Hawaii to Providence

After leaving Hawaii, I got to Shreveport and had 18 hours before my next flight to Providence for my 10th year college reunion. I got as many errands run as possible, including sending off one of my passports to the agency that will procuring my visas for my trip to central Asia in September. Apparently, it will take nearly three months for them to get them all. I had lunch with my dad, and then dinner with my mom, sister-in-law and adorable niece and nephew. The following morning, I had to get up at 4:30 to be up and ready for my 6am flight. I used Delta Skymiles to pay for the ticket, and definitely got what I paid for... Both flights were delayed. Way to bat 1000, Delta. At least they are consistent with their suckage. I got into Providence a little later than expect, but hit the ground running. I got all checked in, got my housing settled, then met up with my former roommate, Wick. We went on an alcohol run, and got started. That night was campus dance, which is a formal. I got all suited up, and Wick and I talked our other former roommate, Jess, into driving down from Boston. She did, and it was fun.

The next morning was spent shaking off the "morning afters" and before we knew it, it was time for Field day. I met up with another group of friends from school who I hadn't seen the first night, and we got all caught up. After field day and lunch, I went to take a nap (I was still a bit jet lagged and hadn't gotten much sleep the last couple of nights). Then it was time to meet a group of friends for dinner, watched waterfire (a Providence tradition), and then went to our 10 year reunion dance party, where I met up with more friends I hadn't seen in far too long. We made a brief detour from the dance party to go to an arch sing (a Brown tradition), where thanks to Wick, I was able to fulfill a dream I've had for years... We had an after party, then I stumbled back to my dorm room, and slept for a few hours, before it was time to get up this morning for my flight to New Orleans. A great weekend of friends I haven't seen in far too long, catching up, alcohol, and fun. All in all, a great weekend!


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Location:Providence, RI

Last Two Days in Hawaii

So yesterday I woke up late (it was nice not having to get up at 6:30 to be ready to go diving!) and had a late breakfast. My hand was killing me from where I had sliced it the previous day, and I had noticed a few more flakes of rusted metal that was deeply embedded in my finger from where I had originally cut it on the shipwreck. I busted out the sewing kit in my room and dug around in the wound until I had gotten most (if not all) of the metal "splinters" out. Needless to say, it hurt like hell. I had been going every day for over two weeks, and so I decided with my hand feeling as crappy as it was (and freshly bleeding), I decided to take the day off. I watched tv, hung out on my lanai, slept some more, and basically Thad a much needed day of rest. It was divine. That night, I got all my bags packed except for the things I'd need the following morning, since I would be checking out of my wonderful hotel (the Halekulani) the following morning.

I was up early again Wednesday morning for a tour of Pearl Harbor and Honolulu. I went downstairs and checked out, but they told me I could have a few extra hours in the room so that when I got back from my tour, I would have just a little time in the room to freshen up, and then grab my bags. I thought that was nice. So, I ate a quick breakfast, and was off on a tour! First, we stopped by the Punchbowl Pacific Cemetery where many of the casualties of the attack on Pearl Harbor where buried. Then it was off to the harbor itself.



First, we watched a short film about the attack, which ironically enough, a group of rude Japanese people sitting next to me decided to talk all the way through... Then we boarded a boat and were taken to the USS Arizona memorial, which was built over the wreckage of the USS Arizona. Over 1000 people died when that ship's ammunition dock was hit by a torpedo in the surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941. You could see just a couple rusty bits jutting out of the water, but below the clear, blue water you could make out the rest of the mangled ship...










On one of the walls was listed the names of every person who died on the ship that day. It was a very somber experience. Then we went back to the visitors center, where I walked around and saw the submarine, the USS Bowfin.



I did some shopping at the gift shop, and then returned to the minibus to be taken on the tour of Honolulu. We saw the royal palace, the capital building, statues, among other things.






After the tour was finished, I was dropped back at my hotel, where I returned to my room, freshened up, and then took my bags down. I went for lunch, and then returned to the hotel's large sitting area which looks out over the small beach and the ocean beyond. I wasted a couple of hours, and before I knew it, it was time to head to the airport for my flight home! Aloha, Hawaii! I'll arrive in Shreveport tomorrow morning and then will leave Friday morning for Providence, RI, where I will be attending my 10 year college reunion. 10 years!!! Where did the time go?!?


