Grand Cayman 6/7

Today was another relaxing day.  We all got up at our leisure and sat around and chatted for a while.  We had some of the leftover peanut butter pancakes for breakfast.  Then Dick and Zane drove the tank we had rented yesterday back to Eden Rock to return it by 8:30.  Dick and Eric had used the tank to test out Dick’s equipment in the swimming pool at the condo—which worked out very well.  While Dick and Zane were returning the tank, the rest of us wandered over to the office and talked with the owner.  We also got to pet Calilo (the cat) and Mango (the dog).  The owner also shared some of her photos of the destruction from hurricane Ivan with Kati and Lou. 

Zane and Dick made it back and after they returned it began to sprinkle so we all headed back to the condo.  We had some more time to visit as we did not have to head out until a little after noon.  We had booked a two tank afternoon dive at Ocean Frontiers for Eric, Sheila, Zane, Kati and Dick and had to be to the boat by 1p.m.  We all got our gear together and headed down to the east end a little early.  On the way we stopped and took Kati and Dick’s picture by the elderly people crossing sign. 

We arrived at Ocean Frontiers and got all checked in and got our gear down to the boat.  On our boat was our group and three other people, which made it very nice.  The first dive site we went to was called The Maze, which was a nice spot for everyone.  It is right along the wall, but the top of the reef is at 40-45 feet which made it perfect for Zane as his max depth is in this range.  This was Zane’s first experience on an ocean going boat and he got a little green around the gills on the ride out.  So as soon as we got to the dive site he got in the water to alleviate the motion sickness and then he was fine. 

Everyone had a very good dive and Zane got to see his first shark.  Actually we saw one or more sharks on both dives we did.  Once everyone was back on the boat, Zane again had the effects of motion sickness.  So the captain of the boat was nice enough to return to the dock so that Zane and Dick could get off before the second dive. 

After dropping off Dick and Zane and unloading some of the gear at the dock for our surface interval, we then headed out for the second dive.  The second dive we did was just a short trip from the dock again and was a much shallower dive.  We again saw sharks on this dive along with barracuda, several lionfish, and the other usual suspects.  Toward the end of the dive we also saw a lot of fish spawning. 

After the second dive we returned to the dock to join Zane and Dick at the bar to have a couple drinks before returning back to the condo.  Lou had another lovely day enjoying the peace and quiet back at the condo, reading, enjoying the view, the ocean breeze, and visiting with the neighbors. 

After returning to the condo we unloaded all of the gear from the car and took it out to the back patio to dry out a little before bringing it in or the night.  Zane took the opportunity to jump in the pool and swim around while Lou and Kati visited with the neighbors and I started dinner.  I got some whole wheat vegan drop biscuits mixed up and put in the oven.  I left Eric in charge of checking them when the timer went off as I wanted to go take a shower and clean up.  Just as I got out of the shower I heard the smoke alarm in the condo going off.  I ran downstairs to find Dick and Eric trying to get the smoke alarm to go off by opening the back patio door and fanning the detector.  I thought maybe the biscuits had burned, but they had not.  It must have just been something burning off in the oven as it was set to 450—I doubt it gets used at this temperature much here. 

Grand Cayman 6/4 – 6/6

Our journey started early in the morning when our taxi picked us up at 3:15 a.m. to head to the airport.  We arrived at the airport and got through security without even so much as a swab of my camera bag, which is a rarity when we travel. 

We headed for the United Lounge to fill our water bottles, use the restroom, and see what kind of goodies they had for breakfast.  By the time we got to the gate they had actually started boarding the plane early so we just walked right up an got on (we were in first class, which was the group they were boarding). 

We had a very nice flight from Phoenix to Houston.  They actually served breakfast and I have to say it was pretty good.  They had steel cut oats with brown sugar crumb topping, dried cranberries, a biscuit with butter and strawberry jam, a fresh fruit plate, and a vanilla Greek yogurt. 

When we got to Houston we had about a three hour layover.  We took the opportunity to have some lunch as you never know what you are going to get on the plane (in the case of coach it is nothing any more).  We decided on Ruby’s dinner as Eric was starving and wanted some real food.  After our “lunch” at 9 a.m. (we had been up since 2:30 a.m.), we made our way to the United Lounge to relax for the rest of our layover.  Our layover time went by in a hurry and we headed to our gate to board the flight to Grand Cayman.  After our past trips to Asia and Europe the Caribbean trips seem incredibly short now. 

