Diving in Palau

On 24 Nov 2006 22:56:43 -0800, "bullshark" <bullshark@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>mag3 wrote:

>> I'll be using Sam's Tours. They pick you up right on the PPR beach so that
>> should work out. Hopefully, they'll do better.
>
>Another couple dove with them and seemed happy with them.

Excellent. I spoke to their sales rep directly by VOIP recently and she seemed quite nice. Looking forward to
it.

>
>> How crowded at this time of year? What's the weather like (ie. how much percip.)?
>
>The resort was full. Weather was perfect. Sunny, breezy and dead flat
>seas.
>Water temp was 84-86F.

UGGGGHHHH!!! Now you have me drooling

>We went FLL-IAH-HNL-GUM, 3+8.5+7.5+2=21 hrs in the air+ a couple more
>on the ground.


FLL? Are you based near there? I ask because I'll be in the Bradenton/Sarasota area for a week in
mid-January. Perhaps we could hook up for a dive or two with Lee Bell and the others.

mag3 said earlier:
>> What route did you take? I'm going CO 99 EWR-->HKG, and then CS HKG-->GUM and then
>> GUM-->ROR and back. And how long is the trip in total? I'll be going for roughly 1/2 a month
>> door to door.

>CO was late, late, late all the way.
>We walked off one plane and on to the other as they closed the doors.
>Amazingly, four out of four checked bags made it too. I was impressed.

I've learned to ensure I have plenty of time between multiple hops whenever possible. That's why I take some
of the crazy routes I do. I my case, I'll be overnighting in HKG, and then the HKG-->GUM arrives very early in
the morning so I'll have a 13hr layover in GUM before GUM--->ROR. Similar situation returning from ROR - two
12hr~ layovers both in GUM and HKG. I'm going to have to negotiate carefully with the Check in Agents because
I think there's a rule that says if your layover is more than 13 hours, they can't check you straight through.
I'm hoping to get checked straight through HKG--->GUM-->ROR outbound, and then completely straight through
home from ROR-->EWR.

We'll see.



____________________________________________
Regards,

Arnold


Visit my Travel Photo Website: http://www.mag3.biz/travel_photos/home_page.html

Absolutely 100% SPAM free!!!! HONEST!!!

Reef Fish wrote:

You missed the giant clams?

Did I miss something this interchange of dialogue? I recall the giant claims on my
trip to Palau some years ago in the mid-80's, but didn't I learn that they were
subsequently stolen by Taiwanese fishermen. If true, that would have been a tragedy,
since their mantels (?) were of many extraordinary vivid colors.

>
> >
> > >Flying to Bali (or back) on CO is pure hell.
>
> I said that.
> >
> > Going to Bali by Singapore is not the best choice.
>
> Why not? Direct flight to SIN, and a connecting flight to DPS.
> >
> > LAX-TPE-DPS - 19 hours total air time - two planes.
> > Coming East is always bad.
>
> That was why I said YOUR flight EWR-HKG was a bad way to go.
> >
> > > The next generation of flying -- the Airbus 780 had its debut landing
> > > in Kowloon (Hong Kong) yesterday on its test flight (with the crew of 78).
> > > It's passenger capacity is over 800.
> >
> > Do you mean the A380? Or are those bankrupt jerks trying to design
> > another behemoth that nobody wants? They are behind schedule, over
> > budget, overweight and airlines are cancelling orders for the 380 right
> > and left. If they ahve another one in the works they eill likely be Out
> > of Business before they deliver it.
> >
> > bullshark
>
> Yes, it was my typo for A380.
>
> So, you got me on a typo and an omission of "bay" in Manta Ray Bay
> Resort,
> while you didn't even remember that you called it "Manta Ray Bay"
> WITHOUT
> the "Resort". You were wrong on all other accounts.
>
> Not bad for someone who seldom travel anywhere though, bullshark.
>
> -- Reef Fish Bob.

Daniel Kessler wrote:
> Reef Fish wrote:
>
> You missed the giant clams?
>
> Did I miss something this interchange of dialogue?

I would say so, and completely disoriented about THIS thread.

That was my question to bullshark:

bullshark wrote:
> Reef Fish wrote:
> > bullshark wrote:
> > I did a shore dive at PPR because I had much better dives on the
> > liveaboard ahead. It was surprisingly GOOD! Visibility wasn't much
> > to crow about, but I saw some giant clams (a foot or two in size), and
> > some colorful Pacific Reef Fishes on that shore dive.

