first snorkel day

It is around 8pm on Tuesday here in Palau. Today we took it easy at the cabin/bungalow, as we both had sunburned faces from going out on the boat the day prior. Tomorrow we will be changing to the budget motel. We had dinner at Suryothai restaurant...I have to report that the Thai food was not as good as in Arizona... then the very slow walk up the hill past assorted stores and massage parlors to the Internet cafe.
 The connection speed is slow here, but we have more time than last time to compose a message. yeah!

E had arranged for us to go out on the dive boat on Monday. There were 6 French divers on the boat (didn't interact with us at all)

though they could understand English, as the dive briefing was in English... oh well... the friendliness of people is highly varied, and not at all what I expected based on how E always describes people here.

We made a stop to snorkel while the divers went into a cave. The site was along a sheer  rock wall with foliage hanging into the water from the island, and it was early in the day and shaded there.

Getting into the water from the boat's ladder was comical- thank goodness for the captain who held me in place while I fastened my fins on... oh to be much slimmer.

There wasn't much to see in the way of fish. I followed a 6 inch parrotfish juvenile around for awhile. There were varieties of coral, though I have to say that coral doesn't really do anything for me. E made a feather duster worm retract into its tube for me, by nearly touching it.

We asked to be dropped off at the beach of an island called Babelomekang  (bay bell o mi kong) then the boat left to take the divers to a site called Blue Corner.  This island has picnic tables and an outhouse on it, as many groups take their lunch there. When we arrived there wasn't anyone around, but then about 5 boatloads of Japanese divers came. We didn't notice them at first, since we had walked down the beach to dive in the area shaded by more overhanging trees (yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me) 

We were only in about knee deep water but E became excited by the GOBI fish.  There were hundreds of little mounds with holes in the sand- each about a foot apart, and parked in each little garage was a cute little striped fish,  half in- half out of his hole... looking like something from a Dr. Seuss book.  E. informed me that they live in symbiosis with a blind shrimp companion who dis the holes in exchange for the Gobi's lookout protection. Outside each little mound is a small pile of broken bits of coral that seem to be arranged in a pile and not just scattered about.

E. noticed his "dome" was getting burned, so he wanted to get out...but  before exiting the water I managed to find a lone snail, possibly/likely a dangerous cone snail in the water where we were. E was incredulous, as he had never seen one, and couldn't believe I managed to find one on the first day.   I kept my hands to myself, checking the urge to pick up the attractively patterened shell.   (Touch the spindle, TOUCH THE SPINDLE*)

*an aside for those who aren't my coffee klatsch friends reading this... "touch the spindle" refers to the scene in Sleeping Beauty when the evil witch coaxes Aurora to prick her finger and fall into the 100 year sleep/spell.  I have somewhat jokingly referred to accidentally touching dangerous animals on this trip as my fate... (biting my tongue as I type this.)

Coffee klatschers, you would have appreciated the struggle I had with the lycra spandex, getting into the dive skin. I was feeling compressed to the max and decided to "go commando" as Edward says... I went up to the outhouse, removed the swim suit and put the dive skin onto my au natural self.  E was trying to check out whether there was any "camel toe" action, but it isn't THAT form-fitting...

We had lunch on the beach when the boat with the French divers returned, and before we were done, there was a downpour. We headed back in the rain, which cleared before we got back to the dive shop.