Chillin' out in Palau

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything and you would think I had a good excuse, but I don’t.  We’ve been staying busy with T-Ball, Judo, and exploring Nikko Bay.  We participated in a Cinco de Mayo cook off (and won third place!) and we met some new friends who are vacationing here and have been spending a fair amount of time with them.  We've found our own little "jellyfish lake" and even had more fun play dates with Charlie and Carla.  Sadly, no pictures of any of it (it might have something to do with my new haircut).

But the big thing we’ve been doing is preparing for our first ever non-family visitors (and our first visitors at all since Mexico)!  My friend Jennie and her son Jett are making the long, boring, and expensive flight from the US to Palau…just to play with us!  We are so excited and not sure we can actually wait the 6 more days until they get here.  Jake has all kinds of activities planned for Jett and I have a zillion different ways to show Jennie how to relax and break free from her hectic world (at least for a week).  Andy is all ready to play with the kids and cater to us women.  Next week promises to bring lots of pictures and stories, so bear with me…

Little League in Palau

Everyone is always asking questions about Jake and his interests (blowing things up, dinosaurs, legos, blowing up dinosaurs and legos) and does he like the boat(yes) and does he know how to ride a bike (sort of), and the big one that I always dread (no, not do we homeschool him), does he play any sports?  Why do I dread that?  Well, because no, he doesn’t and quite frankly, it doesn’t bother me a bit.  So please don’t mistake this post as a hidden insecurity, it’s meant to be strictly informational and slightly entertaining.  He’s an excellent swimmer, snorkeler, and he even has some bottom time.  I can go on and on about his accomplishments, but to the sports fanatic, it seems like he’ll never survive.  How will he learn to work in a team environment?  There are many other types of teams…one he learns from a lot is us…it takes a lot of team work to run this thing we call home.  How will he learn self discipline?  Let me see, his father and I saved for 10 years, planned and actually executed said plan to quit our jobs/retire and sail around the world (and we weren’t even 40).  I think we know a thing or two about discipline.  I don’t blame them or get mad at them…what we’re doing is just so foreign to them that they can’t fathom how he could have a normal life without America’s favorite pastime.  I get it.

To all those people…you’ll like this…Jake has started T-Ball.  And wait…hold your breath….he’s enrolled in Judo, too.  Why, you ask?  Why not?  I never said I was against it.  It’s just not usually something that we have an opportunity to do. 

 So for the past two weeks, every Sunday morning, Jake gets his glove and we walk about a mile to the community baseball field where he’s learning the basics of baseball.  For all you parents who have kids that play or have played T-ball, I’m sure you can relate when I tell you that this is the most humorous part of my day.  The first time he hit the ball, he made it to third base!  Of course he skipped first and second, but hey, he’s just practicing his knowledge that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  They put him in the outfield and after about 10 minutes, he decided to sit down.  He must have been pretty tired from our walk because not long after that I saw him lying down with his feet up in the air.  The second week went much better (a few discussions were had about the “nap” time) and he actually started to blend in a bit.  One little kid passed another one on  the bases and they both made it "home" at the same time.  Apparently, they’re getting uniforms in a few weeks, although I have no idea who they’re going to play.  Maybe the other states here have teams too?  That’s going to be a long walk…

 On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, we walk the same route up to the community gym where he’s learning Judo from one of the Palauan Olympic athletes.  The first week was awkward because he didn’t have his Gi (uniform) yet, so he stuck out like a sore thumb and I noticed everything he could or couldn’t do (I was a very coordinated child so his late blooming in that area baffles me).  Last week he got his Gi and sure enough, he blended in and demonstrated to his mother that yes, all little people are goofy.  I can already tell a difference in his mouth (he has a big one…wonder where he gets that from) and patience level…the old school sensei helped with that.  A little slap in the back of the head never hurt anyone, right?

The cool thing is, he loves it.  And, he loves to learn.  You can tell he’s concentrating really hard when they try to teach him something.  Something he doesn’t necessarily do when learning from his parents.  So, go ahead and ask me….does Jake play any sports?  Yes, why yes he does.

