Palau
In early December, we took a snorkeling trip to Palau. While on our Polyneisan cruise at the beginning of the year, Care asked the divemaster aboard the Orion where the best snorkeling in the world is. He recommended the National Geographic trip to Pulau. We flew to Pulau via Hawaii and Guam. In Hawaii preflight, the captain invited Jon up to the cockpit to get a taste of what flying a 777 was like. We stayed at the Palau Pacific Resort. Prior to our snorkeling expedition, we visited a local waterfall and got to see a bit of the main island of Pulau. Each day, a dive boat picked us up at 8:15 and took us out to a new location where we snorkeled and kayaked in a variety of conditions. We also visited the aquarium and natural history museum, and saw a couple of cultural programs (dances) at the resort. Our National Geographic expert gave us several presentations on how her organization eradicates invasive species on South Pacific Islands. We saw an amazing array of marine lifeand coral reefs as well as gaining an appreciation of this unique island nation. We also took a tour of a local waterfall and dined at several local restaurants. We had a small group (11 guests, 2 guides, National Geographic expert, boat captain, and an assistant) and got to know each other well. See our itinerary.
