Estrellita IP38-138, Palau Report

From: Amy and Bill Betts
Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 11:16 PM
Subject: Bill and Amy Position Report

Position Report
December 13, 2009
N 07 20.371 E 134 26.964
Palau, Micronesia, about 500 miles east of the Philippines

Our last letter was just over 3 months ago in August. Notice, we still have not moved a foot since arriving in Palau over 7 months ago. But we continue to have a blast diving, snorkeling, spending days in the Rock Islands, dinghy rides over shallow coral beds at full blast, exploring WWII artifacts and discovering Palauan culture and history. As usual though, “It is all about the people you meet.”

In our last letter we told how we met Wayne, a Palauan, and some of his friends on the beach on the island of Ulong. We kinda crashed their bar-b-q and got a crash course in Palauan culture and cuisine. I think it was the first time I had ever been served fish with “heads on” and I know it was the first time I have ever been served fish grilled “guts in”.

All that was almost 6 months ago. Since then we have become great friends with Wayne and a lot of his extended family. And as usual we have learned a lot. For instance… When a Palauan introduces someone as his brother it may be his brother. But, it is just as likely to be his first cousin or his second or third… cousin. His “son” may be his son, or his grandson. Children are often adopted out to a family member who may be better able to care for them at the time. We know a pair of twins that belong to different parents though they are raised together, separately in neighboring homes. I think it is that they simply do not have a Palauan word for these extended relations and partly because they don’t need them. They are all brothers, sisters, mothers and sons. They don’t sweat the small stuff. You gotta love and respect that. AND any woman, even one they do not know, may be referred to as “Auntie” as a sign of respect. Amy has even been called “Auntie”, what an honor. I think this all says a lot about the people here and the importance of family.

Anyway, we have become regular weekend bar-b-q visitors to Wayne’s home. We went over there for Thanksgiving but left early when we realized dinner was going to be late. That, and the guy in the back stuffing the turtle intestine, caused us to decide to wander back to the local yacht club for a nightcap before calling it a day.

We met another interesting guy in the gym. Hugh muscles, shaved head, lots of tattoos. Amy said he looked scary. But tattoos are wonderful icebreakers. You say something nice about a guys tats and he has to say something nice about yours. (Remember I got mine in the Marquesas last year). Our new friend whose name is “Ice” got his tattoos in prison, doing life… for murder… You may think Amy was on to something but you would be wrong. The guy was totally cool. He made a mistake when he was 17. Got in a fight with local gang leader. One had a hammer, one a crow bar. Someone was going to die. Ice learned tattooing in the joint, learned welding and machine work. Now he has a pretty good thing going with his own auto body shop, welding odd jobs and he is one of the local tattoo artists. He is a total health nut and fitness freak.

Last month Amy and I were walking to the Prison Store to shop “Story Boards”. Story Boards are carvings that depict Palauan oral history and believe it or not, wood carving is one of the skills they teach in jail here. Anyway, Amy and I are walking and who pulls over to offer us a ride but new friend Ice. When we told him our mission he said he would take us in and help us get a good price. As we pulled into the prison I ask him, “Your not going to have any trouble leaving here if you go in are you?” Just kidding. Turns out that the artist (inmate) who did the board we wanted was none other than Shaft, Ices BROTHER! Serving two years for assault! Two thoughts have to hit you… First, who names their sons Shaft and Ice and second, wasn’t little bro watching when his big brother got life for essentially the same deal! (Give or take a weapon or two).

We got a great carving. It depicts the Palauan legend that if a fisherman sees a shark swimming upside down it means his wife is cheating on him. In the story, the shark actually speaks to the fisherman but doesn’t tell him who the other guy is. When the fisherman returns to shore at the end of the day, all of the men gather to see the days catch. But on his approach to the shore he calls out something to the effect of, “ One of my friends has been sleeping with my wife and I’m going to kill him right now!”

When only one of his friends turns to run, our fisherman knows who the culprit is and fires his spear right through the guys back! Great story. Check out the photo of the board in the link below and see if you can see the story.

The other notable adventure was the discovery of the Yap “Stone Money” Quarry. Yap is about 300 miles NW and centuries ago the Yaps would travel in sailing canoes to Palau to mine and forge round discs of “money”. Some were huge, 8 feet in diameter and up to 2 TONS! Some small, necklace size. Unbelievably, the value of the money was determined by how difficult it was to obtain. If there was a big storm at sea and half the guys died, then that money was valuable! If it was a boring trade wind passage and no rocks fell on anyone, well, that money was not so valuable. Anyway, they don’t make these tourist stops easy to find… They are mismarked on the tourist map, like everything else, and you can’t get there by land. To make it tougher, ask as many locals as you like and you’ll get that many different answers when you ask where. Finally our new friend Parker, a taxi driver, offered to show us the way. We packed a few beers and snacks in a cooler and took off in our dinghy for a 25 mile round trip around the entire island of Koror. The tour did not stop at the quarry. Parker also guided us around and through the channels to see a Japanese Zero sunk in 15 feet of water where it had been hiding from US forces during the battle of Pelewan. Caves were planes were hidden during the attack and more importantly, the shortcut over the shallow coral beds that were safe to take full speed in the dinghy without grounding.

In the next couple days we will leave Palau for the Philippines. We are taking the long way by heading south 300 miles to the very remote Helen Reef. Helen is a part of the Palauan state of Tobi, home of the Wayne clan. We hope to run into some of our new friends who are down there on a supply run taking foodstuffs and other supplies to the remote islands.

After a 2 or 3 week visit we will catch the next weather system into the Philippines. We are not sure yet where we will be going there. Not a lot of folks like us travel there on boats so not a lot is written about it. We have some friends who went a year ahead of us and there are folks here in Palau who have been that way so we have an idea, but not much detail. We are going to play this one by ear.

We are really going to miss this place.

We posted two sets of photos because it has been so long since our last letter. Above the water photos are here: www.islandpacketphotos.com/view_ad.asp?Ad_ID=1515

Below the water photos are here: www.islandpacketphotos.com/view_ad.asp?Ad_ID=1516

Link to all our photo albums of the past two and a half years in chronological order (Thanks Hayden!) ipphotos.com/view_user_ads.asp?SORTBY=Date_Created&User_ID=76

Our Email address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We love hearing from friends.

Bill and Amy
Currently in Koror, Palau