our daily view from the dive boats

April 4, 2006

"I don't want to be made fun of, but... do you guys watch Days of Our Lives?" -Sy Harris

Ron Leidich of Planet Blue Kayak Tours (@ Sam's Tours) gave a fascinating talk last night as a preface to our evening slide show. He showed images of amazing coral formations in marine lakes scattered around Palau's numerous rock islands. Some of the lakes have absolutely no current in them, allowing hard corals to grow so thin that you can shine dive lights through them. He also talked about a narrow, subterranean tunnel that you can shoot through at 7 knots, but only if you wear a full wetsuit, knee and elbow pads, and a hard helmet! We're sold, and are definitely going to go out on a tour with Ron before we leave Palau.

"We're naked! (high-pitched) " - Berkley White, before opening the door and finding confused resort staff

We awoke this morning to rain and slightly-dampened spirits, but by the time we made it out of the cluster of islands surrounding the Palau Pacific Resort, the sun had broken through, signaling the start of a beautiful day.

During one of our dives at New Drop-Off today, I hung motionless in the blue while the rest of the group was entertained by a large Napoleon wrasse on the coral shelf. Underwater "corners" are gathering points for marine life of all types, and during my thirty minutes out there I was passed by numerous schools of fish, including groups of barracuda (two different species), jacks, black snappers, and more. No fewer than 10 small grey reef sharks and white-tip sharks wandered back and forth around along the wall below me, and a threadfin jack buzzed by, threads trailing along behind him.

Participant and chiropractor Kim Jameson has "fixed" two staff members so far (Jim Watt and Kevin Davidson), who have both reported great results despite having endured painful (and funny!) contortions. I wish I had photographs of their faces during treatment! Maybe one of the participants has something I can steal and post here in this webcast. :)

Our afternoon seminars today included a talk on composition by Jim Watt and the first of three talks on Photoshop (for underwater photographers) by Berkley White. The images submitted today by our group of eager photographers are already showing a dramatic improvement in quality with a surprising lack of what we call "nuked" images (images processed beyond decency). We're impressed, and are expecting even better images in the coming days!

Selected Underwater Photos by Participants

Don Ashbrook

Mel Betley

Mel Betley

Kim Jameson

Richard McGonegal

Doug Smith

Don Ashbrook

Don Ashbrook

Mel Betley

Richard McGonegal

Richard McGonegal

Marty Steinberg

Marty Steinberg

Rick Swart

Topside Photos (by Eric Cheng unless otherwise noted)

When you're cruising at 10 knots, rain hurts!

Jake and Daniel, our crew

Daniel hangs out with Audrey on the ride back to the resort

Evening slide show of participant images

Catherine and Jaxie at the evening slideshow

Ellen, Ken, Mel, and Audrey at the evening slideshow