New Year in Palau

Happy New Year. My New Year was uneventful. Stayed home and drank beer and watched video. Way too many drunk drivers out and vehicles here are not insured so if a drunk driver hits you, good luck getting them to pay to fix it. Besides, wanted to drink and I do not drive drunk. Last week went to a party and caught a Taxi. When it was time to leave, found out the taxi drivers stop driving at around 10:00. Luckily was able to catch a ride home. I wish the taxi would run later. I think they would make money and I'm sure some of the people who drive drunk here would catch a taxi instead.

Big MahiMahi

Went trolling and for almost two hours nothing. No strikes, just the sound of my boat engine sucking up the gas (which is $3.55/gallon here). Just when I was ready to reel in the lines, hooked this big mahi. Not my biggest, but certainly made me happy. Was using a new lure I had just bought. This was caught all the way down by Peliliu. Got rough after that so we headed back to Koror, which was about a 2 hour ride in the rough water. Still, was worth it in the end.

Fish

One of my best friends from a long time ago got in contact with me after finding this blog. Really great to be in contact with the folks from Hawaii. I have been away from home for so long I have lost contact with all of the old gang. Between work, family and traveling life has been hectic and sometimes you lose sight of what is important. Good friends are hard to come by. Hopefully I can make contact with some other friends from before. I have decided to join facebook later on as some of them are there. Guess I'm behind the times. Problem is the internet is so slow here it is like stepping back in time. 56K would be blazing fast here. In fact, I bought my daughter a computer for Christmas only to discover no modem for the dial up connection. Guess most people don't use dial up anymore, but no choice here unless you want to pay a couple hundred dollars a month for a little bit faster speed. Photo above is just a mixed bag of fish I caught recently. Made up a bunch of Poke. The rainbow runners aren't my favorite fish so gave those away.

Shark Abstract

Spent the day after Christmas attempting to fish, but got caught in a storm that swept through the rock islands. With Visibility down to less than 50 feet, I was glad to have my gps and a fresh set of batteries. We were close to a beach area called two dogs and I was able to pull the boat in where it was protected and we sat for 2-hours until it cleared up. Since it was still too rough to go fast, decided to troll and ended up catching two 15-20 pound barracuda's. I will be cooking some of it up on the bar-b-cue later today.

The photo above was actually taken a few trips back. I had stopped the boat while trolling and while driting this shark which is about 8 feet came up and circled the boat. We watched it for more than 10-minutes as it went around and around, finally getting so close I had to push it away with a pole I carry to help push the boat when I go through really shallow water. After that we figured it was getting a little bit too agressive so we went on our way. The photo I changed in photoshop to more of an abstract photo later on.

Rock Island Trip

Another photo taken from my boat in the Rock Islands. It isn't easy taking photos from a rocking boat. The day was windy and the clouds were not cooperating, but in the end got some nice photos.

More Japan-Palau Friendship Bridge

Another photo of the Japan-Palau friendship bridge. Reading about all the snowstorms in the U.S. I almost feel guilty posting this. Beautiful warm weather here and I can't say I would rather be freezing right now. This will be our first Christmas here in Palau and I'm looking forward to it. Already bought a turkey that I will prepare on Christmas eve. Then on Christmas we wil open the presents and then hopefully I will sneak out to fish.

Japan-Palau Friendship Bridge

This is a photo of the Japan-Palau Friendship bridge taken at sunset. It is a great spot to just go and watch he sunset. Have been trying to get a decent photo but only now has there been some clouds to make the photo more dramatic.

Rock Islands

Been way too long since my last post. So much going on. Got my boat and have been exploring Palau. This photo was taken last Sunday and reminded me how much I like photography. So, here is Palau and the Rock islands. Enjoy