Palau (Maui)
Author: Jim Faller

Barb (my wife) kept a journal of our honeymoon, so I thought I would write a detailed report of the dives we did from the information in our log books. It is very long, I just thought if anyone was interested they could read it if they like.

PLAYING IN THE ROCK ISLANDS WITH SAM’S a.k.a. OUR PALAU DIVE TRIP

I first have to start out with saying that this trip was a trip of a lifetime, the best dive trip I have ever been on! Even though it was our honeymoon this report will only contain information about our water related activities. With that said I also have to mention that our Tobermory trip is right up there with this one, just totally different type of diving.

We dove with Sam's Dive Tours (e-mail: webmaster@samstours.com), a top notch outfit.

Scott, originally from Washington DC, was our dive-master/instructor, a very knowledgeable and friendly person who gave us a great and safe tour of many Palau dive sites. He also guided us snorkeling in some of the most pristine areas of the Rock Islands during some of our surface intervals. Since we were using computers he would let us dive our own profiles, we could go as deep as we wanted and stay down as long as we wanted. The surface intervals were as long as we needed them to be, there was no set schedule to stick to. He made sure we were diving the best diving we possibly could! Prior to this he worked in Maui as a dive-master, but as soon as the opportunity to work in Palau came up he took it without hesitation, I can see why.

Ray was our captain, a local Palauan who is so friendly and very knowledgeable about Palau and it’s customs. He took us to some very special places during our surface intervals and played tour guide when explaining the importance and specialness of these locations. He would also see interesting stuff on the surface and take us to whatever he spotted. We had close encounters with a huge school of spinner dolphins and manta rays "flying" through a channel, there was no rush between dives or getting back to the dock. Having Ray as our captain was a major bonus on this trip!

Trudy, originally from Australia was our kayak guide on our down day before we flew out. Now if you ever get the chance to kayak the rock islands of Palau do it! You won’t be sorry. Trudy is very nice and very knowledgeable about the marine life in and about the Rock Islands, she is also a PADI dive master. She gave us a fantastic tour and was able to answer all of our questions, she took us to places that you just wouldn’t see if you only went diving in Palau. Trudy is Scott’s girlfriend, which makes Scott a very luck guy, for dating her and diving in Palau, even though she may have had something to do with Scott’s car bumper coming off, and some other little car problems.

Now the diving:

FIRST DAY 6/30/99

SNORKEL ON A JAPANESE ZERO

Before we really started our diving Ray took us to a sunken Japanese zero (Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Navy type 0 fighter, Zeke) in about 5 feet of water (we could only do it in the morning when it was high tide). When swimming over to it I saw my first of what was to be many blue star fish, so cool! The zero was in great shape, the wings, prop, cockpit and fuselage were all in tack. Not a very big plane, swam around it a couple of times examining it. When looking aft of the plane you could imagine it flying over the rock island there and crash landing into the water where it now sits. They say the pilot survived the landing.

BLUE HOLE max. depth: 91 feet, bottom time: 48 min., water temp: 88F top to bottom, vis 100ft+

Ray then took us on a magical boat ride to Blue Hole, it was a beautiful trip through the Rock Islands, crystal clear turquoise and blue water, weaving in and out of the unique islands and reefs, the ride getting there was half the fun! My words just can’t do them justice so I won’t even try but I do highly encourage you to see a small sample of them at: The Rock Islnds. Since most of the boat trips were similar to this I won’t bother mentioning it on all the dive descriptions.