RF> You were complaining about your boat dive. I was comparing it
with
RF> the FREEBIE, your description below notwithstanding. You missed
RF> the giant clams?

Even if you (Daniel Kessler) is revealing that you ARE bullshark, I
was referring to bullshark's current Palau trip, and why should I care
or recall that Daniel Kessler had seen the clams I saw at PPR?


> I recall the giant claims on my
> trip to Palau some years ago in the mid-80's, but didn't I learn that they were
> subsequently stolen by Taiwanese fishermen. If true, that would have been a tragedy,
> since their mantels (?) were of many extraordinary vivid colors.

Yes, you are completely OUT OF DATE too. I was at the PPR doing
the shore dive at the 1997 Christmas about which I had posted

RF> On TWO different occasions in my recent Palau/Yap trip I wished I
had
RF> my fins with standard booties: (1) shore diving at the PPR hotel
-- my
RF> feet were too tender to negotiate the 10-20 ft of entry with what
appeared
RF> to be razor-sharp shells/coral,

I dived Palau at least twice after 1997, each time staying at the PPR,
but
I didn't post about my shore dives there on those later occasions.
This was posted in 1999:

Greg Gulik> I can't say enough good things about diving in Palau
Greg Gulik> as well as the Sun Dancer II crew.

RF> I agree. Did it again in 1999.

In 2001, I posted this:

Matt Ando > Has anyone here ever stayed at the Palau Pacific Resort?

RF > I am sure lots of readers on this ng have. I've stayed there in
1997,
RF > 1999, and will stay there next month.

So. Daniel, I've been at the PPR three times since 1997, and you were
there LAST time in the mid-1980s? Old Man, you must be getting very
senile to have made your statement in response to what I said to
bullshark in 2006!

-- Reef Fish Bob.

> > > >Flying to Bali (or back) on CO is pure hell.
> >
> > I said that.
> > >
> > > Going to Bali by Singapore is not the best choice.
> >
> > Why not? Direct flight to SIN, and a connecting flight to DPS.
> > >
> > > LAX-TPE-DPS - 19 hours total air time - two planes.
> > > Coming East is always bad.
> >
> > That was why I said YOUR flight EWR-HKG was a bad way to go.
> > >
> > > > The next generation of flying -- the Airbus 780 had its debut landing
> > > > in Kowloon (Hong Kong) yesterday on its test flight (with the crew of 78).
> > > > It's passenger capacity is over 800.
> > >
> > > Do you mean the A380? Or are those bankrupt jerks trying to design
> > > another behemoth that nobody wants? They are behind schedule, over
> > > budget, overweight and airlines are cancelling orders for the 380 right
> > > and left. If they ahve another one in the works they eill likely be Out
> > > of Business before they deliver it.
> > >
> > > bullshark
> >
> > Yes, it was my typo for A380.
> >
> > So, you got me on a typo and an omission of "bay" in Manta Ray Bay
> > Resort,
> > while you didn't even remember that you called it "Manta Ray Bay"
> > WITHOUT
> > the "Resort". You were wrong on all other accounts.
> >
> > Not bad for someone who seldom travel anywhere though, bullshark.
> >
> > -- Reef Fish Bob.

"bullshark" <bullshark@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1164437803.216696.177300@45g2000cws.googlegro ups.com...

> We went FLL-IAH-HNL-GUM, 3+8.5+7.5+2=21 hrs in the air+ a couple more
> on the ground.
> CO was late, late, late all the way.
> We walked off one plane and on to the other as they closed the doors.
> Amazingly, four out of four checked bags made it too. I was impressed.

They were a bit too late when we flew to Bali. Four hours, in fact, a
mechanical issue causing a delay leaving LAX. Therefore we would have
missed our connection to GUM and the twice-weekly flight to DPS. We flew
out on CP instead, leaving at 11:30 p.m., so we had to sit in LAX's
international terminal from 9 a.m. until the new flight boarded (almost 14
hours), then 15 hours in the air, 5 hours in HK, and another 5 in the air to
Bali. Traveling is so much fun. On the way back home, CO came through and
we were able to enjoy our two-stop two-red-eye trip back home with nary a
glitch, save for the crazy half-hour connection in GUM which does not leave
one much time to clear immigration and a security check, and a very
time-consuming near-secondary-inspection for all the Bali passengers
arriving through HNL.

