Trip Report- Diving in Palau ROR
 

Part I
It all started out when my mileage hit 100k. Wow- where was I going to go???? What adventures awaited my husband and I? What exotic place could I go to??? The wheels started turning… I stumbled upon Flyertalk.com and that was all she wrote. I got smart. I became fanatical about miles. Next thing I knew- I had 200k miles- wow, it was time to start planning! I looked at the SkyMiles map to see what exotic locations were offered… Hmmm…. Seychelles looked like a good choice- I can get as far as Mauritius and take a local plane to the Seychelles. No problem. Then I did a little research and learned that the El Nino caused coral bleaching and killed most of the coral in that area and it sucked. So, I started looking for other places. Hmm- Continental goes to the Far East and Pacific- that’s an option. We are both divers, so I wanted to go somewhere magnificent- Palau- the best in the Pacific. Could I get there- YES!!!! I called up and asked about availability. The SLC folks are really great. Although I was just on a “fishing expedition” trying to find out what the availability looked like, the smiled and gave me all the help I needed. I found out that I will need to call exactly at 331 days out, at midnight to secure two seats- Palau is a hard place to get to and Continental isn’t exactly “generous” with award seats. So, I kept saving my miles, working on my status, and started working out the preliminary land portion of the planning. I decided a live aboard dive boat would the best. I contacted a dive travel company who responded very quickly to my information requests- he gave me good ideas and names of boats, was very helpful. My newfound friend. I narrowed my choices to two boats: the Palau Aggressor, and the Ocean Hunter. We spoke a few more times about airfare options in case I couldn’t get all the way to Palau on miles, and then the conversation got into payment. Uh oh: his operation only accepted cash for deposits and payments- Flags went up for me real fast and I couldn’t hang up fast enough. But, he did give me some good info, which I used later. His loss for not taking a credit card…

So, now that I was getting close to having enough miles, I decided to go on my own for the travel itinerary. This will be interesting. I arrange trips for 80 people to Europe for my ski club (Fagowee Ski Club- you know- the drinking club with a skiing problem), I could surely set this up. I contacted the boat, asked about availability and explained my issues with the SkyMiles and how I am going to attempt to get tickets. She gave me the available dates for the boat, and I sat patiently waiting for the day to come to call up SLC for my tickets. Starting on April 15th, I called up for tickets. SLC told me to first check from Guam to Palau- that was the hardest to get to- If I could get that leg, the rest should be no problem. So, I started calling. April 15th, no luck- coach only. April 16th, no luck- no seats at all. April 17th- one seat coach, one seat business class. April 18th- getting better- two seats to Yap, but none to Palau. Cost from Yap to Palau- $889/person coach. Continental wants to rape me- Lets keep trying. April 19th- one coach seat. April 20th-April 25th - nothing. April 26th - hallelujah- I hit the jackpot. Two business seats GUA-ROR on March 22nd !!!! Book them! How about NRT-GUM? Positive hit- two business class seats on NW airlines. How about NRT- USA? Anytime between March 15th to March 20th? The agent said- “I have two business class seats from JFK-NRT non-stop on the 18th - would you like those? At this point, cube mates are freaking because I am jumping up and down holding a phone to my ear as I yell “YES!!! YES!!! Book them!!!! Book them!!!!! But, there was nothing from Washington to NYC to get me to that flight, but hold on- would you go one day early and overnight in NYC? It’s within 24 hours of the Narita flight, so it isn’t counted as a layover. I said- you bet! I will take the free stopover to graze through NYC for an evening! So, my itinerary was set:
DLT 1756 3/17/05 DCA TH 2:30pm LGA TH 3:33pm
NW 17 3/18/05 JFK F12:00pm NRT 3/19/05 S 4:05pm
NW 74 3/22/05 NRT Tu 9:30am GUM Tu 2:10pm
CO 953 3/22/05 GUM Tu 7:40pm ROR Tu 8:50pm

