Father Paul

Though it probably doesn't really belong on a blog.  I just found out that long time cruising friend Paul Stokes died of cancer.  He definitely had some great influence to the way I think about cruising and the equipment I sail with.  Paul, we will miss you and your humour.  May you have great following winds to carry you off to heaven.

Mars Launch

Hey I got to see the Mars launch today.  My trip to Merritt Island just happened to fit in with the rocket launch carrying the new Mars exploration vehicle.  This is my first live viewing of a rocket launch.  Though I have been to one before, that mission was delayed so I missed it.  It was way cool.  The pictures are not that great but I will post what I have when I have a little more time.

The Rocket taking off right above Uncle Mike.  He used to work for NASA

It was at this height that we heard the noise from the liftoff several seconds earlier

Sari Timur is in the Harbor of Refuge

On Sunday, Nov 19, we took  Sari Timur into the Harbor of Refuge.  Why?  Mark is leaving for the US and Pauline will be staying behind to take care of Sari Timur.  It would mean sitting at our mooring at the Yacht Club and if a storm hits, she will have to take the boat into the Harbor alone.  So we enlisted a couple of friends and took the boat in and Sari Timur is now all nicely secured in the Harbor of Refuge.

The Harbor of Refuge is where boats go when a typhoon approaches.  They put lines down to four huge cement blocks anchored to the bottom.  There are many cement blocks located all over this harbor and boats will be tied up next to one another.  It can be quite harrowing (so we were told) when the wind blows and the boats are heeled over right next to one another.  We pray we won't have to experience that.

Right now, there are a few boats in the harbor.  They are mostly boats abandoned by their owners, or boats that are unable to move (without engines, masts, etc).  Will try and get a picture to show what it looks like in there.

It is pretty calm and we take our dingy to a dock built by the shore, so we don't get wet getting to shore.

Heading to Fort Lauderdale

Well it appears I am heading to Fort Lauderdale from November 28 through December 2.  I have to renew my STCW cert for my Captain's License.  So since I was making the long trip I figured I would stay a few more days and see family and friends.  Pauline needs to stay behind and watch after Sari Timur which we will put in to the Harbour of Refuge in case one of those T word things rears its head.

Halloween

We had a Halloween party at the Marianas Yacht Club, Guam, where we helped with the decorations.

Scary

The buffet table

Is she strangling the alien?

the tip bucket

the dessert table

table decoration - rats

table decoration - snake

Mark as Alice Cooper

some members of MYC

Evie - green eggs and ham

Amanda - Picasso's Blue Period (note the tampon necklace)

Jeff and Liz - some Japanese characters

The Ride to Guam

Some people have been asking us to post details on our trip from Palau to Guam.  So here goes.  As you know we decided to delay our departure as a weather system was pushing through just as we were getting ready to check out.  That was a Wednesday.  Ideally we would have liked to leave on Saturday or Sunday to ride the coat tails of the system north east.  In Palau however there is a $175 surcharge for weekend departures so we opted for a Monday afternoon departure.

As we were leaving we heard some funny sounds from the transmission and had a bit of a mess coming up on the anchor chain.  Both caused by being on the hook too long.  The deck wash pump also swallowed a fish and ruined the diaphragm.  That part isn’t too bad as the pump has been struggling for a while, but it would have been nice to wash the chain a bit better before putting it away.  So we did have a couple of days of a rotten seaweed smell in the forward cabin to live with, oh well no one was staying up there this trip. 


We left just after three PM and went out the eastern entrance.  Pretty amazing currents swirling through this pass but once out we had a bit of breeze from the right direction and we were able to set sail.  We were trying to keep our course a bit more east at first.  There are two reasons for this.  The main was that the winds tend to prevail from the east and this besides causing the wind to be from the wrong direction, creates a current which would be against us.  By using the storm we could use the reinforced SW winds to push us east quickly and if the winds were to swing from the east again we could fall off a bit and still make way north.  By going this route we also put the islands that are between Palau and Guam out of our path.  If the winds were a bit more benign we would have stopped in Yap for sure, as we have wanted to go there for some time.  The other islands are supposed to be pretty nice as well and it would have been a way to break up the trip.  But with the series of lows that had been sweeping over us, we felt it best to run as quickly as possible with our weather window.  Even choosing to motor if the winds dipped at all.  In the end we had a system coming through just as we were arriving but it didn’t amount to much so our precautions proved for not.  But it is always better to be safe than sorry. 


