Ongoing Palau

Yes, we’re still here.  We’re catching our breath and enjoying the slowly improving weather.

We haven’t made it out to the outer anchorages yet as we’re waiting for some engine parts.  Not complicated but don’t want to move anywhere without an engine temperature gauge.  The engine works but without the gauge and the associated sensor there’s no way to read whether the temperature of the engine has increased – a very important detail on a diesel engine.

So, what are we doing?  Well, with temperatures in the low 30s we lay low during the hottest part of the days and then mid afternoon head out to a place to snorkel and cool off in the tropical waters.  Not 15 minutes from the anchorage in front of Sam’s we can be snorkeling amongst coral and fish in crystal clear water where the visibility goes down about 30 metres.  Now, how could anyone complain about that?

We’re so glad the weather has started to improve.  Talking to my brother the other night I said we were celebrating our 4th straight day without rain in 5 months.  It’s been a tough 5 months weatherwise and we’re glad to see promising trade wind clouds although we’ve seen this before and been disappointed.  Enough of the weather though as I suspect most people who read this blog are probably digging out the snow from their driveways or putting on heavy raincoats to head out into the blustery west coast.  All this while we sit here with, oh, I’m not going to say what we have on!  But we are sitting here in the cockpit with ice in our drinks, a view of the sunset and only a few mosquitoes to bat away.

Unfortunately, the downside of Palau is the internet.  Several years ago the Americans made an offer of including Palau in a fibre optic cable they were installing for the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.  Palau said no and now they’re realising their mistake.  Service is by satellite dish, it’s expensive ($10/3 hours), slow and worst of all skype doesn’t work.  I also cannot post pictures to the web so this is why all this text.  My apologies as I always think a picture is worth a thousand words.

So, what do we like about Palau?

–          Showers every day

–          Indian buffet at The Taj on Friday at noon

–          Friday night get togethers at Sam’s bar

–          Snorkelling within 30 minutes of Sams

–          Music on Wednesday nights at Kramers

–          Fresh water at the docks

–          Listening to the bullshit at the bar

–          Shopping at Surangels

–          Bicycling

–          Safe anchorage

–          Clean environment

–          No ITCZ

–          Shall I keep going?

OK – before I bore everyone to death I’ll post this and hope that when we get to the Philippines we can post some pictures of this incredible place.  If you are a diver even better.  You shouldn’t miss this place as according to all the divers here it’s one of the 5 best dive locations in the world.