Stunning Peleliu

[RWBrooks 26]

[vimeohd]10819143[/vimeohd]

 

Quick short from yesterday's dive at Yellow Wall and Peleliu Express, quite incredible numbers of fish.

Enjoy

 

Richard

[allen 4]

We had the same during one of our dives in Palau - I think it was along the Blue Hole. Thousands went flying by along the wall. I got a couple of shots but they went by too fast for a descent shot. Very cool.

 

Did you go on shore and poke around Peleliu? Some real history there from WWII.

[Mike L 0]

Sad, I did my trip to Palau a year ago and it was such a disappointment. We didnt see anywhere near the number of fish or sharks everyone always talked about. It was definitely a DOWN week! Even Blue corner was dead!

[Cary Dean 3]

Great video Richard.

 

Mike - Sorry to hear

[ornate_wrasse 0]

Very nice video! I also enjoyed the Blue Corner video.

 

As far as WWII history goes, my father actually fought with the 1st Marine Division when it invaded Peleliu in September 1944. That's one of the reasons I've always wanted to dive there and explore the island.

 

On a slightly related note, HBO has an excellent series going on now on the war in the Pacific. I believe tonight's episode will cover the battle at Peleliu.

 

Again, thanks for the well done videos.

 

Ellen

[DiverPam 13]

Thanks for sharing. We ran into a large wall of fish last trip to Palau as well on Blue Corner - not near as long as you describe though. 6 weeks and 3 days until next Palau trip - but who's counting!!! Sorry to hear about your trip Mike - it really is worth it.

 

DiverPam

[allen 4]

Found one of my rather poor shots of the Sharks herding the Yellowtail Snappers as well as them flying by the wall. The second photo should be vertical.

 

Ellen - I would love to hear your father's stories. I stood on Orange Beach and just envisioned those coming on shore. A tremendous feeling.

Edited April 13, 2010 by allen

[DiverPam 13]

Here is one of several pics that I took at Blue Corner when we had a wall of fish going by. I agree with you Richard, it is hard to get close sometimes and when you are hooked into the reef with the current going - even harder. - DiverPam

 

[RWBrooks 26]

Thanks for all the comments and compliments.

The Sea Breams are hard to get close to and only aggregate at this time of the year, then disappear completely. I discovered a new level of stealth was needed to approaching them.

The Moorish Idols at Blue Holes/Blue Corner aggregate quite routinely each half moon and this year were set to explode but no one really saw it. Likewise last year on the 11th April the yellowtail parrotfish (or Hipposcarus longiceps) 11th April 2009

were in such numbers it blew my mind.

The White Tongue Trevallies and Big eyes Trevallies are probably the friendliest most trusting fish who will idle past the lens in their huge schools as if you weren't there but attract the attention of the Giant Trevallies who hound and harass and occasionally wound and kill.

Sorry to hear your week was a let down Mike, If you were here now you'd see all this, plus about 7 Mantas feeding at German channel on the thick plankton soup that is coming in with the tide right now. If Blue Corner is ever dead then I think something is definitely wrong!

Peleliu is incredibly interesting topside Allen, the museum, the 1000 man cave, the monument at Bloody Nose Ridge. It's so peaceful there now, it's hard to imagine the carnage it saw.

I'm fortunate enough to live here and see it regularly and I've seen that despite the apparent strength in numbers, the fish we see are balanced precariously and it would only take a careless move by the Palauan Govmt to loose them and destroy what is in fact a treasure chest of riches.

 

Cheers

 

Richard

[Drew 0]

Richard, what program are you encoding your uploads with to Vimeo? The aspect ratio is 4:3 but your video looks 16:9 with letterboxing?

[betti154 5]

Nice work. It's been a few years since I last dived the so it brought back some memories.

 

thanks for sharing.

[RWBrooks 26]

Drew,

Usually, FCP export to Quicktime conv, H.264, 640x 480 with letterbox.

Just to keep the file size down.

@betti154, we went to Blue Corner today doing some work with The Micronesian Shark Foundation and there was 1 diver in the water......at 10am. Busy season has finished but the diving is still incredible. A good time (the best time) to be here!

 

Cheers

Richard