We had another good flight and landed on time in Grand Cayman.  We got off the plane and were one of the first few people through immigration.  By the time we got to the baggage claim area they already had three-fourths of the bags unloaded from the plane and off the belt ready for people to pick up.  They are really on the ball compared to Bonaire where it takes half the length of the flight just to get your bag--mainly due to the fact that they leave the entire job of unloading the bags from the plane and putting them on the baggage claim belt to a single 80-year-old man.  

After picking up our bags, we made our way out the front door of the airport and headed down to the walkway toward the rental car agency.  When we landed we noticed it was very wet everywhere around the airport and it looked very stormy off in the distance, but for the moment it was dry.  We got our car rented and loaded all our bags in and headed toward the condo we had rented for the week at the Turtle Nest Inn. 

We decided to stop at the grocery store on our way to the condo and pick up some things so we would not have to do it later.  We ran into the store and got all the items on our shopping list but by the time we were ready to check out it was pouring down rain and I mean pouring.  By the time we got our groceries out to the car and got in we were pretty much soaked to the bone.  We made it the rest of the way to the condo in the downpour and then had to run from the parking lot over to the Inn to check in and then back to the condo.  By the time we got to the condo I don’t think there was a dry spot on either one of us. 

After we got toweled off a little bit, the rain let up so I took Dick, Katie and Zane back to the grocery store as they had not had a chance to stop when they arrived a couple hours earlier.  We got lucky and made it in and out of the store without getting wet.  After we got back to the condo we had to decide what to do for dinner.  Everyone was pretty beat as we had all been up since early in the morning or in the case of Dick, Lou, Katie, and Zane since the day before.  So we decided to stay in and Eric and I made tostadas and Dick, Katie, and Zane had some of the hot items they had purchased from the deli at the grocery store.  After dinner everyone was pretty beat so we all headed off to bed. 

The next morning the sun was out for a short bit.  As we were all on vacation, we decided to sleep in and take our time getting up.  After having some breakfast everyone got their gear rounded up and put together so we could head out to do our first dive.  We decided on Eden Rock for the first dive, which would also be Zane’s first official ocean dive.  This is the spot where I also did my first ocean dive.  It took us a while to get everything together and get in the water, but we finally did it. 

Zane had an exciting first dive.  We saw two turtles, a sting ray, barracuda, and tarpon (which are everywhere here).  After our dive we packed up the car and headed to Turtle Reef on the other end of the island to do the second dive.  We had lunch at Sunset Diver’s restaurant/bar as we watched the divers come and go.  Everyone enjoyed lunch very much.  Most of the day had been overcast and just after we finished lunch it started raining.  It did not really matter much to us as we were going to be getting wet anyway, but it does cool things off. 

We had a nice dive on the mini wall, but there was some pretty good current.  This was Zane’s first experience with current and I don’t think he liked it too much.  Zane, Eric, and Katie saw a baby ray along with all the other usual suspects you see on most dives. 

After getting out of the water it started pouring down rain again.  We rinsed all our gear and loaded it in the car for the journey back to the condo.  We made the mistake of trying to make our way from one end of the island to the other through the middle of town during rush hour on a weekday—Not a good idea.  It took us over an hour to get back to the condo and we had pouring rain the whole way on top of it. 

After we finally made it back and got all our stuff in the condo, we were all starving to death.  We were trying to decide what to do for dinner and finally decided to just order pizza.  It was pouring down rain and we did not want to all load into the car and drive all the way back to town to have dinner.  There is a Dominos pizza just down to the road that we have gotten pizza at before on past vacations here.  So we tried calling but all we could get was a busy signal.  Eric and I decided to just drive down there and place the order in person.  The drive down the road was like driving through a hurricane.  I have not seen rain like that in a long time, if ever.  The road was partially flooded, there were tree parts all over in the road and by the time we got to Dominos the parking lot was packed and it was standing room only inside.  I stayed in the car while Eric went in to place the order.  He came back out to the car for the ½ hour wait to get the pizzas.  He went back in after ½ hour but had to wait an additional ½ hour just to get up to the counter to pick up his order.  Meanwhile I waited out in the car wondering when someone was going to hit the rental car I was driving with all the maneuvering around in the tiny packed parking lot in the pouring rain.  Eric finally picked up the order and we managed to make it back to the condo in one piece.  After dinner we were all pretty pooped after our full day.  Lou stayed at the condo and relaxed, walked on the beach, and did some reading while we were out all day.

