Just plain freaky

"Cannon Ball" I yelled as I launched myself off of the boat into the clear waters of Nikko Bay. As I came up I was immediately surrounded by these fish. I'm talking hundreds of them. And they were all giving me the eye like I ate their brother or sister. Yeah, it's true I've eaten this type of fish, but never here so they couldn't know. As I swam more and more came around until I was engulfed in a sea of fish. As I moved my hands I was bumping into them and they were bumping into me. Never had that happen before. Being that we were at a place where people snorkel, fishing would not be allowed (I'm a firm believer in having areas where you don't fish). Imagine if people fished in a place like this, soon there would be no fish there to enjoy. The kids jumped in an we watched in amazement as they swarmed around us. It was truly amazing to watch. Given that it was so hot, we just swam around in the water watching all of these fish. Just another day in Paradise!

By the way, to my friend Russell, didn't weigh the sailfish but had to be 80 or 90 lbs. I actually got on the scale with the fish fillets and that was 30 lbs of fish. Figure they gave me half (less the stomach) so that is 60+ lbs of meat, plus the bones and insides. Got to come to Palau and fish.

Nikko Bay in HDR

Another photo of Nikko Bay, this time in HDR. I combined a total of 6 images and then ran it through photomatix. I had the tripod and camera in the water waist deep to take this. One of the good things about kayaking is you can get into places that are hard with a boat.

More fishes of Palau

Just a short post tonight. Feeling kind of stressed out and looking at fish somehow mellows me out after a hard day. One of these days I will have to look up the names of these fish.

Star Fish

We loaded up the Kayaks with lots of drinks and food and headed out from the house towards Nikko Bay. It is only a 10 minute paddle and once inside the bay you are treated with a wide variety of corals and fish. We paddled through a 100 yard area that was filled with these starfish. These things are the largest I have ever seen. Stopping right after the shallow area we tied the kayaks up and went swimming. I say a small blacktip shark which was kind of cool, but was unable to get a photo. It is so tranquil here and we got up along the rock islands and explored the many areas where it is difficult to get to in a boat. Because the bay is so protected, it is a great place to snorkel and there are huge amounts of baby fish all over the place. Paddling right up against the rock islands you can't help but marvel at how beautiful and peaceful it is. Despite it being a sunny day we saw only one boat the whole time. It was great.