Palau

1. Jellyfish!, 2. Coral

1. Milky Way, 2. Half underwater

We spent 3 days in Palau, a gorgeous Pacific paradise especially famous for its marine wildlife and unique Rock Islands. The coral reefs here are lush and beautiful, and Palau is home to many of the world's best dive sites, making us really think about one day getting dive certification. The best thing to do once you get to Palau is get into the water. And definitely do not miss Jellyfish Lake! The Flickr photoset is here.

Unfortunately for us, a typhoon started whipping up in the nearby Philippines while we were there, so we didn't get to enjoy Mother Nature as much as we would have liked.

Palau is composed of a cluster of islands, some of which – Koror, Arakabesang, Malakal, and Babeldaob – are linked together by bridges. The beautiful, mostly uninhabited (but heavily touristed) limestone formations known as the Rock Islands are also part of Palau. Palau is also most recently famous for being the filming site of the reality show Survivor: Palau.

Palau is an independent nation but linked with the United States through the Compact of Free Association.

::Sleeping::
>>The Carolines Resort bungalows are nestled high up in the side of a hill on Arakabesang Island, just far enough away from Koror to avoid the noise and congestion, but not so far as to be inconvenient. Our bungalow, the deluxe, was waaay up at the top, so we had a steep hike every day. Luckily, meals can be ordered in the room for no extra cost, and the service was warm and friendly. The bungalows are very well-constructed, furnished with sturdy (but somewhat dated in style) hand-carved hardwood furniture, and offer wide balconies with stunning views. One of the perks of staying the Carolines is that you get a free pass to use the pool and beach at the more expensive Palau Pacific Resort, a 5 minute drive away.
>>The Palau Pacific Resort is probably the fanciest establishment in Palau, but it’s done up in an understated and tasteful manner. There aren’t a lot of beachfront hotels in Palau, so if you want chic digs and to roll out of bed onto a beach, this is your best bet.
>>Don’t assume you’re “getting away from it all” just by coming to Palau. Koror Island is heavily populated, packed with tour groups, and its traffic gets surprisingly thick during rush hour. If you really want to check out of society, stay at North Beach Cottages, aaaall the way on the northern tip of Babeldaob Island. It's a long drive from the airport and even further from town, but you won’t see a soul for miles. Eliminated Survivor contestants used to stay here during the filming of the reality show.

::Getting around::
>>Rental cars
We rented from Budget. Palau may be more developed than Yap, but their roads certainly aren’t. Though roads are nearly all paved, a lot of the ones in and around Koror and the airport are pothole strewn. I hope that will change soon – there certainly did seem to be a lot of road construction going on – but for now you might consider renting a vehicle with very good shocks. Cars are driven on the right side of the road, but some have the steering wheel on the right and others on the left. Remember to specify the type you prefer.
>>Walking
I would not really attempt to do much walking in Palau; there are few sidewalks and traffic can get surprisingly bad, especially at rush hour when the bridges get backed up. However, it is possible to get by without a rental car if you’re in Palau for a short stay. As a matter of practicality, you’ll have to schedule a tour for most of your activities anyway, and the tour companies will pick you up and drop you off at your hotel, obviating the need for a car.

::Eating::
>>The Rock Island Cafe
Just a bit west of the Court House in Koror, the Rock Island Cafe is a down-home American diner serving all the standards, complete with friendly chatty waitress and free coffee refills... The food is hearty and homey.
>>Coconut Terrace
This Palau Pacific Resort restaurant is airy with great views of the beach. We shared the refreshing tuna sashimi and a hearty taro soup for dinner.
>>The Carolines Resort
If you’re staying here, you can order meals in your room if you let the staff know a day ahead of time. There’s a wide variety of breakfast choices, from standard American pancakes and bacon, to Philippino longanisa and rice, to Japanese udon. For dinner we had the coconut crab, a cold, sweet, almost dessert-like dish. They don’t serve culinary masterpieces here, but our bungalow was situated at the top of a steep hill and it was raining heavily for much of our stay, so room service at The Carolines sounded just fine to us.
>>Bem Ermii
This burger truck in the parking lot across from the Court House in Koror provided one of the tastiest meals we had in Palau. We enjoyed a savory, greasy take-out bacon cheeseburger with fries and, sometimes, that’s just what you need.
>>The Carp Restaurant
They have a mostly Japanese menu, but there are some Palauan specialties. We tried the fruit bat soup as well as the mangrove crab. I have to say that I can’t really recommend this restaurant – the mangrove crab they served us had the mushy texture of a frozen-then-thawed, un-fresh crustacean; I just couldn’t finish it. On an island surrounded with marine life everywhere you turn, that’s just inexcusable! The fruit bat soup had a lot of bones, mostly from the wings, and it tasted a little bit like chicken, and a little bit not-like-chicken. It's the not-like-chicken part that disturbed me. I’d be willing to try fruit bat again, but not at this restaurant.