We arrived at a coral reef head sticking out of the water just north of Ngemelis Island. The surf was breaking over the top of it, blue water to the west (the wall), and turquoise water to the east (the coral reef). We descended at the outside of a coral reef down along the wall into a big opening at around 80ft. We entered into a huge room with "sky lights" above through which you could see the bright blue of the sunlight penetrating the water. There were large, light filled caverns with beautiful wire and black corals (they don’t need much or any direct sunlight) and a few different types of reef fish (not as many as the other dives). I was told that the bottom is around 130ft and sandy. We made it out of the cave area and proceeded along the wall at around 60ft to 70ft. There were both white tip and black tip reef sharks during this dive and many more colorful reef fish all over the place (as soon as I get by Micronesia fish guide book I’ll be able to identify them). The wall was beautiful with huge sea fans and brightly colored soft corals. We continued along the wall with the intent to arrive at blue corner. As we were getting close Scott detected a down current that he wasn’t comfortable with so we made a U-turn and came about. As we heading back we swam past movie stars Laurence Fishburne and Lauren Hutton along the wall. During our surface interval Scott told us that one of the other dive masters from Sam’s was guiding them. The boat they were on was incredible, but that’s another story. Latter we were told that Sandra Bullock joined them. We continued with an easy swim back as we gradually ascended and finally doing a safety stop at 15ft for 3 min.

SNORKEL AT NGEMELIS ISLAND

During our surface interval we ate lunch on the boat as it was tied off at Ngemelis Island. After lunch we snorkeled in about 10ft of water over some coral right at a walls edge, real blue water! Many trigger fish, butterfly, snapper, and others just don’t know what they’re called. Then a 2ft wrasse came swimming by us for awhile and was acting territorial. We then swam to the Island and walked on the beach spotting hermit crabs in their shells and regular crabs running into their holes.

NEW DROPOFF a.k.a. NGEMELIS DROPOFF max. depth: 71 feet, bottom time: 50 min., water temp: 89F @ top, 78F @ max. depth, vis 100ft+

Another great wall, (they all are in Palau) we dropped down the wall and swam along it at 60ft to 70ft for most of the dive. There was black coral lots of colorful fish all over, clown fish swimming in patches of anemone. There was a juvenile black tip reef shark (around 3ft to 4ft long) swimming about 20ft below us for a couple of minutes.

SNORKEL AT A JAPANESE WRECK

On the way to the cove where the wreck sat Ray spotted a school of spinner dolphins out in open blue water. He drove the boat over to them and they rode our bow wake for quite sometime. There must have been at least 40 to 50 as a conservative guess. Some would jump out of the water right at the bow, others would swim very close to the boat and then either come up for air or descend deep out of sight. We spent 10 to 15 minutes with them, WOW!

The wreck was in about 15ft to 30ft of water, and around 70ft long. We snorkeled around it a couple of times and swam down to various parts of it like the rudder, wheel house and the bow. Another boat with snorkelers was already there in the water so there were a few of us in the water but a very enjoyable time.

SECOND DAY 7/1/99

SHORT DROPOFF (BARB’S 100TH DIVE) max. depth: 92 feet, bottom time: 49 min., water temp: 90F top to bottom, vis 100ft+

This dive was great! What a dive to be your 100th like it was for Barb. We did a free fall to 92 feet in the bluest water you could ever imagine. It was 90 degrees at depth, that’s what my gauge was telling me, and it felt sooooo comfortable. Being weightless warm and enjoying every second made me imagine that this could be similar to what it might feel like being in the womb before birth. We drifted along the wall and saw 4 grey reef sharks (nice size) tons of colorful fish like butterflyfish , parrotfishand and wrasses, a school of blue tail jacks came cruising by. Many soft and hard corals of different bright colors and huge fans all over, truly a remarkable dive!

