| P-MAN XIV Update #26 - Tagging and bagging, and a WAY cool (strictly business) outrigger canoe ride 12 April 2012 There wasn’t a lot to report from the 12th. Flip had departed and we didn’t have anything on the schedule. It was a much needed administrative day. Pat was able to work through the preliminary report that we always turn in to all of the appropriate agencies before we depart. We boxed up all of the soil samples for their trip to Tennessee. Each sample is in a vial that is double bagged and marked, then those go into another bag and marked, and then into a plastic container, sealed and marked some more. We finished them up and they are ready for shipment. Just need the appropriate paperwork.
Our friends Dave and Margie invited us over for another dinner, which we couldn’t resist. Another great night of fantastic food and company! Dave and Margie spoil us while we are here.
13 April The 13th was a boat day. We were scheduled to meet with Kut, whom we had missed previously on this trip. For a backup guide, we also had Abby. Abby knows of the location of an aircraft way up north in Kossol Passage. So we would either be going way up north to Kossol or way down south close to Peleliu. Well, neither guide was able to join us. We were able to get Kut on the phone to gather a pretty detailed talk of the area of water where he saw the airplane pieces in. So we made the decision to try to do it on our own. The location we were going to was about an hour away by boat and on the east side outside of the reef. This always means the possibility of some waves, and the possibilities were confirmed. We arrived and briefed a search plan and the four of us went over the side. The visibility was great and there were plenty of pretty fish to see, but after fighting the current for an hour, no plane or pieces.
We terminated the dive and asked Joe if he could find a nice place for lunch that wasn’t as rough. Joe found a great spot and we enjoyed lunch on the calm water with the beautiful rock islands surrounding us. A couple of us took a short dip in the water around the boat. It was only about 10 feet deep and crystal clear. We noted how beautiful it was while we relaxed for a while and also noted that we didn’t see anyone else the hour or so that we were there.
A meeting was on the schedule with Palau's Historical Preservation Office (HPO), which is part of the Bureau of Arts and Culture. So we had to get back to prepare. The meeting went well and we had a spare hour before we had to meet for our dinner plans.
I was starving, so Pat, Dan and I decided to find a place to grab a snack and drink prior to dinner. We were going to go to the Drop Off, one of our regular spots, but Dan mentioned going to T-Dock for the sunset. We agreed because they had recently open the Red Rooster Café over there. Off we headed to the dock, but when we got to the café we realized that they didn’t have a view of the Western sky. Back in the van and down to the end of the dock where another restaurant/bar was located. When we got down there we discovered that the place was closed. After the running around, we realized that we weren’t going to get our pre-dinner snack or drinks, so we wandered over to the edge of the seawall to watch the sunset. That was when things got interesting! While we were driving down to T-Dock, I had pointed out some large canoes paddling in the lagoon. It's not every day that you see a boat moving through the water without an engine or a sail. As we were sitting on the seawall the outriggers paddled in from the water as one got close to us the man in the back yetlled, “Hey are you guys the BentProppers?” Taken aback a little, we verified that we were. He said, “You want to know about an airplane?” Again we verified that would be something of interest to us. He proceeded to explain a plane in the vicinity of the area where we had recently run the SSS, dived, and Flip lost his sunglasses. He was very descriptive and we became more and more interested. We asked if there was a chance he could show us tomorrow. He said no, but he could right now. We very excitedly said YES! So he took off in the canoe and said he would meet us there by the boat ramp. We had to drive. None of us had been to the area in a while by car so we got a little turned around in the process. After finally finding the road that ran down to the boat ramp, we made it. The canoe made the one-mile-plus trip in the same time it took us to drive three miles. As he pulled up to the dock we expected he would point it out in the water, but he offered to take us out in the canoe. So a couple of paddlers jumped out and a couple of new paddlers jumped in: Pat and Derek. Off we went, and a short time later we were over the site where he stated there was a plane directly below. He even described the orientation.
Did I mention that 15 minutes ago, I was sitting down to watch the sunset and didn’t expect to be paddling an outrigger into the middle of the lagoon? If we'd had our masks and fins, I don’t doubt that Pat and I would have jumped in for a quick look, but with the sun about set, we made the decision to return tomorrow.
Off to dinner we went and had a lovely time with Joe and Joanne. You could cut the excitement with a knife. It was thick.
14 April Somehow we managed to sleep through the night, but we were up early and headed back to the site. Was it an airplane? Yes. Was it American plane? No. It was actually an old Japanese float plane. It was an early model that was used for observation. Oddly enough, it wasn’t new to BentProp. Pat and Dan believe they have seen it in years past, but for some odd reason we had no GPS waypoint for it. Still an exciting time and story for us and a reminder of why we do this work.
After our time out on the float plane,.we decided to return to the Red Rooster Café for lunch down at T-dock. There, we ran into an old friend of BentProp, Frank Dermotti, who we thought had moved away from Palau. As it turned out, Frank returned to Palau a few years later. We shared some stories and after lunch returned to our rooms to start packing. Tomorrow is the last day for Pat and me. We have one more day of work, though. - Derek Abbey |
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