This is a picture of some of the Rock Islands in Palau. I scanned the image from a postcard I bought there.
Palau was fabulous! I spent one short week there, and came very close to going native. I really didn't want to leave those islands. I enjoyed the best diving I have ever experienced (considered to be one of the best dive spots in the world) and was awed by the beauty of the islands through which I kayaked.
I stayed at a great little place called Lehn's Motel. Sam's Dive Shop arranged to pick me up there every morning and take me to the shop, where we would all embark on our day's adventure.
The first day: Tunnel and Blue Corner.
Day Two: Oolong's Channel.
Day Three: Blue Hole and Blue Corner, with the lunch break by the Corner, where I got charged by a shark.
Day Four: Oolong's Channel and Germantown? The Jellyfish Lake, where I swam among thousands of stingerless jellyfish. Their touch was silky soft, and it was almost erotic the way they pulsed against my exposed skin. I was extremely careful to move very slowly and cautiously among them so as not to cause any injury or damage.
Day Five: Peleliu The diving here wasn't as exciting as I had hoped. The strong current that normally flows along the southern tip of the island, where the China Sea meets the Pacific Ocean, was almost nonexistent. This meant that very few sharks and big fish were around, but the area on top of the shelf was teeming with life as smaller fish congregated there. The popularity of this site with the small fish has earned it the nickname "The Aquarium."
Day Six: Kayaking tour of the Rock Islands. It was awesome. I got to see several Japanese WWII defensive positions, including sunken ships, machine gun nests, ammo dumps and a signalling system between positions. I saw one of the most beautiful fish in the world, an immature nascent(?) which changes at "puberty." I quietly paddled around a shallow lagoon among mangrove roots, observing baby black tip reef sharks.