TRAVEL

Southside resident Karin Bremer and her daughter explore the underwater world of Palau

Alii! (that’s hello in Palauan)

The Republic of Palau is a little known gem in the Western Pacific Ocean. It comprises more than 200 volcanic and coral islands and offers plenty of amazing diving opportunities. To celebrate my 10-year-old daughter’s recently acquired PADI junior diver certification, we took a girl’s trip to this paradise island for the Chinese New Year break.

Like many tropical island nations, Palau relies heavily on tourism. Their conservation efforts help them stand out from other islands in the region, with each visitor being required to sign a pledge to look after the Palauan environment upon arrival. This pledge was designed by the children of Palau and goes as follows:

“Children of Palau, I take this pledge, as your guest To preserve and protect, your beautiful and unique island home. I vow to tread lightly, act kindly and explore mindfully I shall not take what is not given. I shall not harm what does not harm me The only footprints I shall leave are those that will wash away.”

two tank scuba diving through Sam’s Tours (samstours.com).

We were woken each morning by a wild rooster. While this new wake up call was alarming at first, we were grateful to catch the sunrise before diving underwater for the day.

The guides collected us after breakfast from

Heading to the depths the Palau Pacific Resort jetty and we were taken by boat to the scuba diving office. The choice of dives around the island are incredible; from WWII wrecks, to cave dives and more shallow coral gardens. The only commonality each day were the sharks, either big schools of baby sharks or large adults cruising alone. The guides also customise each location and depth depending on the certification levels for

Baby shark, doo doo..

Top tip

The government had recently banned the use of most commercially available sunscreen products in an effort to protect the reefs. Locally produced organic sun protection is available to purchase.

each group. As my daughter is a junior open water certified diver, she is allowed to dive to a maximum depth of 12 meters.

Two dives really stood out, the first was in the German Channel. As we made our descent into the water, a group of six large adult manta ray playfully danced around us. To her credit, my 10-year-old kept her cool despite the rays being as large as her!

The second was a reef hook dive which took place on a drop off in a strong current. The boat captain moored the boat and after descending down to the coral reef approximately 10 meters, we were instructed to find a piece of dead coral or a rock and hook ourselves to it. With some air in our diving vest, we easily floated in the current and watched a spectacle of over 60 large sharks swim by. Some were curious, coming rather close, but most were more interested in the food.

While the underwater world of Palau was mesmerising, the island from above is equally impressive. We booked a 40-minute scenic flight,

flown by Steven from Pacific Mission Aviation (palauaviation.org) and had the pleasure of seeing our dive sites from up high. The famous Milky Way area, known for its pure white sand (comprised mostly of parrot fish poop) was easy to spot. The locals refer to this place as their spa, as the mud is said to be good for your skin. The plane didn’t have a side door, only a safety bar on one side, allowing for great photo opportunities, but also very windswept hair!

The day before departing it’s advised not to scuba dive, so we opted for snorkeling instead. We swam with thousands of jellyfish in Eil Malk Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, that is filled with moon jellyfish and golden jellyfish (these species don’t sting and are safe to swim with!) In 2016, the lake was closed to visitors after it experienced a drastic decline in jellyfish numbers due to a drought. Now the Ongeim’l Tketau Lake has reopened and jellyfish numbers continue to rise.

It is easy to see why the locals are so proud of their home and we were delighted to see how careful the general public was on preservation.

Karin Bremer is a Dutch-Australian photographer Karin runs photography company “Karin Bremer Photography.” karinbremer.com