Etape 8 - Palau Micronesia, rumoured 7th heaven for divers

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Here I am - reaching towards one of my little dreams!!! For a long time I have wanted to visit Palau and Yap. This is supposed to be the 7th heaven for scuba divers. I have been diving in seven seas but never in a destination like this. Now I just booked myself to "Ocean Hunter I" liveaboard trip (see photo of the boat!) that will leave on next Monday 23rd and will go until Saturday afternoon 28th. I will be sailing with 6 other people in the pristine dive sites of Palau, mainly in the southern part. Now that means that you won't be hearing from me before the end of next week as my cell phone is not working here and it is pretty hard to contact me. In case you have an emergency then the only way is to call the office of Fish'n'Fins (www.fishnfins.com or www.oceanhunter.com) and ask them to relay your request to the boat out in the sea. On Sunday morning 29th I will take a flight to nearby Yap, known for its Manta cleaning stations and other fascinating marine life! :) :) :) :) :)

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Now on Sunday 22nd I went to the northern end of the main island of Palau (about 80 kms!) to see ancient prehistoric stone monoliths, a story about local gods etc. Really cool. :) Driving through the rain forests was quite an experience and the stone monoliths were, well, odd but impressive! Some of them had 'alien' faces carved on them while others were founding stones for some sort of 'bai' or local (men's) house! Tomorrow to the Ocean.... so expect no new entries until the end of next week while I will be already in neighbouring Yap, the prime Manta destination in the world... ;-)