The Elusive Mandarin Fish

Palau is known for its mandarin fish, these tiny little colorful things that like to hand out in the rocks and shun the sunlight.  We've looked for them since we got here and have seen a few but inevitably Andy either doesn't have his camera or they run and hide.  Until yesterday.  Here are a few of the pictures Andy took on the rock behind our boat and at Sam's dock.  Enjoy!

Flatworm

Jellyfish and buddies

Crocodile Fish

Hermit Crab

Cuttlefish

Gobie kicking the nudibranch out of his yard

Gobie and shrimp

shrimp

Nudibranch

Nikko Bay

We were getting tired of the same old scenery on our mooring ball, so we decided to move the boat over to a little place called Nikko Bay.  It’s still right here in Koror, but it feels like you’re in the Rock Islands…for free! 

We stocked up so we wouldn’t have to go into town (although it’s just a dinghy ride away) and we stayed tucked back in a little hole for the last 6 days.  There’s a world of things to do back there.  This is a big area for WWII stuff…there’s a channel called Pill Box Channel that has, well, duh, pill boxes guarding either side (pill boxes for anyone who doesn’t know, are concrete fighting positions used by the Japanese).  We climbed up there and took a little peak into the pill boxes. They’re so tiny and dark, they kind of freak me out a bit.  Just imagine those guys sitting up there waiting for something to happen.  Also on the WWII front, we hiked up a little trail to an old Japanese camp.  We found some old bombs, fuel barrels, pottery, batteries, etc.

Our next major discovery were the caves.  Palau is covered with caves.  But they're not the big huge ones with lakes in the middle and tour guides.  They range anywhere from tiny little holes to big enough to walk around in easily.  There were a few we knew about and then one Andy discovered while paddling our new SUP.   I’m not a huge fan of caves so Andy and Jake went to check it out.  It turns out it’s a large cave with several small caves in it.  Jake said I just had to see it.  So I went.  Now, I’m not a chicken.  I try new things.  I go out of my comfort zone.  But I hate caves.  I went anyway and while I did climb around in the main cave, much to the disappointment of my son, I declined to crawl down into a deep hole with one flashlight between us to see the giant mutant crickets.  The day was a bust in his mind.

While I wasn’t able to keep up with my running, I did manage to make a routine out of my morning paddle.   Andy got into it a bit, too.  We may see a second paddle board in our future.  Jake even took a turn and I have to say, he’s not bad at it.  He envisions being able to paddle to his friend Charlie’s boat the next time they come to Palau.

We have a relaxed dress code on Savannah :)

When we weren’t exploring, we were just lazy and enjoyed our “break” from the hustle and bustle of the anchorage.  There are a few tour boats back there, but not nearly as many as the Rock Islands.  You don’t see many sailboats back there either  as it’s kind of a pain to get to.  You have to wait for high tide to go through a little man made cut in the islands and most anchorages are either really deep or have really shallow reefs to cross.  We’re back now – we ran out of waffles and juice – but I for see many more trips to our newly found “vacation” spot.

Easter in Palau

The Easter bunny brought kids!   Jake got almost a full week of just play, play, and more play.  There is a family from Guam that has a boat here and they come once a month to work on it, getting it ready to sail.  They have a 6 year old boy and a 9 year old girl.  We finally met them on their trip this time around and Jake and Charlie pretty much spent every day together.  They were here over Easter, so we had an egg hunt up at the Yacht Club/Sam’s Tours.  The kids ran around with so much energy as if they’d already eaten that candy, trying to find the eggs.  Jake is a trip to watch…he couldn’t find his own head if it wasn’t attached.  He gets so excited and runs around looking left and right, up and down and never actually sees anything.  But he did manage to find a few eggs (with a little help) and one of them even had a dollar in it (He’s saving up for his very own iPad…he says he only needs $700, so every little bit helps).  They did a second hunt and Charlie’s dad hid one of them in the water.  Jake came running to Andy and said, “Daddy?  Can I jump in and get it?”  Andy said, “Sure”  and off he went.  He never missed a beat…ran right down the dock and into the water to get that egg.