The trip itself was pretty uneventful.  We were able to give position updates and get emails out via the ham radio which we hadn’t been able to do since we were in the southern part of the Philippines.  We did have a hose clamp burst during the last part of the trip on the main engine while we were running it to charge batteries.  This was easily fixed but it did spray the engine room down with saltwater before we caught it.  Later it wiped out our main engine charging system so we ended up having to rely on the genset to charge our batteries.  We cannot run the genset in heavy seas or when we are healed over very far so we were happy that Guam was only a short distance away.  We carry a spare alternator but the problem was with the external regulator and that we did not have a spare for.  The seas started to build a few hours out of Guam so we opted to turn the engine on and leave it on while turning the genset off until we reached harbour. 


We arrived on Sunday at about 2:30pm, so we made the trip in just a little under 6 days and with just a little over 800 miles traveled, we made very good time.  The contrary current was pretty light until the last day but by then we had made the decision to motor sail and push hard to get in before the club closed.

approaching Guam

land ho, Guam

Since being here we have joined the Marianas Yacht Club and settled in nicely.  We will probably eventually move the boat over to Agat Marina if a berth becomes available.  It will be easier for working with a walk on walk off facility.  But other than that the MYC offers all we could ask for.

We got a new/old truck

Hey we just bought a "new to us" truck.  It is a Nissan Frontier XE four door 2003.  Pretty good shape, but we cannot get insurance until our licenses are converted.  I sit for the written test on Friday and hope the driving test is not too far away.  Our 30 day grace period for our Singapore licenses expire soon!

Here are some pictures of the truck.

Sinking Roots

Oh no, we are slowly sinking roots into Guam.

Today, we went and applied for a post office box so that all of you who love us will have some place to send your snail mail to.  Now you have no excuse for not sending us mail.  Our address is P.O. Box 1913, Hagatna, Guam 96932, USA.  Look forward to hearing from you.

We have also been car shopping and job hunting.  Watch this space for more info about that.

Crossing the Ocean’s Deepest Trench

As an Oceanographer, the Mariana Trench is definitely one of those intriguing places we learn about.  When I was in school, very little was known about it, even its full depth was not known.  And man had not yet been down to the bottom to explore it.  As one of my professors used to boast we have put a man on the moon but only one trip to the bottom of the ocean.  Outer space travel is low tech; it only requires one atmosphere change from ambient.  Travel to the bottom of the trench requires high tech equipment; we have to cope with more than a 1000 atmospheres of pressure change.  This professor previously worked for the Apollo space program so he was always interesting when he would get slightly side-tracked from a regular lesson plan.  The manned trip was made by the Bathyscaphe Trieste Deep.  It went to 10,911 in 1960 but none since.  There have been 2 unmanned subs or ROVs to dive to the bottom, but the first wasn’t until 1996, and the second 2009.  There is a current project to revisit it and go slightly deeper.  Sir Richard Branson has taken over the project from his friend, the late Steve Fossett.  This sub was designed by Graham Hawkes who was one of the founders of Deep Ocean Engineering, the ROVs I sold while at Advanced Marine.

While working at one of my previous jobs, I sold equipment to JAMSTEC, Japan’s large Oceanographic Institute.  The equipment was for their deep under water remotely operated vehicle Kaiko.  This vehicle in 1996 became the only other vehicle to make it to the bottom at 10,911.4 metres.  I also sold this equipment to JAMSTEC’s manned submarine Shenkai 6500, which is rated to 6,500 metres and has been down that far along the trench walls doing scientific studies.  I thought that was probably going to be the closest I would get.