Now all I had to do was call back in a few weeks to get home…

May 9th. Called SLC and started working my magic. I was in luck. ROR-GUM- 1st class tickets available. GUM-NRT business class tickets available on NW! But, no tickets out of NRT late enough for the connection- but wait, if I overnight in NRT, I can make a Delta flight to Atlanta in Business class- book it!!!!! Book it all!!!! So, here was my return trip:
CO 954 4/1/04 ROR F1:15am GUM F4:45am
NW 73 4/1/04 GUM F3:10pm NRT F6:05pm
DLT 56 4/2/04 NRT S4:30pm ATL S3:25pm
DLT 1472* 4/2/04 ATL S5:30pm DCA S7:12pm

I had the perfect itinerary!!! I couldn’t believe it!!! I called the Ocean Hunter and put down my deposit! I was all set. The next thing I did was get my hotel reservations. Again, through FlyerTalk, I was able to get some great deals. I learned about certificates to use at the Century Hyatt- I got rooms that were going for $250/night for $139/night, and that included taxes! I got my reservations completed at the Century Hyatt and then got a reservation for Narita, at the Excel Tokyo as directed by the FlyerTalk members. I made my final reservations at the Belvedere in NYC for the night (close to Times Square and cheap, but very nice), and then the Carolines for the couple of extra nights in Koror. I was all set!!!! Mission accomplished. Now all I had to do was wait for 90 days out to get my seat reservations. 73AB for NW17 and seats 86AB for the NRT-GUM trips. 90.5 days out, I called up and to my surprise, got the requested seats! I couldn’t wait to tell hubby! I had pretty much kept him in the dark about the whole trip. He knew we were going somewhere, but I kept the details a secret until our 10th anniversary. We went to dinner and I gave him the itinerary- he freaked! He was speechless. He couldn’t wait!

The time proceeded to slow down like sands in an hourglass… tick…. Tick…. Tick… Finally, we got to the last week and we started packing. With all the scuba gear we had to pack, then having to dress for cold in Tokyo and Narita and NY, plus having to dress for hot tropics, our bags were bulging. We finally got everything packed (god help the screeners if they opened our bags- they would never get it all back in!) and we were set to go. I didn’t get much sleep before the big day, although I had to be at work early to put in a ½ day, so I was up way before the alarm. Got to work, but as far as everyone else was concerned, I was already gone. I finalized some last minute details, drudged through my last meetings, and then it came- the call that my “driver” was outside waiting for me. I logged off, locked my desk, put my “touch you die” sign on my computer and off I went. We got to the Washington Reagan Airport and went inside with all our bags. Being Gold (very proud of that- not platinum like some of you guys, but it is better than being a “plebe”), I got to use the “special line” which was much shorter than the commoner’s line. We got our tickets and off we went. I knew that because we were flying the Delta Shuttle, we weren’t “entitled” to the Crown Room, but I decided to try getting in anyway, since our itinerary was International Business. The woman kind of looked at me, I smiled, and was all giddy sharing with her the fact that it was my husbands first time and we were taking a big trip for our 10th anniversary. It worked- she gave us the “we will call your flight at boarding- make yourselves comfortable”. Hubby was instantly spoiled. We sat down for a few drinks (bloody mary for me, Jack and coke for him), and then after the third one, we get the call for the flight. We sundered over to the gate and away we went. The flight was pretty much empty, so we had the row to ourselves. A snack was offered, but since we just ate, we didn’t grab one. I know there was an apple involved, since I looked around and I saw a bunch of them. We got our water and settled in for the 40-minute flight. We got to the airport and our luggage was waiting for us in the terminal- apparently, they were on an earlier flight and beat us to NY. Not comforting that our bags with 2k worth of scuba gear were just sitting there unattended, but they were there…

We grabbed the cab and we headed to the Belvedere. 40 minutes later and $35, we were at the hotel. Traffic was actually bad because several cross town streets were closed due to the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Being it was March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day, we did expect a little more partying going on, but it was rather subdued… We headed off to Girabaldi’s for the best Pizza in town, and then headed over to Little Italy to Ferrera’s for desert and cookies for our journey. We then went over to a German restaurant for a beer, then back to Mid Town for a quick green beer at an Irish pub to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Back to the Belvedere hotel we went to rest for our long flight. Although the room was small, it was clean, the bed comfy, and it was two blocks from Times Square, and it was only $130/night after taxes, which I think is quite the deal for mid-town.