The next day we were up a little bit earlier than the previous day.  I got up and made Rosa Parks peanut butter pancakes for everyone after which we got all our dive gear rounded up and headed out for some diving.  Before we did our first dive we stopped at Diver’s World so Dick could get a rash guard and some swim trunks, along with some other dive accessories.

After our shopping trip we stopped at Rackham’s bar and grill downtown to have some lunch.  This is where they feed the tarpon every night at 7:30, so they tend to hang our around there all the time.  They also have quite a few iguanas that like to sun themselves on the rocks there (and eat scraps that customers throw them).  The weather was still overcast this morning but it made for beautiful weather to sit along the waterfront and have lunch. 

After lunch the consensus was to go back to Eden Rock for the next dive as Zane really liked that spot yesterday.  As it ended up, Eric, Zane, Katie, and I did this dive.  Dick was having some issues with his BC and decided to sit this one out.  I managed to find a tiny octopus on this dive along with a huge parrotfish—just to name a few of the really cool things we saw. 

After this dive we packed the car up and headed back to the condo.  The dive shop let Eric and Dick rent a tank to bring back so that Dick could get his BC set up and test everything out in the pool.  Luckily it was a weekend so we did not have to deal with rush hour traffic on the way back to the condo this time.

After we got back to the condo Eric and Dick set about the task of getting Dick’s BC set up with the new webbing he had purchased earlier in the morning.  They got everything working well and then Eric also reworked Zane’s BC with similar type webbing.   After everyone was thoroughly waterlogged, they came in and we had some of the left-over Dominos pizza.  We made sure we purchased enough the night before so we could have leftovers for another meal. 

Everyone enjoyed watching some of the video clips I had taken earlier in the day and then we all watched part of the Young Frankenstein movie before we headed off to bed.

            OMG--Today was quite the interesting day to say the least.  We got up at our usual time and had our breakfast and then headed across the street to the Drop Off.  Today Teri, Jeff, Eric and I got paired up with a new group of Chinese.  It is important to understand that a lot of Chinese divers buy their scuba certification and often times don’t even know how to swim much less know the first thing about diving. 

            First, we got a late start because we were waiting for them to get to the dive shop.  They are also notorious for being late.  Then, once they got in the dive shop it was like an angry swarm of bees.  They start running all around handling and looking at everything.  It is kind of like herding cats trying to get them to focus on the task at hand.  After they finally got all their paperwork and permits filled out, we were finally on our way, about 30 minutes late. 

            After they got them all down to the boat, they were told to unload their gear onto the boat and get it set up.  They did not seem like they had too much trouble setting their gear up, only a few issues such as putting the regulator on the tank backwards, etc., but that was just the beginning of what was to come.  So once they got their gear set up and we got enough weight for everyone, we set off to pick up Teri and Jeff at PPR. 

            After picking up Jeff and Teri we made way for the first dive site.  Luckily Edwin would be the guide for just Eric, Jeff, and Teri (I did not dive again today because I have a head cold—so just rode along).  The rest of the group of Chinese was being guided by Aki, the Japanese guide who works at the shop.  We dropped Eric, Jeff, and Teri off at Blue Corner for the first dive and then headed to Dexter’s wall as the first dive for the rest of the group as there is less current there and it is an easier dive. 

            This is where it started to get interesting.  It should only take a few minutes to get your gear on and get in the water, but for this group it took nearly 30 minutes or more.  It was quite the circus show watching them attempting to get their gear on properly and get ready to backroll into the water.  Half had to be reminded to put their weight belts on, one girl who was probably 100 pounds in body weight had on 20 pounds of weight, some of them tried to backroll in without masks or regulators.  Then, Logan saw one of them trying to work his pressure gauge to let the air out to drop down. 

            Logan, our boat driver, then took the boat over to shallower water to let the four non-divers snorkel around.  It quickly became obvious that these people had never snorkeled either.  They had all new equipment and had no idea how to even put the snorkel on their mask.  One girl asked me to help her put her snorkel and her mask strap on her head.  Then they proceeded to get their life jackets on and get in the water.  In addition, they had no fins and would not let go of the rope on the boat.  As soon as they got in the water all we heard was “no fish, no fish.”   

