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by Dan Holden Bailey I have seen Palau's sharks, sometimes as many as a dozen at once, on nearly every dive for a week and yet I remain unscathed. Apparently, having never been in the movies, they don't know how a "proper" shark should act. In Jaws and a host of other popular films, sharks are depicted as stalkers and eaters of humans. These sharks seem oblivious to our presence. I don't know whether to be relieved or insulted. Not so, the triggerfish I am trying to photograph. This half-meter-long, toothy menace is guarding its nest of eggs and perceives every passer-by as a threat. It is a little unnerving to look through my viewfinder and see the angry fish charging me at full speed. A couple of times it even nips my camera before zipping back to the nest it has hollowed out in the sand. After a few shots, I back off and watch as the other divers in my group, one by one, are persuaded to dive elsewhere. The sharks get top billing in Palau, and there are many of them, but they are only one of more than 1500 species of fish found in the warm, clear water, along with over 700 species of coral. Throw in a few blue holes, sheer dropoffs, sunken remains of World War II ships and planes, underwater caves, and marine lakes full of jellyfish and you've got a true diver's paradise. Palau is an island nation made up of over 400 verdant islandsonly eight of them inhabitedmost of which are scattered across a huge, sheltered lagoon. Nutrient-rich water flowing from two nearby bottomless abysses, the Philippine Deep and the Palau Trench, is what attracts and supports Palau's prolific marine life. The sun is low, and the light is fading fast as I search the rubble for the elusive, diminutive mandarinfish, the "Holy Grail" for macro photographers. This is not my first dive here, in the eight-foot-deep water around the pilings at Fish & Fins dock. For days I have tried in vain to get a tight, full-frame shot of the skittish fish, but they always manage to thwart my best efforts. I know it can be done, for I have seen a perfect photo of a mandarinfish that David Doubilet (National Geographic) took at this very spot on a previous visit to Palau. I have plenty of air left after more than an hour in the water, but I'm getting cold and my film has run out so I finally give up. I have plenty of photos of the emerald-and-orange beauty but I'm pretty sure I still didn't get the one I was looking for.
DIVE SITES Many of Palau's dive sites are legendary among the diving community. Blue Corner is the most popular wall dive. The current there is often brisk, but that is what attracts the gray reef sharks, schools of snappers and barracudas, Napoleon wrasse, and giant bumphead parrotfish that are usually found here. Manta rays and dogtooth tuna often cruise by, and whale sharks and killer whales have been sighted here. Divers often use reef hooks, which are large fish hooks fastened to them by several feet of line, to anchor themselves to a handy piece of dead coral on the wall. This allows them to have their hands free for taking photos or whatever, and keeps them from bumping into the reef. At Blue Hole, divers enter the water through a large hole in the shallow reef that comes out at about 40 feet onto a beautiful wall. The gentle current carries you along a sheer wall decorated with hard and soft corals. Divers often drift to nearby Turtle Cove, where they spend their remaining bottom time exploring a shallow coral garden. Chandelier Cave is four large chambers that tunnel under a rock island. The entrance is 30 feet deep, and the maximum depth inside is 60 feet. Colourful, ancient stalactites hang from the ceilings. There is open air in each chamber in case you have to surface. If you're into macro subjects, the coral rubble outside the cave entrance is an excellent area for finding the flamboyantly coloured mandarinfish. The Channel Marker Wreck, also know as Buoy Number 6 Wreck, is a converted fishing boat that was used as a sub chaser during World War II. It sits upright in a channel at 75 degrees, completely covered with corals and sponges. Large numbers of colourful reef fish live in and around the wreck. Huge stands of green tube coral grow along the sides of the channel, as well as on the wreck. Ngemelis Wall, otherwise known as Big Drop-off, is one of the best wall dives in the world, according to the late Jacques Cousteau. The top of the wall is a shallow reef covered with multicoloured sea fans and crinoids, sponges, coral whips, soft corals and exotically coloured reef fish. If you swim over the edge of the wall, you're looking down into 1000 feet of water.
