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.