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Location:Waikiki, HI

Hawaiian Diving: Days 1 & 2

The four days I spent in Hawaii were amazing! The first morning, I was still slightly jet lagged, but had to get up early anyway for my dive course. I had a 7:15am pickup which was actually 2:15am according to my body clock... I went out for two dives. The first was a wreck dive, and I saw a sea turtle floating above the wreckage and got right up to it! We then penetrated the wreck and went inside. It was scary, and I ended up puncturing my thumb on a rusty bit of the ship. What freaked me out the most was that I was so deep that my blood looked green! After that dive, we went to a reef site for the second dive. I had to do my underwater navigation component of the course and had to be able to tell my instructor where the boat was when he asked me (we were way too far away from it to see it on the surface). After the second dive, I was dropped back at my hotel and was exhausted. I wanted to take a nap, but I was afraid that if I did, my sleep cycle would further be messed up, so I decided against it. I walked around a bit, wrote a bunch of emails, looked online for a house (I am thinking of moving back to New Orleans and since I'll be there on Monday, I figured I'd start the process by looking at a few places). Then, at sunset, I hung out on my lanai, watching a gorgeous sunset as I listened to a live band play Hawaiian music and a former Miss Hawaii danced the hula.



I also got caught up on Glee, and then called it an early night, since I had another early pickup the following morning.

My second day in Hawaii started early, as I had to get ready for my 7:15am pickup for diving. I got all ready for my last day of my advanced open water diving certification course, and ate breakfast. Then I was picked up and taken to the dive shop, where we got ready for the day's dives. We got out to the boat and were taken to our first dive site, which were two ships that had been sunk in order to create a platform for coral to grow. We got down there, swam over both, did some of my certification tasks, and then penetrated the wreck. On the second penetration, I was going through a porthole with my hands close to my side, when a little bit of wave surge pushed me into the sharp side of the ship, and I sliced open the middle finger of my left hand. It hurt. We did see some neat stuff down there, including green sea turtles, banner fish, and a small angel ray.

The captain of the vote was a volunteer fireman, and we was able to wrap up my finger so I could go on the second dive and finish up my course. The dive was a shallower dive along an underwater pipe which had lots of coral outcroppings. I had to do a lot of fish and invertebrate identification for my course and had to do a lot of buoyancy control exercises. I found them easy, and before I knew it, I was done with the dive, filled out some paperwork and then was certified as an advanced open water diver!

My finger really hurt, and was bleeding pretty badly. I was worried I might have to go to the emergency room for stitches. I noticed that there were little bits of rusted metal under my skin like splinters, except rusty metal instead. I had to dig them out, which was a very painful process, cleaned the wound, put some antibacterial wash and cream on it, then bandaged it up. Eventually the bleeding stopped and I figured I'd be ok without going to the emergency room. I didn't feel like doing much activity, because I was worried that any activity would increase blood flow, and I'd start bleeding again, so I took it easy with my hand elevated the rest of the evening. I again sat out on my lanai and watched the Hawaiian band play and the hula dancers dance, with the ocean waves lapping in the background. A nice evening, even if wounded. I plan on doing my site seeing tomorrow and Wednesday. I am so tired that I will call it an early night so I can get back out tomorrow! I just hope my finger is feeling better...



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Location:Waikiki, Hawaii

Saturday/Sunday/Saturday

After last night's drinking spree, I was looking forward to sleeping in this morning and having a nice relaxing morning while waiting for the afternoon land tour of Yap. I was woken up with news that the plans had changed, yet again. We would now be doing a morning tour of Yap, with a free afternoon. Oh yay. So I had to rush to get ready, eat "breakfast" which was fried plantains, two pieces of dry toast, and sliced bananas. Not the best breakfast considering one of the only fruits I don't like is banana. And since plantains are just big bananas, I don't like them either. After I choked down my two pieces of toast, we were off for our land tour of Yap. we started by driving to a little village called Gael. It has an impressive collection of the stone money that Yap is famous for:






After that, we headed to the highest point of the island, which had a nice view of the island and ocean beyond. It is also a highly frequented make-out point, which was evidenced by the used condoms littering the landscape. At least they are using protection, I suppose... After that, we headed to the village of Muuluu to visit a men's house. In Yap, they have men's houses and women's houses, where the appropriate sex goes when growing up to learn the gender specific activities appropriate for your sex. If you are male, you get to learn to swim, fish, build a house, etc. If you are a girl, you learn to weave, sew, cook, clean, etc. Sexism aside, the building was a neat piece of local architecture.



