Palau

For our 25th wedding Anniversary, my sweet, romantic husband planned a trip of a lifetime.  We planned it with a friend we met in Belize last year.  On February 18th we boarded a plane to head to Koror, Palau.  Palau is an Island about 600 miles away from the Philippines.  I truly don't know that I ever figured out the exact time difference but I think it was 14ish hours.

The first day of diving we did some simple easy dives.  The group we dove with are extremely experienced.  Sheldon had a new camera he was learning to work, but was able to capture some of the beauty we experienced.  There were 14 divers altogether.

Daniel was our dive master and Ashley for our captain.

Sam, Daniel & Sheldon

Ashley -- Boat Captain

 Each day was similar, but lots of different dive sites.  Daniel would say each time we entered the water  "Wall on the right, Sharks on the Left" or "Wall on the left, Sharks on the right".  This was pretty true.  I think we saw shark on every dive, some dives just a few, other dives hundreds.  It was breathtaking, not just the sharks, but also the coral, color, amount of fish, landscape underneath the water, turtles, manta ray and clown fish with their anemone (these two were my all time favorite).   We dove our first wreck, and our first cave dive (Chandelier Caves were another WOW experience), We dove in current (or what I call current) almost every dive.  We dove in the Pacific and Philippine Sea.  We were able to dive North which is an area that isn't dove very often.  We learned how to "hook in" to the reef.  That was my favorite. I felt like a balloon flying in the sky, I LOVED IT.   Twice a year (March and April) right before the full moon the Moorish Idol (a fish that looks like Scar in Finding Nemo), span.  This was one of the most spectacular views we saw.  As we watched this it looked like a waterfall of fish going up and down the reef.  Not only was that spectacular, but because of this it draws more white tip sharks into the area.  Which was just awesome.  As we dove this day everywhere I looked there were bright fish, sharks, coral.  It was just breathtaking.

Hooked in watching Sharks

Coral  was spectacular

My Favorite Anemone & Clown Fish

One of the best parts about these trips is getting to learn about others.  Our dive master Daniel was from the Philippines but had lived in Palau for quite a few year, Ashley was from Palau, our driver was from Bangkok and only went home once or twice a year to see his wife and kids.  He was the hardest working man we met.  We did 21 dives.  This time Sunday fell right in the middle of the trip, which was an ideal break to take from diving.  It was good to attend the branch in Paula, and we were glad the taxi driver knew how to get there.  Every night (except one) we ate at a little "cafe" in the dive shop.  Fhey was our waitress, she was from the Philippines and was amazing. It was different dining than we've ever done, one cook and meals are served when they are finished.  The first person is usually done 15 minutes before the last meal was served, but the food was great.  The best fish and chips I've ever had.

We also ate on the island Palau Survivor was taped on (I think that is what it is called, I don't watch the show), we "mudded" in the lagoon of the rich and famous, and drove through the famous arch.  All fun experiences

Arch we drove through, beautiful

The rest of our boat, Me, Marty, Jeff, Carla, and Jim

I think overall the thing I am most impressed with is the gift I have received to be able to witness the beauty in the ocean.  I am often inspired by the beauty that surrounds me birds, mountains, flowers, grass, trees.... but every time I dive, I am amazed that there is just as much beauty under the water that was created for us by our Savior and I have been blessed to witness it.