“I’m off to Micronesia to dive.” Blank stare.
“Palau“. Nothing.
To be fair, I didn’t know where Palau was either. Until a few years ago, when Brian, a wonderful divemaster in Roatan, Honduras, told me the best diving he had ever done was in Palau. (That means something because the diving in Roatan is pretty amazing too!).
This is how Palau got added to the list of must-do dive sites.
Yup, it’s kinda in the middle of nowhere. As well, it’s a bugger to get to. My travel route is: Vancouver – Seoul – Korror, Palau. The return journey adds another leg: Korror – Seoul – Beijing – Vancouver. Many hours on planes and layovers, and many time zones. Palau is 17 hours ahead of Vancouver.
I’m flying on Aeroplan miles on Air Canada and Asiana. The cash price would have been around $2,000. Yikes. Not in the budget.
Biggest downside is that US currency is used in Palau. Ouch. Bloody ouch. The Canadian dollar was higher when I booked the trip ten months ago. Currency is one reason I’ve had to scale back on travel this year.
Like all of my dive vacations, this one is being done on the cheap. Basic motel accommodation, hitting grocery stores instead of restaurants and no souvenirs.
Brian the divemaster and our friendly Grouper friend in Roatan, Honduras in 2014
I’ll dive for eight days and take in Jellyfish Lake as a snorkeling adventure.
I leave Saturday. Can’t wait to show off the pictures.
tankstravels.com 