SNORKEL AT MANDARIN FISH LAKE AND YAP BIG MONEY

This snorkel swim was so incredible that I put it in my log book. Mandarin fish lake is not really a lake but a little secluded cove hidden way back somewhere among the Rock Islands. Ray took us right there without any trouble. First he slowly took the boat in through the narrow channel then into the lake. Crystal clear and very still light-blue/turquoise water, about 30ft max. depth with a sand and coral bottom. It was so quiet and still, it really is a very special place. As he took us around Scott pointed out the 2 coral heads where the mandarin fish are spotted and the big jellyfish on the other side of the lake. We were told to stay away from them as they do sting. Ray then took the boat out and anchored it outside the channel in the middle of the Rock Islands, such a beautiful place. As we snorkeled up the channel we saw little gobbles guarding a blind shrimp as he cleaned out their home, they have a symbiotic relationship. Also passed a patch of bright pink fans in 4ft to 5ft of water. We continued swimming up to the lake and headed towards the coral heads to see if we could find the rare mandarin fish. We able to spot a couple bouncing around the coral head and a small baby one. This is such a beautiful fish, bright green in color with many spots of bright yellow, orange and blue. It’s a hard fish to describe, it would be better to show you a picture of it. I stayed afloat still and silent for a long time observing the coral head and the many fish within it. Eventually we swam out to the boat past many beautifully colored fish for a nice and easy swim back as there was a slight current helping us out. Back on the boat and ate lunch and relaxed.

On the way to our second dive of the day Ray took us to another Rock Island and docked at the side of it. There were stairs carved out of the rock that lead up to a pathway joining a system of caves. The caves were used as living quarters for the Yapese people as they worked to carve out Yap money from the stone. The type of stone used for Yap money was found only in Palau so with permission from the Palauan Chief they would come over and work for around a year to carve and polish the stone into a round disk with a hole in the center, not unlike a wheel. If the stone money was damaged (cracked or pieces broken off) all the work would be for nothing and they would leave it behind. There was actually a piece of Yap money at this location because it was cracked. Now Yap money is big and heavy, I think so that no one would steal it. The piece we saw was about eight feet in diameter and two feet thick. The surface intervals in Palau are the best!

LIGHTHOUSE CHANNEL a.k.a. NO. 6 BOUY a.k.a. CHINESE FISHING BOAT WRECK
max. depth: 73 feet, bottom time: 30 min., water temp: 89F top to bottom, vis 20ft-80ft

Descended into the channel during slack tide, limited visibility by Palau standards. In order to find the wreck (an unidentified 100-foor long Japanese fishing boat) our group split up into two and swam down each side of the channel. Whoever found the wreck first would get the other group. Sounds like a good plan but of course we got separated and after time the group that didn’t find the wreck swam to the other side of the channel, got lost and then surfaced. The other group found the wreck and stayed on it for awhile, but since all the divers weren’t together they surface too. But in the meantime the Ray picked up the first group and dropped them off at the wreck. When they got down to it they couldn’t find anybody (because they were in the process of surfacing) so the first group surfaced again. At this point everyone was either on the dive boat or on the surface and decided to abort the dive all together at that point.

THIRD DAY 7/2/99

WRECK DIVE, THE IRO, A JAPANESE FLEET SHIP
max. depth: 98 feet, bottom time: 36 min., water temp: 90F top to bottom, vis 30ft-50ft

The wreck is a 500-foot long fueling tanker used to supply the Japanese Navy. It sits upright with the stern deck in around 90ft, and the bow deck in around 50ft of water. We descended amidships down a mast that started in 30ft of water. The visibility was low with particles suspended in the water during slack tide. This mast was actually two long pipes in the shape of the letter "A" coming from the deck and used as some sort of fueling apparatus. After we were at the deck amidships we headed west to the stern. The ship is encrusted all over with colorful soft corals and fans. We came to a cabin that was very dark, all you could see was the light coming through the door 20 feet away on the other side of the room. We swam through without any lights, just "go to the light" and you’ll be OK I was told, so I did. At the stern was a huge gun, this to was all encrusted with colorful corals and fans. As we headed up to the bow on the port side we came across a lion fish practically motionless right at the gunnel. We all stopped and looked at it for awhile and took pictures. We then continued eastward on the port side to the bow, then headed back to the mast at amidships, started up the mast and did our safety stops.

