Palau - Ngemelis

On the 3rd and 4th of July the Chief of Koror allowed us to stay on his island,Ngemelis, for the night.

After watching the locals dance the previous night away at the disco till 4 a.m. (I've never been happier to hear the same 6 American rap songs over and over in my life) we awoke late on the 3rd, geared up, loaded the boat and headed for Ngemelis. We made a brief stop at Ulong Island then onto the reef for some fishing. Rich hooked a couple of big ones but the line kept snapping so no sushi for us that night. We came close to catching some tuna that started to jump when our boat past by them. David put the throttle down in chase and almost scopped one up on the bow in mid jump.

Once we arrived at Ngemelis we off-loaded the boast then did some snorkeling in an awesome channel. We swam back to our home beach as night was falling. Our Coleman lantern didn't have any filament so we got creative. Things that will not work as filament: palm leaves, string, socks, charcoal, socks with charcoal inside of them. My toes and shin have fully recovered from the lightless night. By the way, Dave, here is the definition of filament:

: a single thread or a thin flexible threadlike object, process, or appendage: as a : a tenuous conductor (as of carbon or metal) made incandescent by the passage of an electric current;

I borrowed the first picture below from another website. It shows Ngemelis and Blue Corner (one the best dive sites in the world). In the middle of the picture is a white strip of sand with a small island attached to the right and the bulk of Ngemelis to the left. We camped on that strip of sand to the left:

View of the island as we approach in the boat.

Beach View


Dave anchoring the boat for the night.


Our camp site


Sunrise