My Life Be Like

The land and Ocean merge at times to form beautiful Vistas part of Palau's alluring charm

This post is again an apology for not updating my blog in some time. However, that is partially due to the fact that my life is much more normal and civilized in Palau. I am now residing in the basement apartment of my host families house. I get to shower in an actually shower every day after work and not in a stream. Meals are no longer canned tuna, kim chi, and rice, and I am no longer residing in the jungle. I am living with Ann and Clarence Kitalong, and their son Chris. The past month has flown by and it has been about two weeks now since my parents left. Palau is much different than Pohnpei. For one I am no longer the only white person when I go out to places. There is more of a downtown Palau, and people enjoy going out to bars. Since I have been here we having been mixing work with pleasure quite nicely. Never working to hard, and always making sure we play harder.
For the past month I have been helping Chris with his bulk collections for the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This has been our main focus beside a few transects we have done on a rock island. Chris is collecting bulk samples of plants in order to extract chemicals and examine them for medical purposes. In order to be able to extract enough of a certain chemical we need to collect a lot of the plant. He is also looking at weather different parts of the plant contain different agents. This means we are collecting 1 kg dry weight of 5 sometimes more parts of the plant including; leaves, fruits, bark, roots, stems, and rachii. Chris Climbing a tree for samples
Depending on the plant this can be an easy or difficult task. For instance if the plant has small leaves it takes some time to collect 1kg of leaves. Always keeping in mind that you need to collect more than 1 kg in the field because once they are dry they will weigh less. The fruits could be prickly, and the bark can be difficult to remove. However, with 3 people it will usually take about 1-2 hours to collect a tree. Then comes the fun part.
Processing. Once collected everything needs to be dried. Therefore, everything goes into wooden driers lined with light bulbs. Once dried everything is packed into collection bags and taken to the Belau National Museum. Belau is the traditional spelling. This is where we sort, label, and be sure that we have correct weights. Every piece of a plant gets a bar-code and a collection number e.g. CK 25. Chris then records the plant on bar-code on his master manifest. This will allow NCI to scan the bar-code and figure out what they are looking at. This can take sometime. This is because sometimes we realize we are missing part of a plant or a fruit has grown mold and needs to be cleaned. Other times the labeling gets ahead of the recording and we have to play catchup. The AC in the room is also broken and is warm because of the heat that escapes from the drying room making things quite uncomfortable. However, we manage to get everything done without killing each other and it is a relief once all the plants are labeled. Currently we are closing in on the finish line with these collections. We have all the specimens labeled and ready for shipping with only a few parts missing. We are currently getting ready to shift gears into a mangrove project.
The mangrove project will include plant and animal biodiversity in the mangroves. The mangroves are a very important ecosystem the people of Palau both economically, and environmentally. Economically they provide clams, and mangrove crabs. Mangrove crabs are like US crabs on steroids. They can weigh up to 4 lb with claws bigger than a 4 lb Maine lobster. The project is going to assess the biodiversity as well as how the locals use the mangrove and what they believe their importance is. This means we are going to be learning how to make traditional crab traps. We will be catching crabs tagging and releasing them. This will become the tricky part. We will all have to learn how to handle the crabs although the locals are quite good at it, it is important that we learn as well. My work through this next month is likely to be very interesting and I am sure it will have its moments. Environmentally the mangroves provide a nursery for reef fish, and are important preventer's in soil erosion. I will be sure to keep everyone informed about our mangrove madness once the project gets underway. However, early I said we play harder and at this point it would not seem that way but this is the truth.
We work hard through most of the week however, weekends are explicitly reserved for fishing, diving, and cruising through the 300 plus rock islands. Here in Palau we enjoy many types of fishing like line fishing, spearfishing, cast netting, and surface spearing to name a few. However, none of these others compare to spearfishing. This is because with line fishing you are stuck on the boat fishing the bottom waiting for some dumb fish to take the bait then you pull it up. However, spearfishing becomes a much more personal way to fish.
I call the ocean the Palauian fish market, and it has introduced me to the part of cooking. The procuring of the food. It is much different in the states where most of the time you just go to the fish market and buy what you want. I have discovered that this is no fun. Here we go out on the boat and fish for what we want. Not only is this more fun it is also more rewarding, and it makes the fish taste that much better. This brings me to another point. When buying fish in the states or catching people usually buy fillets of fish or fillets it themselves after fishing. This is a mistake. Fillets of fish loose flavor. Fish need to be cooked whole they retain flavor and moisture better from the bones and head. Furthermore, the head is the best part of the fishing containing the most tender meats. Try it you will not be disappointed. However, lets get back to the procuring part.
I use a 5 ft hand crafted wooden gun outfitted with rubber bands that you stretch back and hook to the spear which is held in by the trigger. You stalk your prey from the surface of the water waiting for them to become accustomed to your presence. You then take a deep breath and dive down to the bottom. Trying to remain totally relaxed so you do not use your oxygen. You slowly lurk across the bottom waiting for your shot. Your throat tightens and lungs shrink from the pressure of the water above you. You move ever so slowly as not to startle the fish and blow your chance you continue to wait. It helps if you can clear your mind and not think about breathing this will only make you want to come to the surface. You never know how long you are under for, but you do know you are slowly getting deeper and deeper. Twenty feet, thirty, forty, I am working on fifty, but some Palauians can reach 80 or deeper. Then you see it a fish that is eating or concentrating on something else. Its ability to judge distance is also altered due to the depth. It has not seen you yet and it is in range you creep a little closer as you do not want to miss. Extending the 5 ft wooden gun towards it very slowly to increase your reach. Then you shoot holding the gun tightly so the backfire does not cause you to miss. You hope you aimed well wanting to hit the fish just behind the eye or in the gut. Behind the eye will cause it to die quickly and a gut shot causes enough pain that it can not wiggle off the spear. Once its hit you either bring it to the surface and put it on the boat or on a fish line which you wear along your belt. All this activity and blood from the fish often creates quite a commotion under water. Usually attracting a few sharks. Although most of the time they are small and 4ft or less you do not really have to worry about them. However, the other day we attracted quite a large hammerhead.
The hammerhead was about 6ft and although this is small for a hammerhead it is still a scary sight yet beautiful site. It is not a comfortable thing to see while spearfishing but after the fact you are in awe. Sharks are an evolutionary masterpiece. Although I was frightened when I saw this large shark swim underneath me in less than 30 ft of water I was later astonished. For one I had never seen a hammerhead before and although I would be fine without seeing one again it was amazing. Although, in a way I have become accustomed to seeing sharks here especially while diving.