ULONG CHANNEL
max. depth: 60 feet, bottom time: 55 min., water temp: 90F top to bottom, vis 50ft-80ft

Before we did this dive we had lunch and spent our surface interval on Ulong Island. This island is more beautiful than any post card or picture book of it could ever try to match. We anchored in the sand and walked ashore. Picnic tables were already in place under a big beautiful tree provided by the Rock Island and Diving Permit fee ($15.00 US). The view we had was of the white sand beach turning into turquoise colored water, to light blue and then to the very dark blue with every shade of blue in-between, then purple. Other Rock Islands off in the distance, a huge isolated rain storm miles away and totally sunny all around us. Plush green coconut trees and rich green vegetation all about the jungle behind us as birds soared through the skies. As we took a walk down the beach after lunch we saw part of an airplane wing uncovered in the sand. As far as I know it could have been Amelia Earhart’s plane????? Just so picturesque, a tropical paradise!

Ulong channel is a drift dive, one that moves along at a pretty good clip, once your in it there’s no turning back. As we descended at the beginning of the channel we immediately saw grey reef sharks and lots and lots of fish, brightly colored soft corals and fans. There are also large patches of lettuce coral and anemones with clown fish about. We then saw a section of sand that had a bunch of garden eels sticking there heads and bodies up out into the channel. We drifted with the incoming tide current as the channel became narrow at some points and wider at others. It was a good idea to be aware of where the other divers were so not to bump into them. As we approached the end of the channel you could see that it emptied out onto a wall at Rebotel Reef, the outer barrier reef. There we saw five grey reef sharks, one fairly large laying on the bottom of the channel having the current rush over it. We then ventured down the wall a bit and then back to the mouth of the channel to see what might come by. We ended up doing our safety stop there gradually getting shallower in the reef at the edge of the channel. Lots of the usual reef fish were swimming about but we took notice to the many clams all over the reef. The colors of their mantle lobs were unbelievable, bright blues with spots of purple on one, another multi shades of bright green, another shades of pale brown and countless other varieties. It was a very diverse make up of clam colors which made for a very nice safety stop.

SIASE WALL
max. depth: 73 feet, bottom time: 62 min., water temp: 88F top to bottom, vis 100ft+

Siase wall is one of the don’t miss dives of Palau. It will be difficult to have any description do it justice, you have to dive it to understand and appreciate its beauty. With that said I’ll give it a try. As we dropped down the wall it was breathtaking, big fans of red, purple and pink. Many different colors of soft corals all over the wall, blue, green, yellow, red, just about any color you could imagine. I spotted a good size unicorn fish below us and it had a very long snout. Schools of butterfly fish, trigger fish, snappers, parrot fish all over the wall. There were so many of the 1,500 different species of fish and 700 varieties of coral that Palau has to offer on this dive that I really can’t remember all of what we saw. Schools of jacks would swim by, then a school of tuna came racing by, we would see both schools a few more times as they swam around the wall. Looking out into the blue water away from the wall we saw grey reef sharks going by just about all of the time. There was so much to see the entire dive that we just didn’t want to get out of the water! As we eventually reached the top of the wall and then onto the coral reef I saw the biggest parrot fish that I have ever seen in my life! At first we thought it was a Napoleon wrasse, but Scott told us it was a bumphead parrot fish. This thing was as big as Barb (my beautiful bride), hey that’s what it said in my log book. We did our safety stop there and then reluctantly got out of the water.

FORTH DAY 7/3/99

BLUE CORNER!!!!!!!!
max. depth: 106 feet, bottom time: 61 min., water temp: 90F top to bottom, vis 100ft+

