Joel BergsmaUnderwater photographer · Expedition diver

Palau07°21'N 134°29'EJan 2011 to Jan 2013121 photos

Palau on Land

I shot these photos of my divemates & dive guides - and the Rock Islands - while with Sam's Tours, Palau in January 2011, 2012, and 2013.

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Continental is merging into United, so the flight is designated a United flight.We stayed in clean, budget accommodations - the Guest Lodge Motel in central Koror, Palau. "The Guest Lodge Motel offers a nice and clean place to stay if you just need a place to sleep and relax between days of outdoor activities. Note that the building looks a bit shoddy from the outside, because the top floor is not finished. Rooms have AC, refridgerator, Cable TV, 130 V as well as 230 V power outlets, shower/bath, towels etc." [Wikitravel.org]Guest Lodge Motel in central Koror, Palau.Guest Lodge Motel in central Koror, Palau.
Speeding out to our divesite along the outer reef. Some of the rock islands are behind us.Our diveboat on January 14 included Captain Junior from Palau, divemasters from the USA (Dan) and Switzerland (Remy), 4 friends from Australia (Charity, Peter, Jeff, Stuart), one from Alberta, Canada (Al), and one from Italy (Sandro). 8:30 a.m. pickup time. Boat departed about 9:30 am. 2011-01-14.Daily Boat Schedule at Sam's Tours. 2011-01-14.Guest locker at the end of the day, with the gear in storage and the boat's water coolers awaiting refilling for the next day's diving.
Sam's Bottom Time Bar & Grill. We enjoyed our after-dive time there.A Palauan storyboard sign for the Bottom Time Bar & Grill at Sam's Tours.Sam's Tours minivans parked at the arrival area at Sam's Tours.The arrival area at Sam's Tours. Tanks are lined up for loading on the diveboats.
Bottom Time Bar & Grill.Sam's Tours rinse tank. On the left side are three red barrels for wetsuits, in the foreground is the general rinse tank, and two white tanks behind it are for rinsing dive cameras.Sam's Tours - drinking water, guest locker, & rental and repair center.Loading some of the early morning diveboats at Sam's Tours. Yachts from sailors around the Pacific are moored in the background.
Sam's Tours dock.Guest Lodge Motel in central Koror, Palau."I Love Noodles" Restaurant. The kitchen and menu display overhead, On the menu are our favorites such as fruit ice, "milke tea", "fried squid balls," and "meat pie.""I Love Noodles" Restaurant - inexpensive, fast food restaurant in Koror along the main road.
"I Love Noodles" Restaurant. Satay pork and chicken on the grill."I Love Noodles" Restaurant. Making a stawberry fruit ice, a mix of crushed ice, smuckers strawberry jam, beans, and vanilla sauce, topped with a scoop of neopolitan ice cream."I Love Noodles" Restaurant serves coconut juice! Three cheers for them!Kramer's Restaurant, Malakal Harbor, Palau. Atty. Dave Shadel & JJB. 2011-01-21.
Kramer's Restaurant, Malakal Harbor, Palau. L to R: Al Robinson, Bill Ring, Atty. Dave Shadel, & JJB. Dinner 2011-01-21.Looking at the tin roofed house located across the balcony from my room at the Guest Lodge Motel, Koror, Palau. Rainstorm in the morning of 2011-01-23.German Channel divesite map located at Sam's Tours.Blue Corner divesite map located at Sam's Tours. On the upper right of the map are shown the four blue holes leading through the reef to a subway stop sized cavern whose large exit is between 75' and 90' deep. When we dive the blue holes, we exit the cavern at this depth and then drift and swim along the vertical wall toward the tip of the blue corner (where the top of the reef is 65' deep).
The Daily Schedule at Sam's Tours for 2011-01-23. We did not dive on January 23 because we were flying to Guam-HNL-LAX that night. Had we dove, we might risk decompression sickness.We dove the house reef (Sam's Wall) twice in 2011. This is a shore dive in front of Sam's Tours offered for no cost.Kayaks for rent at Sam's Tours. Divers can choose the kayak and snorkeling tour for their last day on Palau, because they cannot safely dive and fly within the same 24 hour period. We chose to explore the islands by rental car on our last day.Rental and minor repair Center.
