Yap and Palau

Kw and I spent a week or so in a couple small islands doing some diving/snorkeling and sightseeing. Yap is a small island in the Federated States of Micronesia. The Republic of Palau (independent since 1996 or so) is a group of islands world recognized as one of the best dive islands anywhere. Yap is much lesser known and much quieter but the diving is on par with Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

YAP
Yap was first, we flew direct from Guam and arrived an hour or so later. Yap is not a destination most people have heard of. With only Continental Airlines serving it, and only 3 times per week to Guam and 3 times per week to Palau, it is really just a stopover to and from Palau and Guam. A small handful of people get off and on in Yap, with most of the passengers just flying thru.

We spent just a couple days in Yap at a small 5 room inn called O'keefe's, and left wishing we had a couple more to spend. Yap is the most untouched piece of real estate I've ever visited. A Pacific island where there is just a few small places to rent rooms and a couple small restaurants around the dive dock. Being in Yap will give you the feeling of intruding upon a simpler time and a place, yet it is so welcoming that you can feel a connection with it from the first person you meet (after the Customs people).

We arrived late at night and the dive master/owner Dave from "Beyond the Reef" met us at the airport to make sure everything was set up for the next morning. BTR is friendly, experienced, very affordable, and knowledgeable. We asked to dive to see the famous manta rays. A 15 foot tip to tip span, the mantas have a prehistoricly large quality, and are as gentle as they are large. We saw one in the first 30 seconds of the dive and another 4 before the hour was up. They are mesmerizing to watch gliding effortlessly thru the water, just 10 feet from your mask. I'd do that dive again and again. The second dive would prove to be less relaxing.

We splashed into a site called Shark City. Not Shark Street or Shark Town....Shark City lived up to it's name. A heart pounding 13 sharks circled below the boat as contemplated the intelligence of this whole idea. Not surprisingly, I jumped in wide eyed and sucking down the air in my tank like an Irishman sucking down Guinness on Saint Patty's Day....which is a little funny 'cuz the 2 other people diving with us were honeymooning from Ireland.

I don't care how many times the dive guide said "Yap sharks are friendly"...they look at you and you know they are thinking "hmmmmm....is that guy a 2 bite or a 3 bite?" When there are 13 of them, you wonder which one of them is having a bad day and wants to take it out on a tourist. It was a great dive. I have no idea what it looked like, though. I think it was a steep wall, but all I could see were sharks. It was great though, because they didn't bite me or Katrina. I wasn't too concerned about the Irish couple.

We ended up back at the dock safe and sound, without any underwater pictures. You wouldn't be looking thru a camera lens either with that many sharks surrounding you. We did get a couple pics on the way back in...some cool looking boat and a baby manta ray playing at the surface of the water doing some loops.

We ate a fantastic dinner on a ship-restaurant and called it an early night.

The next day we were flying out late at night, and after breakfast, rented a car for a little island exploring. After driving around the island for a couple hours on mostly dirt roads and talking with a guy walking around his village with a machete, we had gotten a pretty good grasp of Yap. We had learned that it was mostly an agricultural society, and that there is alot of history to the native people (the stone money is awesome to see, and when you learn the story behind it, it is dumbfounding). We learned that there aren't really any jobs in Yap. If you do have a job, the going hourly rate is around $1 per hour and it is part time. Hopefully, you don't need to drive to work, because gas is $6 per gallon. You could end up working just to pay for your gas to get to and from work. This makes it silly for most village people to get a job in Colonia (where the dive shop is and the hotel and diners are). Outside of Colonia, there isn't a single business or restaurant that we saw. People fish, farm, and feed themselves. Just when we were finishing up with our island tour, something spectacular happened.

