facts about scuba diving

alii! i am going to pristine paradise in middle of nowhere in the pacific all alone, to visit the twin white house, to solve the mysteries of the stone face monoliths, learning the realty of world war ii, checking out the rock islands, having lunch on the most breathtaking beach on the planet and ending the day by snorkeling with the jellyfish.

all done, safely, inexpensively and easily, anything i can do, you can do. diy destinations – palau, and you are invited! we are so fortunate to live in a small world with so many cultures, so much beauty, with so much diversity, the world waits for no one its up to each of us to discover its magnificent destinations

i want to make travel accessible to all of us by showing how it can be done safely and inexpensively officially the republic of palau is an island nation located in the western pacific ocean. it has a population of around 21,000 spreading across 250 islands, which form the western chain of the caroline islands in micronesia. the most populous of these forms the state of koror. palau remains one of the few places on the planet that is free of environmental degradation and is home to world's first shark sanctuary, banned all commercial shark fishing within the waters of its exclusive economic zone.

however, as with other pacific island nations, and rising sea level presents a major environmental threat and it is also vulnerable to earthquakes, volcanic activity, and tropical storms. getting to this island nation is not easy, palau is not well connected and i had to fly from manila to get here, and now it’s 2:15 in the morning. many people call palau, the most inaccessible paradise, and i could not agree more. initially, i was offered at a homestay since i want to get a truly local experience. but given the amount of time, i decided to take up on offer to stay in downtown koror instead. most hotels offers airport pickup and taxi normally cost about $10.

but lucky me, the driver and our friend who owns the f&b palau hotel is waiting for us! i only have four days in palau, after waking early and found out everything is ultra expensive here… especially there is no inland public transportation, i really freaked out on not able to get around for cheap. but thank goodness… i was introducing to a local palauan with the help of a little red envelope. i will let you know why i am holding a red envelope and how much will it be costing me but before i do that...

i really need to shave first the best option for getting around and discover all of the off the beaten path attractions is hiring palauan driver. by the way, the car rental cost about $50 and... there is $100 inside that red envelope. our first stop toward the capitol is the koror–babeldaob bridge or kb bridge. so this is the friendship bridge build by the japanese in 2002 after the previous korean kb bridge collapsed it is still underwater

what is so nice about this particular bridge is there is a place for you to swim there is a park where you can bbq and just chill out its fully equipped with toilets its complete free of charge and there is even wifi here so, there is one of the free places here in palau and completely chilled out and along the way, we’ll also pass by the only international airport in the country. nearby is the location of our first off the beaten path place, the old japanese communication center. there is no signs and cannot be found on the tourist maps.

this is one of the three leftover antenna by the japanese during the worldwide war ii and... over there apparently is a abandon building also left by the japanese and i am really curious what is inside that abandoned building this is used to be the japanese communication center for the whole of micronesia as you can see after the war its pretty much fall into abandoned

it seems its better days the heavy bombed complex is mostly intact, providing a good example of japanese architecture during its administrations of palau. palau has u.s. zip code of 96940 for the entire country with exception of 96939 for its capital and the seat of government, ngerulmud. it’s about 12 miles away from koror and located central east coast of palau’s largest island babeldaob. we are in the beautiful national capitol here in melekeok as you can see right behind me the beautiful architecture is based on washington dc's whitehouse

there is also a taiwanese flag here the reason they do that is many of the infrastructure in palau are either donate by the foreign government or build by them so in this case its donated by taiwan and what so interesting about this particular building is for many years it seats dormants and anyone can come in and out as they like but starting in 2008 they start to really utilize it and i am really excited to check out what's inside this beautiful building

the picturesque capitol grounds include the judicial, legislative and executive buildings for the national government. the separate buildings are connected via a central open plaza is the country's legislature, the complex cost over us$45 million, and was officially opened on october 7 2006. that is the judicial branch of the government as you can see we are standing on top of the hill where the capitol is located overlooking the breathtaking pacific ocean this is actually open to the public and there is no reason for you not to come here when you visit palau