Guest Locker mid-day. We stored our dive gear each night in the guest locker. Our drinking water came from the yellow coolers shown on the left side of the photo.Although this digital photo center was available, we brought with us all the equipment we needed.One of the Sam's Tours docks, with its dive boats departed for the day, looking out toward the USS Cowpens, a naval ship that moored in the harbor on Jan. 22 for some R & R for its sailors.Several yachts are moored in the harbor adjoining Sam's Tours, and the owners playfully call themselves the Royal Belau (Palau) Yacht Club. Belau is the Palauan name for Palau.
Looking toward the USS Cowpens, a ship that moored in the harbor on Jan. 22 for some R & R for its sailors. In the foreground is a diveboat that can be used to transport snorkelers and divers to the Rock Islands.The Blacktip is Sam's first boat. Sam began business in 1991. This boat is the one on which MB and I dove with Sam in January 1991, 20 years before, while Joyce, Nita & Brendan remained at the Palau Pacific Resort during the days.Looking to the right from Sam's Tours docks. The channel between these two rock islands leads to the Sea Passion Hotel and, further beyond, the commercial Malakal harbor.Fish n Fins Dive Center, a dive shop similar to Sam's Tours. I dove with this dive shop twice in the 1980s, although it is much, much larger today.
This is the front of the Fish 'n Fins dive shop seen at mid-day. The divers have long departed, and three sailors from the USS Cowpens are about to depart on their rented kayaks.Restaurant at Fish 'n Fins.Looking down the public dock to the left of Fish 'n Fins.Fish 'n Fins. Dugout canoe on display, along with a wooden fish trap hung on the wall.
Palau International Coral Reef Center and Palau Aquarium, a research and tourist educational facility built in the intervening years since my last trip there in 1991. Displays "include a topographical map of Palau; a recreation of a mangrove swamp, a seagrass aquarium; an inner reef aquarium; an exhibition of coral and another of the country's famed jellyfish; deep-water aquariums and a couple of salt-water crocodiles." [Wikitravel.org]Palauan, Japanese, and American flags fly over the Palau International Coral Reef Center.Entrance areaPalau and an aerial photo of the 70 islands, a group of Rock Islands constituting a marine reserve that (we were told) was set aside in the 1960s as a natural preserve.
Topographic map of Palau shows it is perched above steep mountain walls that arise from deep within the ocean floor.A topographic map of the Koror and the rock islands (south of Koror), identifying locations of several sites that we dove during our stay in Palau.Mangrove swamp exhibit at the international coral reef center.A boat from Yap, I was told.
Palau Aquarium. Among Palau's marine lakes is its most famous lake, Jellyfish Lake.Palau Aquarium. Chambered Nautilus on display at Palau's international coral reef center. Paul Humann, et al, Reef Creature Identification (2010), page 405.The rebuilt bridge connecting Babeldaop Island (airport and capitol) to Koror (commercial center and town).Looking toward Koror from the Elilai Restaurant.
Looking toward Koror and Fish 'n Fins from the Elilai Restaurant.Looking toward the Sea Passion and Palau Royal Resort from the Elilai Restaurant balcony.Looking at the Palau Royal Resort from the Elilai Restaurant balcony.Looking toward a resort from the Elilai Restaurant balcony.
Elilai Restaurant.Sailors from the USS Cowpens prepare to depart their table on the balcony at the Elilai Restaurant.View toward Koror from the balcony of the Elilai Restaurant.View toward Koror from the balcony of the Elilai Restaurant.
View toward Koror from the balcony of the Elilai Restaurant.One of our favorite restaurants in Palau. Entrance to the Elilai Restaurant where we ate lunch on Jan. 23, 2011 and in 2012.Palau car license plates. Each state in Palau can issue its own plates.Our rental car.
Palauan bai (men's meeting house).Palauan bai (men's meeting house) on Babeldaop.Door to the Red Rooster microbrewery, Koror.Palm Bay Bistro is also home to the Red Rooster microbrewery.
Palm Bay Bistro Restaurant and home of the adjoining Red Rooster microbrewery. It's a nice restaurant on Malakal harbor, and we ate here twice.2011-01 Joel & Sam at Sam's Tours, Palau.2011-01 Joel & Bill Ring - lunch at the Elilai Restaurant.Underwater photograph by Joel Bergsma
Immigration Billboard - PalauUnderwater photograph by Joel BergsmaUnderwater photograph by Joel BergsmaUnderwater photograph by Joel Bergsma

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