After this stop, we went to the village of Duchmer to meet a chief and his niece and nephew, who offered us pineapple and invited us into the men's house to chat. We were told some local legends, some of which were really good, but are too long to write out (most were really long stories). At any rate, we had a nice time in this village, which happened to be our guide's hometown.



After that, we headed back to the dive shop for lunch, and then went back to the hotel for free time. In the meantime, the weather started deteriorating. The wind picked up, and it was raining off and on. Then, as I started to pack, the electricity went out, and I had to pack by flashlight (torch for my Canadian and English friends). The weather had really started to get bad by this point. The wind was really blowing hard, the lightning continuously lit up the sky, and the rain began to come down in buckets! I looked online and learned that a tropical storm was heading right for us, and the forecast made it sound like it would only get worse until late tomorrow morning. Since we are scheduled to leave at 4:30am, I began to get very worried that our flight would be delayed or canceled. We are scheduled to fly to Honolulu, connecting through Guam, with only 30 minutes to change planes in Guam. If our flight is delayed, it is unlikely that I will get to Honolulu as scheduled.

I sat outside, watching the storm. The palm trees were swaying harder than a congregation of a Pentecostal church on Sunday. Eventually I decided to take a nap, and slept until just before it was time to get out of the room. By the time I woke up, the storm had passed. I finished with the last minute packing, and we were taken to the airport. The system was down, so we had to be checked in by hand. All out luggage tags and boarding passes were hand written. Our bags were hand searched, then we went through immigration and then security. We entered the waiting room, and had to wait around until the staff came by with our seat assignments. Some people got theirs, but about half of the plane (including me) never did, so when it was time to board (which was actually at time we were supposed to be leaving) there was a mad dash to figure out everyone's seating assignments. We ended up leaving 30 minutes late, which was the exact time as our layover in Guam, so I started to panic a little bit. We were told we'd make up some time in the air, and we did. We arrived with 21 minutes to make the connecting flight. I was first waiting to get off the plane, but since the flight attendant didn't put down the number of passengers in transit on the manifest, we had to wait until that was calculated and given to the gate agent. Finally we were able to get off the plane, and I made a run through passport control, then security, and a run to the gate. At the gate was more immigration officials, and finally, I was sitting in my business class seat on the flight from Guam to Honolulu. Finally, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief and sit back and relax. I would have hated to missing my advanced open water diving course that starts Sunday morning. It's weird to leave Guam Sunday morning, and arrive in Hawaii on Saturday afternoon, but that's what happened...

We made it to Honolulu a couple minutes late, I dealt with immigration, my bags made, I hopped in a cab and made my way to my hotel. I got checked in, caught up on emAil and blogging, then finished my online dive course for tomorrow's dive! Should be good! A long day, but a good one! Glad to be in Hawaii for four days!


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Location:Colonia, Yap, Micronesia

Above and Below Yap

This morning, we got up early to pack, have breakfast and then waited on the plane to come pick us up. And waited. And waited. Eventually the plane arrived in Ulithi and we headed to the airport.

While we were waiting for the plane to be loaded and ready to go, I spotted a white girl in a lava-lava (local dress) and I thought to myself that she looked like a PCV (Peace Corps volunteer), so I approached her and asked, and sure enough she was a PCV. Her name was Emily and she said she was heading to Yap, too, but on the next flight, and she said it was a small island, so she was sure she would see me before I left. We boarded the small plane again for our airplane ride back to Yap. It was a very small plane, so small in fact, that our entire group couldn't fit on one flight...

We arrived in Yap, and made planes for me to go diving (the rest of the group took the afternoon off). I went on two dives. I saw a nurse shark that was sleeping and I got about two feet from it to take pictures, and I can't say that I wasn't scared a little bit...




For the second dive we went in a shallow area, and I saw tons of nudibranchs, which I think are some of the coolest invertebrates there are, and had the longest dive I've ever experienced (81 minutes). A good time under the sea of Yap.




