Palau: An Aerial Pictorial

Over the past few weeks my parents have been in Palau visiting us and checking out where we live now. Last week my Dad celebrated his 70th Birthday. For such a big birthday we had to do something special. So we decided to take him up for a helicopter flight over Palau. It was one of best things we could have done. The flight was incredible, Palau truly is a stunningly beautiful place.

I think the following results speak for themselves:

The Arch

Seventy Islands

Seventy Islands

Blue Holes (top centre) and Blue Corner dive sites. Check out all the bubbles from divers on the top side of the corner.

Blue Holes & Blue Corner dive sites

Jellyfish lake, the orange tinge at the bottom of the lake is indeed jellyfish

German Channel dive site

During our flight we also saw piles of turtles, sting rays and even about 7 or 8 dugongs. We flew with Aussie pilot Matt Harris and his company Rock Island Helicopters. I would highly recommend them for anyone who now has a helicopter flight over Palau on their bucket list.

Mini Update Part II: Rock Islands & Jellyfish lake

Last Friday we had our best day so far in Palau. Unexpectedly we were invited along on a trip out to the rock islands & jellyfish lake (two of the major tourist attractions in Palau). We knew about half the people on the boat and quickly became friends with the others. The ride out from Koror to the islands was in overcast conditions with frequent showers and stayed that way until mid-afternoon. Despite the weather the water was calm and it was truly incredible to finally get to see just how many islands there are. They are seriously everywhere, from small little mushroom shaped islands to massive long ridge lines. I honestly don’t know how the guys navigate through then without a map or GPS, I had no idea which was we were going for most of the day. We saw all sorts of cool stuff like birds diving down into the water for fish to flying fish who seem to defy gravity for an unfeasible period of time. 

Our first stop was Jellyfish lake, an inland lake populated by thousands of sting-less jellyfish. After a short but steep walk up and down the ridge line we arrived at the lake. After a short swim out into the lake we started coming across jellyfish, after pushing out a little further we were completely surrounded by them. They are all over the place, they slowly move in every direction and are constantly bumping into you. And no they definitely don’t sting.

It was an extraordinary experience to be floating around with thousands of these creatures all around. I can’t wait to return with a waterproof camera and on a sunny day. One thing I quickly adjusted was my method of swimming around. Once getting in the middle of the jellys I noticed I accidentally kicked a few, so I ended up using a modified front-paw only, slow doggy paddle. Even then occasionally I’d send one spiralling away, at least I wasn’t wearing fins! I’ve heard people can actually kill them when belting them with fins. For some reason that I don’t understand the use of fins aren’t banned in the lake however they are quite particular about you wiping off sunscreen and washing your feet in a bucket (before walking up & down to the lake)…

Our next stop was having some lunch on a small beach in the middle of the thousands of rock islands. It was a great little spot but due to overcast conditions the couple of pics I took really don’t do the location justice.  

After lunch it was time for some snorkelling. We headed to an area called German Channel, I’m not sure when but at some point in Palau’s history (most likely prior to WWI) the German Navy bombed a long channel in the corral between various rock islands. The spot is now favoured by divers hoping to swim with Manta Rays. In my limited snorkelling experience this is by far the best spot I’ve ever been to. The corral was incredible and there were lots of varied aquatic life. The highlight was following a 1 metre+ white tip reef shark around for a good few minutes. Apparently Amanda had a turtle come within about a metre of her as well. 

All too soon it was time to head elsewhere, we checked out a significant sized cave that formed in one of the rock islands when a section fell in and another marine lake with only a small channel running out to the sea. Our second and last snorkelling spot was a place called the cemetery. There appears to be a lot of dead corral at this little corner off the end of a rock island. For some reason that doesn’t stop a huge amount of fish hanging around. Again I was lucky enough to follow around a very large Napoleon Wrasse for around 5 minutes or so. 

The day was amazing and I’m very thankful we were able to tag along on the trip. It’s reminded me that whatever I end up doing over here has to involve the water in some way.

Stay tuned for the next mini update about how I got racially abused (yep, really).