Thu, Aug 21 The Journey Begins
We started our great adventure to far reaches of the Pacific
Ocean with flights from Denver to Los Angeles and then to Honolulu. On our way
into the Honolulu airport, we noticed a US Navy submarine under way on the
surface in Pearl Harbor. Once we arrived, we had a quiet taxi ride to our hotel
on Waikiki Beach. We jumped right into our swimsuits and got into the water for
an hour or two of play. Later, we had a nice Chinese dinner at one of the local
restaurants and slept deeply that night. We woke up and had breakfast and
another little swim at the hotel, then packed back up for the really long part
of the journey.
The flight to Honolulu is about six hours. The next leg from
Honolulu to Guam was over eight hours. Then two more hours to a tiny island
called Yap. Apparently, if United didn’t stop there, nobody would ever get to
that island. It was interesting seeing the locals loading fish in Styrofoam
coolers onto the plane for Palau. Once on our way again, it was another two
hours to Palau. In all, we spent over 36 hours in transit to Palau.
We arrived in the middle of the night. There was a taxi
ride, then suddenly we were at a small hotel and checking into a room for one
night. We awoke on Saturday morning in Palau to a bright sunrise and incredible
sea vistas.
The Aggressor travel arrangements included an option to play
on the beach for half a day until the boat was ready. We donned our swimsuits
again and enjoyed a few hours of playing on the sand, in the water, and at the
bar. The bartenders were very kind and taught us a few interesting facts about
the islands and how things work there. We had a lovely time and were sad to
have to leave for the boat later that afternoon.
Once on the boat, we had the standard Aggressor experience
(even though this boat was a recently acquired “Dancer Fleet” boat). The crew
welcomed us, showed us our cabins, carried our luggage around and were
generally very helpful. We unpacked our dive gear and clothing and prepared for
a wonderful week of diving.
We found, as usual, that the other guests were interesting
and shared our passion for diving. We all got along famously.
Sun, Aug 24, 8:28 AM, Dive No: 342
Dive Site:
“Helmet Wreck”, Location: Rock Islands (7.33445,
134.42654)
Max Depth: 97.8 ft; Bottom Time: 49 Min; Air Start: 3259
PSI, Air End: 862 PSI (2397 used)
A quick note about how the Palau Aggressor boats work: they
don’t tie off to a mooring point for most of the dives. The current of the
Pacific Ocean meeting the Philippine Sea is strong and fast. Divers would be
swept away from the boat and couldn’t swim back. So these boats have a 20 foot
skiff with two outboard motors that is attached to the back of the boat on an
amazing lift. Divers simply walk from the dive deck onto the deck of the skiff
and sit down to put on their gear while the skiff is lowered into the water by
a hydraulic lift. The skiff then chases the dive party wherever the current may
carry us, and picks us up when we’re ready.
We were into the water early and got right down to the
wreck. This is a WWII Japanese wreck – one of many in the Palau islands – that
was apparently a freighter. We could see depth charges in the hold of the ship.
Later, we saw a small group of beer bottles that had apparently been collected
by other divers and placed neatly on the deck. We saw several critters,
including a pipe fish, a turtle swimming by, and a sea anemone. Nice first
dive!
Sun, Aug 24, 11:18 AM, Dive No: 343
Dive Site:
“Wreck of the Iru Maru”, Location: Rock Islands (7.28747,
134.42082)
Max Depth: 89.5 ft; Bottom Time: 50.5 Min; Air Start: 3295
PSI, Air End: 638 PSI (2657 used)
This was a much larger Japanese ship. The superstructures
almost reached the surface, and it was an easy swim-through to get into the
holds. We were amazed at the huge collections of sea anemones living happily on
horizontal parts of the superstructure. Clownfish were everywhere. It was
really something. Also saw the biggest clam I’ve ever seen.
Sun, Aug 24, 2:21 PM, Dive No: 344
Dive Site:
“Ulong Channel”, Location: Rock Islands (7.28968,
134.2704)
Max Depth: 73 ft; Bottom Time: 58.5 Min; Air Start: 3157
PSI, Air End: 509 PSI (2648 used)
Ulong Channel is a man-made channel that was dug out prior
to WWI by German engineers looking to transport ore from one island to another.
The channel naturally catches the strong currents and moves along at a brisk
6-7 mph. As such, we didn’t get a lot of time to stop anywhere. There was an
old lobster trap rotting on the bottom. Quite a few fish along the way. We saw
the first sharks of the trip. Otherwise, a pleasant drift dive with no
challenges.
Sun, Aug 24, 5:11 PM, Dive No: 345
Dive Site:
“Ulong Channel”, Location: Rock Islands (7.28968, 134.2704)
Max Depth: 70.5 ft; Bottom Time: 61.5 Min; Air Start: 3174
PSI, Air End: 693 PSI (2481 used)
Same site, different stuff! We found a beautiful bright
yellow nudibranch (flat worm) that posed in front of some colorful coral. There
were huge sheets of antler coral across the bottom.
This was the first dive in which we used the reef hooks that
had been issued to us. We used them to watch “the show” as we gathered at the
edge of the wall and the fish all swam by in the powerful current.