Afterwards, when I went to pay for my doves, the woman couldn't figure out how to work the credit card machine (she was new), and asked that I come back later when the manager would be there. She also mentioned that there would be live music at dinner, so I decided to head back to my hotel, have a shower, change and head back to the resort to have dinner. I sat at a table by myself, ordered a drink and some food, and before I knew it, there was Emily (the Peace Corps volunteer) with some friends. They joined me, for what ended up a memorable night. It was nice to hang out with people born within 5-10 years of me after spending the last two weeks with people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. (I thought when I signed up for an active trip like this - snorkeling and the like - that I would be with people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s...) at any rate, it ended up being a bit of a party with several PCVs there, and as usually, we became instant friends (I've never met a PCV or RPCV - returned Peace Corps volunteer) that I didn't like. One named Eriks reminded me so much or my friend Eric from my days in Jamaica, it was a tad freaky.... At Amy rate, a good time was had by all, much alcohol was consumed, and eventually I stumbled home, ready for bed. Thankfully, it isn't a long day tomorrow and there isn't nothing scheduled until lunch. I'm sad that I met these great folks on the night before my last day here, but I will be glad to get back to civilization...



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Location:Colonia, Yap, Micronesia

Goodbye for now, Yap. Hello, Ulithi!

Tuesday morning, we were up early again for our second attempt at getting to Ulithi. Once we got to the airport, we confirmed that the generator on Ulithi was up and running, so we were off! We boarded this tiny plane and were off! This is an aerial shot of Yap as we were leaving:


The flight was only about 40 minutes, and eventually the island where we are staying came into view:


The pilot circled the island to make sure the runway was clear, and the. Came in for a landing:


When we arrived on the island, the generator was not running, and there was no electricity on the island. The airport is also the post office, and since I needed stamps for some postcards, I went over with Dave (another guy on the trip) to the window of the post office to ask for stamps. Dave was asking about stamps and the attendant brought some over and then Samantha (one of the women on the trip who no one really likes because she is pushy and always takes the front seat in every bus we get on, is always the first on the boat to take the best seat, etc, etc) asks if Dave minds if she looks over his shoulder while he was looking at the stamps. Of course he didn't, and once Dave had chosen his stamps and I was about to reach for the ones I wanted, Samantha barges in front of me and starts picking out the ones she wanted. I said, excuse me, but I was next in line, do you mind waiting until I'm done getting stamps? Well, she looks at me like I was Satan, and said, you were way over there writing postcards, I didn't know you were in line, to which I replied, I'm standing at the post office window with money and postcards in my hand, what did you think I was doing? We were here and then you came up and asked if you could look over Dave's shoulder. I was here first, you will just have to wait your turn. She had the biggest hissy fit, and stormed off like a child. I have never seen a 60-something year old have such a conniption fit in my life. At any rate, I apologized to the post office attendant, paid for my stamps and waited to be transferred to our lodge. When we got there, I was given a room at the back of the hotel (there are four rooms that face the ocean, and four that don't - I got one of the four that doesn't face the ocean).

Here is the view from the front of the hotel:






Here is our view from the back of the hotel:



Not exactly fair, considering we all paid the same price to be here (except for the singles, like myself, who paid even more per person, but I digress....)


Still there was no electricity, and we had to wait in the heat until the second part of the group made it to the hotel (the plane we were in wasn't large enough to take the 12 of us). A couple of hours later, the rest of the group arrived, we had lunch, and then went out for an afternoon snorkel. The water was very warm, and we saw a bunch of cabbage coral that wad teeming with fish. We even saw a shark! We were dropped off outside the reef that is in front of our lodge, took a look, and then made our way back to the hotel. To our great surprise, the electricity was back on, so we all rushed to our rooms to turn the AC on! We had dinner, and then since it was nearly s full moon, and the stars were bright, I pulled out my iPad and started the constellation app, and everyone came over to ooh and aah (all except Samantha, of course, who was still pouting). There is apparently an alignment of the planets that is supposed to happen this weekend or something, so we were looking for that, but most of the planets were below the horizon and wouldn't be up for hours. We eventually called it a night and all went to bed. Tomorrow we are having an early morning snorkel, the. A land tour of the island, and then in the late afternoon, we are supposed to go to an island where turtles lay their eggs, snorkel around a bit in the afternoon and then wait all night on the beach to see if we can spot a turtle nesting and laying its eggs! should be a good day!