While we were enroute from Palau to Guam we were going right over this portion of the world and I felt this would be a monumental moment.  There is no ‘x marks the spot’, there isn’t even a spot on the chart.  We also didn’t get an exact latitude and longitude.  So we used our electronic charts and took their depth readings and figured that would be closest.  Here our MaxSea and our BlueCharts differed a bit.  MaxSea had the deepest spot at just under 10,000 metres while BlueChart had a depth of 10,909 marked a mile or so away from MaxSeas’s deepest bit.  We went to both places to be sure, but I couldn’t confirm it as my depth sounder maxes out at about 100 metres and my lead line is only for shallow water work.  But when the water depths are nearly 6 miles below you, I guess being within a mile on the surface has to be pretty close.  We were hoping to make it to this point in daylight but arrived slightly after midnight.  We also had a low pressure building just southeast of us and we were in kind of a hurry to get to Guam in case this low intensified to something nasty, so we didn’t dare stay around for the sun to come out.  Due to this low pressure, the seas were a bit lumpy and the wind was up for the rest of the trip into Guam.

Who would have thought way back in university, that I could foresee boasting of the fact that I have now sailed over the deepest of the deeps in ocean trenches.  Thank you Sari Timur and Pauline for helping me reach another milestone achievement. 

Page taken off MaxSea showing the boat going past the deep part

Page taken off the BlueChart of boat heading for the deepest part

We are in Guam

Just a short note to let everyone know that we arrived yesterday 7th August at 1530 hours.  It was mostly a good trip, certainly fast.  A few tropical squalls with lots of rain but nothing bad.  We did have a couple of glorious days and starry nights.  We lost the engine charging system 24 hours from Guam but otherwise no dramas. The seas were quite lumpy the last 24 hours and there is a depression east of us, which was why we kept going fast rather than stop along the way.  As we write this blog, we are waiting for Guam customs to clear us in.  We did immigration yesterday.  Later, we will be going into town and try to rent a wreck plus get the lay of the land, get a phone number, etc.  More later.

We Chickened Out!

Well we were supposed to leave today.  But the storm we hoped to ride out behind, stalled and strengthened.  So instead of leaving just behind it we were going to be placing ourselves right in front.  It was only going to cost us a $100 dollars to delay so common sense kicked in and we delayed.  Oh Hum, another weekend in paradise!  Though the weather will be rather bleak for the next couple of days.

Last Dives in Palau

As we get ready to leave Palau we did our last dives, other than the one to clean the prop and hull which is to be done today or tomorrow.  We did Chandelier Cave and the area around Sam’s Tours.  The cave was really quite nice and the marine life was pretty good even in this small nook of the island away from everything.  We saw lots of colourful fish and some rather dull but unique ones as well such as pipefish, razor fish and a small scorpion fish.  One of the other crazy things is there are still several unexploded World War II ordinances.  These are right amongst all the yachts.  There is even one next to our anchor chain however this one has corroded away and is no longer dangerous.  Throughout the Pacific Islands this is a real issue.  So many explosives were dumped or lost during the war that many which did not explode are still laying around and being unearthed by farmers or discovered by divers.  While here we met a couple whose job it is to help with the clean up of these devices.  They are clearing trails through the jungles etc. and collecting ones that they can for disposal.  Every now and then they go out and set off a big bang.  Kind of a cool job but I am not sure how you would train for it!  Certainly couldn’t get away with too many mistakes!  Anyway there will probably be a bit of a delay until our next post as we hope to be leaving for Guam shortly.  We do hope our position updates work but though the Pactor system is better it is still not so right.  Keep following the position button to the right but do not panic if we do not seem to move, as it is probably just not getting through via Sailmail.  I will update it for sure when we get email access in Guam.

Some photos taken during the dive in Chandelier Cave.

the exit from the cave underwater

Kayak Trip

On 4th of July, we went on a kayak trip to the rock islands.  The boat took us, together with our kayaks, lunch and refreshments to the rock islands.  There, we followed our guide and paddled all over around the rock islands.  We visited the sharks nursery, where we saw little baby black tip sharks.  We also visited some caves and war remains, some lovely bays and lakes, one of which is the Disney Lake, where we snorkeled among lovely and colorful corals.

