P-MAN XII Progress Report #13 - Sonar operator's motto: "Beam 'til you scream"; a visit to the Japanese embassy; ghosts still inhabit Hell Island
03-04 March 2010

03 March

Today was a water day. We are getting proficient at side-scan sonar sweeps and having Joe at the helm means the boat is running straight and true. We ran 3 really long legs of a search pattern getting data from the ocean bottom. Once we are done for the year, we’ll send all the data to Rick and Jack and they’ll do the analysis. That’s when likely dive sites will be determined.

So our goal is not to crash the fish (the towed sonar housing) into a coral head. If we're successful in NOT crashing, we’ll have the data for Rick and Jack. And over a period of the next year or so, we should be able to scan the sea bed in our target areas.

Warren and Pat watching the sonar display.
The completely rubber-encased mouse that Warren is holding
is kind of like those little balls that you squeeze to relieve stress...

Joe and Mike steering and Navigating and watching the bottom depth.

A quick shot of the Marine Sonic Sea Scan® PCside-scan sonar computer display.

When we got done with the scans, we got one dive in on a wreck we had never been to before. It was a commercial ship in 25-75 feet of water. Nice sea life around it and the water wasn’t too cloudy. It was our reward for doing the SSS work for the day. Or as Jack likes to say, “beam til you scream.”

Out to Sam’s for sunset. Ran into Dermot, the general manager and after hours of conversation, 7 plates of sashimi, a few local beers, we went home. Everyone slept well. And then it was the next morning.

04 March

This is the time of the mission when we really get busy. Why people can’t bring us leads in our first few days here, we don’t really know. However, they do bring us leads to really fill up our plates in the last few days.

We were going in different directions today. Initially, Pat was going to give a lecture at the Palau Community College, Paul was going hiking with Steve Ballinger of Cleared Ground, and the rest of us were going to see pretty fishes underwater. Then we got an opportunity to speak with folks at the Japanese Embassy. We’ve met with Japanese embassy people before, but officially the Japanese have not seemed to be very interested in our project or bringing home their own war dead. Something appears to have changed, though, and now they are.

So, I pulled myself off the dive contingent to make sure one of us could go to the embassy. Then Mike decided to go hiking on Hell Island. Derek and Warren both elected to see the political side of BentProp. Paul went with Steve anyway.

We picked up Joe at Neco Marine, and dropped Mike off at an entry point to Hell Island. This is the island we climbed all over looking for Major Q.B. Nelson, USMC. It whipped our butts. And now Mike wants to hike it for fun.

Mike, about to enter Hell Island.

Us at the Japanese Embassy.

We got to the Japanese embassy early and had a great meeting with the former chargé d'affaires. The post was recently upgraded to an ambassador so the former chargé is now the head councillor. And to show the importance of Palau on the world stage, the U.S. is about to upgrade our post to an ambassadorship, too.

We had an interesting meeting, during which each group was learning about what the other organization was doing regarding looking for World War Two MIAs. We pledged mutual cooperation and sharing of data. Hopefully, this will pay off for some families from both nations.

Post-meeting group photo. Seated: The Head Councillor and Pat.
Standing: Flip, Warren, Joe, Derek and the H.C.’s assistant.

Then the call came out from somewhere (I think Derek): Bem Ermii’s. So a burger at 10am it was. Since I am dieting, I did not have the milkshake, which with the old me was obligatory.

We were at Palau Community College a little before 11 a.m. and met with the school's President. In another coincidence, he attended the same university that Derek IS attending. And the dean at his school wanted Derek to make contact with PCC’s president about a conference that will happen later in the year. Everything happens for a reason.

At the college.

Derek’s proof picture.

Flower on campus (photo by Derek Abbey).

Switching gears, we called the local newspaper that has been trying to interview Pat and got that out of the way. We used the radio to call Mike and found out he was still alive and ready to come out. So we all met at Neco Marine. Mike told us of all he found, and about the strange noise he heard.

Hell Island is haunted, according to all the Palauans. Even the folks at the office building at the let-in point (along the road between Koror and Malakal) say they’ve seen ghosts. Well, that was a few years ago. The office has been vacant for quite some time - due to the ghosts. Mikes swears he heard a howl that sounded like a cross between a wild pig and a howler monkey. Neither of those animals are on the island so we don’t know what Mike was dreaming. I guess it’s just one more BentProp mystery.

We waited for Mike to finish lunch and then went up north to show our Marine F/A-18 drivers the area we think we should look in for a missing Corsair. It looks like the hardest terrain we’ve ever encountered and we need a real reason to go in there. Much more than the hunch we have. So we are going to formulate a plan and see if it makes sense.

Mike, Derek in the middle and Warren at our vantage point overlooking Ngatpang Bay.

Derek strikes an "Indiana Jones" pose.

Somewhere out there is a fallen Marine. Maybe.

Back to town, had dinner at a new restaurant for us: Mog Mog. Good food, too much smoke and one piece of tough fish for Derek.

Tomorrow, we are going to get one more helicopter ride and then spend the day in the jungle. But that story will have to wait.

- Flip
 

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