The next morning, we grabbed a hotel Town Car and got over to JFK. It took us about 50 minutes and was $45 for the service. We used 180k Delta Sky Miles for business class (we got tickets last year, so it was before they changed it to 240k for business class- lucky break for us) and we booked exactly 331 days out to ensure we got seats for a tough destination that has very limited availability for using miles. We got to JFK and proceeded to the NW Crown Room- what a treat- the vacation was officially started with a bloody mary and some fruit. We boarded NW17 on time and got to the upper deck when we settled in and received our pre-flight champagne. Very tasty. We took off on time and the flight was pretty uneventful. I must say, the new world-class seat is very very comfy and much improved from the old seats. You also had on-demand video and music, and the individual screens were pretty darn good. The meals were excellent (for airline food), and the service in the upper deck was amazing. We got to know the FA’s and they were extremely pleasant and helpful. They even whipped up some mid-flight pizzas that were pretty tasty. We arrived a little ahead of time, and got into Narita to go through customs. The line was long, as we had arrived the same time as 8 kazillion other 747s from other countries were arriving around the same time. After 1.5 hours in line, we got our luggage and headed to the airport limo bus at platform 14 to go to our hotel. They are quite efficient, and got us loaded and off we went. Unfortunately, there was a traffic jam and it took us 3.5 hours to get to our hotel in Shinjuku. It sucked. We were tired and just wanted to eat and go to bed.

We finally got to the Century Park Hyatt and decided we were too tired to eat, so we just went to bed. They thankfully upgraded us to the Executive floor, so the rooms were a little bit bigger and more amenities. The next morning, we got up, found Starbucks and went off to find the Kimuro Shiatsu Institute for a massage. The massage was a little lame- nothing spectacular, but I got to cross it off my list of “things to do before I die”. Mission accomplished. We then just tooled around Tokyo for the day, ate strange foods, shopped, drank Sake, and hung out. I like the plastic food, but you still can’t figure out what it is… The next day, we went to the Tokyo station and picked up a quick ride to Mt. Fuji- we checked ahead of time about the visibility and it was excellent, so we splurged on the bullet train at $240 r/t for both of us in non-reserved seating. The train was pretty empty, so it wasn’t an issue. The trip was really cool- that thing goes FAST! We got to the station and we got pictures, then had a quick hotdog and beer (which was EXCELLENT- I love Japanese beer- very surprisingly good) and picked up the next return train. Not much to do around the station, so we did the tourist pictures and ate. The ride back was just as cool and we were back at the Tokyo station about 3 hours after we left. We then went to electric city where all the electronics are, and decided that everyone sold the same thing for the same inflated price, and bought nothing but a Coke from a vending machine- it was pretty amazing what they have there though- way cool electronics and phones. That night, we met up with TokyoRich for a drink at the British Pub- We had to vacate after some japanese woman started barfing right onto the floor next to us- we were inches from it... After the walk back to the hotel and some enlightening conversation about Japanese Culture, we said our goodbyes and parted ways- it was my first FlyerTalk meeting and he was a really great guy! The next day, it was up early to go to the airport for a 9:40 flight to Guam.