Throughout the week the boys spent time swimming, “pulling” (they lay on the paddle board and hold onto a ski rope while we pull them with the dinghy), playing on each others boats and then we topped it off with a huge play date with both Charlie and Carla as well as Selma (6) and Magnus (3) from another boat, Hero.  If anyone knows me, they know I’m not exactly the kind of mom who usually invites 4 kids over to play…but these kids are really sweet and well behaved and they all played well together, despite the age differences.  The boys played Hero Factory while the girls decided to set up shop and “sell” the parts to the boys so they could make their creatures.  This is a typical scenario for boat kids.  They meet, get to know each other in about 8 seconds, then play as hard as they can because they don’t know when they’ll get to do it again.  Unfortunately, Charlie and Carla were headed to the Rock Islands, we were headed to Nikko Bay, and Selma and Magnus were leaving Palau for adventures elsewhere.  The good news is, Charlie and Carla will be back next month (and the next, and the next), so there will be many more play dates in the future!

The Making of a Lava Lava

I wrote this in Yap but have just now gotten around to getting the pictures ready...hopefully you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it...

Through our travels in Yap, I’ve obtained quite a collection of lava lavas.  I’ve paid for some, I’ve been given some.  Some were very pretty, some were kind of out there and some were said to be “cheap.”  What they all have in common is their origin.  Women in the outer islands of Yap are known for their intricate patterns and creative use of colors in these hand woven skirts.  Traditionally they were made out of thread made from hibiscus bark and dyed in colors derived from natural elements.  Over the years, the process has simplified and they have begun to be made out of colorful threads found at the local store, similar to the thread we use to sew or embroider with in America.  I use the term simplified loosely as this is no simple process.  I was soon to find out how difficult it was first hand.

I expressed an interest to my Yapese friend Agatha, originally from the outer island of Wolei, in seeing how these lava lava’s were made.  I had seen the various parts of the loom and the threads in the stores, but I had no concept of how it was actually done.  What started out as a simple curiosity, soon turned into a project for both Agatha and myself.  She was going to help me make my own lava lava. 

I met her at her house on a Sunday morning to start the experience.  She had laid out all of her lava lavas and I was to first pick the pattern that I liked most.  The patterns appear to be very similar when you’re out in town admiring others, but when you sit down and try to pick one out, you start to recognize all of the small details that make one stand out from another.  Fortunately for Agatha, I’m a pretty quick decision maker, not one for too much pondering, and we were on our way to the store for step two…picking out the main colors.  Yap is a small place so it didn’t take long to find what I wanted despite having to go to two stores.  Now it was time to prepare the threads in the pattern I had chosen and get it ready to go on the loom.  Agatha and I made a date for later in the week to get started.

Our first session was an eye opener for me.  The preparation of the thread involves a piece of wood with 5 small poles attached perpendicular to the wood.  There’s lots of knot tying and lots of looping of the thread around the poles.  Agatha started and after a few dozen rows, she offered me a turn.  It took a few tries but eventually I got the hang of it.  There was so much to remember; which pole to wrap the thread around, keep the string loose but not too loose, don’t forget to go ALL the way around the back, etc.  It was apparent after about five minutes that if I were to be the one making this lava lava, we were going to have to move to Yap.  Since we were planning on leaving in a week, Agatha was generous enough to offer to make it for me, “I enjoy this.  Please let me do it.” 

The weaving itself was fascinating, but I quickly noticed that this is a social event as well.  All of the women in the house gathered to watch and help and offer opinions.  Girls are taught from a very young age how to weave lava lavas.  Lava lava is actually the English name for it.  In Yapese it’s called a toeru (pronounced tear, as in rip, with a little Yapese twist that I’m unable to reproduce with this southern drawl).  Each woman develops her own manner of weaving.  They might add a little to a pattern or take some away, but it’s a small way to show off their personal style.  The newer generations have even figured out how to weave their names into them.