Once again, the pictures do not do justice to what we experienced.

underwater shot of another baby

baby blacktip sharks in the nursery

one swam up to the kayak

lovely bay

another nice bay

view from the top

colorful corals

fan worm

more corals

from inside cathedral cave

We’re Diving Again!

Well after a couple of weeks off while we fixed the generator and sorted out some other issues we are finally diving again.  We started last night with a night dive on light house reef.  It was pretty, but not super spectacular.  Today’s dives on the other hand were awesome.  We do not have a camera that goes beyond 10 metres so any photos we post below will be ones we were able to beg from some of the other divers on this trip.

This dive was organised by yachties for yachties.  Everyone on this dive was a yachtie anchored right outside Sam’s tours.  The benefit of this is we were able to get a head start on the people that stay in the hotels.  We were pleased when we found out our dive guide was going to be Harse.  He was the one who managed to spot the mantas the last time we dove German Channel and that was going to be the first dive today.  Due to the early start we were the first on to the reef and we were briefed that the tide was going to change just after we got in.  We hit the bottom and almost immediately we saw a Manta Ray.  Cool but he was about 10 metres away.  After all the divers got situated he was spooked and we set out to find the next cleaning station.  On the way we stumbled across a half buried fan tail sting ray which we sat around and gawked at for a few minutes until in the distance we saw two large mantas heading our way.  We snucked quickly behind some rocks and the manta rays came right in amongst us.  It was like they were saying “come take my picture” and I am sure there are some great photos.  They played around with us for a little while before moving on.  We skirted on down the channel and then noticed the Mantas coming back for more, this time they had a third one with them (not sure if it was first one we saw or not).  But just the same seeing three mantas cruising right over your head while they are going through their cleaning process is pretty awesome.  Then to capitalize on it we witnessed a fourth smaller manta coming to join the fray.

The dive after lunch was to be Blue Corner which is one of Palau’s best sites.  As the current was going to be fairly strong we were told we were going to be hooking.  Since my mother reads this site, I'd better define hooking so she does not get the wrong idea.  On strong drift dives near a large attraction one uses a small hook and line.  You hook into a rock, inflate your BC (buoyancy compensator vest) and sit back and watch the show.  It is one of the best shows on earth as well.  We got loads of large fish swimming by.  It is especially nice to see the sharks and large schools going by.  But what also made the dive spectacular was the large number of Napoleon Wrasses checking out the strange shaped fish in their territory.  These fish are rather large and really aren’t afraid of much.  One was getting rather close to Pauline and when she finally saw what I was pointing at her eyes went wide as he seemed to be coming in to suck face (a very personal kiss for mom who needs descriptions).  Afterwards he ambled over to where I was hooked on.  Another diver who is folically challenged had one come up to the back of his head.  Thinking the stubble might be worth a taste.  After a while more divers arrived so we unhooked and continued around the corner.  On the way we saw lots more fish, a turtle, moray, lots of garden eels and just awesome coral formations, yawn ho hum!  No, really, there is just no way to describe how awesome diving in Palau is.

This manta ray came up close ...

.. then it 'flew' by ..

... and then it was gone.

a moray eel

he is one of the many sharks we had around us

trust me, this Napoleon Wrasse is big

We Did a Burgee Exchange with the Royal Belau Yacht Club

We did another Burgee exchange.  Trading one of Raffles most coveted for one from the Royal Belau Yacht Club in Palau.  We also gave away a Singapore flag that is now on display next to the Malaysian one there.  This one and the one from the Puerto Galera Yacht Club should be on display at Raffles as soon as we get our act together and get them shipped over to Rose and Francis.

The Generator Is Finally Working Again

Hey for those of you who have been following, our generator is finally working again.  The repair bill was rather high but the worst thing was it could all of been avoided.  It seems the installation was not quite right for a sailboat and we were also not briefed on what to do to it before heading into the rough seas.  And as you remember we had some of those in the Philippines!  Oh well at least we know now and will make one more modification before we head to Guam.

Close Encounters - The Palau Way

We have decided to split up the writing about Palau to make it a bit easier to read.  Pauline is taking the land experiences.   Mark will handle the diving and boat repair portions.