Shortly after they got in to snorkel, Logan noticed one of the Chinese divers that we had just dropped off popped to the surface coughing and hacking—obviously he took in water somehow.  Lord only knows what depth he was at before he shot to the surface.  So Logan told the snorkelers to get back on the boat so we could go collect this diver.  One of the four snorkelers in the group who spoke very good English (most, if not all, spoke very little English) informed us that this was that diver’s first dive.  So we gathered up the distressed diver and loaded him onto the boat—following which he proceeded to vomit over the edge of the boat—one of many episodes to come.  Needless to say he did not do any more dives today and looked like death for most of the rest of the day. 

By the time all of this commotion was over it was time to pick up Edwin’s group.  So we made our way back to their dive site to pick them up.  After getting them on the boat, then we headed back to pick up the remaining Chinese divers and their guide.  Needless to say they were not down long—the Chinese also tend to go through air fast.   

After getting them all back on the boat (after some instruction on what to take off first), we slowly made our way to the second dive site, New Drop off for Edwin’s group, and Coral Paradise for the Chinese group.  During the surface interval Logan offered to let the ladder down so that the snorkelers could snorkel, but it took them a little while to get motivated enough to get into the water and hang off the boat (not what I would consider snorkeling).  Then it was time to dive again, so they got back on the boat and we made our way to the dive site for Edwin’s group.

Of course it only took a couple minutes, if even that long, for Eric, Jeff, and Teri to get in with Edwin.  Then we made our way back to the shallower area at Coral Paradise to drop off the Chinese divers.  This time it did not take them quite as long to get in, except for a couple of them that seemed to take forever.  Finally they were all in the water and dropped down.   Prior to them getting in on this dive, Aki, their guide, gave them the briefing for the dive site and reminded them again to stay at the same depth as him and to stay together.  So I can only imagine what it was like underwater on the first dive—probably similar to the circus show above water. 

We sat and waited for Edwin’s group to surface after their dive and the Chinese group was not far behind, even though they gone in much later.  Amazingly everyone from the Chinese group surfaced alive.  After everyone was back on the boat we headed to a beach for a nice relaxing lunch.  Then we headed back to PPR to drop off Jeff and Teri and then Neco to drop everyone else off.  Today was our last diving day and we had beautiful sunny weather all day.

After we got back to the dive shop we talked with Fabio.  Today was his dry day as he had plans to fly to Tokyo to visit his girlfriend early morning tomorrow.  He was nice enough to invite us to his apartment for dinner.  He made us an amazing dinner of bruschetta, vegetarian pasta, and salad.  He is Italian, so he definitely knows how to make a good Italian meal.  After enjoying a good meal and some good conversation together, he dropped us back off at our apartment. 

Tomorrow is our dry day (also Thanksgiving Day) before we fly back home on the 28^th.  We leave at 5 a.m. Palau time on the 28^th.            

            Today was another typical day in paradise.  We got up at the usual time and wandered over to the Drop Off where we found Fabio.  We split the groups up today so we just had the two Koreans, the couple from Hawaii, Eric and me, and a new lady, Bentley.  So we had plenty of space on the boat to spread out. 

            Our first dive site was Blue Corner.  We did not have the current we had the other day, but it was good enough to bring in some sharks and several Napoleon wrasse.  After we hooked in on the corner and watched the sharks for a while, we  then drift along the wall and ran into a shark that had been mating.  Shark mating is a very violent act and the females are very ripped up and sometimes have chunks of flesh missing.  Further on down the wall we came across some large schools of fish spawning and some other schools of fish swarming in to eat the eggs.  Then as we ended the dive out in the blue we saw a large school of barracuda. 

            After that dive we slowly made our way to the second dive site, Virgin Blue Hole.  After our surface interval, we jumped in and floated on the surface over to the hole.  It is only possible to do this dive when it is high tide, as the entry hole is on the top of the reef in very shallow water.  Once over the hole, we dropped down into the shaft to the bottom at around 100 feet.  Then we swam toward the light at the exit hole and swam out onto the wall.  This site offers some very pretty coral and some neat swim-throughs, which you don’t see many of in Palau. 

            We then headed to the beach for lunch and after a relaxing lunch we headed back to Palau Pacific Resort (PPR) to drop off Jeff and Teri.  We had kind of a cold, wet ride to PPR, the rest of the way to the next dive site, and eventually back to the dive shop.  On the way to the dive shop we stopped at a dive site called the Helmet.  It is a shipwreck from World War II.  No one was sure what the actual name of the ship was so they call it the Helmet wreck because it contains Japanese helmets.  We dropped the Korean couple and Bentley off here in a driving rain and then headed back to the dive shop. 