after all its free, even the parking is free its a great way to learn the politics of this country next we’ll visit a off the beaten path attractions, only five minutes away is the location of the ngermedellim marine sanctuary, and this is not found on any tourist map. now, if you like surfing, this is only a short distance away from the capitol you should come and check out the wave, its actually pretty amazing there is a $10 admission fee

but... if you come at the right time, which is like right now there is no fee because the guard is not there or come during their lunch break or come in the weekend, there is absolutely no one on duty there is so many off the beaten path attractions not featured on the tourist map, but the next one can’t even be found anywhere online or on any maps. that’s why i encourage to get local palauan to show you their country

and oh yeah, thanks for support the local economy. so, to our next destinations... we drop by here at the ngiwal state conservation this is a nice site where you can see the state capitol from this side and over there enjoy the nice view at last i arrived at one of the most important archaeological site in palau. the stone face monoliths dating back to 161 ad., its nickname is easter island of micronesia located at the babeldaob's northernmost point. and one of the most important aspect of our show is promote off the beaten path attractions

and responsible tourism and this is one of the site i like to promote because very tourist come here its called badrulchau and what you see behind me is the stone face monoliths we don't know how they got here or their exact purpose but it is estimated that... they are supported by crane, steeps or beams only few miles away is the ngardmau waterfalls,

it is the largest in the micronesia. opinions of most tourists suggests, “it was a long walk down, but worth the hike.” i am at the entrance of the ngardmau waterfalls i have being told this is a 20 minutes hike down there make sure you bring a towel, because its going to be speculator and you probably going to get wet with that being said, let's continue our hike be prepare to lots of slippery slopes as there is a lot of pools and streams of water flowing down miniature waterfalls. there is also a zipline and monorail option, but given our budget,

i’ll stick with the long walk. along the trail the visitor can find historical remains of the japanese colonial times such as a old locomotive, parts of the old railway system. behind me is a love tree and this is one of the rare place where you can find it where it is two trees with separate root conjoint together with a branch and over there the sign say if you want to be joint in love with your significant others or with your new lover

take a picture right here and as you can see at this moment i don't have a partner but next time i am back i am determine to bring that person with me a palauan legend states that the ngardmau waterfall was formed by a body of a eel spirit. on a cliff side, the spirit fell in deep sleep that it could no longer wake up. time after time, the eel’s body developed into a river and the head became the waterfall. sadly... given the sunset, i wasn’t able to travel to the end of the path.

so, the lesson is don’t come after 3 pm… wow!!! this is the fresh way to get hydrated especially after the half hour hike down and half hour hike up only cost $2.00, what a great deal! so bon appetit! i returned to koror for the night, but next morning i headed to a remote island of peleliu. the most inexpensive way to get here is taking a public ferries departing from koror on mondays, wednesdays and fridays

returning from peleliu on wednesdays and thursdays. the journey is 2.5 hours and as of 2016, the cost is $5.00 plus $1.00 for each luggage. however, pva or palau visitors authority has arranged me a complimentary ride on a speedboat operated by impac tours. the peleliu is one of the sixteen states of palau located approximately 25 miles southwest of koror. the island of peleliu is form out of limestone and today the population is over 600 people and they live in the north tip of the island and town is name kloulklubed they were...

fishing and farming which is women are farmers and men are fisherman the main attraction off shore is diving and there many beautiful beaches on the island as well as the remains of the battle of peleliu, but regardless you’ll need to pay visit to the visitor center to get your state permit. we got land tour, diving, sport fishing and more peleliu is pretty small with only one major road scratches from the northern to southern tip of the island,

so its unlikely you’ll get lost. i recommend you rent a bike for about $10 a day. if you are sensitive to heat, then considering a renting a air conditioned car, but beware the fuel is extremely expensive here. the most famous attraction is definitely the remains from the battle of peleliu or codename operation stalemate ii from september to november 1944, a ferocious battle took place on the island between occupying imperial japanese forces and invading u.s. forces. my guide tangy from pva took me to the peleliu war museum as the first stop, its located inside the former japanese storage bunker.