Mon, Aug 25, 7:36 AM, Dive No: 346
Dive Site:
“Siaes Tunnel”, Location: Rock Islands (7.30549, 134.24742)
Max Depth: 114.56 ft; Bottom Time: 45.5 Min; Air Start: 3121
PSI, Air End: 644 PSI (2477 used)
Mon, Aug 25, 10:30 AM, Dive No: 347
Dive Site:
“Sandy Paradise”, Location: Seventy Islands? (0, 0)
Max Depth: 80.25 ft; Bottom Time: 57 Min; Air Start: 3166
PSI, Air End: 706 PSI (2460 used)
Mon, Aug 25, 1:52 PM, Dive No: 348
Dive Site: “Big
Drop Off”, Location: Ngemelis
(7.1003, 134.25288)
Max Depth: 70.75 ft; Bottom Time: 59 Min; Air Start: 3036
PSI, Air End: 533 PSI (2503 used)
Mon, Aug 25, 4:44 PM, Dive No: 349
Dive Site:
“German Channel”, Location: Omekang Islands (7.12628, 134.28317)
Max Depth: 66.31 ft; Bottom Time: 32 Min; Air Start: 3083
PSI, Air End: 1595 PSI (1488 used)
Tue, Aug 26, 7:42 AM, Dive No: 350
Dive Site: “Blue
Corner”, Location: Ngemelis
(7.1379, 134.22449)
Max Depth: 77.88 ft; Bottom Time: 61 Min; Air Start: 3096
PSI, Air End: 741 PSI (2355 used)
Tue, Aug 26, 10:44 AM, Dive No: 351
Dive Site: “Blue
Holes”, Location: Ngemelis
(7.14416, 134.22549)
Max Depth: 87.38 ft; Bottom Time: 65 Min; Air Start: 3089
PSI, Air End: 487 PSI (2602 used)
Tue, Aug 26, 1:58 PM, Dive No: 352
Dive Site:
“Dexter’s Walls”, Location: (null) (0, 0)
Max Depth: 63.06 ft; Bottom Time: 64 Min; Air Start: 3090
PSI, Air End: 488 PSI (2602 used)
Tue, Aug 26, 4:39 PM, Dive No: 353
Dive Site:
“German Channel”, Location: Omekang Islands (7.12628, 134.28317)
Max Depth: 70 ft; Bottom Time: 54.5 Min; Air Start: 3186
PSI, Air End: 514 PSI (2672 used)
Tue, Aug 26, 8:02 PM, Dive No: 354 – Night Dive
Dive Site:
“German Coral Garden”, Location: Ngemelis (0, 0)
Max Depth: 56.81 ft; Bottom Time: 49 Min; Air Start: 3096
PSI, Air End: 1103 PSI (1993 used)
Wed, Aug 27, 8:04 AM, Dive No: 355
Dive Site:
“Peleliu Corner”, Location: Peleliu (0, 0)
Max Depth: 88.12 ft; Bottom Time: 55.5 Min; Air Start: 3131
PSI, Air End: 1017 PSI (2114 used)
Wed, Aug 27, 10:00 AM, Tour of Peleliu Island
The
Battle of Peleliu was one of the most horrific battles fought in the Pacific
Theater during World War II. Over 12,000 Japanese soldiers died and more than
2,000 Americans lost their lives. The worst part of the battle was that it was
determined to be unnecessary after it had been won. You can read more about it
on Wikipedia. We took a tour of the island in-between dives. Here are a few
photos:Wed, Aug 27, 1:56 PM, Dive No: 356
Dive Site:
“Barracks Point”, Location: (null) (0, 0)
Max Depth: 78.94 ft; Bottom Time: 58 Min; Air Start: 3162
PSI, Air End: 350 PSI (2812 used)
Wed, Aug 27, 4:43 PM, Dive No: 357
Dive Site: “West
Wall”, Location: Peleliu (0, 0)
Max Depth: 60.25 ft; Bottom Time: 70 Min; Air Start: 3159
PSI, Air End: 575 PSI (2584 used)
Thu, Aug 28, 7:46 AM, Dive No: 358
Dive Site: “Blue
Corner”, Location: Ngemelis
(7.1379, 134.22449)
Max Depth: 69.44 ft; Bottom Time: 64 Min; Air Start: 3177
PSI, Air End: 530 PSI (2647 used)
Thu, Aug 28, 10:34 AM, Dive No: 359
Dive Site:
“Turtle Cove”, Location: Ngercheu (7.08669, 134.25702)
Max Depth: 84.25 ft; Bottom Time: 51.5 Min; Air Start: 3015
PSI, Air End: 761 PSI (2254 used)
Thu, Aug 28, 1:51 PM, Dive No: 360
Dive Site:
“Fern’s Wall”, Location: (null) (0, 0)
Max Depth: 58.56 ft; Bottom Time: 61.5 Min; Air Start: 3330
PSI, Air End: 457 PSI (2873 used)
Thu, Aug 28, 5:01 PM, Dive No: 361
Dive Site: “New
Drop Off”, Location: Ngemelis (0,
0)
Max Depth: 69.56 ft; Bottom Time: 62 Min; Air Start: 3052
PSI, Air End: 386 PSI (2666 used)
Fri, Aug 29, 8:30 AM, Snorkel Trip to Jellyfish Lake
Dive Site:
“Jellyfish Lake”, Location: Macharchar (7.16098, 134.3766)
Max Depth: 0 ft; Bottom Time: 60 Min; Air Start: 0 PSI, Air
End: 0 PSI (0 used)
Fri, Aug 29, 11:21 AM, Dive No: 362
Dive Site:
“Chandelier Caves”, Location: Koror (7.33895, 134.4458)
Max Depth: 39.31 ft; Bottom Time: 29 Min; Air Start: 3131
PSI, Air End: 2224 PSI (907 used)