Palau or Belau, as known locally, is the western most territory in Micronesia and is part of the Carolines Islands.

Sari Timur at her anchorage

Palau consists of many islands and islets.  The biggest is Babeldaob.  South of it are Koror Island, where most of Palau’s downtown is located and Malakal Island, where the commercial port and the primary yacht anchorages are found.   Sari Timur is anchored in front of Sam’s Tours / The Royal Belau Yacht Club, which is the primary yacht anchorage for most cruisers.

Palau’s early history is still a mystery.  Why, how or when people arrived on the islands is unknown but scientists believe that Palau was inhabited as early as 1,000 BC. The original settlers are likely to have come from Indonesia or perhaps the southern Philippines, a blend of Melanesian and Polynesian stock appeared to have been mixed in over the centuries.

Foreign governance of the islands officially began with Spain in 1885.  At the end of the Spanish/American War, Spain sold Palau to Germany.  In 1899 Germany began a colonial administration in Palau.  In 1908 the Germans launched the Sudsee Expedition in Micronesia.  In 1914 the Japanese declared war on Germany and took control of Palau.  In 1919 the League of Nations officially assigned Palau to Japan at the close of WW1 as part of the South Sea Mandate.  By 1922 the Japanese had established a modern government on Palau.  In 1935 Japan withdrew from the League of Nations and began military buildup in Palau.  In July 1944 the Americans attacked Peleliu in one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War.  Following Japan’s defeat in WW2, the islands became United Nations Trust Territories under United States administration.  Palau adopted its own constitution in 1981 and began the road to independence, which happened on October 1, 1994.

The diving in Palau is in a word outstanding!  Many believe that Palau diving is the best in the world.  We are not sure about that as there are a few places we have not been diving and we have as of yet not seen everything Palau has to offer (nor are we likely to in such a short timeframe).  But from what we have seen we think they have a good reason for boasting.  It has certainly become our favourite diving place so far.

The islands of Palau are out at the western extreme of Micronesia.  They are below the theoretical typhoon area and have warm, clear water with light winds all year.  There is supposedly no off season for diving here.  Palau was also the scene of an intense WW2 battle so there are shipwrecks and plane wrecks to see.  Salvage companies have removed 66 wrecks from the harbour otherwise Palau would have a higher number of diveable wrecks than even Chuuk, which supposedly has the highest concentration of WW2 wrecks.  But Palau diving is probably more famous for their reefs, underwater wild life, and unique geographical features.  The names of some of the famous sites such as “Blue Corner”, “Blue Hole”, “Virgin Blue Hole”, “Coral Gardens”, “Zeke Fighter Plane”, “Jake’s Sea Plane Wreck”, “Sunken Bridge” and “Devilfish City” conjure up images to tempt you to dive them.  One hotel brochure lists over fifty dive sites and we hope to get in a good portion of them

So far we have dived two wrecks and they are in excellent shape and loaded with marine life.  The visibility is better than what we experienced in the Philippines but the wrecks are a bit further apart probably due to the above mentioned clearing.  This means that wreck diving is done as part of the daily dive agenda as either the first or second dive and is partnered up with one of the other sites in the area.  For instance a common agenda is to do a drift dive through the Ulong Channel as a morning dive and then after lunch head over and dive the tanker the Teshio Maru which is laying on its side in 14-24 metres of water. Also as there are so many sites close together you often combine two at the same time depending on currents etc.   We really enjoyed Siaes Tunnel which is an underwater cavern and then once we got out of there, we drifted out and around Siaes Corner to see the large number of sharks, barracuda, and trevally, we even had a close encounter with a turtle.  This was our first dive in Palau and we were hooked.  We loved the different coral formations on these dives as well.  One of the other favourite spots is the German Channel area which has several blue holes (submerged caverns) and the pelagic fish are almost always about.  But it is not just the pelagic fish that grab your attention; the multitude of reef fish with their fantastic colours or unique features are pretty special as well.  We saw our first leaf scorpion fish and crocodile fish in this area.  But probably what we will talk about most from this site was our first close encounters with manta rays.  There were also loads of sharks but these become almost mundane in Palau as there are so many of them.  Many years back Palau made its entire territorial waters a shark protected area.  Because of this they have a very healthy reef environment and a multitude of sharks.  Another dive we thoroughly enjoyed was the chambered nautilus dive.  This dive is a little artificial as they set a trap and catch the nautilus the night before a dive and then release them while the divers are there.  It allows us to get up close and personal with these rare creatures and allows the nautilus to get a free dinner.  Mandarin fish are also very prevalent in Palau and we have seen these about 20 feet from where we tie our dinghy up when we come ashore.  There a large schools of Moorish Idols.  Another close encounter we enjoyed was when we were watching two sharks working one of these idols away from the school.  While it was trying to seek shelter near the reef two interested morays left their caves to get in on the action.  Just as one of the morays grabbed him a huge Napoleon Wrasse swooped down from above and stole the Idol right out of the moray’s mouth.  The scene had played out over about five minutes but once the action started it was over lightning quick!

