Ulong & sleeping sharks

The tides determine where the dive boats go.   There is a favorite dive that E loves called "Ulong channel" and he has been wanting to go there since we arrived.

E called the dive shop early in the morning and asked about a boat going out, and within 15 minutes I was out of bed, into my swimsuit, and getting into the van to take us to the diveshop. Ulong Island is where the British ship, the Antelope foundered and broke apart in the year 1783. There was extended friendly contact between Captain Henry Wilson and the Palauans and they helped him rebuild a smaller boat to sail back to England called the Redeemer. more info http://www.pacificworlds.com/palau/visitors/explore.cfm

The first dive site that we went to was Saies corner where divers were in 40  ft of water and there were 3 snorkelers above them. Then the divers descended into very deep water and we didn't see them. In the 40 ft. water, Edward pointed out a leopard shark who was sleeping on the bottom. The shark had found a small patch of sandy bottom, that was surrounded by several pieces of coral and was curled around a bit, much like a dog on a throw rug.

There wasn't much current and we were able to hover there a minute or two to observe him.

There was an hour break for the divers to "out-gas" in which they tell their tales and engage in general diver B.S. -which seems to constitute all conversation on the boat, and of which divers never seem to grow tired. I did get to make a minimal contribution  to the conversation by talking about oarfish, which neither the divers nor the local Palauan boat captain had never heard of...

...mostly the conversation seemed to be centered around the territorial trigger fish and how aggressive they are... The triggerfish are never mentioned without Edward doing his famous triggerfish greeting. It consists of him putting his hand on top of his head and raising his middle finger into the "giving someone the finger" position. Apparently the trigger fish has a spikey fin that comes up when he's agitated and about to attack.  Their bite can be pretty nasty and they are definitely more feared here than the sharks. One diver lamented, upon getting back into the boat after seeing them... "oh no, not you again"  (He had been dogged by them when diving in Thailand.)

The next dive was the famous Ulong channel dive. This is where the divers use the unique "dive hook." As the current is so strong, they hook onto a piece of coral to hang out and observe the sharks circling round and round in the current there. Once, E made a haiku about the sharks there, and I have it copied down into something at home, but can't remember it.  I guess I should let Edward describe this dive spot here: 

"Divers enter the water and swim to the edge of the plateau and down the wall to a depth of about 60 ft. You proceed to the mouth of the channel, which is a sloping sandy area with coral heads, which opens out into the blue water. There you hook onto the reef to prevent being "blown into" the channel by the strong current. In front of you there are many grey reef sharks milling around in the current and occasionally they attack and devour the large bait fish that are also swimming there. After 15 minutes, the divers unhook and the current "flushes you" down the sandy bottomed channel (which varies from 25-100 ft wide and is a half mile long.)

The sides of Ulong channel are bounded by coral. This is a natural channel, unlike German channel which was man made in the early 1900's through the limestone, to facilitate shipping phosphate that was mined. The German channel is now a dive site where divers hope to spy the giant manta ray, who comes to the plankton rich waters to feed. "Seeing a manta is hit or miss, definitely not a guaranteed thing."

E. decided to skip the dive so that he could snorkel it with me. He has been wanting to "introduce" me to the lettuce coral he refers to as "god" there. The water depth is about  30-40 ft. and the current moves you along past everything. I guess there are times when the current is extremely strong and the divers feel like they are flying.When we first jumped in there were sharks with remora hanging off the pectoral fins. Unlike the divers, who can hook on and observe the sharks for a period of time, the snorkelers are swept onward past the brief shark show and down through the channel.

I did see another shark sleeping in the sandy bottom of the channel, again, much like a dog. Then E warned me to watch out for the trigger fish and that made me worry, because what was I supposed to do?  It didn't turn out to be a problem and I did get to view E's favorite giant lettuce coral. And now, I have seen everything that he wanted me to see... and he has been in Palau for 3 weeks without diving.. so I told him he ought to go out the next day diving and I would go to the aquarium next door.