he also is the founder of the museum in 1999. and everything inside the museum i collected in the jungle so these are all original artifacts? yeah! the museum contains large collection of the photos and original artifacts from the battle. over 13,000 american and japanese have died in peleliu this invading operation was controversial as it inflicted highest casualties than any other assault in u.s. military history.

i also took the chance to ask tangy about how the local feel about both the japanese and the americans so, 100% of the population are forced by the japanese to moved to babeldaob island they can not say american are bad, because they did the bombardment here they didn't say japanese are good, because we stayed with them for many years, for 30 years and when japanese sent them out of their island that is another sad feeling... that is one sad feeling palauan or peleliuan don't forget

we headed to the thousand man cave on the northern outskirts of the klouklubed village. the limestone tunnels and chambers are built by the japanese during wwii this site is arguably the most disturbing places on the island some call an it the execution cave. so, i am inside the thousand man cave the reason is called that name is the japanese died inside here when american came and used the flame throwers, grenade and so on... to kill off the japanese. and if look on the ground...

you can still see lots of remnant you know... they still said there is human remains inside here... like bones and so on... but... i... didn't see any today! one of the reasons you must be careful is the amount of glasses, and it is not a good idea to wear slippers. let me just show you this right now it's absolutely everywhere!

a visit here requires a flashlight as the surface is very uneven and large number of war relics still litter the floor including original sake bottles, shoes, canteens, helmets and other war items. by the way you’ll also expect to come across large spiders, and be dived upon by bats. in my chase i got hit by one. we headed off u.s. memorial dedicated to the 200 dead and 900 wounded that served in the 1st marine division who participated in the battle of peleliu. to my surpise, right across is a shinto shrine to the 10,000 japanese fought against the u.s., including their commander who burned the regimental colors

and committed suicide near the site. coming to peleliu is like going back in time and walking into a living history. you’ll be able to touch the remains of bunkers, vehicles, aircraft, weapons and more, scattered all over the island. as i approaching the site of the japanese 200 mm gun, i came upon a lvt(a)-1 landing vehicle used by the u.s. marine corps during world war ii. it has ability to carry 18 fully equipped men or 4,500 pounds of cargo. originally intended to carry supplies from ships to shore,

however they lacked armour protection and their tracks and suspension were unreliable when used on hard terrain. however, the marines soon recognized the potential of the lvt as an assault vehicle. right up the hill contains a japanese 200 mm gun cannon dug into the rocks and virtually unreachable with sniper holes guarding the entrance. now, i am staying in the bloody nose ridge and behind the gun to the right... there is a artificial caves for the ammunition storage however, since it was deeply dug into the rocks it had a very limited field of view and effectiveness.

our next stop is the former japanese command headquarter heavily damaged by u.s. bombardments in 1944. so, this is the japanese headquarter... it's abandoned now, obvious the war is over but before... before they used to command everything from here communications, the trop movements, and all aspects of the war it's pretty amazing to see it remains standing today!

so, as you can see the building largely destroyed and... and now its pretty much overgrown by... the nature! but still, its... pretty amazing to look at... the floors, able to know so many people died because of the war cutting across the bushes contains the a small airfield built by the japanese during world war ii. after the war, the airfield was quickly repaired it became an american airbase until it was abandoned in 1945.

also nearby is the japanese army pillbox bunker, despite its neglect, its surprisingly in great condition. this is also where many japanese soldiers barricaded here have died. just before reaching the orange beach, there are two grey coral monuments with plaques dedicated to the us army's 81st infantry wildcat division who aided the 1st marine division, which had encountered extremely stiff resistance in the central highland. now, i am standing in the orange beach in peleliu and this...

