Day 11: Mandarin Fish Dive

Again our boat departed at 8:30am so we are going to have class after lunch today. We ate a cinnamon roll we bought yesterday for breakfast then went to the dive boat. They put us in the smaller boat again. The ride was fine but the ease of donning and doffing the gear was not there. The boats in Palau are better suited for diving. They took us to the northeast side of the island to a dive site right next to the Valley of the Rays. It was raining pretty hard when we got up, but once we were underway there was no more rain. That is one thing I have noticed here. Most of the time it rains for five to ten minutes then stops and will not rain again for several hours. A peaceful ride to our dive, but no dolphins today.
Dive1 – Goofnuw Channel: This channel with reefs on either side connects to the Valley of the Rays. There was a slight current which made it a relaxing dive. I spotted a nudibranch floating in the water as soon as I got to depth, about 60 feet. There was a medium sized school of bumphead wrasse, an octopus, and some small whitetip sharks. I turned over a sea cucumber and found a small shrimp living on its belly. I like to find the small animals and take pictures of them. There is just something about finding the tiny critters that makes the diving more enjoyable to me then always looking for the big animals. Even though we blended into the Valley of theRays, we again did not see any manta rays.
During our surface interval, they toured us around the island continuing north until they found the waterway that flows between the main island and the smaller north Island. It was shallow here and we were able to see some fish jumping out of the water, a small black tip shark, and a ray trying to get away from the boat. We continued moving along looking at the shoreline until we got to Mi’l channel. This is the other main site for Manta Rays, and the next location for our second dive.
Dive 2 – Mi’l channel: The visibility here was nothing like the first dive. For a moment I thought I was back in San Diego. We sat at a cleaning station for 5 minutes then moved on. During that time we did see two manta rays, I did not get a picture because I had my macro lens on and the water was not clear enough for the camera to focus on it. Once we left that spot, we traveled west through the channel stopping at different locations looking for the mantas, which never showed up again during this dive. I did get a nice picture of a pufferfish though and a camelback shrimp under an anemone. I was attacked by the local pink clownfish for getting a little to close but I got the shot. Not a bad dive, I just wish the visibility was better.
I had the cajun fish sandwich for lunch today and it was good. Today at class we went over some more marketing ideas and a review for the test. We were told the test usually takes about 3 hours. I am not looking forward to this part. Like Marc Sr., I do not like taking tests. I feel your pain Sr.
Dive 3 – Rainbow Reef: This site is right off O’Keefe’s Island. I can give you more history on the Irish-American when I get home. This reef is the home of the mandarin fish. It is almost 6pm and the fish are getting ready to come out to find mates. I took some pictures of red-eyed cardinal fish. They are cool looking. I did find a couple of mandarins and just watched. I did not get to see any courting, but I did get a picture or two of them and was going to take more but my battery died on me. I also spotted two banded pipefish, a large cowry, some crabs, and cucumbers. This dive was a very shallow one, I think I maxed out at 20 feet, but spent most of my time at 10 feet. It is now time to go back to the hotel and get some dinner. I am hungry and tired. Have a great day and I will see you tomorrow. We only have 2 days left on this adventure and I am already looking forward to being able to bring you all back here.