Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Update #12 — Get a Day Off, Go Home
.
P-MAN VII Update #12
The BentProp Project
10 March
Great breakfast. I didn’t cook and ate at the café downstairs. It is a day off after all.
Sam’s Tours picked us up to go diving. Normally we would have gone with Neco Marine since they take such good care of us. But they did not have a boat going to Peleliu and Sam’s had two. I assumed my normal position at the bow of the boat and had a lovely ride down to Peleliu. We cruised past many of the landing beaches from the invasion days, enroute to the dive site. It was great viewing from my perch.
One of the landing beaches today. Photo by Mike Olds
There were 8 of us today. Three people from Germany with serious camera set ups, a recently graduated lawyer from Poland who now resides in New Jersey, a former flight attendant who lives in Seattle, a man from Palm Springs who gets violently seasick but loves the sport so much he guts through it, and me and Mike. I had some compliments paid to me on the way out. They all thought Mike was my son. I sure hope he does well in law school. Do you know how much tuition is? Make us proud, Mike.
We suited up and Keith, our guide, led the way. The Peleliu wall is a reef fairly close to the west side of Peleliu. The top is at about 35 feet and the bottom is well beyond visual range. I’m told there is a shelf at about 250 feet and then it drops off to a couple of thousand feet. We went down to about 70 feet and allowed the current to carry us along the wall. Very little effort is required to move. You just get to see the world as you go by. The world of fish all around you: in the open, along the wall, in the cracks, above you and behind you. Lots of corals, colors and shapes
And sharks.
All underwater photos courtesy of Dive Palau Website.
We did not see any for awhile and then we saw a wall of them. That’s when I realized that I was last in line. You know what happens to the last person in the movies whether it is a teen horror movie or a military movie?
We moved along at a good clip and got to an area known as The Cut. This is a spot where you can hook into the reef and watch the show. It also has a tendency to have a very strong current. So strong that it took two hands to hold on at times. Thank goodness I found two hand holds. Keith hadn’t planned on us getting that far on the first dive so we did not have our reef hooks to help out. But we all hung on and watched the show.
The current isn’t steady. It comes and goes like the varying of the wind. When you are anchored to the reef, you can really feel it pulsing. When you let go, that feeling goes away and you drift with the current. That feels like the last guy in line in a space movie who lets go of his anchor and drifts away from the space station never to be seen again.
We drifted a bit to look at the top of the reef and do our safety stop at the same time. Keith let go an orange buoy and the boat started to come to our position. After all the divers were on the boat, we headed to the South Dock of Peleliu for lunch. Something about it being rough out there and the effect it would have on one individual of our group.
Lunch is a long, drawn out affair. Not that we have anything more than a box lunch to eat. We have to spend time on the surface in order to get rid of nitrogen build up in our bodies. Time is really the only way to do that.
After a sufficient amount of time, back on the boat and away we went back to the wall. We repeated the dive, but with a slightly different jump in point and slightly different depth. So it was all new. This time we had our reef hooks. So when we got to the cut again, we were ready. Again, another wall of fish, sharks and sea life. We also saw a huge tuna, a bat ray, Dorie and many other things. Another great dive. And a great day off. Sort of a tease having the day off the day before you leave. But I’ll take it. Seeing pretty fish is a great way to end the trip.
The boat ride back was wonderful too. The captain found a herd of dolphin and they wanted to play. They rode the bow wave for quite some time and put on a good show for us. We also encountered a few rain showers. I, being prepared from my BentProp training, had my rain gear and stayed in my bow position. The pointy ends of the drops don’t hurt as much when you have a good L.L.Bean yellow rain slicker. Knee length. I always wanted one of those and I got it this past summer just for this reason.
At one point I remembered that I had a box of Oreos to share with my diving partners. Had to stop the boat to get the captain off the dry box lid. Everyone was happy with an Oreo in the hand and rain pelting their faces.
Back at port, Keith gave us some leads to some folks to chat with. We’ll follow up with them later.
Got cleaned up and headed to Joe and Esther’s house. Esther has been planning a dinner party for us for months. She wanted to fix us a banquet of just Palauan delicacies. And she did just that. Fresh coconut milk in the coconut, lemonade from Palauan lemons, taro leaf soup, clam chowder in coconut milk, many forms of taro, fried fish, BBQ crocodile fish, sweet taro, sweet pumpkin, some sort of nut that grows wild in Palau and I’m sure I’ve left something out. The only thing not from Palau was the rice.
