Update From Palau

Creola floating gracefully on her mooring in the anchorage off Sam's Tours.  We are off in Spicey to do land chores.

No Clowning Around Today

This Clown Triggerfish is enjoying itself, but there was no clowning around on Creola today.

After diving the Chandelier Cave yesterday, (sorry no photos) we had some air left in our tanks and Creola's bottom needed a scrub. So most of today was diving under her bottom and removing the inevitable growth.

We did learn that we had many little rudder buddies and Linda took care to feed them the small oysters taken from Creola's hull.


She's clean and ready to go now, so someday soon we'll be off to the Rock Islands of Palau.

Jellyfish Lake - Worth The Wait

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Linda read about Jellyfish Lake in Palau some twenty years ago and added it to her Things To Do List. On Saturday she checked this one off her list after diving the Blue Hole and Blue Corner for the second time. As we arrived at the dock serving Jellyfish Lake, we noted the Latitude and Longitude, for it is a Virtual Geocache location. See Goecaching.com.

This landlocked lake is home to thousands and thousands of jellyfish that over the eons have traded their stinging ability for a daily migration pattern across the lake. The lake is brackish and it is a steep climb from the sea level dock up over the limestone ridge and then back down to the the lakeside dock. It's not all that easy carrying mask, snorkel, fins, cameras, etc.

Linda approaches the top of the ridge before descending to lake level.




Bill rests. After all, he was 90 feet below the surface just ninety minutes ago.

The lake is surrounded to the shore with thick jungle vegetation. The dock provides easy access to the water which is warm and comfortable. Linda described it as surreal and unbelievably relaxing.

Others might think it claustrophobic as after a brief swim you are surrounded by thousands of small, medium, and larger yellow jellyfish. They are bumping you, staring into your mask, swishing about your fins, arms, and legs while they pulse to wherever they're going.

Many fit in your hand nicely. Others are just babies about the size of a quarter and they pulse along much faster than their older siblings. You can see that they have maintained their jellyfish figure, but lack those stinging tentacles that make the Box Jelly the most deadly animal in Australia.

Linda holds a fairly large specimen and between breaths announces, "They are so cute!"  Yep, Jellyfish Lake, is worth twenty years of waiting.   You can find a video of the lake on You Tube.

Until tomorrow, B and L

Unbirthday II

Huntington Lake Unbirthdays Continue

It's a very merry unbirthday to you, to you
A very merry unbirthday to you, to you
It's a very merry unbirthday
A very merry unbirthday
It's a very merry unbirthday to you, to you.

Keegan with his spectacular double cone head and green maracas is ready to celebrate somebody's unbirthday

Nathan is looking good with new eyebrows, a party hat and is ready for some jelly bellies!

MMMMM... jelly bellies, chocolate chip cookies and Bear Creek Creamery Ice Cream (homemade)!






Kirten helps blow up balloons for the next unbirthday party. She looks great in her new googly glasses.







Blazing candles spell out the ELLA on Ella's Unbirthday cupcakes. Ella blows them out with only one breath! Sorta.

Lucky we had a US Forest Service fire permit for these celebrations.

Ian enjoys his cupcake..err...frosting as he celebrates his very first Unbirthday. Go for it little guy!






Abby shows off an Unbirthday smile,
proudly wears the Unbirthday Crown and
wonders, "Where's the cupcakes with feet?"



We all look forward to the next round of unbirthdays. Maybe we will be ready for cupcakes by then.

More tomorrow, B and L

When in Palau - DIVE

Finally, we have begun our underwater exploration of Palau.
Nope...the water maker still is not working.
Nope...the income taxes are not quite done.
We dive, nevertheless; three dives yesterday.

We were joined by Stuart, an attorney from London and Kirk Hunt, a retired dentist from... of all places....Lodi, California. The four of us made a very compatible dive group as we dove the German Channel, The Blue Hole and the Blue Corner. We will do a night dive this evening at the Short Drop.

The Blue Corner is the underwater point furthest to the west in the above photo. One of the world's most famous dive sites, it did not disappoint us. Hanging from reef on a reef hook and floating like a kite in the current about 70 feet below the surface, we watched the passing parade of sharks (silver tip reef and gray reef), Napoleon Wrasse almost as big as we are and countless Red teeth Trigger fish, Unicorn fish and others unknown. Angel fish that were rare and cautious in Micronesia run around in pairs and allow you to approach within inches.

On the way to the "corner" we swam along a patch of sand about 50 feet below the surface filled with Garden Eels that stick their heads from the sand like so many blades of grass. No mowing is necessary as they slowly but surely disappear into their holes when approached. We have not seen these eels since the Caribbean and the Sea of Cortez, Mexico.

The Blue Hole was also phenomenal. Located about 1/2 mile northeast from the "corner", the holes can be seen on Google Earth. Descending through the top of the reef at about 20 feet, you drop through the hole to its sideways exit at about 80 feet. The walls of the hole are covered with life and as you exit the fish are swimming upside down, a most peculiar sight.

After leaving the hole a steep wall presents itself along your left. Pyramid Butterflies seem to be everywhere between 40' and 60'. The wall is covered with soft and hard corals and even under overcast skies was very colorful. We could hang on the wall motionless for hours looking at all the forms that life takes, but that will have to wait for another dive.

We will dive these sites again and again. In the future we will have our new underwater camera and we will bring close-ups of the action.

Until tomorrow, B and L.

