1st June 2016 - diving Palau - German Channel - Dexter's Wall -mishaps

Wednesday 1^st June 2016

Pretty Rock Islands

Today we are setting off for a bit of a trip for a few days, to the Rock islands.  We have a ten day permit (everything is very expensive here…) so we should make use of it.  Also we should see a bit more of beautiful Palau before we leave forever.

Yesterday’s diving had its  good moments and its bad moments…

 Briefing time - Sergi

We had a very nice dive master, Sergi (from Barcelona,) plus Yokosuma (Japan) who was bright and cheery company on the boat.  Our fellow divers were all form the US, all very pleasant and easy company.  So what went wrong…well, pride goes before a fall…Just the day before I had been boasting about my fabulous (BARGAIN!) dive equipment.  Well…we had only just got into the water for our first dive (German Channel,) when bubble BUBBLE…a weird amount of bubbles all around my head – WHAT had I done wrong??  I hadn’t even started to descend, so all was well.  But…my BCD (diving vest; everything is attached to this – hoses, tank etc) is kaput; one of the hose attachment is broken and it was leaking air happily into the atmosphere.  So good this didn’t happen when I was at the bottom of the sea…

Yokosuma at rest

I had to go back to the boat and wait for the others while they did their dive along the channel.  Fortunately, it was very nice around the boat.  I snorkelled happily around in big circles on the shallow reef under the watchful eye of our captain, RD, with a big fat fender roped to my waist so he could see me at all times.

After lunch, and after a very happy time with a playful pod of dolphins, we moved on (not very far) to Dexter’s Wall.  Kindly RD had borrowed a spare BCD from a nearby dive boat belonging to a Korean company, so I was able to take he plunge with the others.  It was all very lovely.  Big schools of snapper, lots of calm turtles, tiny nudibranchs.

So what ELSE went wrong??  Well…we had hired dive computers – they were horrified at Sam’s Tours that we didn’t own computers; apparently it is VERY bad to dive without.  So we hired big fat watch-type arrangements.  I couldn’t make head nor tail of mine, on this dive. It kept saying 99 – what on earth did this mean?? I just ignored it and dived as I usually do, keeping an eye on the depth metre and the air monitor, and all was well. 

Until it was unpacking time on shore and  - WHERE was my computer?  Vanished…I was sure it must be in the bag with the spare BCD, which we had returned to the other dive boat.  But the office people rang and no…it is just gone gone gone.  So…I have to pay $250 to replace it.  (SOB!!)

This could be a much worse story, I know, and I did enjoy my morning swim, my afternoon dive, the delicious lunch and the beautiful scenery.

We were so tired that we couldn’t even think of cooking, although we did trudge along to the local shop to get a few provisions for the next few days.  We just went and delivered them to the boat, got changed, and went to Carp for dinner, just a few hundred metres up the road. 

Nico and  Brittany

We had great company – Brittany and Nico, from Los Angeles, who had been on our diveboat, had followed our recommendation and were sitting at a big table, ready to order.  Poor things; I made them talk about the upcoming US elections… No Americans I have met thus far are happy to talk about Donald Trump…And nobody thus far can explain the Trump Phenomenon to me.  Our friend Tom, now at Ocean View, says, sadly, that the Trump ascendancy is a sign that the US is in decline…

We won’t be in internet range for a few days; I will try to take pretty photos of pretty fish etc.