I don’t think that I’ll ever forget this dive! We descended down the wall before Blue Corner and again saw many beautiful fans and multi-colored soft corals, they are so abundant. As we drifted towards the corner white-tip and grey reef sharks were starting to appear (it didn’t take long). We saw Scott get his reef hook ready, this was our signal to get ours out and be prepared to "hook-in". As we came up at the corner we hooked into the rock at about 45ft and flew like kites in the sky against the current. What a show, we stayed there for 45 minutes just watching everything that came by. There were mainly grey and white-tip reef sharks. Some close and others off in the distance and approaching. One grey reef shark, around 8ft long and very wide stayed in front of us for awhile about 10ft to 15ft away stationary against the current. He was motionless, I don’t know how he was able to do that against the current. The water is so clear and at 45ft the sunlight lit up the shark and reef like we were in air. This trip was the first time for me taking underwater pictures, with this shark stationary for so long right in front of me I had time to think about how to set the camera. I can only hope that one of the shots turns out after bracketing the exposure. We also encountered a giant napoleon wrasse swimming all around us halfway through the dive. He was like a friendly pet dog coming close to check us out then swim around the reef in front of us for awhile then back. The usual suspects of reef fish were in great numbers on the wall and at the reefs edge where we hooked in. When it was time to surface we unhooked and started drifting with the current. As we ascended to do our safety stop we found ourselves in the middle of a school of about 60 to 80 barracuda. They parted as we approached the school so that they were pretty much all around us at one point. A couple came real close to us as they are a curious fish. Barb made sure that her fingers in her bright pink cloves were closed into a fist so not to temp them. This is why we came to Palau!

NEW DROP-OFF
max. depth: 75 feet, bottom time: 67 min., water temp: 90F top to bottom, vis 100ft+

I know this is starting to sound redundant, but this also was a fantastic dive. Again we descended down the wall, tons of reef fish all over, fans and the multi-colored soft corals. There were some big patches of anemones with orange and purple clown fish swimming in them, and every so often grey reef sharks would cruse by. There were many cuts and corners along the wall to enter in and explore. At one point Barb got a little ahead of us and as she came out of the cut and continued along the wall. A grey reef shark was approaching but this time it was closer to the wall which enabled Barb to get a closer look. But at some point the comfortableness vanished as the shark kept coming closer and closer to her. She was getting real concerned because the shark was getting real close and the rest of us were still in the cut along the wall. The shark made a close encounter then continued on its way, very scary for awhile. I didn’t know this happened until after we surfaced and she told me, she was hoping that I got a picture. Towards the end of the dive we came across a turtle poking it’s head in and around some coral on the wall. The current wasn’t strong at all at this point so we hovered a little above him and off the wall to watch. It looked like he was hunting for something to eat, after awhile he gave up and headed up the wall a little to another spot.

BOAT RIDE THROUGH GERMAN CHANNEL

On the boat ride from new drop-off to Chandelier Cave we passed through German Channel. This is a cut the Germans blasted into the reef during their occupation of Palau from 1899 to 1914. It provides a pathway around 10ft to 15ft deep between the Philippine sea and the lagoon inside the barrier reef (east of Palau is the North Pacific Ocean). We’ve been through the channel before a couple of times and marveled at the beauty of the water color and the surrounding Rock Islands. But this time was different, Ray stopped the boat turned around and headed back. As we got closer we knew why, he had spotted a huge manta ray in the channel. It must have been 12 feet wide and about 1ft to 2ft from the surface. It was gracefully "flying" as it moved its "wings" to swim down the channel. Our boat was right next to it, I was on the bow and took pictures, the water is so clear and the manta so close that I’m sure they’ll turn out. Scott and Ray both said that if we got into the water with it he’d just swim away, so we had to enjoy the experience onboard. Ray stayed with it for awhile and then the manta finally left us. As we headed back through the channel a second manta appeared, Ray maneuvered the boat so that we got another close encounter. It was like an instant replay of the previous manta but this was just a little smaller, but still a good sized manta.

CHANDELIER CAVE
max. depth: 47 feet, bottom time: 17 min., water temp: 90F @ top, 85 @ max. depth, vis 50ft