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Location:Ulithi Atoll, Micronesia

Ulithi, Day 3

This morning we got up and had breakfast. After breakfast, we were briefed on the day's plan. We headed out late in the morning to the Crab Islands which are nearby and considered part of the Ulithi Atoll, even though they are technically an atoll of their own. On the way, a pod of spinner dolphins greeted us as we approached the first island in the atoll. They jumped in and out of the water which such amazing grace, and swam under and around our boat. It was like a marine mammal welcoming party! We went snorkeling through one reef, which had a huge variety of coral.



We then stopped on an island called Bulbul and walked around a little bit. After our curiosity had been satisfied and we were ready to go, we got back in the small boats we have been using the last three days and headed to another island. We snorkeled off that island, and then had lunch there. After lunch, there was an option to snorkel the same site again or to relax. Since I didn't see much that was too amazing the first pass (except an octopus and a huge jellyfish), I decided to sit this snorkel out and relax a little bit. Besides, I had just eaten a tuna fish sandwich and really didn't feel like exerting myself. We loaded up the boats again and went to a place called Big Hole, which is just a sandy area between the two islands that has a deep center where sea turtles sometimes go to sleep. Since I was nice and dry by this point, and since I really have seen plenty of sea turtles before, I decided to sit this snorkel out as well, and just stayed on the boat, sitting in the sun, working on my sun-kissed highlights.

The boat ride back to the hotel was hellacious! The wind had picked up and the swell had really increased. Since we were in tiny boats, we were being tossed around like a pair of socks in a washing machine. I went from being completely dry to completely soaked in about two minutes. So much water was flying into my face, I eventually put my mask back on so I wouldn't keep getting salt water in my eyes. I was sitting on the bottom of the boat, with only a lifejacket as cushion. I felt like I was paying someone to beat me up, and as I write this, just about every part of my body is sore.

Once we got back to the hotel, we had about an hour before we were having some women come and put on a dance performance for us, where they danced some of their traditional dances. Topless. It cost $20 per person. I decided not to go (I was the only one who didn't) because even though I know it's a cultural thing, I felt bad paying women to dance topless. Besides, I've gone 31 years without paying to see a woman topless, I'm not going to start now... Afterwards, my friend Carolyn (a spitfire of a woman, 75 from Laurel, Mississippi) came and got me to let me know it was over and said it was painfully boring, so I didn't feel like I missed much. She also slipped me a travel-sized vodka bottle (because she knew I don't drink beer and that's all they have at the hotel) to enjoy during our farewell banquet.

Our last night's dinner consisted of fish, chicken, rice, potato salad, sashimi, banana-stuffed papaya, salad, and lasagna. We all ate until we were stuffed and called it a fairly early night, seeing as to how we have to be packed and ready to go pretty early in the morning tomorrow. We are flying back to Yap tomorrow morning to spend two more nights before the end of the trip. I hope to get a dive in tomorrow, but we will see what happens when/if we get there!


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Location:Ulithi Atoll, Micronesia

Ulithi, Day 2

As it turns out, Ulithi has some really amazing history. During WWII this was one of the largest naval bases, and the attack on Okinawa was staged from here. They say that 617 naval vessels were anchored here and took off on that attack. The airstrip (see yesterday's blog for a picture) was built by the Americans in 1944. One of the islands (called Mogmog) was used as R&R for the American troops. An interesting place!

At any rate, this morning, I was up for breakfast, but since it was so cloudy out and the plan was to go snorkel out on another part of the same reef as yesterday, I decided to stay back at the hotel this morning and relax. I caught up on blogging, watched some Brothers & Sisters, took some pictures, and basically got some much needed alone time. I also took some pictures of the hotel we are staying at:



Once the others got back from their morning snorkel, we went on a walking tour of the island we are on and the village we are near. We stopped by the church, the women's cooperative, and a woman's house where she was weaving. Here are a couple of pictures of where we are.