And we had second servings of everything. It was all wonderful. As some might say, “Full as a tick.”
We rolled out to the cars and rolled on home.
I slept a long and sound sleep.
11 March
Slept in and then made one last breakfast for everyone. One last good cup of coffee before I start this road trip home. This is the only part of the adventure I really do not like. Tonight’s flight leaves at 0150 in the morning on the 12th. It’s convenient that it connects to all the departing flights out of Guam. But that time. 0150. Arggggggg.
So, time to get some errands out of the way. But first, a few final interviews. We interviewed one old gent who worked in the water department under the Japanese occupation. He told us some more facts about the new Avenger site we found. When he left Koror for Babelthuap, he was a hunter. His air gun broke and then his buddies told him where this airplane was and that he could get the parts from the plane that could fix his gun. So he disassembled a .50 cal machine gun to get a few parts. Turns out he could not fix his gun. But he did say there was more of the airplane there then what we have found so far. Seems like we have our work cut out for us on this one. And by process of elimination, we think we know who might have been in that plane. So we are motivated to find it. But that will have to wait until next year.
My last interviewee. Photo by Flip
He did not have information about other crash sites. So we went off to find two other folks. One went to Hawaii last night. That sounds familiar. And another, we just could not find their house. It’s interesting to hear Joe speak when we ask if he knows where someone lives. We might say something like, “I know where they live” or “I know the address.” Joe always says “I know/do not know that house.”
My errands were to the post office to ship my stuff home, barber shop so I would look less rough around the edges for Rebecca, pick up a few more goodies for her, check loads for my ride home, and try to trade some challenge coins for some challenge coins.
64 pounds, 11 ounces enroute to Chelsea, MI. They asked me if I knew why there was no guaranteed delivery anymore to Micronesia. I think they know my story of free shipping.
Found a great barber. A Filipina who massaged my head and shoulders after the haircut just like I remembered when I lived in the Philippines. Even the price was right.
Found a few more goodies for Rebecca.
Checked loads out of Guam. I’m doomed. More on that when I get to Guam.
Headed to The Vice President’s office. I heard he liked trading coins so I went to see him. He was off island but his secretary said, “Of course I’ll get one for you. Almost as good as if it was coming from his hands.”
Caught up with Reid and Mike and we tracked down some language books that we were looking for. We had to go to the Ministry of Education to find them.
Cleaned up and headed to Sam’s for one more presentation. This one would be unique. This would be an update of what we did this year, but it was going to be filmed for local Palauan television with Joe doing the translation into the Palauan language. It went great. Lots of people in attendance. Lots of interest in what we’re doing.
Traded with the O.I.C. of the Air Force for a couple of coins. And scored a DET CAT T-shirt too. Must be some guilt feelings driving a Navy boat by an Air Force crew. Okay, she has a good heart and wanted to improve my style of dress.
Gathered up the BentProp Team and headed to Carp Restaurant which is close to the hotel. In case it took too long to get through dinner, I could make an escape and stay on time. Which is what happened. After a great meal, I dashed out of The Carp to the hotel. In my room, as I was emptying my pockets, I noticed one problem. I still had the car keys for the rest of the group. Had to go back and take them the keys.
Back to the hotel, quick shower, fast pack, goodbyes to all and P-MAN VII was over for me. Now it’s just adventures in non-reving.
Got to the airport and went through the check in process in less than 5 minutes. Now what? It’s just after midnight and the flight doesn’t leave until 0150. Wait. Call Rebecca. Wait some more. Finally got through immigration and security.
Got a seat and it was an emergency exit row. Well, at least I could stretch out. With all that extra legroom, and the seat all the way back, snoozing shouldn’t be a problem.
Except for the window seat. They don’t recline. Did you know that? I did, but it didn’t dawn on me until I got to the seat. Keep in mind I’ve been up since 0700 and it’s now almost 2 in the morning.
Bagged an hour of sleep on the plane and we arrived in Guam. Passed through immigration, out to the real world and back through security. Went to the gate and had two hours until my flight to Narita, Japan. So, I’ve been typing away trying to get caught up with this update. After all, you’ve probably been thinking “Now why don’t he write?” Quote courtesy of Dances With Wolves.
Norman the gate agent showed up so I checked in with him. He said it didn’t look good since coach was full.
But I had a business class pass.
You’re not listed that way he responded.
I should be.
This is a problem he said.
Can you fix it?
Sure.
