Turtles!

In the morning I was perfectly on time but because I am in Palau no one else is… everyone is on island time.  I played Candy Crush while I waited on the porch for my car to come.  It wasn’t long before I was back at the dive shop getting my gear ready for the day, this is the day I became friends with Christi and Carly.

The first spot we visited was Blue Hole, we used the current to sweep us into the opening and then it was like freefalling to the bottom, I had my arms spread out and I only used a hand to equalize.  Coolest feeling ever when you descend like that.  We checked everything out that we possibly could before continuing through the cave.  It wasn’t so much the life in the cavern that made the dive awesome it was swimming through a place that just felt untouched or seen.  I just treaded along taking my new beautiful scenery in.

Today we had lunch on the boat, didn’t mind it one bit but some people were feeling a bit seasick which couldn’t have been too good.  During lunch I kept seeing turtles pop their heads up for air and oh my goodness did I get excited!  The next dive spot is supposed to be full of turtles!

Dexter’s Wall is what our dive site is called because Dexter discovered it.  Our dive instructors Ali and Michelle told us that the turtles will just pop up out of nowhere and scare the sh*t out of you, I couldn’t wait!  We all descended down and the soft coral that covered the rocks looked like pink seaweed with stars at the ends, I could totally see how turtles hide in these.  Swimming along was easy because there was no current but I was disappointed 15 minutes into the dive when all I was seeing were fish and corals.  Then we saw one floating above our heads, then two, then three.  They all just appeared out of nowhere, whether they were swimming or taking a nap in the rocks… they look pretty cute just resting in the rocks.  If you get too close though they take offense and move 5 feet to another spot, you’re supposed to let them come to you but that never happened.  I couldn’t believe how many turtles we saw, all the places in the world I have seen turtles combined don’t even match the number I saw on this one dive.  Pretty spectacular if you think about!

Back at the dive shop Jesse (guy) invited Christi and I over for a few beers after he gets off work.  We accepted but headed down to a different beach while we waited, we sat on sharp rocks and talked about all the amazing places we have been.  My places don’t even compare with the amazing places Christi has been to.  She moved to New York at 17 and has been independent since, she has been to over 50 different countries and plans to see them all before she departs the world.  She is pretty much an inspiration now to do more travelling in my life.  As the sun started to set we headed back to grab Jesse and bring him back to his house… which is 5 minutes from the dive shop.

He has the cutest kitty that he rescued on the island but sometimes she turns into a little demon and attacks people out of nowhere.  We didn’t drink too much beer but I got to try a new beer called Asahi gold, it’s pretty good here.  Jesse had just gotten a care package from home… it was filled with trader Joes things, everyone ate something from his two massive boxes that night.  My favorites were the melted chocolate bar with almonds and cheese cracker sandwiches.  We all gorged ourselves and at midnight Christi drove me home and I fell fast asleep, brushed my teeth before I fell asleep though.