After the walking tour, we had lunch and then went for our afternoon snorkel, followed by a stop on an island where all sorts of birds nest, and then we went to an island where turtles nest. Since it is nesting season, we watched the sunset, had dinner, and then went out looking for turtles. We found several and watched one lay its eggs. It was really an amazing sight. They drop out two to four eggs at a time. It was really a crazy sight to watch. We couldn't take pictures because we couldn't use flash. After that, we took the boat ride back to the hotel and called it a night. We'll see what tomorrow brings!












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Location:Ulithi Atoll, Micronesia

Yap, Day 2: An Exercise in Patience and Flexibility

So all last night I was hardly able to get more than two minutes of sleep at a time due to a barking dog that barked the entire night... It felt like the thing was just outside my window. I put in earplugs. Then I put my noise cancellation earphones on over the earplugs. Nothing worked. I eventually got up to put my packed bag outside my door by 6am and got ready for our flight to Ulithi on Pacific Missionary Aviation:



The plane holds 11 people, including the pilot. At any rate, we never got on the plane because there is currently no electricity in Ulithi. We waited and waited and waited at the plane station (I don't dare call it an airport...) for word from Ulithi regarding the situation. They radioed several times, and got no response. Eventually the people realized they had t connected the antenna to the radio, so they weren't actually broadcasting... Once that little "oops" was fixed, we got word about their not being any electricity, so we headed back after hours of just sitting around to our hotel, and started making plans for the day. I really wanted to go diving, and would have been able to dive until 4pm today, since we are trying to fly out to Ulithi again tomorrow. As a group, it was decided that we would snorkel in the morning looking for manta rays, and then take a land tour of the island in the afternoon. Since I really wanted to go on the land tour, I said I would wait to go diving another day. Once we got in the boat to go out snorkeling, the group leader unilaterally decided that we would go snorkeling on a coral head in the morning and then go out snorkeling in the afternoon to look for manta rays. We were already out on the boat when this decision was made, so it was not possible for me to get the chance to go diving today... I took this in stride, and just rolled with the punch.

The morning snorkel was boring compared to diving, and then we had lunch at the dive shop. After lunch we went out looking for manta rays. We didn't see any. It was a boring afternoon. Then we returned to the hotel where I was glad to find that they had finally "fixed" my air conditioner by taping all the holes in the door and wall closed so that the cold air wouldn't escape the room and the warm air wouldn't be let in. Finally, some good news after a fairly lousy day! I was so excited. Minutes later, the electricity went out. I thought that it must be an island-wide thing or something, but no, it was just my room and my room alone. Since our group takes up every bungalow/room in the place, there were no other rooms for me to be switched to, so I sat watching Brothers and Sisters episodes, too hot to go to sleep. Eventually the electricity was restored to my room and the air conditioner came back on, although it's still not even cool in here...

At any rate, at least now the lights are back on and I can pack for our second attempt at getting to Ulithi. We are trying again tomorrow to fly there, and will have to be up just as early tomorrow as we were today to get to the plane station to radio the island to see if they have electricity or not. So at this point, we are unsure whether we will actually be going to Ulithi tomorrow or not. If they haven't fixed the generator and there isn't any electricity, we will stay another day on Yap. If they have electricity, we are going to Ulithi. So, it has truly been a day where patience and flexibility have been needed, which for me are character traits that aren't my strong suit, although I am working on them... We will see what tomorrow brings when it gets here... Until then!


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Location:Colonia, Yap, Micronesia

Getting to Yap

So, late, late last night (early this morning), we were transferred to the Koror airport and where we went through the usual airport check-in, immigration, security and customs rigamarole, and eventually ended up at the gate where our flight was expected to depart at 1:45am. Interestingly enough, I ran into a law school friend (Gwen Gerling) at the airport who was on the same flight, which just goes to show you what a small world it is! After waiting for about an hour, we got an announcement that our flight was delayed by about an hour and a half. Eventually the plane arrived and we were off to Yap. Thankfully the flight was only about 45 minutes long. We went through immigration, got our bags, went through customs and were met by representatives from our hotel who shuttled us to our home for the today and tonight. It was pouring down rain, and it was about 6am when we finally arrived at the hotel. We were told we had until 10:30 to sleep, and then should come down for breakfast. After a few hours of sleep, aided by the percussion of the rain, we were up gain and told since the weather was bad, we wouldn't be going out snorkeling today and had a free day. I spent it reading, watching a few episodes of Brothers & Sisters that I have on my computer, and once the rain cleared, I took a walk around town. We had dinner together, followed by a lecture of reef fish identification, and a briefing for tomorrow. We are taking a 7am charter flight tomorrow to a small atoll called Ulithi. Should be interesting. Sorry there was nothing of interest to report today, but the rain kept us holed up for most of it... I am told there will be no internet access on Ulithi, so it will be until Friday before I am able to update the blog again. I try to write everyday, so hopefully I will keep writing the blog each day and can just post four days worth of blogs on Friday. Until then!


