Peleliu and Diving

This weekend we took a field trip to Peleliu, a small island in Palau. The rock islands are so gorgeous; anytime we go through them I can’t help but take hundreds of pictures.

The Rock Islands

The Battle of Peleliu was one of the worst battles in the Pacific during WWII, but is not a particularly well known battle. The Japanese occupied Peleliu starting in 1914 and mined phosphate there. The other major advantage of the small island is that it is limestone and has hundreds of caves in it. There’s an airstrip on the island, so the US thought it was essential to capture during WWII. They expected the mission to last a few days, but it took two and a half months. 

We stopped the Peleliu World War II Memorial Museum. The museum is built inside a bombed out building, which is crazy. It was really touching. The numbers are stunning, over 11,000 Japanese soldiers killed and one of the highest US casualty rates in the Pacific. But reading all the personal stories, and seeing items from the battle itself makes it so much more real and so much more tragic. 

WWII Memorial Museum

Then we stopped at another bombed out building. They’re just so eerie, the way the plants grow through them and the doors leading to nowhere. But there’s still a lot of these buildings standing. The Japanese must have had some outstanding civil engineers for buildings to sustain that much damage, but still mostly survive. 

Doors to nowhere

We stopped at a cemetery for one of the US Marine Divisions. The human remains were actually removed in the 1960s and returned to Arlington and other US cemeteries. From there we walked to Orange Beach, where a Marine Division landed. Then we drove along the air strip to our next stop. It was strange, driving down it and just realizing that this small strip of land cost so many people their lives. 

The airstrip

We stopped at some caves where there was a Japanese gun, and we explored the caves for a while. We also saw some amphibious tanks, which were awesome. 

Boom

We hiked to the top of the ridge. The views were indescribable. Our last stop was a sinkhole, where we jumped in and swam. The sinkhole was really small, but it was about a ten foot drop down into it, so we had a lot of fun jumping, diving, and cannonballing in. After the hike up to the ridge, we needed it. 

The view! 

Another view!

Me!

On our way back from Peleliu we stopped at a beach in the rock islands for a few hours. It was stunning. Absolutely unbelievable, it was the most gorgeous beach I’ve ever seen. The sand was so fine, and the water was perfectly clear. We spent a long time snorkeling and just enjoying the day. It was perfect. 

Paradise

Our beach for the day!

Snorkeling with Michiel and the fish

Sunday I went diving in Palau! It was indescribable. Just absolutely amazing. Palau is one of the top diving destinations in the world, and I’m so lucky to be here and dive certified. The coral reef was so vibrant, and the fish were amazing. We did two dives- one at Coral Garden and the next at Short Drop Off. When we were on the boat between dives, a pod of dolphins starting playing with us. There were a few that were darting under the boat at the front, and jumping. The rest of the pod stayed close and jumped around our boat. We also saw some amazing flying fish. While the diving was incredible, I didn’t expect there to be that much excitement on the boat. This place never ceases to amaze me. 

Dolphins!

Thanks, Bobby, for being quick with the camera
to get these pictures! I was distracted watching the dolphins.