Driving down the road, we saw a village ceremony going on near the meeting house (village men's version of town hall). KW and I stopped and debated, once again, the intelligence of crashing this party. Much like with the sharks, we eventually jumped in. Knowing it could be days before anybody missed us, let alone found us, we were very cautious and respectful when approaching the gathering. We stood around the outskirts for a few minutes trying to blend in, which was pretty silly given that every head in the place seemed to turn and stare at us 2 whiteys as we slowly walked up. It wasn't long before a gentleman (he said his name was John...but I have my doubts) invited me over to sit and talk with the Chief. He told KW that she had to sit with the other women about 20 feet in front of, but not with, the men.

They wanted to make sure we had no cameras and made it clear this would not be appropriate. We didn't have it with us, but it was in the car. The Chief and John explained to me that we had crashed a Bamboo War Dance. Curious who they were going to war with, Chief explained that this dance was a village history of past wars. It was sacred to them and usually only village people allowed to view it. He wanted to know who sent us here, and I explained how we came about them. They don't want guests stopping by, but were very welcoming once they understood that we stumbled upon them. Kw and I watched the village history dancing before us thinking this is something that National Geographic would likely report about, if they knew where we were.

The Chief, John and I talked in broken English for an hour or so as the War Dance continued. We talked about so many things...but the short version is KW and were told to come back and stay as members of the village in their guest accomodations. He explained that as we had witnessed their history, it was our village now too. John said I have to come back so he can teach me to spear fish so I can feed my family :)....but don't tell anybody the name of their village because too many tourists will come, and they don't want them. I can't say I disagree.

I realize that certain experiences can't translate well thru a blog. Maybe if you could hear me tell it, rather than reading it, you could hear their sincerity coming through in my voice. Maybe I could try to tell you how I felt watching their War Dance unfold, yet not knowing the feeling of the villagers as they watched, or how I think one of the men made the new white guy the butt of a joke without him realizing it. Maybe KW could tell you about the children that wouldn't take their big white eyes off her light skin and her golden hair, and the grandma that wanted KW to sit closer. Maybe we could tell you all that, but vicariously through our story, you likely still wouldn't know how it felt no matter how well told the story was. I wish you could feel it though, because it was.... like...kind of....hmmmmm. Yeah, sometimes it just doesn't translate through a blog.

Palau
Leaving Yap with a promise to return, a new village to call "home", we boarded the flight to Palau.

Palau is a developing island nation, with unparalleled diving. Unfortunately, it also comes with some baggage. It's kinda dirty in Koror (the main town) with some good restaurants and a choice of several places to stay, but prostitution on the streets and Chinese massage parlors dotting the landscape.

Putting the seedy side out of mind, we pretty much got up early, dove, had a couple drinks and dinner and slept. It was so nice.
We dove with Sam's Tours out of Koror. Our dive guide was Daniel. Anything you wanted...from dinner recommendation to dive site suggestions and a little tour every trip out of the marina, Daniel made the vacation in Palau better than just diving.

Matt and Vicki joined us after the first day of diving and ended up convincing us to stay an extra couple days beyond our original plans. Of course, the quality of diving made the choice that much easier. I dove 4 consecutive days twice a day and three on the last day that included a cavern and a wreck. Needless to say, I was beat. Kw snorkeled everyday I dove, except one when she needed to catch her breath for a day. The last day we kayaked and snorkeled and wished we had dove again instead.

We dove at Dexter's Wall, Blue Corner, Big Drop, Blue Holes, Pelileu Express, Yellow Wall, Jellyfish Lake...which was alien-like freaky, Siaes Tunnel, ,Ulong Channel-famous from Survivor Micronesia, and finished up with a wreck from WWII with lots of explosives still on it. These dives all had some different twists. Some had big Green Sea Turtles, most had a couple sharks ranging from white tips, to black tips to the larger Gray sharks. Gorgeous corals and tons of colorful fish, a manta ray, the wreck dive and some caverns/caves to explore.

The diving was awesome, and the company we dove with was great. We met some really fun people (some from Cabo in Mexico, some from Windsor, Connecticut oddly enough), had some great local beer and slept alot.

Not the cultural experience of Yap, but a heck of a good time that we'd go back for again.