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Location:Yap, Micronesia

Last Day in Palau: I'm a Survivor

This morning, we got to sleep in, because we didn't have to be at the dive shop for breakfast until 8am! Woohoo! After breakfast, we piled into the van for our half-day tour of Koror and Malakai (the next island over - if you are as big a Survivor fan as I am, these names will all sound familiar). We started off by going to the jail. That's right: the jail. Storyboards are famous here in Palau, and each storyboard tells a different story (well, there are only so many folktales, so there are obviously some repeats). At any rate, the best place to buy them, apparently, is the jail.



The inmates make them, and then the proceeds go to the families of the inmate who carved the storyboard. I thought they were ridiculously over-priced, so I didn't buy one, although some of them were gorgeous and I would have liked to. The obvious problem with transporting them for the rest of the trip also posed a logistical problem...

Our next stop was a mariculture facility where they were growing and harvesting giant clams. It was fairly interesting, but the highlight (for me at least) were the two reef squid that I saw while casually looking at the ocean that the facility faced.



After the mariculture facility we went to the National Museum and saw tons of neat storyboards as well as the stories that went with them. There were also pictures from all the different occupational periods (Spanish, German, Japanese, and American), as well as stories from locals about things that happened here during WWII. Powerful stuff that really makes you stop and think about the horrible things that happen during wars... You couldn't take pictures inside the museum, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures for you... I did, however, visit the gift shop, and the storyboards were much more reasonably priced, but they weren't as ornate as the ones in the jail. None of them struck my eye as something I had to have, so I didn't buy one. I did, however, see a great mask that I bought to add to my mask collection, and of course postcards for my niece, Caroline, to whom I send postcards from everywhere I go.

Then we visited a traditional bai, which was an old meetinghouse for the men to discuss important matters and war tactics, etc. There are apparently only three remaining in Palau. Here are a couple of pics to get an idea of what they look like.









That was the end of the half-day tour, and we ended the tour back at the dive shop, where they had prepared a traditional Palauan feast of fish, vegetable fried rice, cucumbers, clams, greens, banana leaf-wrapped beef, cassava, and more. It was delicious. At the end of lunch, we had a group meeting where Wayne, our tour leader, informed us that the power station on Ulithi just broke down and the entire atoll is in a blackout. They were working on getting a generator to the place we are supposed to stay, but he wasn't sure that would be able to happen... Essentially, at this point, we don't know if we'll be able to go to Ulithi or not. We'll just have to play it by ear, and since we still have a couple of days before we are scheduled to arrive, perhaps the problem will be fixed by then.

With that bad news aside, plans for the rest of the day arose. Since I was done with my shopping, and the rest of the group had decided they wanted to go shopping, I enquired at the dive shop how much it would cost to charter a boat to take me out to Survivor Beach on the island of Ulong (where the beaches used for both Survivor:Palau and Survivor:Fans vs. Favorites are located). Since it wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be, since I may never get the chance to get back here again, since I'm SO close to where they were, and since I'm SUCH a Survivor fan(atic), I decided to go for it.

On the ride over there (which took about 45 minutes), I decided that wouldn't the beach where they filmed two Survivor seasons be the PERFECT backdrop for a Survivor audition tape?!? And so I decided that since I've never auditioned before, and since I would be a great contestant, that what the hell, I'd go for it. Well, as it turns out, the beach where they filmed Survivor has some major historical value to Palau. It was the site of first contact between Palauans and the Spaniards (Magellan, I think...). Right around the corner from the beach is a cave where there are ancient pictographs.



