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Comprehensive information about diving and undersea medicine for the non-medical diver, the non-diving physician and the specialist. |
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Apres Diving in Palau
It's almost certain that every serious scuba diver has either been to or heard about the really great diving on Palau, but probably few know about other above-surface attributes of this beautiful and somewhat mysterious place.
Recently back from my
third trip out to these small
islands
clustered in Micronesia, north of New Guinea, I got to reminiscing
about
the usual great dives at Blue Corner, Siaes Corner and Ulong Channel.
These
dives are World Class, presenting to the advanced diver severe
challenges
and offering the intrepid photographer myriad opportunities for great
photos.
CEDAM has named Palau one of the seven underwater wonders of the world.
Becoming somewhat jaded
after six dives on Blue
Corner
(three on this trip), I started thinking about outstanding episodes to
tell my friends and relatives back home. Each time I started a story I
would come to visits to Ulong Island and to "Two Dog Island", one of
the
small Rock Islands that have the appearance of green mushrooms.
These visits would come
during lunch breaks between
our
morning deep dives and afternoon shallow dives, the first after diving
Siaes Corner, the second after Blue Corner. Both of these islands are
uninhabited,
but as implied by the name, Two Dog Island has two dogs of
indeterminate
breed that live on the island and greet all boaters boisterously with
mock
ferocity, then return to their usual activity of stalking fish in the
shallow
water. How and when these dogs got on the island, no one seems to know,
but they seem to be from the same litter. They have the exact same
physical
characteristics, brown medium-sized male dogs with curled up tails-as
in
a chow---but easily differentiated due to a burn scar on the side of
the
dominant dog. This dominance is quite evident with the Alpha dog
physically
attacking the other several times while we were there.
The dogs greeted us all
as long-lost friends,
selectively
ate some fried chicken but turned up their noses at rice and other
Japanese
edibles. They then went back to their usual activity of fishing for
crustaceans
and small fish in the shallow water between islands. They appeared
well-fed
but from what I saw regarding their fishing ability it was not from
eating
fish. One of the lady divers sniffed knowingly, "What do they do for
female
companionship?" Another male diver said "How do you know they're not
gay?"
That ended that conversation quickly!
Ulong Island is a larger
island west of Koror (the
capital
of Palau), and is somewhat isolated from the other islands. It juts out
closer to the surrounding reef and has a beautiful creamy white coral
beach
with large natural limestone overhangs close to the beach. Now
uninhabited
it has several very interesting places to see.
On the Southwest side is a historical marker commemorating the shipwreck of the Antelope, a British East India Company trader that wrecked on the nearby reef in the late 1700's. Finding Captain Henry Wilson's crew with powerful guns, a native war party sent to greet them became friendly, the ship was salvaged and using his crew and native labor, Wilson was able to build another seagoing vessel and sailed it back to England.
Mysterious glyphics and
wall paintings are clearly
visible
on a limestone overhang which can be scaled only by a swinging rope
ladder.
The nature of this art is apocryphal but is said to predate the present
era. Curious figures and designs resembling bodies, shields and the sun
can also be found in caves on the northeast side of the island.
Poisonous sea snakes use
these caves near the water
to
hide and get a little sleep during low tide. I was somewhat surprised
to
find a 5 foot black and white banded sea snake coiled up sleeping in
the
back of a low tidal cave-I didn't disturb him and he didn't bother to
wake
up.
Other exciting between
dive activities include a
visit
to the island of Peleliu. Here occurred one of the bloodiest battles of
WWII, with the Japanese stubbornly defending the tiny island to the
death.
A dead fleet of American landing craft watches from shore as you dive
the
Yellow Wall, one of the most beautiful but unheralded dives I've ever
seen-prettier
even than the Great White Wall in Fiji-and a heckuva lot easier. Around
the corner is the infamous Peleliu Tip, not being dived now because of
the dangerous currents.
<>Just about all of these
sites include good to
excellent
snorkeling and if you can't seem to get enough salt water and tropical
fish with your scuba dives - you can snap on a weight belt and do some
snorkeling along with your surface interval. Exceptions to this are
dives
such as Blue Corner, New Dropoff, Peliliu Tip, Anguar,
Ngerumekaol/Ulong
Channel and Chandelier Cave. Other excellent snorkels
are Wonder Channel,
Jellyfish
Lake, Soft Coral Arch (although I heard that it had been pretty much
damaged
by an influx of destructive divers), and Coral Gardens
(Southeast
of Koror).
Meanwhile, back at the
hotel, if you choose to take
a
day off from diving, one of the latest fun activities is to kayak
around
the Rock Islands and explore the many caves. Snorkeling is just a few
feet
away in shallow crystal clear water with opportunities to see most of
the
same fish and "critters" that are seen scuba diving. Maybe you'll
chance
upon one of the saltwater crocodiles that still inhabit the
islands-although
in much fewer numbers since the "purge" after a Palauan was killed and
eaten in the 1960's. If you must see one, there's a farm with about 40
crocodiles near the KB bridge-on the Koror side run by one of the
"purge"
crocodile hunters.
Having just recovered
from the jet lag of my return
home
I had sworn that I would put Palau out of my thoughts; but the lure of
exotic green-capped islands, the warm, friendly people, the fantastic
blues
of the water around the reef and the creamy coral sand beaches would
almost
be enough to cause me to go back even if there were not the best dive
sites
in the whole wide world. Add to the best diving in the world the
fantastic
surface opportunities and you have an unbeatable combination.
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Ernest Campbell, MD, FACS All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer Page Honor Code Page |
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