operation stalemate ii on this area on peleliu on d day, september 1944 the beach on peleliu looks like this and all the amphtrack come up the reefs another reminder, peleliu is not only about world war ii. so, i am standing on the southern tips of the peleliu island right here and this site is considered one of the best, of the best diving site in the world the boats behind me are all diving boats so you got nature on one side, but you also got history on the other side. that is what they called the invasion beach

lastly, we travel to the most southern part of peleliu to the scarlet beach or bloody beach. also the site of the peleliu peace memorial park. so, japanese always come to peleliu island to pay respect their soldiers who have fought in the pacific war they actually build this peleliu peace memorial park to commemorate those who died in that war this memorial was built with great thoughts of peace with each of the plates on the monument commemorates the people who sacrificed their lives in the island and the sea of the western pacific during the war between united states and japan.

in 2015, the japanese emperor and empress come here to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of world war ii and offered flowers and prayers. i ended my day by returning to locally-owned, family run storyboard resort for dinner. this is also where i stayed during the entire filming of peleliu, this segment is not possible without generous support from the local palauan owner and staff of the resorts who provided complimentary accommodations and all my meals. but, for those of you who wants to dine out, the selection is fairly limited. there is an few local grocery stores and a cafã©.

however, if you find any fruit on the tree, its yours to take. i went to sleep early, as tomorrow will be another early morning since i wanted to capture the magnificent sunrise. but when i woke up, there is a little issue… so, i am still waiting here, its about 4:50 and... hopefully... hopefully, we'll be able to capture the sunrise so, i don't know if you can heard the rooster calling out... the sound is everywhere... here!

okay, they stopped! but... oh there you go! i don't think i can do the sunrise no one is coming to pick me up, but i am still going to wait around let's hope there is a miracle happening so i can capture this timelapse but eventually after an hour of waiting, i was picked up, so ladies and gentlemen…

please enjoy the magnificent sunrise live from peleliu. one of the final places i filmed is the pristine blue lagoon located on the crocodile road and its absolutely gorgeous. after returning to storyboard resort, i was once again treated to amazing breakfast and a dose of hospitality of palauan. after i breakfast, tangy and i visited the peleliu’s senior center, its also their fire station with full of used fire trucks donated by japan. this is also serves the temporary office of the state government. but don’t worry taiwan is totally ready to pay for a brand new office building.

i came here to thank governor temmy shmull for waiving my state permit and filming authorization and providing me all the necessary assistance. perhaps he’ll like to welcome our audience to this beautiful island. good day, i am temmy shmull and i am the governor of the peleliu state i like to extend... a warm invitation to all of you to visit our island state it's a beautiful place very natural! we have natural white beaches we got one of the best diving site in palau

snorkelling scuba diving... you can even take a land tour to visit some of the famous world war ii remains so, please make time to visit us and thank you very much! but leaving might not be that simple... so, let me give you a update on what's happening with my filming adventurer here in palau so, i am in peleliu island right now and apparently... there was arrangement made

from pva to get me back to koror on a boat that suppose leave today but actually leaves tomorrow when i just about to give up on return back to koror on that day, i was met with another dose of local hospitality. this time by the rock island tour company, i was offered a ride back to koror with the governor shmull whom i interviewed earlier. when i return to koror, i was hungry and was frustrated to discover the restaurant are insanely expensive. even chinese food cost up to $15 a plate.

now, palau is the most expensive country i being to so far you can lose weight no matter what either you spend so much money on food and your wallet become lighter or you just don't eat at all... now there is some lesser expensive places like the one right here you can get rice for one dollar chicken skewers for $2.00 pork skewers for $1.00 i mean its not bad...

