Diving in Palau

So I WON THIS TRIP! Thanks to the Sea of Change Foundation https://seaofchange.com/ my $40 raffle ticket landed us in Palau with a week long liveaboard for two on the Rock Island Aggressor, worth $7,000! Palau is an unspoiled gem of a dive location, because of its remote location. In order to get there, we had to fly from Miami to Los Angeles to Hawaii to Guam and then to Palau. Whew!! The coral is magnificent, like none we’ve ever seen before. It was like going from a black and white TV to color! We dove 4 or 5 times per day for a whole week – eat, sleep, dive and repeat. #aggressorliveaboards

: Palau is barely a dot on the map. Putting the micro in Micronesia, it’s tucked in next to the Philippines.

: When arriving in Palau, you must sign the poetry that is stamped in your passport. 340 islands make up the beautiful Republic of Palau, protected by a powerful promise.

: Our home for 7 days, the 106 ft. boat held 18 passengers and 6 exceptionally great crew.

: Turtle photo bomb.

: We’re on the perfect boat, since Mike was born in Rock Island!

: Diving into the Blue Hole, a deep cavern. Sunlight on the top, and very dark below.

: We held hands a lot, to keep track of each other during dark or heavy current dives.

: I brought this water bottle all the way from Argentina as a gift for the crew.

: Ben explaining “chickenable” offenses, like not logging your dive or forgetting your fins. Such an infraction means diving with a rubber chicken attached to your tank for embarrassment!

: Our room towels, arranged like manta rays.

: The coral is so stunning here that you’d enjoy the dive even if there weren’t any fish!

: One of many color drenched sunsets.

: Amazing how these delicate little fish live in the protection of the sharp coral without a scratch.

: I found a nautilus!! About 10 in. in diameter, just sitting on a shelf. First time we’ve ever seen one underwater!

: Nudibranchs are like sea slugs, with no shell. This one is the size of my thumb. Like modern art.

: A cleaning station – large fish swim in, and little fish eat whatever is stuck in their gills. Kind of like going to the dentist.

: Wearing an appropriate hat for the big shark dive. The board depicts our dive briefing, so we know what to expect underwater.

: We’ve never seen so many sharks at one time. These are grey or white reef sharks, not dangerous unless provoked.

: Relaxing between dives. We dove with Nitrox (32% oxygen) instead of air (21% oxygen) to avoid decompression, since we did 4 or 5 dives per day.

: Such a handsome turtle.

: Meals were outstanding, with the great company of divers from around the world.

: Grouper were plentiful on this dive, but we never ate grouper in Palau. They’re trying to reduce tourist consumption of reef fish to sustain their diving paradise.