Location: Malaka Harbour, Palau
Hey everyone, skipper of the day here! Wow… what a day it’s been. Today we got our first day of diving in after a month, and it was everything and more! One dive group got to do a wreck dive, while the other group got to do a drift dive. I think most people can collectively say it was their best diving day so far.
To start the morning off, everyone got woken up by Bad Bunny (song choice by Tom). However, wouldn’t say that was everyone’s preferred way of being woken up. Margaret, on the other hand, was a trooper and woke up fist-bumping the air. We then gathered inside due to the rain and had an amazing breakfast from Tom. He served delicious crepes, and we enjoyed some fresh fruit. After cleaning up, dive team 1 then gathered their gear and awaited our pickup. By 8:30, we gathered onto the dive boat. We got to meet our awesome dive guides and took a 10-minute drive out to the dive site. When we arrived, we suited up and got into the water.
My first glance in the water was AMAZING. There was great visibility, and below us was a plane wreck from WW2. When we descended, it was even crazier than seeing it from up top. The plane had growing coral all around it, and it was just a sight to see. After checking the plane out for a bit, we started observing all of the beautiful living coral around. Concluding our dive, our guides drove us to a couple of sites to see some of the pillboxes from the war. We also learned that one of the resorts along the way was used as a military base. Lots of cool facts and sites to learn about!
Getting back to the boat, Sierra, Dray, Heloise, Larkin, Perry, and I had a nice refreshing ocean swim. We then got to observe some squid from up deck, which was so cool. Since the squid was hunting, we got to see one of them grab a fish, and when it did, it looked like it had just sprayed out the glitter, it was so pretty, but in reality, it was just the fish’s gills that had come off.
Lunchtime arrived, and we were served with a mix of chicken, vegetables, potatoes, and fruit. Thanks again to Tom; it was great. We got to have our guides on board with us for lunch which made for a great company. Wrapping up lunch, dive team 2 set up to get going on their drift dive.
Throughout the day, we had more rain which made for great napping weather. I was one of the few who napped, so I can’t say much about what happened in the afternoon. When the second dive team did get back, I was quite jealous to hear of all the animals they got to see. Dive team two got to experience the shark-infested waters and see a sea turtle, along with many other fish and amazing coral. Overall, diving was a 10/10, and we can’t wait to see what tomorrow awaits.
Jumping into dinner, we had dinner down below again due to the rain and were served a beef stew with potatoes. Dray and Heloise baked up some amazing Snickerdoodle cookies fulfilling our bellies. Coming to squeeze, my question was, if you could live in any era, what would it be and why. I chose the Elvis Presley era, of course, partially because of the music but mostly because of him.
Concluding the day, half of us had our Nav Master class with Drew, which was exciting. The other half of the group had their class postponed since they were already sleeping. Now the rest of us will join and do the same. Another great day in Palau, and it’s only getting better.
Thanks for tuning in! Until next time 🙂
-Margaret is awesome!
-To my family and friends, I love and miss ya’ll more than you know <3 And before ya’ll get mixed up, I’m the in the black fins in front of the plane. Sydney is the other photo!