            In the rain we hurried across the street to our apartment.  I was hoping and praying we had hot water today.  It has been kind of hit or miss as to whether we get any hot water.  At first I thought I had it figured out—I thought that because the water heater was far away from the bathroom it just took a while to get to the shower, but apparently I was wrong.  I think the water heater is shared by several units and whomever gets the hot water first hits the jackpot.  For a couple days in a row we did without hot water.  Today we got lucky and had plenty of hot water. 

            After we got cleaned up we crossed back over to the Drop Off and met with Fabio for a while and then came back to the apartment to rest for a while.  We had plans to meet Fabio and Tua at the Drop Off around 7 p.m. to go out to dinner at The Taj.  Tua will be leaving tomorrow afternoon and she had never been to Taj, so we had a nice dinner sharing a bunch of vegetarian dishes. 

            After dinner Fabio dropped us off in front of our apartment and we said goodbye to Tua just in case we did not see her tomorrow.  Then we were off to bed. 

           

            Today I woke up and unfortunately I had come down with Fabio’s cold.  He has been sick for about the past week and I thought I was going to manage not to catch it, but I wasn’t so lucky.  So I decided today I would go out on the boat, but not dive.  We only have today and tomorrow left of diving and then our dry day before we fly.  Unfortunately, today was cloudy and rainy all day.  The water was a bit on the choppy side too, but I could not complain that it was hot on the boat. 

            The first dive site we went to was Sandy Paradise.  Today we had a small group on the boat.  It was just Fabio guiding Eric, Jeff, Teri, and Bentley.  They saw all the usual suspects on the dive, nothing out of the ordinary. 

            The second dive we went to Saies Corner.  On the way to this dive site we came across a huge pod of dolphins, so we circled around in the boat and played with them, watching them jump and spin.  After the surface interval, Eric, Jeff, and Teri along with Fabio dove in.  Bentley was not doing the second dive as she was flying out the next day.  So our boat driver, Logan, took the boat over to the edge of the wall so that Bentley could snorkel.  She spent a good 45 minutes or so snorkeling.  When the rest of the boat surfaced they said it was a rather uneventful dive with really no current to speak of. 

            As it was kind of a rough, rainy day, Logan took the boat into a quiet inlet in the Rock Island area for us to have lunch.  After enjoying our lunch we all bundled up for the rainy ride back to PPR and Neco Marine.  

            Today was another casual day.  We got up at our usual time and had our breakfast and made our way across the street to wait for the other divers to arrive.  Today we left the dock a little earlier as we had to pick up the Chinese guys at their hotel’s dock.  Today we had the four Chinese guys, two Koreans, Tua, Eric, me, and another couple from Hawaii (Jeff and Terri). 

            Our first dive of the day was at Blue Holes.  It was a very easy dive.  As we had done this dive before we just poked around and Eric did some silhouette shots before we made our way out and down the wall toward Blue Corner.  There really was not much current today, so it was a somewhat easy dive. 

            Most of the rest of the people on the boat wanted to do three dives, so Eric and Tua and I decided to sit out the second dive which was at Dexter’s wall and instead do the third dive which was planned for German Channel.  This meant we had a 3+ hour down-time on the boat that included our surface interval after the first dive, the dive time for the second dive, and the surface interval/lunch after the second dive.  However, this time went by fairly quickly as Eric and I talked with Tua. 

            We actually went to the very shallow sandy area just to the other side of German Channel for lunch.  It was low tide and so the water was only a couple feet deep.  It was not quite a beach, but almost.  Luckily we only had a little bit of a shower on the way to our lunch spot today and that was it for rain. 

            We waited until about 2:00 p.m. to get in for the dive at German Channel.  We were trying to wait as late as possible so that the current would pick up and the mantas would be feeding.  When we got in there was very little current so we headed toward the cleaning station.  There was not anything going on, so we headed out into the blue to see if we could see anything.  Not too long after that we saw a manta heading straight for us.  It glided by us headed for the cleaning station.  So we all turned around and headed back to the cleaning station. 

            I got some good video of the manta slowly gliding and circling over the cleaning station.  She glided around for quite a few passes and then off into the blue she went.  So we all swam out into the blue to see if we could find more mantas.  As we were swimming out we spotted at least three.  They were not feeding yet as the current still had not picked up, but they were gliding back and forth. 