The entrance to the cave is at around 25ft and contains four chambers (air pockets) that you can surface into as you traverse the cave. It is described as a fresh water cave, but with the entrance from the ocean I’m sure that there’s salt water along with the fresh water that leaches in from the limestone. You can hear and see the droplets of the fresh water entering the cave from the ceiling. I did see a distortion line in the water that’s reminiscent of a thermalcline and I assume that it’s a barrier between the two types of water with the fresh water on top, but I’m no expert. We entered the cave and swam all the way to the third chamber and surfaced. The walls were a golden drown color with stalactites and stalagmites of all sizes. Some huge stalactites were hanging from the ceiling so far that they penetrating the water. The bigger stalagmites were making there way up from the bottom and penetrating the water. It was like this in all the chambers. You could take your regulator out of your mouth and breath the air and talk to each other, otherwise it was very still and quiet in there. After spending some time in this chamber we went underwater and swam to the fourth and last chamber. Scott and I took our BC’s and fins off and climbed out of the water and walked into a cave that was beyond this chamber. People had written their names and dates on the walls using the mud on the cave floor. After getting back in the water and putting our gear on we turned off all our lights. It was totally dark, pitch black, couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face. After being in the darkness for awhile and your eyes had a chance to adjust, just the most faint hint of blue light could be detected from the direction of the caves entrance. It was so faint that some people didn’t see it. When you put your head under water and looked through your mask it was much brighter but still not much light. We swam part of the way out with the lights off. We surfaced into every chamber on the way out. One had what looked like curtains (or northern lights) waving in the ceiling made of the drown colored limestone. Another had a narrow offshoot path that we explored. In all we surfaced at least five times throughout the cave to explore, this was a real cool dive and completely different from what I had expected from Palau.

FIFTH DAY 7/4/99

DOWN DAY KAYAK TRIP THROUGH THE ROOK ISLANDS

Trudy was our tour guide and a great one at that, she made our adventure a lot of fun. We started out with the kayaks tied onto the bow of the boat and headed out into the Rock Islands. We arrived at one of the islands where a huge tree is at it’s edge and had a swinging rope attached to one of its branches that reached out over the water. We climbed the ladder that’s attached to it’s trunk up to the platform built there with the rope waiting. It was high tide so you needed to really jump high as you grabbed the rope to swing and launch yourself into the air. Barb was able to get some major air as she reached the apex of the rope swing and let go, by far the best ride of us all. I tried it and my legs hit the water at the ropes lowest point and caused some major drag. I never really got much of a release into the air as I entered the water both times.

After swinging on the rope the boat took us to this isolated cove somewhere in the Rock Islands. We all boarded our kayaks there, six of us and Trudy for a total of seven. We paddled around the Rock Islands for awhile, they are just so remarkably beautiful. The water has every shade of blue possible and from a distance the green vegetation growing on the islands seemed to be coming right out of it. The white long-tailed birds flying so gracefully and free throughout the islands was a site to see.

We then reached a spot where Trudy had us tie up our kayaks as she anchored hers. We then all got into the water to do some snorkeling. What we saw was much different from the walls and reefs we dove on the past four days. There was cabbage head coral, lots of smaller brightly colored clams all over the place and many small reef fish of all colors too. The soft corals are plentiful and their bright colors are easy to see being close to the surface.

We then kayaked to another island and tied up our boats. Trudy then led us on a hiking path that the Japanese used during WWII. The trail took us up to a bunker that was built there in the late 1930’s, long before the war started. Original beer and medicine bottles in great shape were still scattered about the place! When we entered the bunker you could see two different messages written on the wall, one in Japanese and the other in Palauain. The Japanese message was from a soldier who was scared and lonely that wished love to his parents and explained that it was hard for him there, and at this point I can’t remember what the Palauian message said. Around the corner from this bunker was a sheer drop-off of 40ft. We were all invited to make the jump into the water. But because I had done a jump from the same height 20 years ago into a quarry I didn’t feel the need to do it again, (phew, hand going over brow and big sigh of relief as to having an excuse). As it turned out three people made the jump and one had a sore back for the rest of the trip. Trudy told us that there would be an easier 15 ft. jump along the way we could make if we wanted to.

We then paddled to a shallow area tied up the kayaks went to shore and ate lunch. After lunch we snorkeled around a bit. Barb and I came across what looked like a cave entrance but was just a big cut into the side of the island. Further down we found a wreck that only had its ribs and some frame work left. Everywhere we went there was so much soft coral around, all different bright colors, green, yellow, red, orange, purple and just about any mix you can think of.