Part II
 

Part II
We left the Century Park Hyatt on their earliest shuttle at 6:05am and got to the airport without traffic at 7:30am. Plenty of time to get checked in and get to the Crown Room for the mandatory Bloody Mary. The plane left on time at 9:40am and being in the upper deck, it was another quiet flight. 4 hours later, we arrived in Guam and shuffled off to the Crown Room to waste 5 hours drinking Bloody Marys for our flight to Palau. The plane was late, so we departed at 7:30, arriving at Palau nearly 9pm. Surprisingly, all our luggage made it (yea!). We were greeted by Zenia from the Carolines Resort with a lei and a smile and were whisked off in their van to the resort. After a 40-minute ride, we got settled into our bungalow and went to bed. In the morning, we were brought breakfast to our bungalow and I had the Spanish omelet and juice. It was honestly the best omelet I had in my life. After breakfast, we tooled around the resort until 10am when Fish n Fins came and picked us up to take us to Ocean Hunter. They were very nice and took us to the ATM and a grocery on the way so we can get cash for tips and a couple of bottles of wine for the week cruise. We got to the boat, got unloaded, and met the other folks that were on our cruise.

There were a total of 5 guests: One couple was from France (300+ dives), one gentleman who was from Germany with a camera named Susan (500+ dives), and us (Americans with about 40 dives). We started off with a 5-minute motor to our “check out” dive to the Helmet Wreck. The wreck had a lot to see, but had low visibility and sat at about 60+ feet. After we got out, Lunch was served and we went to our next dive site. Total dives: 27. Number of dives directly off the boat: 25 (both night dives were done off the skiff). I dove in a 2.5mm full wetsuit, but by the 3rd dive in, had to put on the 2.5 shorty vest. I was still a tiny bit cold most of my late day dives, so next trip- I am bringing the 5mm full. Crew was awesome- they help you on and off the boat, handed you a warm towel, and all you have to do is back up to the load platform to take off/put on your gear. Hot showers were provided on the rear deck to rinse off between dives. We dove Nitrox and the mix ranged from 31.8 to 32.1- over 28 dives, that is pretty darn good. After every dive, we had something to eat and drink. Arlie’s cooking was fabulous- it was like eating in a different restaurant each day- one day Italian, next day Indian. They claim it’s low fat, but I’m not sure about that- I gained five pounds on the trip- darn you Arlie! The boat was in good shape- it’s an older sailboat, so don’t expect it to be a spanking new Carnival cruise line boat- it is functional, clean, plenty of hot water, air conditioning was good, and space was adequate for 8 people and their gear. There were three cabins- two up front that shared a bathroom, and a “stateroom” in the back with it’s own bathroom and shower. Crew had their own area. We opted for the “stateroom” and were quite happy with our decision. My only negative comment is that they could update the mattresses or add another layer of foam- they were boat mattresses and not the best- a good “memory foam” pad would have solved the problem. Our guide was Gabby and he was fabulous- he let us do our own thing, yet kept an eye on us when we wanted. We dove all the primo sites including Blue Corner, Pelilue Express, and Big Drop off, and managed to get New Drop Off and Blue Corner in a few times. My biggest gripe was I didn’t sign up for the 10-day cruise- big mistake! The crew went above and beyond the call of duty the entire cruise, and even taking the skiff into town when we needed Sudafed for our ears. At the end of the cruise, they even hosed off and cleaned all our gear- they did a great job and took extra time rinsing out the BCs to make sure all the salt was off of them. I feel like we couldn’t have done a better job cleaning our stuff as they did. I can’t wait to go back, and I will go with Ocean Hunter without a thought. We did visit Ocean Hunter II and boy what a boat that is- very good setup, brand new, but it carries 12 divers, and I like the small number of the Ocean Hunter I, so I will stay with Ocean Hunter 1 for our next cruise.

