Diving in Palau Part III: German Channel

German Channel is another of the most popular dive sites in Palau. Primarily due to the possibility of getting up close and personal with Manta Rays. The channel is named due to the mining of a long channel through the coral during German occupation of Palau prior to WWI. The original purpose of the channel was to ease and speed up transport of guano (phosphate) into town from Angaur island so it could be shipped internationally.

While seeing Manta Rays have been more miss than hit lately I have had one very special dive where a very large beautiful black manta graced us with its presence. They truly are incredible creatures and I couldn’t believe the size they get to. The one we saw spent around 30 minutes constantly circling the cleaning station while cleaner wrasse fish gave the Manta a good old cleaning. At one point one of my divers ran low on air, I quickly switched him to my alternate air source so the group could stay there longer. The Manta noticed the small commotion and came in for a closer look. It stopped about 1-2 metres away from us with one very large eye looking straight at us. I’m sure it was wondering what the hell we were up to. After a long inquisitive look it resumed circling the cleaning station. 

Other typical sights you can see at German Channel are large schools of Jacks, various sharks and a huge variety of colourful small reef fish. Also if you time the incoming tide you can end your dive by rocketing up towards the channel, just make sure you use your safety sausage to surface to alert any passing boats to your location.

Again, all pictures have been re-appropriated from a Google image search. If you own them and would like recognition or removal please let me know.

An aerial view of the channel

The ride through the channel at low tide

Diving in Palau Part II: Blue Corner

Up close & personal with some misunderstood friends

By far the most well-known dive site in Palau is called Blue Corner. It truly is a fantastic site due to the massive amount of life and variation you can see all in one dive. It’s like you are in the world’s best aquarium, often you don’t know where to look first. You could endlessly watch the 20 or so sharks slowly gliding mere metres from you. You could play with the extremely large Napoleon Wrasse fish which I once heard someone refer to as the puppy dog of the sea. You could get right up close to a massive school of around 50 Great Barracuda that are almost always just hanging out near the corner. And only last week I saw a group of 5 Marlin cruise above the corner. Don’t forget all the beautiful coral, like the soft anemone coral complete with various versions of Nemo’s. If the current is strong you can ‘hook’ into the reef and just sit back with the current washing over you while checking out everything that there is to see.

Great Barracuda

Please note, none of these pictures are mine. They’ve all been re-appropriated from a google image search. If they are your photos and would like recognition or removal please contact me. 

Hooked in with a Napoleon Wrasse

For more pics of Blue Corner & diving in Palau please check out Wendy’s awesome photos here 

Marine life everywhere!

 

Divemaster Nathan

Yes my posts are getting more and more infrequent. I guess we are truly into ‘normal life’ here and it’s hard to come up with things to talk about. HOWEVER, last Wednesday I completed all requirements for my Divemaster certification. I even managed to get 118/120 on the theory exam. I should have got 100% correct if not for two silly errors. I wouldn't say the course is difficult there are just a lot of requirements to work though. It’s great to be finished ahead of schedule when at one point it looked like the training would blow out by at least a few weeks. Now I need to concentrate on learning the dive sites, currents and aquatic life! As I’m under an internship agreement I’ve now started working to pay off the cost of my training. 

Today is Independence Day in Palau and a whole pile of activities are planned around the KB (Koror-Babeldoab) Bridge including high speed boat races. Under/around the bridge is not a particularly large area and has minimal parking. When I dropped Amanda off for work early this morning it was already complete chaos. I’m not sure what I’m going to find when I head down there again shortly.

An overdue update + plenty of pics

A sunset beer at Palau Pacific Resort

I’ve been alerted to the fact that it’s been 3 weeks since my last post…woops! I’ve been kept pretty busy diving about 6 days each week and after you throw in a few social events, time is flying by!

So where is the diving up to you ask? About 3 weeks ago I completed my Rescue Diver course and my Emergency First Responder (First Aid) training. I’ve since started on working my way through the long list of requirements for the Dive Master certification. I should finish that up by the end of this month. I’ve also been getting in plenty of dives as well, just yesterday I clocked up my 50^th dive here in Palau. 

Sunset at PPR

I’m enjoying it more and more as my confidence & local knowledge about the sites, currents and aquatic life grows. One of the best aspects has been the social interaction with the guests on the boat. I have met some fantastic people and aim to keep up a friendship with them, hopefully even seeing them again in Palau or another part of the world.

PPR's pool & sunset

During my short career in diving I’ve only come across one or two people that have been difficult customers, a couple of novice divers have been a little challenging mostly due to lack of experience. Maybe I’ve been lucky so far, or maybe the dive community is filled with generally awesome people. I prefer to think it’s the latter. 

Bridge Trilogy Part 1: Virtual Light

Anyone reading this blog who has dived regularly or even occasionally probably knows how tiring it can be. So after diving 5-6 days a week I’ve had little time at night for more than eating some dinner, watching few episodes of TV show before reading a little & promptly passing out. As a side note if you like your humour random and quirky then try an animated show called ‘The Regular Show’. It’s my current favourite. But I would avoid reading Jack Kerouac’s ‘On The Road’, in my opinion it’s a poorly written, pointless over hyped book. I’m not sure why I’ve stuck with it but I’m glad I’m only a few pages from finishing it so I move onto something else. 

Bridge Trilogy Part II: Idoru

Bridge Trilogy Part III: All Tomorrow's Parties

Just to keep us social busy we’ve had plenty of regular catch up’s with our new friends here too. Everything from small dinner parties to a few beers and dinner at a restaurant to a large party to watch the Aussie election results. (What a complete joke the Australian system of government has become). 

We also have a new Aussie volunteer on the island so we are no longer the newbies! Unfortunately the rotation of people off the island has continued and some great people have unfortunately left for new adventures elsewhere. So goes the ex-pat lifestyle!

A flying jellyfish

The sting-less jellyfish from Jellyfish lake

One of the beaches we stop for lunch at.

The lunch spot

one of our boats heading of for another dive

playing with my bubbles