::Exploring::
>>Babeldaub
Older guidebooks may list Babeldaub as inaccessible, but modern changes are afoot; the island now has a brand new, beautifully-paved, blacktop highway (paid for by the Compact of Free Association with the U.S.) running around the perimeter. However, with few visible turnoffs and no helpful signage, it’s still difficult to see the sights without a guide. Traditional life remains protected, relatively removed from the main tourist path, a stark contrast to overly-developed Koror. On Babeldaob, there are waterfalls, traditional villages, traditionally-constructed bai (meeting houses), prehistoric stone monoliths, and a Yapese stone money quarry, among other sites, if you take the time to look. Familiarize yourself with what Babeldaob has to offer so you can prepare ahead of time what you want to see and how best to get there (hiring a guide is recommended). Here’s a wonderful resource on Palauan culture and history. We missed out on a lot of this because we attempted to do it on our own and mostly ended up getting lost.
>>Badrulchau
This site of ancient stone monoliths in the Ngarchelong district of Babeldaob Island, is one of the places on Babeldaub that we did manage to find on our own (with the helpful assistance of a convenience store owner). The view here on the northern narrow tip of the island was lush, verdant and atmospheric in the light misty rain that enveloped us. The stone monoliths are arranged in two rows, leading some archaeologists to believe that they were support stones for a large ancient meeting house.
>>Rock Islands
To get to the Rock Islands you must take a tour, as they are not open to unguided visitors. In addition to the tour fee, you should also expect to purchase a $25 Rock Island Permit, which you can get through the tour operator. There are numerous tour operators in Palau. Our first choice, Sam’s Tours, couldn’t take us because they only go out if they get at least 4 people on a boat, and no one else had signed up. So we went with a Japanese-run group, IMPAC. There were about 15 people on our boat and all the explanations were in Japanese, with sporadic translations to English for our benefit. Which might have been why Gavin and I were caught completely by surprise when we hit rough waters and got completely drenched halfway out to the islands. Note to self: Always put things you need to keep dry (digicams, change of clothes, etc) in the boat hold!

IMPAC's Rock Island Tours include:
>>A stop at the Milky Way
The Milky Way is a small cove where currents are calm and the sediment from the limestone cliffs has settled at the bottom giving the turquoise waters a milky hue. The mud is supposed to be good for your skin, so our guides pulled up some buckets of sediment and we all slathered on some mud to see what that was all about. I didn’t notice any special benefits, but it did feel nice and gooey.
>>Snorkeling and/or Sea Kayaking
After we rinsed the mud off, our tour boat took us to another spot among the Rock Islands. Most of the others in the group had signed up for sea kayaking, so Gavin and I got to snorkel alone for a while. An approaching storm was making the sea a little choppy, so, pronouncing “Safety first!” our boat captain deposited us in a protected cove instead of the deeper waters he usually brings snorkelers to. It rained on and off while we snorkeled and visibility wasn't great, but we still saw a wonderful and fascinating underwater world. Whether swimming under the overhang of the mushroom-like islands or along the sandy beaches of others, we saw amazing coral variety and diverse sealife. Brain coral that really look like brains! Glowing fish! We even swam in the blue-green waters of a partial marine lake (mostly closed off from the sea except for a small entrance via an underpass).
>> Snorkeling in Jellyfish Lake
This is one of the many marine lakes in Palau where, in waters closed off from the sea for millions of years, the jellyfish have lived with few natural predators, evolving to lose their sting. Though closed off to the sea for so long, they remain connected to the natural rhythms of the universe, following the sun east in the morning, west at sundown. It was an otherworldy experience to float amongst these gentle, blobular, pulsating creatures. They are so cute when they can't sting you! But please resist the urge to poke them; they're easily injured.
Practicalities:
Make sure to purchase the $35 Jellyfish Lake permit before you go; they check for permits carefully and deny entry to anyone without one. Getting to the lake involves a 15-minute hike through the jungle, including a steep incline and decline, so don't be one of those girls that must wear heels throughout your island vacation. Before going into the marine lake, our guides gave us life vests and instructions. Although we were allowed to use our fins to get out into the middle of the lake, once among the jellyfish we were not kick or move quickly because they could get injured. Nevertheless, among the 300 daily visitors to the lake there are always some who ignore the warnings, so the jellyfish still face danger. Our own group had one, a teenage girl who took off her life vest to free dive, kicking with her fins and actually POKING them with her fingers! Poor little jellyfish...
There are currently no limits on the number of visitors or size of the tour groups (some groups are as big as 40 or 50 people!) to Jellyfish Lake, but tour operators are expected to encourage responsible behavior. Our guide told us that some of the larger groups from the Taiwanese operators go in without fins and are allowed to float linked arm-in-arm, but are not allowed to swim or dive. If you go, please be kind to the jellyfish....
>>Lunch
With IMPAC tours you have your choice of either a hamburger or a bento box lunch. The location for the lunch is one of the Rock Islands with a sandy beach, which also seems to be the picnic spot of choice for all the other tour operators. Covered picnic tables and outhouses are available here. Large groups of Korean tourists, massive groups of Taiwanese tourists, and smaller groups of Japanese tourists were all congregated here. I have to say the Taiwanese tourists had the best lunch setup: huge buffets of hot, home-cooked food kept steaming in tin foil wrappers. Our dinky bento boxes were kind of lame in comparison.

::Rainy Day Activities::
Ok, I'll be honest. When the weather doesn't permit outdoor adventures, particularly water sports, Palau is pretty boring. But on our final day in Palau there was a typhoon in the nearby Philippines and a small craft advisory was in effect, so...
>>Palau Mariculture Demonstration Center
Want to see some giant clams? At the PMDC, they raise tridacna in large outdoor tanks. You have to pay a small admission fee, but despite the name of the center it was hard to get any of the staff to offer any demonstration or explanation. They all seemed intent on either 1) sitting around doing nothing or 2) counting piles of clams. No wonder they were kind of grumpy. If you are fascinated by tridacna and/or are really bored it might be worth a visit.
>>Palau Aquarium (Pacific International Coral Reef Centre)
A small, but well-maintained educational resource can be found in the Palau Aquarium, which is half outdoors and half indoors. If you have a little time this could be a nice way to familiarize yourself with some of the local coral reef wildlife before you hit the water yourself.
>>Etpison Museum
This privately funded museum has a very fine collection of Palaun cultural and natural artifacts. The shell and bead collection is pretty amazing.
>>Belau National Museum
A humble little museum with intriguing photographs and an explanation of the colonial history (Spain, Germany, Japan, then the U.S.) of the islands and the part they played in WWII.