 After all of the details are sorted through, it comes down to good, old fashioned hard work.  While sitting on the floor, a belt is strapped around the waist of the weaver and attached on either side to the loom.  Several rods are pushed through the threads to hold it in place and differentiate between sections.  After each pass of thread, a large wooden board is used to tighten the weave.  It’s back breaking work and I, for one, was glad Agatha wasn’t holding me to my naïve notion of “making my own.” 

Working at night on the lava lava, after an already long day at her job as a nurse, Agatha spent a long hard week finishing up.  I went to their house the day before we were to leave Yap to pick up the finished lava lava and was overwhelmed with the dedication and work that went into this gift for me.  What started out as a kind of cool thing to have turned into a bonding experience that left me with a friend for life.  I hope Agatha felt the same way.  I will always cherish my experience and friendships made in Yap and while I don’t think I’ll need reminding of how much I enjoyed it, it’s nice to have this beautiful, hand woven, one of a kind lava lava to help bring those images up whenever I please.

The Rock Islands, Palau

We’ve spent the last 10 days finally exploring the Rock Islands here in Palau.  There are over 300 islands, some originated from volcanoes, others are limestone.   While the islands themselves are stunning, the real draw here is underwater.  Palau has some of the most beautiful dive sites in the world, and fortunately for us, we had a rare moment where Andy and I were able to enjoy them together. 

Our first few days were spent buddy boating (yes, Monica and Andy actually had a "buddy boat," totally against our way of life) with our friend Captain Ron and my new running partner, Nadeen.  Because we had other people with us, we were able to dive the famous Ulong Channel (more than once!).  It is by far the most beautiful dive we’ve ever done.  It’s a drift dive (pretty swift the first time or two) that takes you across this amazing false channel (i.e. it doesn’t go anywhere) full of soft corals, hard corals, sea fans, sharks, turtles, trigger fish, grouper, you name it…  Later in the week, Captain Ron came back with the owners of his boat and we were able to do it again, along with another dive site.  We were truly lucky this week as not only did we have great company, but Andy and I haven’t gotten to dive that much together since the Marshall Islands with Naomi and John.

I have some of my best hair days underwater.

Notice the huge grouper under the coral.

The prettiest soft corals I've ever seen.

The dive shops here have come up with an eco friendly "dive hook."
You can just clip into the coral (to avoid fighting the huge currents), put
a little air into your BC and just hang out.

Yes mom, that's me in the background :)

Capt. Ron and Nadeen on Shalamar II

The rest of the week that wasn’t spent hanging out with our friends, was spent snorkeling, playing on the beaches (they filmed Survivor here years ago) searching for caves and exploring the vast area by dinghy.  We just scratched the surface of the islands but are eager to go back again. 

On the surface, it’s kind of a pricey gig…they charge $50/person for a 10 day permit, $100 if you want to do jellyfish lake (more on that later…we’re saving that), and $40/month for the boat permit.  If you compare it to the price of a day’s admission to Sea World, it’s actually a bargain.  But if you want to go back over and over, as we do, then it starts to add up.  The good thing is, you don’t spend a dime while you’re down there so even with our super provisioning exercise (you know we didn’t go unprepared), we still came out even.  After we’re here three months, we can apply for temporary residency (being American’s) and then it’s all free from there.  Not a bad deal, if you ask me.

It's amazing that the islands and coral are still in such good shape as there are thousands of tourists here.  It is clearly their main industry.  There are no less than 8 dive boats at any sight, any time.  We passed by a snorkeling reef called Cemetery Reef and I kid you not, there were 8 boats with no less than 10 people per boat there - and it was raining!  Going on your own yacht is by far the way to go... I'm just saying.

We have tons of small stories from the week, but they just don’t seem to do it all justice.  I’m going to just leave it with some pictures from your favorite travel photographer (no, not me silly).

This was actually in a cave.  Jake has a new obsession.  He's
absolutely fearless when it comes to crawling around in these things.

Jake and I on the "Natural Arch"

We look really tiny....