Palau Dive Diary Finale

This is going to be a good one...

Since I woke up with a view of a jet-skier from inside my room, allow me a moment of pure delusionary bliss. On to our last few hours before leaving the beautiful island that is Palau... It's been a crazy four days of diving, sharks, turtles, blue water, and delicious island food, and later on we'd be boarding a plane back to reality aka. Manila.

But not before I have my breakfast. Tempura, a protein aside from eggs!

But oh, the perfection of these eggs... sunny side ups gets me every time

I really wished I swam in that beautiful pool outside our hotel, but come on, I was underwater most days anyway.

It was a beautiful day, and we were back at Sam's Tours for our daytrip around the islands. No that isn't our boat, though I was wishfully thinking...

We had a smaller version of the Whaleshark, which was ok because we were going light with the gear since there would be no diving.

We were on our way to the main event and the water was crystal clear again...

But before that we headed somewhere in the middle of the water, to a small plane wreck. Apparently the Japanese pilot who crashed underwater survived, then went back to Palau after years to "discover" his own wreck.... How people would overlook this, I don't know, because it's so shallow.

 It's a cute little place... but back on the boat we go for the real deal!

Notice how the team, including myself, is sporting our dive booties, not flattering, but necessary for what we were to do next:

Jellyfish Lake!!!!

First we had to understand how to deal with the suckers...

Then, we had to do the inevitable, a steep Hike up from the Limestone rocks, then down again to get to the lake. It's located on Eil Malk Island and is about 12000 years old. Apparently during those times, the lake was still part of the larger ocean, hence it is a saltwater lake. That's when the jelly fishes ended up there. The water then lowered down and since the jellyfish were stuck in the lake without any predators to worry about, they naturally lost their stinging ability.

After a little dirt, and a lot of sweat, we finally see the lake... It looked a lot like a regular lake, encompassed with thick greenery and rock formations, but what was underneath was absolutely indescribable.

Here we are hamming up with the Jellies

Dive Master DA being a meanie and trying to eat one.  

 

Me not looking too cute with the little critter on my head.

The amazing thing is that they have lost their ability to sting, making them soooo much fun to hold and handle!!

 It was a pretty subliminal experience, especially since I've been privy to one too many jellyfish stings. Those ensuing welts never leave my skin happy and stay on forever.

ToT like a kid in a jellyfish candy store.

Jellyfish lake was actually featured in Survivor Palau when one of the contestants or teams won and they had a nice swim visit here as a prize. I'd take that prize any time

We we definitely happy after that experience, even if there was no tank strapped to our backs. Jellyfish Lake is a must see in Palau, just like all the diving.

But so is island-hopping. Which we did

 We settled at this lunch island where people tend to snorkel while lunching at the same time. it had nice picnic tables and really soft white sand

And I've had some pretty awesome lunch spots lately, but I must say this was pretty good... especially when I have a Tuna Burger with a lot of fruit and an ice-cold Fanta to down it with.

I also stole some Jap Chae (Korean glass noodles) from Leslie's bento.

While staring at the water, I became mesmerized. The water was so blue and inviting that I just couldn't resist taking a dip even if I was convinced that snorkeling was for babies.

I thought snorkeling was boring compared to diving, but this was one fun snorkel trip!

Especially when we saw sharks and tried to attract them!

On the way back, we spotted some old wrecks still peeking out from the water. There's just so much to see under and over the waters of Palau!

Going home with the girls, enough sun on our backs.

After we had freshened up

Before leaving, we had to do some last minute pasalubong (souvenir) shopping at Cruise Control shoppe.

And passing by Bem Ermii which I hear has the best burgers and shakes. So sad was not able to try it.

Before leaving Palau, I made sure that my last meal would be Poke, to remind me of all those amazing days of raw fish, live fish, and scary fishies.

Poke was a life saver, because the airplane food going back to Manila was a jolting wake-up call from lalaland and onto the reality of a 9am meeting the next day at work.

Palau was an amazing experience, from the dives to the food to the water and the sun. But I think, the clincher was really the group we had brought in from Manila: fun, easygoing, adventurous and definitely ready for more. I had a blast and wish that on my next big dive trip, the big 10 would be back again.

Cheers!