Spent the morning starting to sort through the several hundred photos I'd taken over the last several days - even after discarding most of them I ended up keeping nearly a hundred! Sue, Stacy, and I sat down and tried to work out our plans for the remaining week in Palau. The plan ended up being something like fly to Anguar tomorrow (avoiding the building seas, and giving us an aerial view of the Rock Islands), then fly to Pelilieu (only a few miles away), then have the dive company pick us up and take us diving and then back to Koror. This plan was dependent on us being able to find a flight and the dive company being able to come get us (very dependent on the weather). On the plus side it left us with room at the end of our visit for more camping / diving in the Rock Islands - which would also buffer us if we had trouble getting back.
Sue wasn't feeling well, so Stacy and I left her and set out for the tourist bureau. They were very helpful and gave us schedules for both the plane and the government boats (in case the dive company couldn't come get us). They also gave us directions to the airline office across the causeway on Malakal. At the Belau Air office we made reservations for the twenty minute morning flight to Anguar tomorrow and the afternoon flight from there to Pelilieu the next day. The next stop was the dive shop where we started to run into hitches. The seas were fairly rough so Tova (the manager) couldn't commit to coming to get us at Pelilieu - even worse, it seemed somewhat unlikely. After a lot of discussion we decided to add an extra day to Anguar, skip Pelilieu, and the come back to Koror - if the weather is cooperative we'll go back down to Pelilieu on the dive boat.
From the dive store we walked next door to the Palau International Coral Research Center to meet Bill and Todd. The center is a small, but new and very expensive, aquarium. I really wasn't expecting much, but the dozen or so tanks they had were very well done. What really made it nice was that we ended up at the large outdoor tank right before feeding time. We knew it must be near feeding time because all the occupants rushed over to stick their heads out at us when we walked up - very cool. The turtles (a Green and a Hawksbill), Napoleon, and even the big groupers were very cool. The big moray eel was a little startling, and the sharks (a black tip, whit tip, and nurse) were scary. I'm not at all afraid of the little reef sharks, but it's amazing how difficult it is to over ride instinct when one comes rushing at you and sticks its head a foot out of the water! While we were hanging out the feeder came by and started to feed them. The first piece of squid that he put in the water was taken so violently by a big grouper that the guy feeding lost the tongs he'd been using! We watched everyone get fed, but the sharks were positively polite compared to the groupers! Except the black tip who kept on stealing the turtles food right out of their mouths! After the feeding the Napoleon Wrasse came up and posed on his side so I could take photos. The whole thing was a way better experience than expected!
Sue, Stacy, Bill, and I went out to diner at a yummy Korean restaurant (which was very good) to celebrate Bill's last night in Micronesia. Stacy's stomach started to bother her so we headed back to the house. On the way mine also started in, but I was cured by a shot of pepto. I was tired, but sat up to watch most of Harry Potter before going down to pick out what I was going to take with me to Anguar in the morning.