TOPSIDE Palau is an archipelago, more than 400-miles-long, that is famous for the 400 Rock Islands that dot its sheltered lagoon. A veritable maze of verdant, mushroom-shaped islets of various sizes, largely uninhabited, float in waters that harbour one of the world's greatest concentrations of corals, fish and other marine life. In 1989, CEDAM International rated Palau the number one Underwater Wonder of the World. Most of Palau's hotels and businesses are on the island of Koror. Here, you can find local handicrafts such as carved wooden storyboards and pandanus weavings, an assortment of international restaurants, Japanese shrines, a couple of museums, and many rusting World War II relics. On Babeldaob, Palau's largest island, remote waterfalls and hiking trails, ancient stone monoliths, intricately decorated bais (men's meeting houses), and seaside villages lure the adventurous. It's strictly four-wheel-drive territory here, and even then the dirt roads are often impassable when it rains. The island of Peleliu, 23 miles south of Koror, forms the southern boundary of the Palau Lagoon. A centre of the Japanese defence forces during the war, this 4.6-mile-long island has been declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Lovely sand beaches edge much of the island, and tropical vegetation covers the rest. It's a tranquil setting now, but rusting tanks, bomb casings, steel helmets, and other relics of war remind one that the island was not always so peaceful. I am at German Channel, and it is my last dive in Palau. I decided to shoot macro on this dive because I had shot wide angle on all of my other dives, except for the ones back at the dock. The opportunities are endless; I immediately find a pair of raccoon butterflies posing in front of a stand of green coral, crinoids of every colour imaginable are perched on outcroppings all over the reef, their feathery arms spread wide in the gentle current, and there are fish I have never seen before. My film runs out quickly but I am in no hurry to get back to the boat, knowing this is my last dive. Overhead I see a huge school of jacks swimming by. A shark approaches them and they tighten up into a ball of swirling fins and eyes that resembles a silver tornado. The shark suddenly bolts into the ball of nervous jacks and it explodes like a fireworks display, then quickly reforms. The shark is joined by several large mackerels and the predators ravish the school of fish. The ball explodes again and again, and each time it reforms it is a little smaller. A shower of silvery scales rains down on me as I watch, transfixed. In minutes it is over and all is quiet again.
LOCATION: 4,600 miles southeast of Honolulu, 700 miles east of the Philippines. Air time from Honolulu, via Guam, is 8-9 hours. LANGUAGES: English and Palauan. POPULATION: 23,000. CURRENCY: U.S. Dollar. Credit cards are widely accepted. WEATHER: Year-round summer, with an average temperature of 82 degrees F. (27 C.) Annual rainfall is 150 inches. July through October is the wet season, but there is still much sunshine during this period. DOCUMENTS: Passports are required for Canadians. U.S. citizens must show proof of citizenship such as a passport or birth certificate. ELECTRICITY: 115/230 volt, 60 cycles. DRESS: Light and casual. No swimsuits or short shorts in public areas on the islands. TIME: Pacific Coast Standard Time plus 11 hours. TIPPING: Optional, but appreciated. DIVING CONDITIONS: Water temperature ranges from 82-84 degrees F. Visibility is usually 80-100 feet and up. Some areas experience brisk currents, but these are usually the best areas for coral and fish life. Dive operations are well organized and equipped. Divemasters are professional and knowledgeable. Dive boats are modern and very fast.
SPECIAL THANKS TO: DIVE OPERATORS: Sam's Dive Tours: Samuel D. Scott, president. Phone: 680-488-1062, Fax: 680-488-5003. E-mail: samstours@palaunet.com Fish n' Fins: Tova Har-El, general manager. Phone: 680-488-2637, Fax: 680-488-1070. E-mail: FishnFin@palaunet.com Island Nation: Jim Kloulechad, owner. Phone: 680-488-5322. E-mail: islandnation@palaunet.com HOTELS: Palau Pacific Resort: Yasuaki Uemura, general manager. Phone: 680-488-2600, Fax: 680-488-1601. E-mail: ppr@palaunet.com Carolines Resort: Phone: 680-488-3754, Fax: 680-488-3756. E-mail: carolines@palaunet.com AIRLINE: Continental Air Micronesia. For vacation packages, call Continental Vacations at 800-634-5555, extension 5. For more information: Palau Visitors Authority web page: www.visit-palau.com |