A chambered nautilus

Another view

A close up of its eye

Front view

Another thing unique to Palau is the Jellyfish lake.  This is a fresh water lake that has thousands of jellyfish in it.  But the unique thing is the jellyfish have no predators so they have no stingers.  This means that even though there are thousands of jellyfish in a fairly tight area we can snorkel right in the midst of them.  It might not sound like fun but it is really truly a unique experience and we have not found anyone yet who hasn’t said it was one of the cooler things they have done.

Jellyfish in the lake

close up of a jellyfish

more jellyfish

A handful

During our land travel, we visited a crocodile farm, which was not worth the time (or the fee).

inside of the Bai

We went to the Aimeliik Bai.  A bai is a meeting house for men only.

The Aimeliik Bai

Along the way, we also saw the prehistoric terraces. 

Mark and the guide having fun

Another view of the fall

The waterfall

We also visited the Ngardmau waterfall.   We had to trek down and then up some distance to get to the waterfall, which was very nice and well worth the mud and sweat.  The month after we visited the waterfall, they have started a kind of tram system to bring visitors to the falls so they don’t have to walk.

Some of the stone face monoliths

We drove to Ngarchelong at the northern end of Babeldaob Island, most noted for Palau’s archaeological site of Badrulchau.  Here you can see stone face monoliths over a 5-acre area with some dating back to 161 AD.  However the climate had taken a toll on these stone faces and they are eroding and unrecognizable.

a stone face

as tall as Mark

the stone monoliths

The mother and child stone

We also visited the “Mother and Child” stone, where legend has it that a woman was curious about what goes on in a men’s bai and went to have a look.  She took her child with her but as she was looking into the bai, she and her child turned into stone.   We don't see how the stone looked like a mother and her child but this is it.

The Capitol building

We also drove to Melekeok, where the new Capitol Building is located.  This building is huge, way to big for the small island and the population.

Ruins of a pineapple factory

We also saw the ruin of a pre-WW2 pineapple factory, operated by the Japanese.

close up of the vats

close up of the ruins

 We signed up for a day tour to Peleliu, an island at the southernmost end of Palau’s huge barrier reef.  This we went via a fast boat and were then met by a bus when we got to the island.  Peleliu was the location of some of the fiercest fighting during WW2’s Pacific War.  Underground forts and caves were sealed off when the Japanese soldiers refused to surrender.  Japanese and American memorials are found all over the island, plus old tanks, engines and other war debris rusting away.  We visited the landing strip, Bloody Nose Ridge, Orange Beach where the landing took place, the Japanese Military Headquarters, the Japanese Shrine, the WildCat monument, Japanese Peace Memorial Park, 81^st Infantry Division memorial and 1,000 men cave.  It is called the 1,000 men cave because it was believed that 1,000 Japanese soldiers were inside the cave when the Americans sealed the caves.

Our pictures don’t really do justice to what we saw.

signboard to the sights

tank

entrance to the thousand men cave

inside one of the caves

the landing strip

the Japanese Peace Memorial

amphibious tank

Japanese shrine