There is also an ancient deserted village on the island... I really can't believe Survivor was able to use the beach, but I digress... I was so excited when we came around the corner (after viewing the cave with the pictographs) to see THE beach, but as we came closer, I noticed smoke coming from further up the beach... They had turned the beach into a goddamn picnic area with barbecue pits and picnic tables all over the place. I was so disappointed, but further up from there was a nice stretch of beach, which is where I made my audition video.






I explored the area and saw some familiar sights. You can still see the logs and stones that the tribes had used as seats around their campfire, all covered in moss...



After about an hour of exploration, it was time to go back and we watched the sunset, and then came back to the dive shop. I then got dropped back off at the hotel, went out for dinner, and then packed my bags because in about two hours we are off to the airport for the 1:45am flight from Koror to Yap. I'm sad to say goodbye to Palau, but will be glad to head somewhere new! Yap, here I come!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Palau

Palau, Day 4: Conquering Fears

This morning started like the others: up early and to the dive shop for breakfast and then to prepare gear for today's dives. Unlike the other two days, today we were doing three dives instead of the usual two! The first dive was to a place called Blue Holes. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am claustrophobic, and when we arrived at the site and were first briefed about what we were about to do, I must admit, I was not the happiest of campers. I was only told the names of the places we were visiting today before we left the dive shop, not told what they actually were... Blue Holes, is essentially a dive site with four small holes that you can descend and reach an underwater cavern, which then has an exit which takes you along a wall of coral and pretty things. The problem for me, of course, was the diving through the small holes into a smothering-like cavern to reach the exit and the feeling of sheer panic that was sure to come with it. Well, I decided to give it a try (I need to log as many dives as I can so I can go on a diving trip next year). I didn't take any pictures of the small hole we went through, nor do I have any pictures of the cavern itself. I was too busy trying not to 1.) die, 2.) have a panic attack which would have surely lead to my death, and 3.) shit myself. Thankfully, I avoided all three. Once we reached the exit, we were treated to a nice wall of coral, pretty fishes, a hawksbill turtle, a moray eel and the occasional shark.









The second dive was nearby and was called Blue Corner. Sounds pretty, right? Well, again, this was one of those situations where the name is misleading. The "corner" is actually a plateau of a deep drop off where the current is SO ridiculously strong that you have to use a reef hook (see yesterday's blog for my previous reef hook encounter) in order to stay in place long enough to see the "activity" around you. What "activity" might you ask? Well, sharks looking for food, of course! Again, being strapped down unable to move while sharks circle you, at first did not seem like the best of ideas. Oh, and also, I should mention that once you use your hook to keep you in place, you have to put air in your vest so you rise up and aren't doing any damage to the reef. Sounds smart, right? Well, the only bad thing about that is that if your hook comes undone, you shoot to the surface like a rocket and get decompression sickness (the bends). Fun times! Of course, if you want to see what all there is under the sea, you've got to take these chances, and I did, and boy am I glad I did... Here is a short video of some sharks and how close they were to me:

And here are some pictures I took while being sitting shark bait:






Once we unhooked (after letting air out of the vest so we didn't shoot up like human balloons), the current flew us over the plateau. After a couple of second I realized I was right on top of a hawksbill turtle. I took some pictures, and a video.

After the second dive, we had lunch, and then returned to the dive shop, because not everyone was doing the third dive of the day: Chandelier Cave. Now, this one the name made me cringe when I heard it, so I asked about it in the morning, and the dive instructor told me that it had a very large opening and that once inside it was a huge cavern where you could see old stalactites and all sorts of crazy shit. That didn't sound too too bad to me, so I decided I would give it a shot. It was definitely scary, and not exactly as described. There are actually four "chambers" of the cave and in each one, you would come up and be in a small pocket of air where you could see the stalactites. Little did I know that all the divers would be coming up into the same small space at the same time to have a look. And, to make matters worse, it was high tide when we went, which made the area where there was actually air even smaller than usual. I was not a big fan of this dive, but
I was able to face a fear head-on and conquered it. Here are a couple of pictures from the cave.









After having such an emotionally trying day today, I will be glad for the "day off" tomorrow. We have a land tour of the island and leave for Yap late tomorrow night (early Sunday morning). The lesson I learned today is that if you let your fears dictate what you do or do not do, then you never get the chance to fully take control of your own life. So live already!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Koror, Palau