Chasing Summer –

October 18-20

Another day, another new country. Today was exciting as we entered the waters surrounding Palau. Most large cruise ships cannot come here due to their size, so it is fortunate the Odyssey is a smaller-sized ship.

There are two channels that allow access to the islands: the east side channel and the West side channel. If a boat enters through the East, it actually passes the Rock Islands, which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We came in on the West side channel. It was only several more meters wide than our boat was. The pilot had a heavy duty to make sure that we got to our anchorage safely due to the large number of atolls in the area.

The public port is in somewhat disrepair, and our port person instead secured us an anchorage near the Pacific Palau resort, where we were able to use their private pier to tender. This has caused a lot of confusion because we were well away from the town, and there is no transportation available. A shuttle bus was arranged for us, so we were able to get into town itself. Also, as a part of the deal, the resort was willing to give residents of the Odyssey a day pass for $45. It is usually $109.

Many people took them up on this, but I decided to hop on the shuttle and go into town.

The shuttle dropped us off on Main Street in town at the largest shopping centre, WCTC, which was open on Saturday. Not many things were open on the weekend. The shopping centre had a large grocery on the main floor with a lot of imported goods, which made it quite pricey. There was also a department store on the second floor that had a little bit of just about anything you could want, including Halloween stuff.

Deciding to go back there at the end of our adventure, instead, we went over to the main street and walked up and down both sides, looking at stores, restaurants, and even a small museum.

Paul’s goal today was to eat the Palau delicacy of fruit bat soup. I had looked up three restaurants that were recommended for trying this soup, and one was just off the main street, so that is where we went, the Presidential Suites hotel. Don’t let the title fool you; it was an unpretentious building, and had I not looked it up previously, we never would have gone in there. The decor was limited and signage was almost nonexistent, but inside, there were a couple of locals eating and several trays of food were being catered out, so it seemed pretty popular.

Yes, the soup was as disturbing to look at as you would imagine, as the entire fruit bat is cooked in the broth and comes out to the table whole. I told the waiter that he needed to instruct us on how to eat the fruit bat, as I’m sure not all of it was edible, and he deconstructed it for us. The broth was actually quite delicious, based on coconut milk, ginger, and taro. The bat itself was a dark meat, closer to a Turkey, but in the drumstick, that firmer piece that is near the tendons and cartilage. I only had one small bite.

After watching him consume his bat soup, we went to the Canoe House so I could have lunch. I ended up ordering a salad and cheesy garlic bread. He laughed about how ordering salad in foreign countries is slightly dangerous, and I was more likely to get an upset stomach with my salad than he was with his bat soup. I was also able to try the Red Rooster Beer flight.

We went back to the mall to pick up some goodies and then hopped on the shuttle back to the resort. At the resort, I sat around the pool area chatting with other residents and took a quick dip in the ocean.

Day two was back to the resort, this time much earlier in the morning. I took the 8:00 PM shuttle over and then put my bag on a couple of chairs near the pool. We wanted to check and see if there were cabs that we could arrange a short, cheap tour around the island for our final morning. We had an all aboard time of 3:00, but there was nothing there. If you wanted a cab, they would need to call one out, or you would need to go into town to do it. The tours arranged from the resort start at $300, way too high.

We had seen a sunset overlook area and decided to walk over there first before it got hotter. There is also a secondary path that led to a peninsula. After our little morning stroll, we went back to the pool, where I put on my snorkelling gear and headed out to check out the reef right outside of the resort.

The fish in the area are amazing. There are several varieties of very colourful tropical roof fish. You don’t even need to go out that far. A few steps in, and the fish sightings begin.

I also saw thousands of tiny silverfish that looked like a sprinkler system as they would leap out of the water in small groupings. I kept my face down and every once in a while would kind of look up, and on one of those lookups, there was a sea turtle that I was almost going to run into. It kinda gave me side eye as it swam on by. There were several cornetfish as well that were swimming near the top, so I needed to keep my eyes down and up.

There were many small clams in the coral with magnificent purple and blue linings. When I would swim over them, they would somewhat close up again, but they were fabulous to look at. I hadn’t brought out my phone camera in a waterproof bag because I find the pictures are just not that good, but every time I don’t, I also wish I had something that would capture those moments. Alright, I may need to get a different underwater camera that works a little better.

I ended up going out snorkeling 3 times during the day. The third time, I wanted to find the giant clams. Further out from the shore, there were these giant clams that looked like I could comfortably swim into them. They were empty, there was no animal inside them, it was just the shells, and I don’t know if they were fake and planted there, but they were huge.

We also stayed for the brunch from 11 to 2:30 at the resort. It costs $38 and offers a variety of tasty dishes as well as an unlimited rum fruit punch or beer.

It was an amazing experience, and the snorkeling was easy. I definitely enjoyed my time in Palau. If I came back, I would go on an organized snorkel tour to the Rock Islands.