Over the past couple days my dive buddy, Shawn, and I have been getting some more diving in during our extended stay in Palau. Monday saw us back at the Blue Holes this time with a group from Sam’s Tours, a bustling dive shop in Koror. The dive there was spectacular as we swam through the cavern checking out nudibranchs, eels, and a disco clam that would light up when you hit it with your dive light.
After Blue Holes we visited Ngerchong Outside again and saw more beautiful corals, fish, some sharks, and a turtle. It was fun to revisit these sites after our journey on the liveaboard and reminisce about our time there the week before. The guides from Sam’s Tour were also fantastic and brought slates to help out with fish ID. They’d write out the names of fish or other critters and point them out as we passed by. Very helpful for learning fish ID!
Our last dive on Monday took us to a new ship wreck, the Teshio Maru, a Japanese merchant ship sunk in 1944. The ship was much smaller than the Iro which we dove before but still very interesting. The Teshio Maru was laying on it’s side and while the bow of the ship was pretty destroyed, the rest of it was still intact and fun to explore.
On Tuesday, we were back at Sam’s early for a “Unique Dive Expedition”, a full day of diving that started with a snapper spawning event out at a dive site called Shark City. Our guides, Matt and Jesse, had been studying the snapper spawning events for the past four years and had become experts in observing the event. They were able to drop us in at the right place at the right time to witness thousands and thousands of red snapper spawn. The dive was quite advance as currents would change quickly and the open ocean waves made it a rough journey out but it was all worth it in the end. The spectacle was pretty incredible; the red snapper started spawning and that drew in plenty of other creatures. Some fish would come to gobble up nutrient-rich eggs and some oceanic black tip sharks showed up to gobble up the fish themselves. Seeing so many creatures aggregated in one place was unforgettable.
After the spawning event, we did a couple more dives. The first returned us to Ulong Channel, a site I was more than happy to revisit. It was just as incredible as the first time however we worked our way from the inside of the channel out to the mouth of the channel. We got to revisit the giant clams, beautiful flower coral, and at the very end we were able to see even more baby reef sharks than we saw on our first visit. I counted up to twenty then even more came in and I gave up the count to just admire the site of so many sharks.
Our last dive a wreck dive back on the Iro. Matt and Jesse were very knowledgeable about the Iro and had dove it hundreds of times. They made great guides and took us to places we hadn’t been on the ship on our first visit. They pointed out the engine room, wheel house, and a backup steering system used to manually turn the rudder of the ship if they lost control of the main steering system.
It was a great last day of diving in Palau. Today I’m going on a kayaking tour with some new friends made on the liveaboard and tomorrow, my last day in Palau, I’ll join them again for a drive around Babeldaob, the big island of Palau. Although there is no more diving planned, I’m excited for the rest of the touring to be done here and I will be sad to leave these beautiful islands come Friday morning.