30 minutes later, with no word from Norman and the boarding process in full swing, I asked him if I needed to call Continental Reservations back. He said yes.
Walked to the far away pay phones as the close ones in sight of the podium were on the other side of a security barrier. I talked with Judy and she fixed everything.
Went back to Norman. He thanked me for doing that. Then he said wait.
At the bitter end, he said I wasn’t listed at all. And that there was nothing he could do and it was too late to do anything anyway. “Sorry.”
I of course raced to the near pay phones, jumping over the security barrier. Called Judy back and she said in no uncertain terms that I was listed. Then she did a very sweet thing. She said to put the receiver down and go to the podium and see what they say now. She wasn’t going to give up on me and make me dial again if I needed it.
Again Norman said I wasn’t listed. I told him that the reservations agent, on hold at the pay phone said otherwise. Norman’s supervisor realized I had never been checked in and was listed the whole time. A handwritten boarding pass was issued, I raced back to the phone to say thank you to Judy and raced back to the gate and got on. Good karma begets good karma.
In Narita, where I did very little of this writing, I kept checking loads on the various NWA flights that could get me home. We’re very full on every flight. The only flight out of NRT today that had any appreciable number of seats open was to Portland, OR. But, we don’t have flights to DTW on the weekends from PDX which means going through MSP and not getting home until close to 7pm. If I ride the jumpseat home from NRT, I’ll get back by 12 noon. I think I’ll go for speed of return versus having a beer in the back.
One last e-mail sweep, a shower in the bathhouse they have here and off I went to my gate. The bathhouse is probably the best deal in Japan. Use of a complete shower facility in the airport for only 500 yen [$4.77 US, Ed.]. I felt like a new man. Well, not exactly. I just didn’t feel as tarnished as I did prior.
I was up in the cockpit jumpseat for the entire ride back. Best seat in the house. Especially when there are no others. An NWA friend and his son were trying to get out of NRT. They want to eventually end up in Atlanta but as I said, the loads are tight here. The son got the last seat on the airplane and my friend rode the last remaining jumpseat.
And that brings me back home. Arrived, got through customs and immigration and jumped into Rebecca’s arms. I’m really home. But the rest of the lads are still there. If anything special happens, I’ll have another update for you. Until then, take care.
Blue Skies, Flip
P-MAN VII Update #12
The BentProp Project
10 March
Great breakfast. I didn’t cook and ate at the café downstairs. It is a day off after all.
Sam’s Tours picked us up to go diving. Normally we would have gone with Neco Marine since they take such good care of us. But they did not have a boat going to Peleliu and Sam’s had two. I assumed my normal position at the bow of the boat and had a lovely ride down to Peleliu. We cruised past many of the landing beaches from the invasion days, enroute to the dive site. It was great viewing from my perch.
One of the landing beaches today. Photo by Mike Olds
There were 8 of us today. Three people from Germany with serious camera set ups, a recently graduated lawyer from Poland who now resides in New Jersey, a former flight attendant who lives in Seattle, a man from Palm Springs who gets violently seasick but loves the sport so much he guts through it, and me and Mike. I had some compliments paid to me on the way out. They all thought Mike was my son. I sure hope he does well in law school. Do you know how much tuition is? Make us proud, Mike.
We suited up and Keith, our guide, led the way. The Peleliu wall is a reef fairly close to the west side of Peleliu. The top is at about 35 feet and the bottom is well beyond visual range. I’m told there is a shelf at about 250 feet and then it drops off to a couple of thousand feet. We went down to about 70 feet and allowed the current to carry us along the wall. Very little effort is required to move. You just get to see the world as you go by. The world of fish all around you: in the open, along the wall, in the cracks, above you and behind you. Lots of corals, colors and shapes
And sharks.
All underwater photos courtesy of Dive Palau Website.
We did not see any for awhile and then we saw a wall of them. That’s when I realized that I was last in line. You know what happens to the last person in the movies whether it is a teen horror movie or a military movie?
We moved along at a good clip and got to an area known as The Cut. This is a spot where you can hook into the reef and watch the show. It also has a tendency to have a very strong current. So strong that it took two hands to hold on at times. Thank goodness I found two hand holds. Keith hadn’t planned on us getting that far on the first dive so we did not have our reef hooks to help out. But we all hung on and watched the show.
The current isn’t steady. It comes and goes like the varying of the wind. When you are anchored to the reef, you can really feel it pulsing. When you let go, that feeling goes away and you drift with the current. That feels like the last guy in line in a space movie who lets go of his anchor and drifts away from the space station never to be seen again.