Palau is a diving mecca. Divers will cross the world just to come here and dive. Pacific currents converge on the islands bringing a diversity of life with them. This is why you become accustomed to sharks. Every dive you will see sharks. Maybe, one two three or fifteen. All depending on where you dive the current and the visibility. You dive on walls that descend into the depths of the ocean. Looking down you can see as far as the blue water will allow. You look off the wall and you see out into the blue ocean. You drift along the wall as if floating through space. observing the fish as you pass by. We do most of our diving from Carp Island Resort. Dock at Carp Island Resort

Floating Through Space at Siaes Tunnel

Cuttle Fish at Ngerchong (ch is silent) 1m lengthGiant Clam also at Ngerchong and the Rare Aging Hippy fishOctopus at Big Drop off a Drop off that goes straight down into th depths of the Ocean
Orange Anemonefish at Big Drop Off

Soft Coral along the wall vibrant with colorSo close you can touch Napoleon Wrasse are quite friendly

Turtle Says Hello at Blue Corner one of the most famous dive sites ｉｎ　ｔｈｅ　Ｗｏｒｌｄ

Carp island is an eco-resort located about 10 minutes from the dive sites. The usual ride from Koror is about 30-45 minutes. We enjoy spending weekends at carp it is very relaxing peaceful island. There is no TV, air conditioning or any of those comforts. We stay in Dive huts which are like dorms with a community bath facilities. Meals are all community style. However, it is a great way to wind down after a hard weeks work. The dive sites are so close we can kayak to them and spearfish on them. One night we even went spearfishing off the beach.

Sunset

This was quite frighting. Although, we were only in a few feet of water your flash lites only allow you to see about 5 ft in front of you in the murky water. You use short night spears with no barb because the fish are asleep and do not move. This takes some of the sport out of it. Once you find a fish sleeping in the seaweed you simply but the spear to its head and pull the trigger. Then you put it in the cooler floating behind you. However, your adrenaline is pumping the whole time and you pray you do not attract any sharks hence the floating cooler for the fish. However, we did quite well spearing a few rabbit fish and then exiting the water at the dock. It was quite the experience.

I said earlier that my life here was quite normal. However, I realize now that it is not. My work is much different than anyone else that I know. Except for the botanists that I have befriended. My weekends and down time is also much different. I am able to enjoy spearfishing, diving, kayaking, and just cruising through the rock islands. Which never fail to amaze no matter how many times you have seen them. There is always something new to see or another secret to discover. Even our work is sometimes mixed with pleasure. Yesterday 9/04/08 we took a river boat through the jungle. Identifying plants and feeding crocodiles. Just a usual day at the office. Lunch time for Crocs