Andy Arrives

Life slowly returned to normal after my friends left. I got my car back with its new wheel, I returned to work, and I returned to a "normal" life here in Palau. It was a short break because just five days after my friends left my next visitor arrived. This time, my visitor is Andy, my roommate from college. He'll be spending just under two weeks here visiting me and exploring Palau, but also doing research for his job. He is a Presbyterian Minister for a small parish in Washington, Indiana. He'll be investigating religious ministry and life in Palau in order to improve his ministry.

Andy arrived safely on Thursday evening. Unlike my previous guests who had a long layover in Japan, he came straight through with only short layovers. He had difficulty adjusting to the time and spent Friday zoned out on my couch. It was still good to be able to hang out with him and after I got home from work we entertained ourselves at my apartment my watching movies and playing video games.

On Saturday, Andy was feeling much better. The Kregenows offered to take us out on their boat and we readily accepted. After we embarked, the boat was not performing at full power at full throttle and we were only getting about half power. We couldn't get it to go any faster and Dave figured the fuel injector filter needed to be replaced. It turned out to be nothing serious, but it limited our distance range. That being the case, we headed to Pincher's Cove for a little snorkeling. The wind has finally died down and it was much calmer in Pincher's allowing for good snorkeling. Andy got his first experience swimming in Palau and found it easy. Andy has not done much snorkeling in the past, but he enjoyed swimming around Pincher's even though he stayed closer to the boat. LB and I ventured further, wanting to investigate the scuba diving class that was taking place underwater while we were there.

From Pincher's, we headed south further into the rock islands. The boat continued to underperform, so we decided to turn back and hang closer to Koror and do some fishing. We went to the eastern side of the inner harbor and found a good place to do some reef fishing. We took turns casting from the bow and the stern. We tried a few spots until we found a good reef. I was casting from the bow as we drifted to the edge of the reef. I was reeling in my lure and as it approached the boat, I saw a fish chasing it. Just before the boat, the fish grabbed the lure. I quickly reeled it up and on the boat. I caught a very pretty squaretail coralgrouper with red and black spots. While I had caught fishing trolling, that was the first fish I had caught casting. It is a very rewarding feeling. I took a break to eat lunch while the others continued casting. Not content with letting me have all the glory, LB one upped me by catching a wahoo. While it was a smallish wahoo, it still dwarfed my grouper. We were all surprised to catch a wahoo that far inside the lagoon, but LB was thrilled to catch it. We moved to a few other spots, but nothing was biting. We then returned to the spot where we had caught the fish. I was casting again and saw another grouper chasing my lure, but through intelligence or luck decided not to bite it. With fishing concluded, we took a brief swim to cool off before heading home. Andy and I later enjoyed a nice dinner at Krämer's.

On Sunday, we were going to spend the day at PPR, but rain kept us in my apartment until the afternoon. We managed to spend a few hours there in the afternoon, although we spent most of the time in the lobby. I did get a chance to upload a few pictures from fishing trips in December, which are now on my Picasa site here and here. We concluded our day with a nice dinner at the Korean Barbecue restaurant.

On Monday I had to work, so Andy spent the day with my car exploring Palau. He found the Korean Presbyterian church here and made contact with one of their deacons and has set up time to speak with the pastor about ministry in Palau. He also went to the catholic church. Beyond that he spent some time relaxing doing some reading and went swimming in my pool. After work, Andy and I went out to the KB Bridge and spent some time in the park next to the bridge. We walked over the bridge as the sun set enjoying the fine weather. We headed back to my place for dinner.

On Tuesday I also had to work, so Andy again spent the day with my car. He spent the day studying Palauan culture and learning all about the clan structure. He also met with a Catholic priest here to discuss ministry on Palau. After work, we went to PPR for a few hours. Andy relaxed in the the hammock while I went swimming in the ocean. After PPR, we went to Krämer's for dinner and met up with the Kregenows. On Tuesdays they have a spaghetti challenge where if you eat three plates of their spaghetti you get it for free. Andy and Ryan accepted the challenge. They both cruised through their first plate and onto their second. Both started to fade by the end of the second. Ryan finished his, but was too full to go on. Andy couldn't finish plate two. It was an enjoyable dinner and we had a good time hanging out. We have plenty more planned for Andy's time here, including much more fun stuff like kayaking, more fishing, and a trip to Peleliu.

See pictures related to this post