We got into the port at 5pm on Tuesday, and had dinner and hung out on the dock. We shared a few beers and went to bed. The next day, we got up, had breakfast, and got our stuff packed up and left about 9:30am. Fish n Fins took us to the Carolines where we checked in early and headed off to town for souvenir shopping at the Ben Franklin (thanks for the previous tips from other trip reports) and tooled around town sightseeing. We visited the Jail and got our storyboards and then went back over to the Carolines and were taken over to the Palau Pacific Resort (PPR) to hang out at the beach. It is a quite nice resort with all the amenities- pool, beach, palm trees, foofy drinks while watching the sunset. Nice place, but I like the intimacy of the Carolines much better. We then went over to the Palm for dinner (ok- nothing great) and then back to the Carolines. The next day, we headed back over to Fish n Fins to meet up with our cruise mates for a Kayaking trip. It was ok- the guide didn’t really do much and there wasn’t that much to see- we did a lot of paddling across the channels, and didn’t really feel like we got into the depths of the rock islands, so I was a little disappointed not to see the little coves of nooks and crannies. After the kayaking, we got cleaned up and headed off to dinner at Capriciaos- the island’s best Italian restaurant. It was ok- we were hungry, and it filled us up. After dinner, we went over to the West Plaza by the Sea to have one last drink with our cruise mates and we said our sad goodbyes. Zenia came and picked us up from the Plaza and took us to the airport. It was sad to leave and we promised we would return. Continental screwed up our reservations, so we ended up stuck in “steerage” for the flight to Yap/Guam. I managed to get hubby upgraded when we got to Yap, but I was stuck with the “commoners” in the back. Luckily, it was not a full flight and I was able to stretch across three seats and get some sleep.

We arrived in Guam a little early at 5:30am and went and rented a car since we had almost 12 hours until our flight left for Narita. We got directions from a FlyerTalk member to a remote beach on the north end of the island, so we set out to find it in the dark and pouring rain. Sleep deprived, cranky, hung over, raining, and then we couldn’t find it. We got to a cliff, but the only beach I saw was one that was 1000 feet below us, and we didn’t have a parachute, so we gave up and went back toward the main tourist strip to find a public beach. Around 6:30, we were too tired to drive anymore, so we found a hotel and parked and fell asleep in the car. Around 8:30, the sun came out and we started baking, so we migrated to their beach. Unfortunately, their beach had some nasty flies and bugs (quite pretty, but the bugs sucked), so we “poached” their pool and fell asleep under an umbrella next to the pool. Around 10am, we woke to realize that we were the only Americans amongst a sea of Japanese, so we vacated the premises before we were asked to show proof that we were staying there. It was quite obvious we were intruders with my blonde hair and looking like I slept in my clothes for 3 days- I was quite the scene. So, still having 6 hours to kill, we decided to do “duty free”. But, apparently, you need to supply them with a hotel or tour group before entering, and when I got to the front of the line, they asked me where I was staying, I thought quickly and gave them the hotel Nikko that we poached earlier in the day- entry accepted. It was a false win though- duty free is terrible- the US dollar is so bad, the prices were horrible and there was nothing but a bunch of upscale stuff that we wouldn’t even think about buying (tell me why someone would spend 1k on a plaid purse??? Dive computer yes- plaid purse- why?). After the fruitless shopping, we ate lunch at Hard Rock Café, and then migrated back to the airport. We went to the Crown Room for the customary Bloody Mary to start the day. It was hilarious- I went to find the person manning the bar, couldn’t find her, but the other woman that was at the front desk asked if I could take the keys and help myself. I ended up being the bartender for the Crown Room for about an hour. Didn’t get any tips though L, but I was glad I could help out. I pour a mean drink. Everyone loved my skills- can’t go wrong in life if you know how to bartend (I was a bartender in college- skills that last a lifetime!).