Unbirthdays at Huntington Lake

What's An Unbirthday? Away from our family, as we are, we miss many important days...like Birthdays! So while at Huntington Lake this summer, we celebrated the UNBIRTHDAY of each of our grandchildren. With hats, balloons, maracas, noses and an UNBIRTHDAY Crown, we all sang and carried on like it was a real birthday.
Zachary

Julia







Big O Dad









Sally and Glenski









Lauren






For more excitement see Unbirthday II.

Our Beautiful Anchorage in Koror, Palau

Here are three views of our location in Koror, Palau. The image on the left is a view of the anchorage that Creola shares with several other cruisers and local vessels. The surrounding islands are composed of limestone, are very steep and, as you can see, heavily wooded with a wide variety of tropical vegetation.

The islands are undercut at the water level due to erosion caused by tidal flux and wave action. This overhang can be clearly seen in the image at the left. How limestone islands are formed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is a mystery to me.

Beneath Creola is a depth of about 60 feet with the bottom covered with coral. This is not ideal for anchoring, so Sam, from Sam's Tours, has allowed us to use one of his moorings at one cost.

The last image is a view from Sam's Tours facing to the west. The island in the far distance is the island that you see in the top photo and is about a quarter mile away from the dock. This is a short dinghy ride and unlike many other places that charge every time you use their dinghy dock, Sam's Tours does not charge.

The most outlandish dinghy fees we have experienced were in Costa Rica, where the marina charged $40.00 US to use the dinghy dock so you could use one of the restaurants or businesses! We declined to use their services after the first visit.

More tomorrow, B and L

Who Needs A Watermaker...We Got Rain

It has rained here in Koror, Palau and Linda has very effectively collected the water into Creola's tanks. We can wash and drink and relax a little.

So we unloaded the bicycles and got them ashore and operating, cleaning bits of rust from here and there. We got out the Income Tax information so we can complete our filing extension before October and we snorkeled around the boat.

We found many specimens of the this Giant Clam above. Of the genus Tridacna, these are endangered and we have discovered that they are illegal to ship to the US. It's funny, because shells of these critters are abundant on beaches and are sold almost everywhere. One shelf along the edge of one of the islets had beautifully colored clams everywhere we looked. We have visited four clam farms across Micronesia. Both Linda and I have always favored protection of endangered species and we have learned to wonder what the process of becoming identified as endangered and how often it is reviewed. More on this as we learn about it.

Until tomorrow, B and L

Watermaker Gets Cranky Again!

This is our infamous ETD, Energy Transfer Device... better known as a Clark Pump. It is the weak spot in our SeaRecovery watermaker system. We have rebuilt it numerous times and once again it has failed. This time a new aspect has developed...water squirting from one of the bolts holes you see next to the pressure gauge.

Tomorrow we drag out the old ETD...we've had three in four years and see if we can patch it together to fill Creola's tanks.

The good news...Sam's Tours will let us fill with beautifully filter water right at the their docks..NO Charge. Life remains good.

Until tomorrow B and L

Use It! Or Lose It!

Not everyday is dedicated to snorkeling or diving among sea fans like this.

Today was the day to fire up the often troublesome watermaker. You guessed it... sitting idle for a month caused her to be a bit cranky this morning. Use It! Or Lose It!

After reinstalling the filters and opening the through hull, she was coaxed into building the necessary pressure to produce sweet wonderful water from sea water. It was then that water began squirting from one of the bolts in the Clarke Pump. Having salt water spray beneath the bunk in the forward stateroom is not a good thing, so the pump was shut down and will need to be rebuilt for the umteenth time tomorrow morning.

On the upside, Bill spent some inspirational time with a watercolor artist this afternoon. She is quite talented and if the watermaker works tomorrow afternoon, Bill will return to working on Abby's book, "Have You Ever Tried To Reason With A Fly?"


Linda successfully talked Citibank into honoring our purchase of a new camera. It is always a joy to talk with Citibank.

We are all well here in Palau. Until tommorrow!

Back To Normal - Almost

We have almost caught up with our sleep and have begun to return to normal. Normal is not always very exciting... today's activities included laundry, grocery shopping, locating the recommended doctors and dentist and a trip to the post office. We spent the afternoon on the internet here at Sam's, which is pretty slow. (Not Sam's fault)

There is no Skype here in Palau. Rumor has it the national telephone company prevents access to it, so we are doing our best to use Yahoo Messenger, but with little luck so far. For some unexplained reason, I cannot post photos to these blogspots today. Sorry about that.

It might be useful to note that there is a good selection of groceries in three major stores and many smaller ones here in Palau. You can get fresh fish, of course, but Angus beef is also available. A good supply of fresh fruits and vegetables is available most of the time. We are still looking for a reasonable source for wine....this remains a challenge. There is quite a selection of good restaurants.

Last night we had a HUGE Yellow fin tuna steak with salad and onion rings for $10.00. Oh yeah, the currency here is the US dollar.

Until tomorrow! B and L

Return to Palau

We have returned to Koror, Palau after four weeks in California. Most of the time was spent at Huntington Lake where we were fortunate to be joined by all of our children and grandchildren. We celebrated unbirthdays. Abby is pictured here all dressed up for her unbirthday party. We ate. We sailed. We ate. We swam. We ate. We hiked. We ate. We boccie-balled...we ate!

The friendly people at Sam's Tours cared for Creola in our absence and she was in fine shape when we returned. We offer our gratitude for their professionalism and care. Go to www.sam'stours.com for more information.

As we regroup after four+ days of travel that took us through Tokyo, Japan and Manila in the Phillipines, we will prepare to do some sailing and diving in some of the world's most famous waters. The weather has been "iffy" of late and according to local tales we missed some of the worst. So we stow away our California goodies and make sure all is ready aboard Creola, before we venture to the Rock Islands and Jellyfish Lake.