Pacific Scrapbook - Summer 1998
Sixteen of us began our diving in Yap. Wow!!! What an experience diving with 13 foot Manta Rays gliding within inches of our heads. These beauties frequent a cleaning station in a channel between the bay and the outer wall. The mantas have distinct markings on their undersides and have been given individual names. We crouched behind the coral, awed by their splendor as they gracefully swept over us time and time again. The mantas would open their mouths, and the little reef fishes would dart up to clean their "gums?" Only underwater video could capture the details, and Roger and Jim took plenty of footage. Yap also has a good barrier reef, and our only dive outside the channel was remarkable for its 200' plus visibility and variety of colorful tropicals. But alas, the majority opted for mantas and more mantas.
A group photo shows Jim C., Linda I., Patrice M., Steve and myself, Frank and Joanne M., Carl N., Jill P., Don P., Tim S., Gary S., Ann S., Betty W., Roger S. and Larry T.. The hotel is a nicely decorated modern building with a blue tile roof. Hot water was non-existent in Kathi's room although it was available in others. Fortunately, the dive boats were covered because the trip to the mantas or the wall took about one hour and had to be timed with high tide. We traveled through beautiful mangroves and shallow channels cut through rock. The tides during our stay necessitated boarding the boats around 10 AM, which is my idea of a vacation.
Here is a strange picture you are sure to see again. Larry, Gary and Tim in traditional YAP attire. It was appropriate for the traditional Yap dinner we had at a nearby "Tiki hut" hotel. To get in the mood for the festivities, the three named above dressed in native attire called a "thu". It ain't much, folks, and Gary almost lost his on the street as it came undone. Candid camera comes to mind for that shot. We also took an island tour of local Yap villages which we entered on beautiful flower lined stone paths. Their traditional meeting houses we visited have not changed in a 1000 years.
Palau's "Blue Corner" is one of the world's best dives. We were given a shark hook (filed down) attached to a nylon cord. When we reached the best spot on top of wall, we anchored ourselves to dead coral and floated in the strong current. Once we settled, the sea became a solid wall of fish you couldn't even see through. Sharks swam back and forth among huge tuna, black snappers, and Napoleon wrasse. Pyramid butterflies and teal colored triggers filled the water column. We saw schooling Moorish idols, an annual occurrence seldom seen. Ever hear of a mandarin fish? Some of us have a picture of one to remind us of the ones we saw in a shallow lagoon outside Chandelier Cave.
We ended a perfect week with one night at the Palau Pacific Resort, a very classy place. Marilyn and Dianne couldn't get enough of Palau. They spent another 3 days kayaking and camping among the Rock Islands. Betty and Kathi headed home while the remaining sixteen went on to Truk.
Most of the sunken fleet are merchant ships that still have their cargo of munitions. Included in the munitions we saw were 15 inch diameter live shells for the guns on the largest Japanese battleship of WWII, torpedoes and periscopes for submarines, bombs, 30 inch long artillery shells, two Japanese Zeros (fighter planes), tanks, trucks, gas masks, rifles, and bullets. We dove one ship of war, a destroyer, which still had depth charges on its deck. We also dove on a Japanese Zero, a fighter plane, and a "Betty Bomber," a medium size two engine Japanese bomber. Nonmilitary items we saw were sake, beer, champagne, caviar, phonograph records, bicycles, medicine bottles, lamps, bowls, plates, and plums.
While Carl slept one evening, the remaining nine land based divers had a memorable moonlit experience on the beach. We learned the "point of life" and christened ourselves the "Moon Divers."
We marveled at what 53 years had both decayed and preserved on the historic sunken Japanese supply fleet. Growth of colorful soft corals on upper structures provided a rainbow of color. This growth included a different type of "sponge" which looked similar to a banana in white or yellow. Linda lorded over these areas looking for the elusive flat worms and tiny shrimp.
Were six days of diving Truk from the Thorfin too much? Were three days of diving from the Truk Continental Hotel too little? Only Larry's sinuses know for sure.
The fickle finger of fate pointed at Gary three miles into the hike. Just after we got to the bottom of the crater, the sole of one of his boots fell off! He had to tie it to his foot with a shoestring! Ten minutes later, the sole feel off his other boot. Gary hiked eight miles over lava rock with both boot soles tied to his feet with shoestrings!
We then endured the curviest road in the US to get to Hana on the other side of Maui. Ann can tell you all about the curves. She drove on the way to Hana and got carsick as a passenger coming back. However, the drive was worth it. We hiked through the rain forest to a beautiful waterfall, climbed up a beautiful ravine that was worn by centuries of rushing water, visited a black sand beach, and walked through a lava tube that led into the ocean. The hike to the waterfall took us through a forest of 40 foot high bamboo. When the wind blew, the bamboo swayed and struck each other with the sound of a giant Japanese wind chime. We stopped, listened to this beautiful wind chime, and reflected on the many experiences of our long, exotic trip. We hope you can join us on the next one.
Written by Kathi McCutcheon, Patrice Marker, and Gary Sharp
We were spoiled daily by the gourmet cuisine, oh-so carefully prepared by Solomon, our Philippine cook. The dives were well planned by Kenneth, the Palauan divemaster, who only had to look at the divesite to tell you about the tide, current, visibility and anything else you wanted to know. For every dive site, he calculated the best tide direction, strength, current and timing to minimize the number of other divers in the area. Navot, the owner/operator, put us right on top of the dive sites where, after one step off the platform and a few flipper flips, we were on the dive site. We could do as many dives a day as our computer allowed. Some of us were 4 dives - 3 meals - 2 naps-a-day divers! If Captain Navot thought we were choosing to nap rather than dive, he would knock on our stateroom door and tell us what we would miss. The next thing we knew, in spite of having taken an oath not to get wet any more that day, we found ourselves suiting up and jumping in.
We enjoyed the intimacy. By the end of the week, the 6 divers (there were 2 guys from Seattle in addition to the 4 of us) and 3 crew felt like family. And as 'family', we were invited for dinner at Navot's home, where his wife, Tova, had prepared a multi-course feast which we will always remember.
The Ocean Hunter is a 60' motorsailer designed for only 6 divers in 3 staterooms / 2 bathrooms. One of the staterooms left a lot to be desired, but we managed. They advertise that they are for serious, hard-core divers and we agree with that statement.
The campsite was idyllic, a local 'beach house' (wooden platform with tin halfwalls and a tin roof); on the ocean with a fringing reef full of circling/diving birds. The late afternoon and early morning light on the water, sand, rocks, tree trunks, leaves and caves were mesmerizing. Yes, the many marine caves, dry at low tides and kayakable at high tides, were awesome Kayaking among, around and through the emerald green "Rock Islands" was an up-close experience as you could paddle underneath the overhang, close to the eroded base of the jungle / orchid / singing bird clad islands. We paddled until we were sun-toasted, then slipped into the turquoise blue water and snorkeled, towing the kayaks behind until we were waterlogged, then paddled some more. The calm shallow water was peaceful, with coral, anemone, clown fish, mandarin fish, starfish and lots more to hold your interest.
Eric, the owner/operator, after organizing all the gear and launching us, then paddling and snorkeling with us, made camp and cooked dinner for us as we sipped our wine and toasted the sunset. You can bet that every trip from now on I will check out the availability of kayaking.
Marilyn Van Valkenburg
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