The final leg of our trip started in the wee hours when we landed at Palau International Airport around 2:00 am on Tuesday. Palau is its own country and other than Iwo Jima, is the only foreign land we will visit. They used to be an American territory, but became completely independent in 1994. Palau is known for fishing and diving, having some of the most beautiful water in the world.
After our late arrival, we slept in a bit and then met with the group for a late morning start. The goal of this leg was to tour Peleliu, one of Palau’s 16 island states, and an important part of WWII. We boarded a speed boat and headed out. It took about 50 minutes to arrive by water.
It’s really hard to describe the waters around Palau and Peleliu. Another guest and I were discussing at lunch how there needs to be more descriptive words because of the usual ones just don’t cut it. The deep blues, teals, turquoises and all other manner of shade of blue was present during our ride over, as we passed many smaller islands. I took some pictures, but know that the pictures just cannot do the colors justice. They would have be experienced.
Once we landed, we made a couple of stops on the way to lunch. One was at a government building, where they have a small museum. And the hallways were lined with tons of artifacts from the war. The local guide said that he and his friends found numerous things when they were children and had the run of the island.
For lunch, we had a catered meal on the banks of Orange beach, one of the landing beaches. It was just a really great time in such a beautiful setting. The governor of Peleliu welcomed us and told us that he was so glad to have our group back after Covid. Many of the islands have been very slow to recover and it’s good that things are getting back to normal.
So, Pelelui. Pelelui is a small island of about 400 inhabitants, who live mostly on the northwest end of the island. It’s the first island that we’ve been to that can really be called a jungle. We drove by a Japanese Administration building that was left over from the war and the words, “it was reclaimed by the jungle” actually made sense. It’s as if the jungle was pulling it in, with the trees and the vines and the flowers.
More on this island later…
