, with no natural predators, have evolved to be almost completely stingless. (I kid you not.)

So, we did have to take a somewhat steep hike to get up to and then back down to the lake. Me: hot, sweaty, klutzy, not looking forward to the hike. However, I sure am glad that I went.

This place was AMAZING. There literally is no other way to describe it.
Imagine swimming in a bowl of pea soup with the peas floating around you. That’s sort of the experience we had. The jelly fish were everywhere. In the picture you see Courtney (who took one of the earlier shark pics), and you get a great idea of just how many jelly’s are floating about. What you can't see in the picture, however, is Courtney's nefarious plotting to take home a jelly fish to keep.

We stayed here about an hour, and I think it’s safe to say that none of us wanted to leave.

A Giant Clam

Now, we went to so many places today that I don’t remember what all of them were called. I’m pretty sure the next location we hit was “Clam City.” Yup, the clams below were giant as promised.

And seriously, who can say the words “Giant Clam” without thinking of the B-52s?

“--He was in a jam
--s’in a Giant Clam”

Everyone now!

Too bad most of my group was too old (or too young) to know the song.

What was particularly cool about this dive is that it was what’s called a drift dive. You jump in the water, watch the world below you, and let the current swoosh you along. (By the way, a special kudos to travel mate Jacqui who was somewhat afraid of the water, yet still donned life vest to take a look along. Even when she realized how far away the boat was, she continued as if she were a seasoned pro.)

Even those who aren’t strong swimmers, or not swimmers at all, could navigate this site with ease. Pop on a life vest, let the water do the work, and the boat will swing around to meet you at the end.

Milky Way

Even though the day was drawing to a close, I don’t think any of us were ready to go home yet. Fortunately, Tim, our captain, had one last place to show us. We ended up at a fabulous place known as the Milky Way.

Here, the boat crew hauled up buckets of the milky white sand from the waters of a protected inlet. We were told to slather the sand over ourselves and let it dry. Basically, a free spa treatment. We were enjoying the afternoon too much, though, so we pretty much posed long enough for this picture before jumping en masse back into the water.

This adventure was probably slightly cooler before we learned that the fine, milky white sand in the water is scientifically known as Chiton poop. Whatever, my skin never felt so good.

Barracuda Bar & Grill

As the day came to a close, Fish N Fins hosted our delightful dinner at their on-site restaurant, Barracuda Bar & Grill. Despite a raging sunburn (in places I’ve never burned before), I managed to scarf down a stunning amount of delectable cuisine, before returning to the hotel to fall into a near comatose sleep.