We're flying out that way on CO again in a couple weeks, fortunately only as
far as HNL, where we can deplane, take an island hopper to Maui, and not
miss all the scooters, burning trash piles, and over-aggressive sarong
dealers. I had enough of Indonesia to last me a lifetime, if not at least a
few years. I do want to get out to Irian Jaya someday, but it can wait
until I've recovered from the last trip.

So how was the Aggressor? That's my tentative plan for March 2008.

"bullshark" <bullshark@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1164440008.871607.266750@45g2000cws.googlegro ups.com...

> Did a couple of those too. The coral is very sad. There are a few
> butterflies and angels, but its hardly worth the trouble. Free diving
> it is much better, since you can get access to the shallows on the
> other side of the dock where we saw pipe horses (many) and a couple of
> rare blennies as well as all the fish we saw on the shore dive.

Mebbe I should have done that instead. The shore dive wasn't any less
boring after three Red Roosters and it was a real PITA to convince the
broken-Englished shop guy to loan me a tank for a solo dive since they were
supposedly already closing up for the day. He made me drag a flag around as
punishment and I hate dragging a flag. Fortunately they really were closed
when I came back (I accidentally exceeded his half-hour time limit by a
half-hour) and I never got charged the $10 rental fee.

> That's *your* failure, not theirs. Other dives are offered, you just
> have to plan for it.

We did a week's worth of 2 tank trips and never repeated a site. Lionfish
Wall, Yap Caverns, and Yap Corner immediately come to mind without even
having to consult my log book. Much healthier coral than Palau, at least
when we went (1999). Some very mellow "canyon" drift dives, especially
while chewing a mouthful of betel hand-rolled by Patricia Acker. The
between-dive tea and banana bread, eaten under a light cool rain. I have
some very fond memories of that trip.

> Going to Bali by Singapore is not the best choice.
>
> LAX-TPE-DPS - 19 hours total air time - two planes.
> Coming East is always bad.

Twasn't too bad via HK (20 hours), and I liked Cathay Pacific a lot more
than EVA. The flight attendants actually spoke English, which is always a
plus, and Edward Norton was sitting across the aisle from us on the HKG-DPS
leg.

Thus spake PJ <spectre@tampabay.rr.com> :

>Try taking Benadryl (that's what the USAF gave us aviators when were
>passengers on a transport or commercial flight when we had long West
>to East hops so we could rest and fly awake upon arrive), It actually
>works to combat jet lag quite well! Give it a shot!

When I flew west to Australia, I stayed up for the whole flight. Left
at about 1:30 in the afternoon and arrived about 8:30 in the evening.
By the time I cleared customs, got a taxi and checked in at the hotel,
it was 10:00. Took an Ambien, hopped in bed and woke up 8 hours
later, fresh and ready. Carol and crew arrived at the hotel around
9:00 am, totally exhausted and lagged out. Since the other's rooms
weren't ready, they all took a shower in our room and headed out, but
everybody else had trouble until the next day. So if you can, get an
afternoon flight out and try that trick.

Heading home, I don't know what the trick is. I took an Ambien after
dinner and slept for about 8 hours, but it didn't seem to help. And
the lady sitting next to me was trying to cough up a lung. Apparently
she had a viral infection, according to my doctor, who treated me
symptomatically.

I've heard that getting plenty of sunlight during the day will help
the jet lag. My psych says standing out in the sunlight without
sunglasses for about an hour will help adjust.

>
>On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 19:53:10 GMT, Daniel Kessler
><dkessler@pop.cybernex.net> wrote:
>
>>true...the return to the U.S.A. (New York in my case) is a killer for me!
>>Somehow, going out there isn't so bad. But if it is Palau, I would prefer
>>the non-stop flight to Tokyo from JFK and then on to Guam where I would
>>overnight and then to Palau the next morning. I've done it the other way via
>>Honolulu, but it takes forever and is much more exhausting. For East Coast
>>people, I think that's the best route to Palau.
>>
>>Greg Mossman wrote:
>>
>>> "bullshark" <bullshark@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:1163889933.378117.237850@m73g2000cwd.googlegr oups.com...
>>>
>>> > The flights to Palau were arduous...far worse than flying to Bali.
>>>
>>> You think getting out there was bad? Wait until the return flights: two
>>> red-eyes in a row. You'll have jet lag from hell, I promise.
--
dillon

If you can't figure out how to unmunge my
address, email me and I'll explain it.

