Tag Archives: may 2012

Peleliu Island

Today we boarded the boat and headed South to the remote island of Peleliu. We wanted to make sure we took in more of the history and sights on land as much as we did in the water.

Here is some background of the islands history, Via SAMS Website…

“Peleliu Island was the scene of one of the Pacific’s bloodiest battles when U.S. Marines made an amphibious assault on the beaches of Peleliu in 1944 to liberate the island from Japanese forces. Peleliu was heavily fortified with massive concrete bunkers and over 300 man-made and reinforced natural caves used to shelter the Japanese forces during massive naval bombardments prior to the assault. Remnants of Japanese headquarters buildings, incredible cave systems, gun emplacements, tanks, planes and weapons can still be seen today. In 1985 the U.S. Department of Interior designated Peleliu as a National Historic Landmark.”

On the tour we got to see a Japanese Zero WWII fighter plane still there just untouched. A Zero fighter plane buried on the sandy beach, engine remains still sticking out. All sorts of metal artifacts ranging from bullets to land mines. You name it! Still there, still being unearthed on a weekly basis.

We were just so taken back that these historical things were still respected enough by the people living on the island that they didn’t take anything and try to sell it on EBay or something. I think maybe that’s our Western state of mind negativity kicking in.

We met a wonderful gentleman named Charlie, currently living in Belize. Charlie shared a few book titles that he Kindled before making his trip with his wife to vacation on Palau. Will have to check those out. Thanks again Charlie! Oh, we met his lovely wife too! A determined diver, not letting anyone or anything get in the way of her dives and joy. Love meeting people from all walks of life, the story behind them, the life they live and how they got there, all so very interesting.

We hiked, sweated, and hiked more. The humidity is no laughing matter in Palau. Nevertheless, the reward awaited us at the top of the island. It was a century old coral-built lighthouse constructed during the German occupation. The view from the top of the lighthouse gave us a view of most of the archipelago. Again, flip-flops not the best choice of footwear.

Milky Way

Mr. B surprised me and signed me up for the Milky Way lagoon tour. The lagoon is just magnificent in color! The lagoon is surrounded entirely by small rock islands and only has two entrances you can come in and go out through.

The guides dive down a few meters into the ocean and bring up buckets of glacial white claylike mud. Them main attraction is that you smear the white claylike mud all over yourself. When I saw all over I mean they want you to be covered in head to toe, even hair! I was adventurous and smeared the soft mud on my body carefully. I wasn’t sold on putting it into my hair, however others did and were just fine.

The mud is bottled up and sold for $100 US Dollars locally. Crazy! Not to be stereotypical but the Koreans really embraced this experience with open arms. I guess it makes sense coming from the land of BB whitening creams, lotions, potions, etc.

This trip was a blast! Another great part of the tour was meeting a girl named April and a guy named Fonzie. I ended up exchanging blog information with April and we plan to keep in touch. This girls amazingly talented with a camera. I look forward to watching her business continue to grow! Maybe a future visit to South Korea too?

20120608-205700.jpg (Thanks April)

Dive, Snorkel, Dive

We Have hundreds of photos and video footage from our trip so far, but no time to upload them. We will take the time after we make it back to reality, otherwise known as Korea. For now we will continue to leave you all with sneak peeks.

So, you want to know what we’ve been spending our days doing thus far? Diving, snorkeling, diving, snorkeling, naturally. We spend the entire day on or near the water. That’s quite alright with me! I feel like I should have been born on a boat! I’m pretty sure Mr. B feels the same way.

We speed through the ocean waves almost everyday to get to our destination. Each day I close my eyes, and deeply inhale the salty sea air. This is truely my place!

We grab a bite to eat from our neatly packed bento boxes or bagged sandwich bags. Each time we get to enjoy lunch on a different remote island location. Twice so far on the island that the television show Survivor (10th season) was filmed on. How neat is that?! Can you tell? They totally have got me, hook line and sinker. Where’s the dotted line to sign for us to move here forever? He-he-he!

The sunsets here in Palau is just breathtaking each time I see it, never gets old. There are no bright shiny blinking street signs or lamps like in Korea, no restaurants or tall buildings everywhere you look, no billboards…well there was this one…

No, Palau is just pure tranquility at its best! I just cannot express all the beautiful colors that the lords canvas paints each morning with the sunrise, and at dusk with the sunset.

Here is a list of our dive and snorkel locations:

Shark City (We both saw and swam with sharks, eek!)
Siaes Corner
Ulong Channel
German Channel (beautiful coral reef)
Clam city (Clams that can grow up to weighing a ton are here)
Chandelier Cave (One of Mr. B’s favorites!)
Blue Corner
SAMs Macro Wall (Located right at SAMs)
Siaes tunnel
Ngerchong
Chuyo Maru Wreck (Mr. B’s night dive = in Complete heaven)
Big drop off

20120521-163854.jpg
(Originally viewed on http://www.underwatercolours.com/pmap.html)

Alii Palau!

Alii means HELLO.

Yes, hello indeed, Palau!

You have seriously outdone yourself!

This morning staring starry-eyed from the balcony of our hotel, Sea Passion, we cannot wait to see everything you have to offer us!

It must be a dream…(pinch, pinch) Are we actually here? Truly we can’t believe it!

Yep, still standing here! Ah! It’s finally time to put on that sunhat, those flip-flops and sunglasses, and slather on a heavy dose of sunblock. Yes, yes, we know It’s only 8AM but we can already taste that first refreshing frozen tropical drink on the tip of our tongues.

Wait a minute…Hey! This is a tropical paradise, we’re on vacation.

Don’t judge! Cheers with us!