After snorkeling we got back into our kayaks and headed to another Rock Island where there was a bat cave. We kayaked in and Trudy spotted them with her light. On the way out there was a trail that you would swim to and climb up to the edge of the cave opening for the15ft. jump. I raced over there to be the first to make the jump. I got to the edge ready to make the jump, looked down and then decided I couldn’t do it. I procrastinated for the longest time until I felt that it was wasting everyone’s time and then stepped away from the edge. One of the ladies who was a little younger than me stepped up and looked scared also, I thought good, it wasn’t just me. But with a little encouragement from her husband (the guy with the sore back) she made the jump. Wow I though, why can’t I do this? It’s amazing how you look at things when you get older, that’s what Trudy told me, I grinned and thought about that. Barb then stepped up, looked, and then jumped. In fact they both had so much fun jumping they came back up and did it again. Now at this point that I was reminded how little kids do this all the time and have fun. I believed them but all I had to do was step up to the edge look and then say to myself there’s now way I’m going to do this. Barb told me to look out, not down when you jump. This helped, so I stepped back up looked out and ….. almost jumped. Just about there ….. looked again and almost did it again. Now I was just taking to long, one last try, stood straight and tall, looked out …… and …… JUMPED!!!!!!!!! WOW that was FUN!!!! I climbed back up and did it again. My honey was real proud of me for getting over my fear. Trudy got a good picture of me in mid-air with my camera (her arms were getting tired holding it up for so long) and told me that it made the trip having me get over my fear. It seems kind of silly, I made two jumps from 15ft. and combined still didn’t jump as high as the others from 40 ft., although I did feel good after doing it.

We then paddled to a very special place called Tarzan Cave. As we approached the shallows and tied up all the kayaks we found a bright blue starfish. Trudy said it would be all right to pick it up momentarily, so I did. I then handed it over to Barb and we looked at it. He started to get attached to Barb, literally, and she had these little "pricker" type things in her hand after we removed the starfish from her underwater. We then entered the cave and walked a little bit to see a huge opening 50ft. above us. You could see the green vegetation that grows on the top of the Rock Islands all around the edge. In fact one of the trees on the rim above had a root growing in mid-air down to where we were (50ft down) and then into the ground! It looked like a down-spout that was connected to a gutter of a house, it came straight down. Trudy then showed us holes burrowed into the sand made by crabs. She then took us into a little cave off the main one and showed us how these crabs were in the process of digging up a human body, no kidding! You could see some of the bones and the scull. There was another little cave off the main one, but this time Trudy took us in without the light on. She told us to be very quiet and definitely stay to the left hand side. After we all got into the dark cave she again told us to be very quiet and not make any sudden movements when she turned on her flashlight. We stood there, she turned on the flashlight and right before our eyes on the wall ahead of us were these huge bugs with real long antennae. They looked like a cross between crickets and roaches and were around 2" to 3" long. Trudy then told us that if any of us made any load noise or fast movement they would jump all over you …. no one moved a muscle or made a sound. After enjoying these huge bugs a couple feet away from our heads we all very slowly and very quietly got out of the cave.

We then left the cave and paddled around the Rock Islands one last time through passage ways and under-hangs in the crystal clear water until we reached our rendezvous point where the boat was ready to pick us up.

After all the kayaks were onboard and we were headed back to Sam’s Trudy asked if we wanted to try the tree swing one last time now that it was low tide (higher drop-off to the water than earlier). We all wanted to try it one last time. I started us off, I grabbed the rope, jumped as high as I could, got lucky and was able to place my feet on the higher knot tied into the rope, and swung until I reach the apex at the other side and then let go. MAJOR AIR WAS HAD!!!!! I then feel into the water and felt great! They told me that I had a great swing. I tried it again but nothing beat the first one. Everyone else swung again and had a great time.

