A quick update from Palau

For a year of rest and “slow travel,” the trip has been pretty busy so far — especially considering that we are starting on a remote tropical island.  Between everything we’ve been doing and the ephemeral internet connection, we’re already behind on posting… But there’s a good signal here in the airport here in Palau as we prepare to leave for our next island, Kosrae, so here’s a quick, half-baked, teaser update.

Palau was great – much nicer than I ever expected.  On our first day we took it easy to get over the jet lag, drove around the ‘big island,’ and hiked to a waterfall.

The next day was the first dive day for Ethan and I.  We went to Blue Corner, which, as the websites say, is “ranked by most dive magazines as the single best dive in the world.”  Quite a place for our first ever dive as certified divers.  We saw large sea turtles, sharks, barracuda, an octopus (I even got to see it change color), a million kinds of coral and tropical fish, and a whole bunch of other stuff I can’t remember sitting in an airport at 2 am.  The water was crystal clear, with a magical infinite blue off the “corner” where it drops off into infinity.  Diving over the blue was like floating in outer space.

The third day was a kayak and snorkel tour with the four of us.  We paddled through a mangrove forest, snorkeled to a WWII Japanese Zero, saw upside down (and regular) jellyfish, paddled through a tunnel to a hidden lake, snorkeled over a huge field of brain coral in impossible colors (“Einstein’s Garden”), had lunch on a hidden powder white beach, and that’s about half the day.

The ride there was through the Rock Islands, which are a long string of small (and tiny) limestone islands covered in tropical growth and eroded at the base, making them look like they are floating above the water.  Our boat driver gave us a treat, zigzagging between gaps that looked narrower than the boat at high speed.

Plane is boarding, so our incredible second day of diving will have to wait… along with entertaining text and properly formatted pictures.  Life on Kosrae is said to be more relaxed, so check back for more in a few days (hopefully we’ll find internet.)