The flight boarded on time, and we were back in upper deck with our pre-flight champagne. After a 4-hour flight, the trip through Narita customs was much easier. We went to bus stop 14 for the Narita Excel Hotel. We just missed the bus. We had to wait ½ hour, but we passed the time trying to help a fellow American who had never been to Tokyo (like we were pro’s by this time) to give her coins to call her hotel. After successfully helping her, we were on the bus to the Narita Excel Hotel. We got a great room with a view on the 7th floor where we could see the “big birds” landing and taking off- it was cool. The room was a little small and worn, but the bed was comfy. After we checked in, we went up to the top floor and had a drink of sake and beer, and went to bed. The next morning, we grabbed the shuttle to town and took in the sights of Narita- it was very neat- did some shopping, tooled around the temple and gardens. The cherry blossoms were just starting to bloom- darn. One week too early, but some were blooming, so it wasn’t a total loss. After we got all our shopping done, we realized we were tight on time to catch the shuttle back to the hotel to grab our bags to go to the airport, so we found a little noodle place and had a quick bite- it was fabulous- cheap and good.

We got to the airport and you guessed it, went to the Crown Room for ---yes--- a bloody mary. This time we were on a Delta 777, and although we were 1 hour late taking off, we still arrived a little early. The seats weren’t even close to nice; the video was not on-demand, and the food was not that great. Next time- we do ALL NWA- I was missing the 747 upper deck big time! But, it was still better than “cattle class” and they still fed us drinks, so we weren’t too worse for the wear. After 12 hours in the air, we arrived in Atlanta and collected our bags. I got stuck behind some 50 year old- I wear waaay too much makeup socialite with a poofy fur coat and Gucci glasses trying to take off her high heel boots and everything on her beeped. She was scary. They finally got her through after she took off her blingy belt, and her 10,000 pieces of arm jewelry. After that annoying episode, we figured because we were all domestic at this point, we would not be allowed into the Crown Room. Hubby talked me into trying, and we walked in looking like something the cat spit up after flying for 14 hours. They saw the NRT and let us in for our 2-hour layover!!! That was two for two!!!! We found a quiet spot amongst chaos and yup- you guessed it- had a bloody mary. The flight was on time and uneventful. We had a couple more drinks (since we didn’t have to drive) and got to DCA. We got all our bags in one piece and none were duct taped together or in a plastic bag. I pity the poor soul who went through it- most of it was wet and had been “percolating” in our baggage since we got off the boat- we ended up opening all our bags on the porch- it was that bad!

After 8 million hours in the air, I was glad to be home. Even as jetlagged as I am writing this, I can’t wait to go back. I can’t wait to see the big Napoleon at Blue Corner again, and say hello to the sharks at Pelilue Cut while riding “rip your mask off” current.

Will I go through the trouble to use my miles? Absolutely
Will I go through NY again for a “free night”? Yup!
Will I spend extra days in Guam/Narita/Tokyo- no- did that- don’t need to see anymore.
Will I do Carolines Resort again- Absolutely- no better place on the island to stay, including PPR!
Will I do Ocean Hunter again- you bet your buns I will!
Will I spend more time tooling around Palau- yes- I feel I should have spent AT LEAST 4 days on land so I could have done the waterfalls, jungle exploration, yap money quarry, and the WWII sites. But hey, got to leave something to do the next time I come!
Final summary- Use NW through Guam and limit your time on Continental and Delta. Stay at the Carolines, and do the Ocean Hunter or Ocean Hunter 2. All the other live-aboards make you use the skiff for all the dives and it eats time from diving. Bigger boats means more people on the dive site too. And above all- go business class- it is the ONLY way to fly when you are dealing with that many hours in the air…

The Dives
 

The Dives:

