Lifestyles of the Rich and Navy

This weekend brought many visitors to Palau with the arrival of not one, but two significant boats. On Thursday, the Navy destroyer USS John Paul Jones arrived and anchored near Pincher's Cove. The John Paul Jones is a AEGIS stealth destroyer designed to be invisible to radar. It is 505 feet long with a top speed of 30 knots. The John Paul Jones arrived in Palau after three months at sea for a weekend of rest and relaxation. For Palau, that meant three hundred American sailors flooding Koror looking for a good time. Just driving around I saw them in many different places because they stuck out from the crowd. Small groups of white guys in their twenties with crew cuts are not exactly conspicuous in Koror. My fellow expats agreed with me that it is the most white people they have seen around here in a long time. I interacted with the crew a few times throughout the weekend at PPR, Sam's, and Krämer's. They all seemed happy to have a little time off the boat and happy to be in Palau. They got to experience some of Palau's attractions like kayaking and Jellyfish Lake. They also spent plenty of money at restaurants and bars, which is great for Palau. As far as I know they behaved themselves and it was a good weekend break for the crew.

On Friday, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's yacht Octopus arrived and docked at the commercial shipping yard. At 414 feet long with 8-9 decks, it is one of the largest yachts in the world. It does not look like a yacht, what it looks like is a cruise ship. Although it may be shorter than the John Paul Jones, the Octopus is taller and wider and looks bigger than the destroyer. The Octopus cost $200 million dollars. It has two helicopters, seven boats, a ten person submarine, a pool, basketball court, movie theater, and a music studio. The Octopus is the largest of Allen's three yachts. Allen is not here with the yacht, he sends his yachts to various locales around the world and will occasionally join them. Otherwise, it is just his sixty person crew sailing around the world. This is a typical occurrence in Palau. One of Allen's other yachts, the Tatoosh, visited three years ago and Bill Gates' yacht visited a couple years ago. Everyone here agrees it is a colossal waste of money, but I guess when you have twenty billion dollars you can waste it however you please. They are in dock for a week and its crew was also out on the town. It is an international crew and the ones I talked to are younger Americans and Europeans. They also took the opportunity to experience Palau and I saw a bunch at Sam's and Krämer's.

Besides all the visitors, the big event this weekend was the Etpison Cup. Named after one of the former Presidents, it is a variety of outdoor activities sponsored by Neco Marine. The major event is the fishing tournament. It lasted Saturday and Sunday and was a trolling competition for sportfish like marlin, tuna, wahoo, and mackerel. I didn't participate, but it was a source of a lot of talk around town about who had caught what and talking with friends who had gone out. The winning marlin was 221 pounds. I did participate in the Etpison Cup's 5K run on Saturday morning. The course was relatively flat from Neco Marine to the hospital and back. I ran with Phil and we stayed together until the last kilometer when he pulled ahead. I finished 10th overall and felt good about the run. Unfortunately, there was no t-shirt but I did get a small towel as a prize.

Although unrelated to Palau, my friend Jon from college got married this weekend. My friends report the wedding went well and I wish I could have attended. I want to wish him and his new bride Jenny a happy and long lasting marriage.