| P-MAN XIV Update #27 - Dan wraps up loose ends and is left with an Empty Nest. P-MAN XIV is history. 15 April 2012 What a great day for a kayak paddle into the mangroves, a little hike over a rock island, and looking for a cave that a local guide and crab hunter has told Joe about that may have some human remains in it. In keeping with our smart man theory (or is that hypothesis?) of not going to strange locations without the eyewitness/guide/local expert, Joe is going to pick up our guide Davis at his house and deliver him to Neco Marine. Last Sunday Davis cancelled our outing at the last minute and then there was the issue of Kut not showing for our Peleliu East reef dive outing, twice. We may be slow but we do learn, sometimes. So Pat, Derek, Spyce and Dan await on our boat with kayaks loaded (with paddles) and geared up lite (read minimal packs & equipment), in anticipation of rolling said kayaks or high tide in the mangroves which make it much easier to trip over the roots or step into deep potholes or trying to outrun the slowest team member when the crocs are spotted. But first, we have a 7:15 a.m. breakfast at the hotel with Dave & Margie, payback for the great dinners they have hosted. Dan is on duty with oranges, dates, blueberry pancakes, poached eggs and real maple syrup (courtesy of Flip). A short enjoyable breakfast with company and then out the door at 7:50 for our kayak date. Joe shows up at the dock with Davis in tow and we get briefed on the location and what to expect enroute. Off we go for a great spin thru the spectacular & beautiful rock islands of Koror. We pop out on the East reef and head back West thru Toachel Mid. As we head in toward the mangroves we slow way down as we move across the shallow mud flats and then drop anchor in 3 feet of water and transfer into kayaks. Davis solo, Pat & Derek and Joe & Dan in 2-man kayaks. Into the mangroves we go. The "channel" into the mangroves is only 3-4 feet wide and swinging a paddle to catch water vs mangrove roots vs clotheslining yourself with said paddle is a challenge. These mangroves are different from the ones up North where we have been plotting out the debris field of an MIA crash site. These roots are taller, the canopy higher and the muck sucking your boots off much deeper. The kayak ride is barely 15 minutes long when Davis heads out over and thru the mangroves to the ice-cream-cone-shaped rock island and then a surprising 10 minute hike later we are at the site. This appears to be an ancient burial site and we can detect no WWII era anything. So we take a few pictures, grab some GPS waypoints and will turn this over to Suzanne, Palau's National Archeologist. Back to Neco we have lunch at Neco's Drop Off Bar & Grill: sashimi and lemonade. Yum! Next, shuffle all the SSS gear next door to the Coral Reef Research Foundation for storage, including the new dive radios we used this year Now Pat and Derek really need to finish packing and drying out the dive and swamp gear for their 2 a.m. departure in 12 hours.
Start boxing up all the "stuff" we will leave in storage at our hotel (the West Plaza Malakal). They have kindly given us use of part of a storage closet to store our growing mountain of Palau gear between trips. Dinner at Elilai up on the hill over on Arakabesan, great view looking over Koror & Malakal, good food and with our favorite ex-pats Dave & Margie! Back to the hotel for final packing and showers and then the Imperial transport run to the airport to drop off Pat & Derek. And then there was 1. I have a lot of errands tomorrow to close out this year's expedition. 16 April It's awful quiet around here...I am officially an empty nester. Okay, on your mark...get set...go.... Finally a lite breakfast by myself. Then the final hours of P-MAN XIV:
- Dan O'Brien |
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