but you do have to find them and its off the main road another place located on main street is called bem ermii burgers & fries, where you can grab some classic american burgers and fries for about $7.00 but there is another way to save money on food. by visiting the only shopping mall in the country. the wctc shopping center is located on the main street. so, this is one of the two main shopping centers here in koror

i actually really, really curious what it looks like inside, with that being said... let's just go! let's also open until 10, so we got lots of time to shop it also have one of the two supermarket in the entire country and the prices is pretty comparable to ones in u.s. but if you like filipino snacks, you are in for treat! the mall also have a drug store, a electronic store, a furniture store and home to one of the very few taiwanese embassies in the world.

across the street is a department store and home to the second supermarket. the price of the food is high in palau since it relies on the mostly imports, so i’ll wish you good luck on that lucky draw on the second floor, you’ll find american style department store selling everything from bicycles, television to shoes. koror is very small and all the actions on located on the main street where most of the shops are located. given time constraint, i didn’t get to go to the prison gift shop which sells palauan storyboards,

they are traditional wood carvings depicting palauan myths and legends. here is a little tip, start negotiating at 60% less than the asking price, just do it! did i mention, the proceeds of which go to the inmates' families to help support them while they are in prison. so, i decided once again to hit the bed early since tomorrow be my last day so i manage to hatch a ride with one of the boat that is heading out today... unfortunately, the rock islands, jellyfish lake and all these amazing attractions is not a diy thing you have to come and get a tour boat

or else... you know... you'll lost in the sea and i can't guaranteed your safety when you do that! but what i recommend you do is get a local company to take you out there... there is many you can choose from and today we got this lovely company to take us out there, so let's check things out! to visit the rock islands and jellyfish lake, you’ll need to pay for rock island use permit which cost $100 usd and there no way around it. not even myself.

this is normally not included in the price of most tours, but most tour companies also sells the permits or you can pick it up at the koror state ranger's office. to be honest, i was exhausted and really tired toward the end of palau trip so its better i’ll let this young, and energetic local tour guide to take over. amazingly she is only 22 and already the owner of a tour company. aii, that is hi in palauan! i am currently located in a island called palau it is a country located in the pacific my name is trissa

i work for happy tours palau is very beautiful it has another name called the rainbows' end or god's secret private garden aquarium it has all sort of underwater features, it is very beautiful! i really wish to see every single one of you if i had the chance so, i am your tour guide today!

today, i'll be bring you to some of the best snorkelling sites in palau including soft coral, big drop off, and the famous german channel, and off course jellyfish lake, which is harmless... the only harmless jellyfish you get in the world and so... are we ready???

okay, let's go! after a fifteen minutes ride, we arrived at a rock formation called lover’s arch. so, this is actually the lover's arch right back there... and it is said... if you were to take a photo with your significant other or your brothers and sisters or anyone you love you'll enjoy be blessed by the angel and never be separated we continue on to the soft coral arch. palau’s coral reefs are considered to be one of the “seven underwater wonders of the world.”

so, welcome to palau's soft coral arch and it is located on the left side of the boat... the soft coral arch is arch between two rock islands and under the arch is a full garden of soft corals with different colors pink, purple, green, yellow, all sort of different colors, and they are only grown at a environment where the current flows in and out... which means later on when we enter the water we'll stop at the entrance and waits for the current to bring us in because if we are in the opposite of the current, it will be difficult to swim against it

on our way to next destinations we passed by the whales shaped islands thru the german channel. so, hi everyone, so we are traveling through the german channel we can take a quick look on the side of the boat it used to be a very... to be filled with coral reefs in a crescent shape and when the german people are here and... in 1899 during world war i they found a significant amount of phosphene down at the southern islands of palau called angaur they made to transport these elements from angaur island to koror where the capitol is

so it takes a half day to go around this coral reefs so what they did is come here and buried bombs underneath and crack open up a path a pathway... for larger vessels to transport these elements back and forward between the islands this is also called the manta ray channel because larger sea animals also take advantage of this pathway to go from inner lagoon to the southern lagoon of the palau islands if we look to the right of our boat... these little islands

