On a liveaboard in Palau, away from home

Daniela (not her real name) works as a maid on the boat, she is from the Philippines, is 32, and misses her 12 years old son who is back home. Her husband is working in Saudi Arabia. She goes home once a year, Palau is not so far from the Philippines, to see her son.

But she can only meet her husband every four years as it's more difficult for him to take time off and Saudi Arabia is a much longer and expensive trip for him.

They are trying to get together and work in the same country so as to be able to have a normal family life with their son but not easy. However, "for now just have to be faithful and make sacrifices," she says.

Roxy, her colleague and one of the greatest masseuses ever, says it's better like this because she knows both of them and when they were together they were fighting all the time!

Hospital experience in Koror, Palau

In the middle of the night my wife woke up with food poisoning, it looks like the green long beans at the buffet maybe were not well cooked or washed. Palau produces virtually no vegetables, they are all imported from the US. I suppose it might be easier to import them from Asia or Australia, but give the special relationship I am not surprised a lot of food comes from American farming. Even eggs I am told!

We hate having to wake up our cruise director but she is feeling really sick, even coughing blood.

Luckily our boat is not far from the port, and the skiff ride to shore in the moonless night takes only a few minutes.

The hospital is a simple structure but seems alright. I register her with a receptionist and get checked by a nurse before seeing a doctor: a young petite lady who wears a white mask and gloves. She sends us to an adjacent lab for a blood test. 

As I walk in the door there is no one to be seen but, after a few minutes, a really big betel-chewing guy with red gums shows up in a blue hospital apron and takes a sample of her blood. After some 20 minutes, we get the results. The soft-spoken doctor says not to worry it's not too serious and blood is just coming from her scraping her throat with the repeated vomiting.

On checking out, I'm pleasantly surprised to see a sign on the cashier's window that they accept my DAN (Diver Alert Network) insurance for their services. Except that they don't. When they see our cards they argue our policy does not include this eventuality. Insurance companies never cease to surprise. It's going to be 151 dollars for us. Could have been worse.

A poster on the wall encourages women to report domestic violence. It informs us that 37 percent of the victims in Palau don't ever tell anyone while 67 percent don't report it to the authorities.

Another poster explains ABC: babies must sleep Alone, on their Back and in a Crib. And without a pillow, but somehow the P didn't make it into the acronym. And by the way, no toys in the crib ...

Another poster warns about dengue fever: report asap any symptoms. I thought Palau was free of dengue but apparently it comes back from time to time.

On a happier note... an open box on the wall is full of condoms and a little colorful note taped to it encourages patients, or anyone passing along really, to take a free condom, "or 2 or 3..."

Palau politics and passport

Palau is one of the fewer and fewer countries that still recognize Taiwan as the legitimate government of China, much to the chagrin of Beijing. And this despite the fact that Chinese tourists now provide a large amount of business. 

This is because, despite the above-mentioned policy, Chinese nationals can travel to Palau visa-free, which of course makes it a very attractive destination for a tropical vacation.

China recently tried to make the point that enough is enough, and made it more difficult for tour operators to organize trips to Palau. But there are still quite a few who do come, so much so that there are a number of Chinese restaurants in Koror which cater mostly to them.

Some of these Chinese settle in Palau, some try and become naturalized citizens. For one, foreigners can't buy land or businesses alone, they can only be only co-owners with a local Palauan partner.

Another reason is that a Palau passport is one of the most coveted ones in the region, as its proud owners can travel visa-free in 118 countries around the world, including the USA. Though a far cry from Japan's 190 visa-free destinations, it is much better than most. Chinese nationals can go to 74 countries visa-free. Taiwanese can travel to 148 countries, exactly twice as many.

I should be quite happy with Italy's 188 destinations, which puts my country at the n.5 spot in the world, after Japan with 191, Germany with 190, Singapore and South Korea with 189.

Iro wreck dives, Palau

The "Iro" was not a "maru", like most wrecks in the Chuuk lagoon, ie it was not a merchant transport converted to military uses. It was an oil tanker built in 1921-22 expressly for the imperial Japanese navy. Funny she was powered by coal, was a steamer, even though she carried oil for the engines of other ships. One of only 9 oilers in the Japanese navy in WWII, a major weakness.

It participated in most major WWII operations, except Pearl Harbor. During the course of the war, it was hit many times but survived.

It was finally hit by a torpedo in her bow near the Philippines which chopped off a whole bite of the hull at the very front edge. In March 1944 it was limping on her way to Chuuk to be repaired when she learned of operation Desecrate, the American attack on Palau, and she was ordered to Palau, the next maritime line of defense for the imperial navy.

There she was again attacked and finally sunk.

It was salvaged in the 1950s, the Japanese recuperated the bodies and valuable metals but... the boat bringing the remains of the Iro's sailors and any valuables back to Japan sink en route!

The Iro now rests upright, stern sank first and is deep under the sand with prop and rudder clearly visible. A most interesting set of dives.