Yap Stone Money

On Sunday, LB and Christy arranged for a kayak tour to see Yap stone money. I was happy to join them along with Christy's friend Angie. This was a different type of kayak tour where we loaded the kayaks into a boat and they drove us out to a spot to tour and then loaded the kayaks back on. It is a much easier form of kayaking and allowed the chance to see things we couldnot otherwise visit. The tour was with Sam's, but when we arrived we were told there was a slight issue. The stone money is on an island off of Airai and while Sam's could take us to see the money we could not kayak in the area because other tour companies had exclusive access. Instead, they offered to take us to an area further south near Long Lake. We happily agreed because our goal was to see the money, anything else was just a bonus.

It was a tight fit with five kayaks and six people on a smallish boat, but there was enough room. It was a beautiful partly cloudy day with only a mild wind and gentle waves. They took us down the east side and I pointed out German Lighthouse. Our first stop was snorkeling at fantasy reef. It is still a vibrant spot after multiple viewings. LB pointed out a very odd fish that when it opened its mouth its entire lower jaw extended out. We had a nice leisurely snorkel and it was a great day to be in the water. From there we went a short distance and unloaded the kayaks. I had a single and clambered aboard. Our guide was Joan, a very nice Palauan well versed in the area. We paddled slowly along looking at the coral alongside a rock island. It was low tide and with excellent clarity we could easily see many different types of coral below us.

Joan took us through a natural arch in the island into a marine lake called Secret Lake. In the lake we saw large jellyfish (the type that sting) and a turtle that popped its head above water to have a look at us. Joan made a few bird calls and one of the responses was an odd croaking sound that did not sound anything like a bird but was actually a Micronesian pigeon. We paddled around the lake and back through the arch. We then reached an area called Einstein's Garden because of its abundance of brain coral. Aptly named, brain coral is egg shaped and ridged giving it an appearance just like a brain. We drifted over all colors of brain coral before beaching the kayaks on a small beach. We then went for a snorkel to explore the garden. We saw plenty of brain coral as well as other types of coral like toxic coral, which gets its named from its bright burnt orange color and not any toxic properties. Joan led us back to the kayaks and we paddled over to another beach where we met our boat. There on the beach we rested and had lunch.

After lunch we had hoped to go to Long Lake, but the tides were against us. Instead, we headed directly for Airai. After a thirty minute boat ride, we arrived at a small dock on an island just off the coast of Airai within sight of the KB Bridge. From the dock, we followed a steep path up the limestone with the aid of a metal handrail, a rarity in Palau. After a short climb, we found the large piece of Yap stone money. Yap is a small Micronesian island 250 miles northeast of Palau. Their culture developed a system of money using crystalized limestone as currency. (Palau was much more economical in scale and uses beads as traditional money). The money, called either fei or rai, consists of round disks of quarried limestone ranging in size from a palm's width up to twenty feet in diameter. Each piece has a hole bored through its center, ostensibly so that villagers could transport the heavier pieces by using a log thrust through the opening. Yap's money is not just special because of its size, but also because the quartz-bearing limestone, called aragonite, that it consists of is not to be found on Yap. The nearest source is in Babeldaob. Yapese traveled to Palau by canoe, quarried the stone, shaped them into large rings, put them back on the canoes, and paddled back to Yap. As is the nature of most cultures, bigger became better and what was once small intricately carved pieces of stone money became gargantuan car sized stone money. Needless to say, putting a large round object weighing tons onto a small canoe and paddling across open ocean was not very safe. Many Yapese perished attempting to get the stone money back to Yap, which perversely made the stone money even more valuable. In addition to size, the difficulty of the journey was one factor that determined the value of any particular piece of fei. A European entrepreneur in the 19th century started shipping over large quantities of the stone money on large boats causing stone money inflation which oddly enough caused the smaller carved pieces to return to being more valuable. It is the largest money in the world and those visitors to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. can see a large piece in their Natural History Museum.

The piece of stone money we saw was very large, but it had been abandoned in the jungle after a chunk had broken off. It is massive and we marveled at the amount of effort it must have taken to move the piece, especially down the hill we had just climbed. Further up the hill we came to the quarry. It doesn't look that much different than the rest of the island, but a helpful sign showed us the different parts of the quarry. Of special note was a partially carved piece of money. We climbed back down the hill, passing the large stone money again.

Back on the boat we headed back toward Koror to nearby Nikko Bay. Our final stop was cathedral cave. It is a large cave big enough to allow our boat to enter. Once inside we saw all the stalactites and in the back saw baby bats. I put on my snorkeling gear and jumped in. Outside the cave up until the entrance there was shallow reef, but right at the entrance was a steep drop off and with cloudy waters we could not see the bottom. We swam about for a bit in and out of the cave. Caves can be a bit scary which made it a perfect opportunity to give LB a fright. She was off by herself in the cave swimming without her goggles. With the boat between us, she could not see me so I swam underwater underneath the boat and pinched her leg. She nearly jumped straight out of the water and cursed me once I surfaced. Back aboard the boat we headed back to Sam's. Although it was more of a snorkeling trip than kayaking, we went to an interesting selection of places and it was well worth the journey.

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