they are connected underneath by the sand beach all together there are seventy islands which is why they name it 70 islands back in the 1956, this is the first underwater conservatory area that is established in the micronesian area we arrived the big drop off, just south of the german channel. this is a popular dive site for beginners as the current is mild. so, we are here right now in the big drop off as you can see behind me is a very visible reefs

forming a coral reef but underneath me it drop to 200 meters so it is a underwater cliff and on top of it consist of different types of soft corals, rose corals... and you can see different species of fish and larger sea creatures like shark, turtles if we are lucky so, let's get to it! they are actually... there is a slime out of it, so if we touch it we could feel the sting cells

that will make us itch but they are perfect with the clown fish clown fish is the only fish that can live inside of it after snorkelling, i was hungry… but thank goodness the lunch is included with most tours and ours is no exception. we headed to towards long beach, lies between the two rock island south of koror. so, this is the long beach of palau like its name, you can see it is a very long beach

extends from this island to the one across it and its more than two miles long every month, there are two days where the ties goes the lowest where the whole beach will shine under the sun where you can see the whole crescent going from here to the other side. this is the most famous beach in palau where the most of the tourist visit and people can do tourist activities on here you can do bbq, and do photo shots, and this is also a famous postcard sites too! the jellyfish lake is located between koror and peleliu.

it is around 12,000 years old and its best known for its moon and golden jellyfish… it’s also the only one of palau's marine lakes open to tourists. alright, we are finally here at the jellyfish lake this is actually one of the largest stratified lake in the world meaning there is different layers in this lake it is also completely isolated from the water outside although this is still salt water it is kind of not so salty percentage is kind of lower because of rains and washing out the salt

and in here, we'll find the golden jellyfish it's called the golden jellyfish because when japanese were here when they left actually, when they left... american were trying where ever the japanese left behind, particularly gold so they are above this lake, they saw something shining and reflecting looking like round gold they thought is was gold, so they came in and found that they were jellyfish

and they were golden color and they were actually harmless to human to human skin... during the miocene ages, there was a geographic movement where the rock islands surrounded this lake and trapped the spotted jellyfish and over time, these jellyfish evolutes because they lost their enemies, so lost their food chain, so basically no one is here to harm them they lost their tentacles

so they lost their ability to sting now, we can swim in a pool of large and small jellyfish in this lake only so, this is our golden jellyfish! it's 80% made out of water... we are not allowed to raise above the water because it may melt from the sunlight so we'll just look at it under and the shape looks like a star at its head

however, in the spirit of conservation, i’ll like to remind you that its forbidden to wear sunscreen as it could pollute the lake, please stay on the trail so as not to disturb the vegetation and diving is not allow as bubbles from scuba tanks can harm the jellyfish if they collect beneath their bell. so, i am in the magnificent country of palau

and i am doing this review... sadly, everything comes to an end and my visit to this remote paradise is no exception. but just before leaving, i did a video review for palau hotel owned by my friend, one of the things about this hotel is its located in the town center right across is a supermarket and only supermarket you'll find here... and another one across the street and the bars and clubs can only be found here

since there is no public transportation, many hotels offers shuttle to the airport or by taxi for approximately $10. the airport is small and has few facilities, therefore i do not recommend you pass through the immigrations into departure gate until 20 minutes prior to your flight, as there is no amenities in the waiting area such duty free shop. by the way, don’t forget to bring $50 for embarkation tax, cash only please!!! among all the nations i have the privilege to visit, palau stand out as one of the most unique destinations.

despite having limited natural resources and isolation, it’s impressive that the population of 18,000 have chosen to protect its environment over profit, securing the priceless natural treasures like the rock island and jellyfish lake, for all of us, and our future generations. in peleliu, i relived the horror of war and learn that there is no winners when fighting against our fellow human being. but i also found hope after visited the mysterious stone face monoliths, which show us our collective potentials when work as one. thank you for watching and good bye!

“may-ee-koong” from pristine paradise of palau!