SEVENTH DAY 7/6/99

The next four dives were done from Maui and looking back we would have appreciated these dives more if we had done them before Palau. The charter we took limited our dive times and the surface interval was fixed to 45 minuets. This was so they could make it back in time in case there were any divers scheduled for the afternoon dive trip. What a bummer compared to diving with Sam’s in Palau.

2-TANK DIVE AT MOLOKINI CRATER
first tank: max. depth: 69 feet, bottom time: 49 min., water temp: 76F top to bottom, vis 100ft+

The first dive was at middle reef and we saw tons of reef fish like angle fish, yellow trigger fish, many varieties of butterfly fish, trumpet fish, squirrel fish, parrot fish and bluestripped snapper. We also saw a huge brown and white moray eel with his head sticking out of the coral. Our dive master was able to pet it. Towards the end of the dive we saw a manta ray headed our way being cleaned. He came pretty close to us before he turned away, I was able to get some pictures of him from about 10ft away.

Second tank: max. depth: 58 feet, bottom time: 47 min., water temp: 76F top to bottom, vis 100ft+

The second dive was just down the reef a little bit at a place called reef’s end. We saw two smaller moray eels, one green and white and the other drown and white. We saw the same reef fish as the first dive and ran into the manta ray again, that was nice. We saw a cleaning station with small yellow and purple fish cleaning bigger fish. On the boat ride back we saw flying fish above the water and wished we were back in Palau.

EIGHTH DAY 7/7/99

2-TANK DIVE OFF THE ISLAND OF LANA’I
first tank: max. depth: 58 feet, bottom time: 48 min., water temp: 76F top to bottom, vis 100ft+

We planned to dive the Cathedrals for our two tanks and decided to have a video made of us. When we arrived at the cathedrals the water was to rough to dive, so we were forced to dive around the north-west tip of Lana’i. The first dive was at Lighthouse Reef. We saw an underwater arch with stairs under it, we were told that it was from an ancient Hawaiian civilization. Our dive master found an octopus under a rock and after some time was able to force him out where he promptly released some ink and swam away. We saw a lot of the same reef fish as we did the day before angle fish, yellow trigger fish, many varieties of butterfly fish, trumpet fish, squirrel fish, parrot fish and bluestripped snapper. Barb spotted a rock fish that was around 8" to 10" long (Barb did a great job finding cool stuff on both dives). As I took pictures of him he extended his fins to moved a little and that exposed bright reds, oranges and yellows in the them that were hidden when the fins were tucked close to his side.

Second tank: max. depth: 64 feet, bottom time: 42 min., water temp: 76F top to bottom, vis 100ft+

The second dive was a drift dive called shark fin drift dive. This was a nice slow drift and we saw a few eels, butterfly fish, damsel fish, long nose butterfly, raccoon butterfly, moorish idol, parrot fish, goat fish, trumpet fish, saddleback wrasse, yellow tang, blue stripped snapper, crown-of-thorns star fish and then Barb spotted a big octopus. He was around three feet wide and as our dive master picked him up he tried to get away and let out some ink. It appeared that the octopus was tired because he didn’t have much ink to spray and it seemed that he didn’t have the energy to get away. One of his legs was shorter than the other as part of it was cut off. We were able to touch it’s head and legs, at one point his suckers were latching onto my arm and hand. Our dive master put him back down and we continued with our dive. Our videographer then did a good job putting rocks around the octopus so he had a place to hide from predators and give him time to regain his strength. When I looked back another dive master form another boat was using a wrench digging into the rocks to get the octopus out and show his divers. The octopus was then handled all over again. As we continued our drift dive Barb found the crown-of-thorns star fish, I got real close to take some pictures. After we surfaced Barb said that there was a giant black moray eel with a cleaner shrimp in his mouth in the rocks right next to the crown-of-thorns star fish, I never saw it. I started my assent before Barb, and I found out latter (on the surface) that she spotted another octopus and wanted to get our attention so bad that she felt like taking her regulator out of her mouth and yell to get our attention. Again she was the only one to see it. Our videographer did a good job and captured a lot of what we saw on both dives.