Palau Announces Formation of Shark Sanctuary

Happy Palauan Sharks

H.E. Johnson Toribiong, President of the Republic of Palau, announced to the General Assembly of the United Nations, that Palau has officially declared the waters of its Exclusive Economic Zone (230,000 sq. miles) as the world's first   Shark Sanctuary.

The President has also called for a global ban on shark-finning and for other nations to follow suit.

Creola Note: Dermot Keane, manager of Sam's Tours, has been the leading force behind the development of the Shark Sanctuary. He is the one-man voice behind the blog noted above and is celebrating in Palau today.

For Additional Information go to: http://sharksanctuary.blogspot.com/

Another Day in Paradise

Most days we find ourselves biking somewhere, today it was to the post office.  On our way back, we took these photos of us as we cross one of the two bridges into town.

On the other side of this bridge is a rock island, but not just any of the thousands of rock islands here.  It happens to be one of the 3 geocache sites in Palau.  We found one at Jellyfish Lake and we have just created another geocache site here.  For more information, go to: www.geocaching.com

Currently, we are experiencing a lot of rain.  Thank goodness for the dry internet cafe!!

A Dive Back In Time - The Chambered Nautilus

Linda with a beautiful Chambered Nautilus 









A dive with Sam's Tours, yesterday, promised to be special

We had to wait for two weeks for enough interested divers to sign up with us for the Chambered Nautilus Dive. This is not your typical dive. As you can see we were able to hold, stare at, play with and safely return several Chambered nautilus, Nautilus pompilius, to their natural environment.

These animals, relatives of the octopus, and squid have an ancestry that goes back 400 million years. There are only six species remaining, but in their hayday, some 10,000 species existed. These guys are OLD!

The divemaster shown here, was part of a team that lowered  a stainless steel cage 900 feet below the surface the day before the dive. In the cage a whole chicken was offered as a tasty meal for the Nautilus. (Note: Chambered Nautilus can dive as deep as 1800 feet and come close to surface to feed. Their eggs are laid on the reef and can take up 12 months to mature.)

The day of the dive, the dive boat is joined by a second vessel at the dive site. The dive boat ties stern-to a mooring and a block is placed on its bow. The line from the cage is passed through the block to the bow of the second vessel and it reverses pulling the line through the block thus raising the cage. At thirty feet the cage is set atop the reef and divers drop to handle the creatures. 

Bill:  Eye To Eye With The Past

When done, the nautilus are placed back in the cage and lowered to a depth that protects them from predators and the cage is opened allowing them to swim free. We hope that from their point of view, the free meal was worth putting up with the admiring humans.

Bike ride to the beautiful Palau Pacific Resort

The Palau Pacific resort is donned in gorgeous orchids, many varieties and colors. The resort has it's own orchid greenhouse. After exploring the resort and checking out the menu, we enjoyed a glass of red wine before our long bike ride back to Creola.

This is a view of the resort from out on the point looking back. Originally, this area of Palau was set up as a seaplane base and the Japanese used it during the war. There is a bunker on the top of the point from where we took this photo.

This photo of the resort is also taken from the point.  You can see part of the white sand beach and the boathouse.  The snorkeling is claimed to be wonderful with many giant clams over 3' in size. We are anxious to return, biking the big hill up and then down to the Palau Pacific....or maybe next time we will take Spicey out and around.  

Summer Memories 2009 - Happy Labor Day

Huntington Lake, July 2009

As September arrives in the states, and Labor Day weekend is underway, they seem to mark the end of summer, even though fall is a month away. Most have returned to school and work routines, leaving summer a fond memory of the past.

It has been a month since our return to Palau and Creola, resuming our cruising life. But the fun memories of our month at Huntington Lake remain. This is where Linda spent all of her summers growing up, swimming, sailing, canoeing, hiking, trips to Kaiser Pass, Kaiser meadow, Little Eden hot spring, the waterfall, and Indian pools. The wildflowers, meadow frogs, and deer complete summer at Huntington, along with filling the cabin with family, friends, dogs, cooking, eating, campfires, horseshoes, bocce, Frisbee golf and other fun play.

As a tribute to our family and friends, please enjoy these reminders of our summer past at Huntington Lake, 2009. And when your life gets hectic and you long for warm sunny days, these memories are just a click away.

Cheers, Bill and Linda (Nonie and Papa)

Thirty Gallons of Water Added To Tanks

The water maker is working once again...

It has taken several tries to get it going with new seals and O-rings, leaks, ruptures, frustration galore, but today at 1010 hours, pure sweet water once again flowed into Creola's tanks. Now we can enjoy Palau more, write more stories and paint a book or a bai.

First Nonie and Papa Book Almost Complete

The first in the series of
The Adventures of Nonie and Papa
is Almost Complete

After several years of writing stories of our experiences for the limited audience of our nine grandchildren, we have decided to rewrite the stories in a booklet format with full color photographs on every page. The first series are focused on the pre-K and will be field tested in California this fall. Primary and Intermediate level version will have to wait for now.

For additional information go to our other Blog at nonpaadventures.blogspot.com.