Dives:
1. 3/23- Helmut Wreck- 87’ Low vis
2. 3/23- German Channel- 75’ Didn’t see any Manta’s
3. 3/24- Turtle Cove- 86’ entered a hole in the top of the reef and came out to a fabulous wall dive
4. 3/24- Turtle Wall- 86’ wall dive- lots to see
5. 3/24- Big Drop Off- 78’- wall dive- slight current- tons of soft and hard corals
6. 3/24- Blue Corner- 87’- Current was ripping- very cool dive- tons of sharks, barracuda’s, and Blue Wrasse Napoleon followed us around
7. 3/25- Blue Corner- 84’- no current on south side, swam over to other side of shelf, but current was too much to get to hooking point.
8. 3/25- Ngedebus Wall- 84’- wall dive- lots to see
9. 3/25- Paleliu Express- 86’- drift dive- ripping current- very cool
10. 3/25 Orange Beach- 72’- nice current- lots to see from WWII
11. 3/25- Orange Beach- Night Dive- 51’- drift dive- current got strong at end of dive- lots to see-
12. 3/26- Yellow Wall- 88’- not much to see- lots of sea fans and turtles
13. 3/26- Paleliu Cut- 78’- Major ripping current- very advanced dive with eddys and extremely strong current. Used reef hooks and the current would have blown my mask off if I turned my head. Tons of sharks and lots of action. Finished off the dive with a drift into blue water to do the safety stop at 15’. Not for the faint of heart
14. 3/26- Paleliu Wall- 77’- Wall dive- good current- lots of action- drift dive
15. 3/26- White Beach- 80’- Cool Wall dive- drift dive- cool rays
16. 3/27- Virgin Blue Hole- 109’- enter through hole and come out at 85’ then through shaft to 109’ then out to wall for drift dive. Not much current until you got to the wall, then it was a nice drift dive
17. 3/27- Blue Holes- 86’- low tide- couldn’t enter holes from top, but swam into the hole from the bottom to check it out, then did a drift dive to Blue Corner where we laid hooks and hung out watching for a while
18. 5/27- Barnum Wall- 67’- Sheer wall- lots to see- tons of rays and turtles
19. 5/27- New Drop Off- 81’- Very difficult dive- current took you up/down/in/out- must have great buoyancy skills for this dive. Hooked for a while in the current and surge then finished with a drift dive when the current reversed
20. 3/27- Big Drop Off- Night Dive- 47’- Night diving at it’s best- so much to see- didn’t want to come back up! Explosion of color- wall dive- all the stuff came out that you don’t see in the day
21. 3/28- Blue Corner- 87’- Current dive- used Reef Hook and watched the action- tons of sharks, and saw a hammerhead. Said hi to the Napoleon that we saw on the last dives
22. 3/28- New Drop Off- 72’- water was very cold- strange currents- swirling, not enough in one direction to use hooks, so we just did a drift dive and went where the current took us.
23. 3/28- Jellyfish Lake- snorkel- very cool place- tons of jellyfish- coolest snorkel I ever did- like swimming in Jell-O! They really don’t sting! Very beautiful and elegant
24. 3/28- Mandarin Lake- 15’- dusk/night dive- watched the mandarins mating- got lots of pictures- very cool fish!
25. 3/29- Chuyo Meru- 96’- Vis was poor, but lots to see- boat was in pretty good shape for being so old- Saw a frogfish- they are U-G-L-Y!
26. 3/29- Jakes Sea Plane- 50’- good vis- plane was in pretty good shape- part of the wing and the tail were ripped off from being bombed in the air. Glass in the cockpit was still intact. Good coral garden around the plane- saw a cuttlefish and nudibranch!
27. 3/29- Chandelier Cave- 41’- cool cave dive- good vis- 4 chamber dive with air pockets in each of the chambers. Tons of Mandarin fish around cave

Diving in Palau ROR
 

Excellent report.Looks that you did have a great time.
Also i was happy that the lounges did not run short on bloody mary's :D
Thank you

Sounds like you had an awesome trip. Well done on the award flights too!

Ran short on bartenders in Guam, but that's ok- My pours are better anyway!

It really was a great time, and for once- Delta really came through- I am still surprised I pulled it off with the Miles- but it was all thanks to FlyerTalk- so,,, Thank You....

FYI: wireless status- forgot to put that in...