We drifted a bit to look at the top of the reef and do our safety stop at the same time. Keith let go an orange buoy and the boat started to come to our position. After all the divers were on the boat, we headed to the South Dock of Peleliu for lunch. Something about it being rough out there and the effect it would have on one individual of our group.
Lunch is a long, drawn out affair. Not that we have anything more than a box lunch to eat. We have to spend time on the surface in order to get rid of nitrogen build up in our bodies. Time is really the only way to do that.
After a sufficient amount of time, back on the boat and away we went back to the wall. We repeated the dive, but with a slightly different jump in point and slightly different depth. So it was all new. This time we had our reef hooks. So when we got to the cut again, we were ready. Again, another wall of fish, sharks and sea life. We also saw a huge tuna, a bat ray, Dorie and many other things. Another great dive. And a great day off. Sort of a tease having the day off the day before you leave. But I’ll take it. Seeing pretty fish is a great way to end the trip.
The boat ride back was wonderful too. The captain found a herd of dolphin and they wanted to play. They rode the bow wave for quite some time and put on a good show for us. We also encountered a few rain showers. I, being prepared from my BentProp training, had my rain gear and stayed in my bow position. The pointy ends of the drops don’t hurt as much when you have a good L.L.Bean yellow rain slicker. Knee length. I always wanted one of those and I got it this past summer just for this reason.
At one point I remembered that I had a box of Oreos to share with my diving partners. Had to stop the boat to get the captain off the dry box lid. Everyone was happy with an Oreo in the hand and rain pelting their faces.
Back at port, Keith gave us some leads to some folks to chat with. We’ll follow up with them later.
Got cleaned up and headed to Joe and Esther’s house. Esther has been planning a dinner party for us for months. She wanted to fix us a banquet of just Palauan delicacies. And she did just that. Fresh coconut milk in the coconut, lemonade from Palauan lemons, taro leaf soup, clam chowder in coconut milk, many forms of taro, fried fish, BBQ crocodile fish, sweet taro, sweet pumpkin, some sort of nut that grows wild in Palau and I’m sure I’ve left something out. The only thing not from Palau was the rice.
And we had second servings of everything. It was all wonderful. As some might say, “Full as a tick.”
We rolled out to the cars and rolled on home.
I slept a long and sound sleep.
11 March
Slept in and then made one last breakfast for everyone. One last good cup of coffee before I start this road trip home. This is the only part of the adventure I really do not like. Tonight’s flight leaves at 0150 in the morning on the 12th. It’s convenient that it connects to all the departing flights out of Guam. But that time. 0150. Arggggggg.
So, time to get some errands out of the way. But first, a few final interviews. We interviewed one old gent who worked in the water department under the Japanese occupation. He told us some more facts about the new Avenger site we found. When he left Koror for Babelthuap, he was a hunter. His air gun broke and then his buddies told him where this airplane was and that he could get the parts from the plane that could fix his gun. So he disassembled a .50 cal machine gun to get a few parts. Turns out he could not fix his gun. But he did say there was more of the airplane there then what we have found so far. Seems like we have our work cut out for us on this one. And by process of elimination, we think we know who might have been in that plane. So we are motivated to find it. But that will have to wait until next year.
My last interviewee. Photo by Flip
He did not have information about other crash sites. So we went off to find two other folks. One went to Hawaii last night. That sounds familiar. And another, we just could not find their house. It’s interesting to hear Joe speak when we ask if he knows where someone lives. We might say something like, “I know where they live” or “I know the address.” Joe always says “I know/do not know that house.”
My errands were to the post office to ship my stuff home, barber shop so I would look less rough around the edges for Rebecca, pick up a few more goodies for her, check loads for my ride home, and try to trade some challenge coins for some challenge coins.
64 pounds, 11 ounces enroute to Chelsea, MI. They asked me if I knew why there was no guaranteed delivery anymore to Micronesia. I think they know my story of free shipping.
Found a great barber. A Filipina who massaged my head and shoulders after the haircut just like I remembered when I lived in the Philippines. Even the price was right.
Found a few more goodies for Rebecca.
Checked loads out of Guam. I’m doomed. More on that when I get to Guam.
Headed to The Vice President’s office. I heard he liked trading coins so I went to see him. He was off island but his secretary said, “Of course I’ll get one for you. Almost as good as if it was coming from his hands.”
