For the kids spring break, we wanted to stay closer to home here in the South Pacific so Palau seemed like an obvious choice. The Republic of Palau is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is geographically part of the larger island group of Micronesia, with around 21,000 people spread out over 250 islands. However, random factoids do not speak to Palau's unique people and their ocean. Fresh fish daily, snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, dolphin encounter, and the warmth of the Palauan people all culminated in one of our best trips.
Our first day, we spent at the dolphin encounter. The kids learned about the bottlenose dolphins which had been rescued from Japanese fishing nets. Both Sienna and Nathaniel overcame their fears and interacted with the dolphins including petting the dolphins and "shaking hands". Nathaniel was later quoted as saying that he was not afraid of dolphins anymore because they are his friends.
The following day Andrew spent diving while the family lounged at the resort. He dove both blue hole and blue corner. The reef sharks and the large Napoleon Wrasse are the highlights. See the video for the visuals.
Next, the family went on a kayaking tour with snorkeling. The Rock Islands are amazing which hold some surprise features such as many caves, and historical sites from WW2 and the stone money production sites. We observed the many native birds in addition to the small cave bats.
Our final tour was the Rock Islands and Jellyfish Lake. The Rock Islands hold so much to see. We did snorkeling at three different sites and were quite amazed by the diversity in each site. The highlight was the 7-8ft silver tip reef shark we saw snorkeling. Jellyfish Lake is a lake in the Rock Islands that holds a unique species of jellyfish that evolved to lose their stinging cells. They are found nowhere else in the world. The hike into the lake and the experience of swimming with millions of jellyfish is indescribable. The video does better justice. The kids were pretty scared at first as was I. By the end, they were pleading not to leave. The jellyfish are also their new friends in addition to the dolphins.
Well we are back in Guam but already dreaming of another trip to Palau.
Click here to view pictures from Palau
Click here to view our video
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