JFK- no wireless, but they did have internet terminals, but no word or excel, so I had to download my files, then put them on my USB drive to my laptop and work on two machines at once.

Tokyo- wireless was available- just ask the front desk to give you the log ons and pw card- it is good for 24 hours. Requires japanese fonts, so if you dont have them installed, it will make you download them before you can get to the login screen

Guam- perfect wireless- just seek and connect
Palau- don't even ask...
Atlanta- didn't try
DCA- wireless available, but not free

There were plenty of electric recepticals in all the CRs and no one had LJ Printers with IR for printing from my laptop :-(

Oh- one more thing- my Sprint phone (US Only) worked in Guam- I was on digital roaming, but it did have a signal!

LisaFlyer

Thanks for your report. Palau is on my short list. There was an IMAX film several years ago that had some amazing shots of the jellyfish lake. Glad to here it's as great as it looked.

Sorry about bad directions
 

As the Flyertalk member who gave you directions to Ritidian beach, I'm sorry they were so bad you couldn't make it.

If you saw the beach from the cliff all you had to go was to the very end of the road you were on. Oh well, maybe next time.

As a diver Palau is on the top of my list of places to go. I'm glad it was so much fun.

Do you have a link to any pictures?

Sailanacra

Great trip report.^

The Mrs. and I have got back into diving recently now that the Pupsters are a bit older. We just did a week of diving in Fiji and Palau has always been on my list of places I want to visit. Jellyfish lake.^^

We have enough DL miles to take the whole family so hopefully we will be just as lucky as you in securing the free tix.

Great report - I've been wanting to go to Palau for years now. The Rock Islands just look amazing.

I'm interested that you got a bullet train to Mt Fuji - did this go to the mountain itself or just to a place with good views of it? I've been to Tokyo a couple of times but I didn't know you could do that. (I did get a great view of it from onboard our Osaka-Tokyo flight though - very cool.)

We took it to a Shin-Fuji where there was a decent view- we got some pictures and left- we didn't have the time to do the climb, and it was still much too early to do it in the season. We were told to only do the train ride if it was a clear day. We stayed at the Century Hyatt and the concierge went online to see what kind of visability there was and it was excelent, so we went. We were prepared to bag it if vis was bad- too much money for no view.

no links to pictures yet- still working on that...

It was weird- we followed the directions and we got to some locked gate- it was a nature preserve but it was all chained up and locked. We went the other way, and ended up in someones front yard. So, we went back up the mountain and followed it along, but ended up on the very top of the cliff next to the base fencing and there was no where to go. It was raining and dark, and we ended up just bagging it. Directions were perfect, just we coundn't get down the mountain through the park to get there. We were flying out, and saw the road, and I think if that preserve was open, we could have gotten there.
no problem- the pool was fine, until we started getting the really weird stares... Much appreciative of the tips- breakfast was good at Kings! found that with no problem! Real bargain and taste too!!!

Lisa

Jellyfish lake was Amazing! The only thing- I felt bad about all the jellyfish that were getting killed by people- everytime you moved, you tore through them- I was careful, but many were not- I kept yelling at my husband and our boatmates not to fin when they were around the jellyfish so they wouldn't kill them! and I'm no tree hugger either, but they were soooo coool, I just didn't want to hurt them... there were millions of them- it was just like swimming through jello!
Lisa

Great report!!! How full were your flights to/from ROR in the end?

Lisa: You've really got my mind on Palau these days. I've been reading up on the jellyfish lakes (was first wondernig why you snorkeled there and didn't dive - now I know that as while as lots of other interesting stuff about the jellies there), and figuring out how close I can get on *Alliance carriers. Sorry if I missed it in the report, but did you spend any time at a resort there or were you only on the dive boat? Any resorts you saw that you'd recommend? I figure I'd do some dive boat/some resort, but maybe it makes the most sense to be out on the water all the time. Did you get a chance to check out prices at restaurants?