Caught up with Reid and Mike and we tracked down some language books that we were looking for. We had to go to the Ministry of Education to find them.
Cleaned up and headed to Sam’s for one more presentation. This one would be unique. This would be an update of what we did this year, but it was going to be filmed for local Palauan television with Joe doing the translation into the Palauan language. It went great. Lots of people in attendance. Lots of interest in what we’re doing.
Traded with the O.I.C. of the Air Force for a couple of coins. And scored a DET CAT T-shirt too. Must be some guilt feelings driving a Navy boat by an Air Force crew. Okay, she has a good heart and wanted to improve my style of dress.
Gathered up the BentProp Team and headed to Carp Restaurant which is close to the hotel. In case it took too long to get through dinner, I could make an escape and stay on time. Which is what happened. After a great meal, I dashed out of The Carp to the hotel. In my room, as I was emptying my pockets, I noticed one problem. I still had the car keys for the rest of the group. Had to go back and take them the keys.
Back to the hotel, quick shower, fast pack, goodbyes to all and P-MAN VII was over for me. Now it’s just adventures in non-reving.
Got to the airport and went through the check in process in less than 5 minutes. Now what? It’s just after midnight and the flight doesn’t leave until 0150. Wait. Call Rebecca. Wait some more. Finally got through immigration and security.
Got a seat and it was an emergency exit row. Well, at least I could stretch out. With all that extra legroom, and the seat all the way back, snoozing shouldn’t be a problem.
Except for the window seat. They don’t recline. Did you know that? I did, but it didn’t dawn on me until I got to the seat. Keep in mind I’ve been up since 0700 and it’s now almost 2 in the morning.
Bagged an hour of sleep on the plane and we arrived in Guam. Passed through immigration, out to the real world and back through security. Went to the gate and had two hours until my flight to Narita, Japan. So, I’ve been typing away trying to get caught up with this update. After all, you’ve probably been thinking “Now why don’t he write?” Quote courtesy of Dances With Wolves.
Norman the gate agent showed up so I checked in with him. He said it didn’t look good since coach was full.
But I had a business class pass.
You’re not listed that way he responded.
I should be.
This is a problem he said.
Can you fix it?
Sure.
30 minutes later, with no word from Norman and the boarding process in full swing, I asked him if I needed to call Continental Reservations back. He said yes.
Walked to the far away pay phones as the close ones in sight of the podium were on the other side of a security barrier. I talked with Judy and she fixed everything.
Went back to Norman. He thanked me for doing that. Then he said wait.
At the bitter end, he said I wasn’t listed at all. And that there was nothing he could do and it was too late to do anything anyway. “Sorry.”
I of course raced to the near pay phones, jumping over the security barrier. Called Judy back and she said in no uncertain terms that I was listed. Then she did a very sweet thing. She said to put the receiver down and go to the podium and see what they say now. She wasn’t going to give up on me and make me dial again if I needed it.
Again Norman said I wasn’t listed. I told him that the reservations agent, on hold at the pay phone said otherwise. Norman’s supervisor realized I had never been checked in and was listed the whole time. A handwritten boarding pass was issued, I raced back to the phone to say thank you to Judy and raced back to the gate and got on. Good karma begets good karma.
In Narita, where I did very little of this writing, I kept checking loads on the various NWA flights that could get me home. We’re very full on every flight. The only flight out of NRT today that had any appreciable number of seats open was to Portland, OR. But, we don’t have flights to DTW on the weekends from PDX which means going through MSP and not getting home until close to 7pm. If I ride the jumpseat home from NRT, I’ll get back by 12 noon. I think I’ll go for speed of return versus having a beer in the back.
One last e-mail sweep, a shower in the bathhouse they have here and off I went to my gate. The bathhouse is probably the best deal in Japan. Use of a complete shower facility in the airport for only 500 yen [$4.77 US, Ed.]. I felt like a new man. Well, not exactly. I just didn’t feel as tarnished as I did prior.
I was up in the cockpit jumpseat for the entire ride back. Best seat in the house. Especially when there are no others. An NWA friend and his son were trying to get out of NRT. They want to eventually end up in Atlanta but as I said, the loads are tight here. The son got the last seat on the airplane and my friend rode the last remaining jumpseat.
And that brings me back home. Arrived, got through customs and immigration and jumped into Rebecca’s arms. I’m really home. But the rest of the lads are still there. If anything special happens, I’ll have another update for you. Until then, take care.
Blue Skies, Flip