Dillon Pyron wrote:
> Thus spake PJ <spectre@tampabay.rr.com> :
>
> >Try taking Benadryl (that's what the USAF gave us aviators when were
> >passengers on a transport or commercial flight when we had long West
> >to East hops so we could rest and fly awake upon arrive), It actually
> >works to combat jet lag quite well! Give it a shot!
>
> When I flew west to Australia, I stayed up for the whole flight.
< detail snipped>
My record total real time flight(s) with less than 2 hrs connection
per stop (except Singapore) totaled 52 hours from Bali. But I
got to snooze on the 8 hr, 10 hr, 6 hr segments.

But the time I got home, my body couldn't care less what real time
it was. I just let the biological clock dictate when and what I do.

> I've heard that getting plenty of sunlight during the day will help
> the jet lag. My psych says standing out in the sunlight without
> sunglasses for about an hour will help adjust.

Sunlight is the popular theory.

Since I don't have to w*rk, and day or night or the day of the week
makes no difference to me, I've learned to use the clock only for
events that RUN according to the clock at the local location. I've
been back from Hong Kong for a week now, and my body still
thinks its Hong Kong time (13 hrs different) and I am just as happy
about it to be able to doing lots of things at midnight (HK or Shanghai
time).

-- Reef Fish Bob.

In message <4569EA7F.9C88D760@pop.cybernex.net>
Daniel Kessler <dkessler@pop.cybernex.net> wrote:

>
>
> Reef Fish wrote:
>
> You missed the giant clams?
>
> Did I miss something this interchange of dialogue? I recall the giant
> claims on my
> trip to Palau some years ago in the mid-80's, but didn't I learn that
> they were
> subsequently stolen by Taiwanese fishermen. If true, that would have
> been a tragedy,
> since their mantels (?) were of many extraordinary vivid colors.
>
Well they certainly weren't all stolen - I saw plenty when I was there
in August - magnificent specimens!

--
The Earth Is One Country and Mankind its Citizens
(from the Baha'i writings)
Surely The Global Superhighway is evidence of this?
Rocky@mercia.demon.co.uk Phone 01926 312342
(fax 08700560296)

Rocky Grove wrote:

You need to count the ">" and ">>" to see who said what to whom!

> In message <4569EA7F.9C88D760@pop.cybernex.net>
> Daniel Kessler <dkessler@pop.cybernex.net> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Reef Fish wrote:
> >
> > You missed the giant clams?

Reef Fish said that. That should have >>> you missed the giant clams?

the rest was back to the correct ">>" of what Daniel Kessler said.

> > Did I miss something this interchange of dialogue? I recall the giant
> > claims on my
> > trip to Palau some years ago in the mid-80's, but didn't I learn that
> > they were
> > subsequently stolen by Taiwanese fishermen. If true, that would have
> > been a tragedy,
> > since their mantels (?) were of many extraordinary vivid colors.
> >

Now it's down to one ">" and that's what Rocky Grove, in response
to Daniel Kessler, NOT to Reef Fish.

> Well they certainly weren't all stolen - I saw plenty when I was there
> in August - magnificent specimens!

That's why when in doubt, or when there are too many distracting >>>>,
I simply insert the initials of who said what, and it makes it MUCH
simpler for the readers to follow too.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Now for a replay with initials for the ">" challenged. :0)

Rocky Grove wrote,

> > Reef Fish wrote:

RF> You missed the giant clams?

Dan Kessler responded

DK > Did I miss something this interchange of dialogue? I recall
DK> the giant claims on my trip to Palau some years ago in the
DK> mid-80's, but didn't I learn that they were subsequently
DK> stolen by Taiwanese fishermen. If true, that would have
DK> been a tragedy, since their mantels (?) were of many
DK> extraordinary vivid colors.

RG> Well they certainly weren't all stolen - I saw plenty when
RG> I was there in August - magnificent specimens!

I haven't been there for several years, but the giant clams are
NOT easy to steal for one thing. Then they can also
rejuvenate from the unbroken/stolen ones.

-- Reef Fish Bob.

P.S. I am still wondering if that was Kessler's slip to reveal that
he is posting by the posting name of "bullshark".




>
> --
> The Earth Is One Country and Mankind its Citizens
> (from the Baha'i writings)
> Surely The Global Superhighway is evidence of this?
> Rocky@mercia.demon.co.uk Phone 01926 312342
> (fax 08700560296)