            It turned out to be a good dive.  Everyone was happy they got to see some mantas.  After the dive we started the journey back to the dive shop.  I think we ended up getting back around 4:15 p.m.  So as soon as we got back we headed across the street to our apartment to get cleaned up and come back over to the Drop Off before it got really busy.  Today they were having their 2^nd annual Wahoo Classic fishing tournament and activities all day long. 

            We got back to the dive shop/Drop Off just before 5 p.m. and Fabrizio and Barbara were there picking up their dive gear.  So they joined us and Tua at the Drop Off for one last drink together before they left early tomorrow morning to head back to Italy.  After their car arrived to take them back to their hotel for the evening, Tua joined us for dinner and we watched the Palauan dancers perform for the evening’s festivities. 

            Tua won’t be joining us for diving tomorrow as it will be her no-dive day before she flies on to her next destination, Manila.  She has approximately two more months before she completes her year off traveling all over to many interesting dive destinations.  After Manila she is heading on to Sipidan/Malaysia.  She has been to many of the dive destinations we still have on our list to go to, so we enjoyed talking with her about the various places she has been.    

            We got up at 6:20 again this morning, had our breakfast in the apartment, and I typed up my blog before we crossed the street to the Drop Off so that Eric could publish the blog while we waited for the rest of the divers to arrive.  However, we did end up going into the dive shop and doing some shopping before we left for the day.  We had noticed that they had some really nice lightweight waterproof bags and once we found out for sure they were waterproof, we could not resist. 

            We left the dock again around 8:30 with four new guys from Hong Kong plus Tua, Fabrizio, Barbara, Eric, me, and of course Fabio, our dive guide.  Our first dive site of the day was Sandy Paradise, which is always a nice dive.  There is lots of pretty coral here with a sandy sloping bottom.  This site also has a coral pinnacle with 3 scorpion leaf fish and another pinnacle with a cleaner wrasse that will come out and clean your hand if you take off your glove.  Fabrizio stuck out his hand this time and the wrasse came out and checked it out and then headed straight for his head—he has a shaved head.

            We had a nice relaxing dive for the first dive and wandered all around the reef checking things out.  There was really no current so speak off, so it was definitely a lazy dive. 

            After getting out, we slowly motored our way to the second dive site, Ulong Wall.  After waiting an appropriate amount of time for our surface interval, we jumped in.  Since the current was not right to do Ulong Channe,l we just did the wall, which is  also very pretty.  There is always a huge school of fish here, but this time it was interesting because there were three or four sharks that were circling and swimming through the huge ball.  We were trying to figure out what the sharks were doing.  They did not seem to be hunting, but when they would come out of the ball of fish there would be about six fish following along with the shark.  We were not sure if they were using the shark to rub on, chasing him, cleaning parasites off, or exactly what they were doing.  Eric managed to get some really good shots of the huge ball of fish with the sharks swimming through.

            After this dive we tethered the boat in shallow water and had our lunch.  It was low tide at that time, so it was too shallow to get to the beach.  However, this time we did not have to rush to eat our lunch before the rain storm hit.  After a relaxing lunch, we started back for the dive shop.  Our boat diver today, Ricky, took us for a tour through the beautiful Rock Islands on the way back, which is always a treat.

            We got back to the dock and they unloaded everyone’s gear except for the guys from Hong Kong who were going back out to do a third dive.  We made our usual stop at the Drop Off to check emails, etc. and then headed back across the street to our apartment.  After getting cleaned up and Eric going through today’s pictures to see what he got, we headed down the street to the market to get some supplies since we were not sure they would be open on Sunday. 

            Later, around 6:45 p.m., we started the walk down the road to Kramer’s restaurant where we were meeting Fabio, Fabrizio, Barbara, and Tua for dinner at 7 p.m.  We had a very nice, if not very warm, dinner on the balcony at Kramer’s.  Although we were outside on the water’s edge, there is very little breeze in Palau and they had no fans, so it was rather hot and steamy, but the food and service was excellent. 

            At about 8:30 or so we called it a night and headed back to our apartment.  Fabrizio and Barbara are not diving tomorrow as they will be leaving the next day, so they plan on returning to the dive shop around 3 p.m. tomorrow to pick up their gear and say goodbye to everyone.