Micronesia had long been at the top of my list as a dive destination and with the flight south from Japan to the island of Guam, in the middle of the Pacific, I was about to realise my dream destination - as well as find some much needed heat after the wintery month spent in Japan.

Guam would only be the start and finish point of a month long Micronesia circuit calling at Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon, Palau and Yap. I've added a map to this entry to help pinpoint just where we are talking about here (its not so easy to find on a map!)

The slight downside with the itinerary was that it would mean travelling on Christmas Day. But hey! I wasn't expecting a traditional 'White Christmas' here. At least there was a tree this year :-)

The Tree

The first stop, Chuuk Lagoon, holds the well deserved title of 'Wreck Diving Capital of The World'. With more than 50 Japanese wrecks from World War 2 (most largely intact) there is enough to keep you busy for weeks - although we would only be in Chuuk for 6 days and diving only 3.

The wrecks themselves have become fantastic artificial reefs, covered in Corals and Anenomes. A perfect hideaway for marine life. For sure the outside is incredible to behold, but things get REALLY interesting once you venture inside.

The wrecks still contain many artifacts of war including, machine guns, rifles, gas masks, binoculars, thousands of rounds of bullets, torpedoes, periscopes, trucks, armoured cars, general supplies and in one case a human skull and bones! This is definitely one of those entries where photos tell the story best, so here is the link:

COMPLETE CHUUK LAGOON PHOTO GALLERY (54 Photos)

I'll post up the Palau and Yap Entries very soon. I guess now i'll have to choose a new dive destination to top the list :-)

Posted by Russ Jones at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The Rock Islands

Ah, the great dive adventure continues! (Of course, this talk of sunny tropical island is all very well, but you should also know that i'm writing this from South Korea and have just battled my way through a snow storm to reach the Internet Cafe. Its a journey of contrasts for sure :-))

So, when I booked the Micronesia itinerary, it had proved just about impossible to get a direct flight between Chuuk and Palau. So, unfortunately, this meant transiting back through Guam to reach Palau AND the ONLY flights available were on Christmas Day. At least the airports should be quiet and it gave us two shots at getting some kind of Christmas dinner. As it turned out the airports were indeed VERY quiet but leg one of our journey only managed to get us a COLD ham and cheese sandwich. All hopes for some festive cheer now rested on flight two of our journey and it has to be said that they improved over the first leg .... as this time the ham and cheese sandwich was served HOT! Some Christmas Dinner!

Chika and I were scheduled to be in Palau for 9 days - taking us through into the New Year and giving plenty of opportunity for more diving.

The diving in Chuuk had been VERY quiet with only 3 or 4 divers (including the 2 of us) on any dive. However, unfortunately, our arrival in Palau coincided with the Japanese holiday season and diving would appear to be a very popular pastime with the Japanese. The dives at the beginning of our Palau visit were a little 'overcrowded' to say the least. Its not unknown for Japanese dive groups to charter a flight and arrive 'en-mass' in groups of 200!

Jellyfish Lake

Not the best start to our diving in Palau (although I managed to get 'cleaned' in a station by the cleaner wrasses) , but things did get better. Ultimately, Chika and I broke away from the main group and enjoyed the dives doing our own thing. We also managed to squeeze in a couple of days in the far south of the islands, in Peleliu a far more layed back get-away to beat the masses diving from the Capital - Koror.

One of the most famous sights in Palau is the 'Rock Islands'. The Rock Islands are certainly spectacular, and its here, in a freshwater lake, that I was lucky enough to experience the true wonder that is ... Jellyfish Lake!

THOUSANDS of non-stinging Jellyfish forming 'clouds' of pulsing life all heading towards the surface in search of sunlight. But, despite knowing that they were 'non-stinging' , the mental association between Jellyfish and potential pain is a difficult one to break. It really is a bizarre sensation to be swimming and surrounded by this mass of pulsing jelly. Hopefully my video posted below will give the idea. And of course, there will be a few Palau diving photos to follow soon.

Posted by Russ Jones at 7:03 AM | Permalink

Here's the next batch of diving photos from the recent Micronesia trip. These were all taken in Palau. The photos from Yap, our last stop within Micronesia will be posted soon.

COMPLETE PALAU PHOTO GALLERY (50 Photos)

Posted by Russ Jones at 9:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

South Korea Place Holder

Posted by Russ Jones at 7:06 AM | Permalink

Maybe I just spent to much time in Hollywood, I don't know, but I just made my first movie ;-)

Really, it was a great way to cram a lot of stuff into a small space. No writing on my part which lets me get on with all the other missing entries, and, It was fun to put together.

Hope you enjoy...

Posted by Russ Jones at 1:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Having arrived back in the USA after a couple of weeks in very cold South Korea, I came up with a great plan to see a bit of the country.

I'd passed my motorbike test shortly before coming on this trip and I decided to put this new skill to the test and rent a motorbike. So, with about 5 days total motorcycling experience behind me and almost 17 months without even sitting on a motorbike, I rented a new BMW F650GS and set off on a 4000 mile road trip across the country! No half measures here you know.

It took a little while to get 'back in the saddle' as it were. And, unfortunately, the first 40 miles or so were through the VERY busy LA Freeway system. Still, in at the deep end and i'd have to say, quite ..exciting at times!

A Joshua Tree

I had hoped to get an early start from LA and make it all the way to Lake Havasu City (home of London Bridge), but it was almost 1pm before I managed to get away from Long Beach and so I revised the original plan as the 350 miles i'd hoped to cover today were looking very unlikely.

As it was, I made it to a small town called Twentynine Palms just next to the town of Joshua Tree and The Joshua Tree National Park. Some 150 miles short of the days target, but a great location to start exploring the National Park first thing in the morning. The Joshua Tree (yes that is the same one of U2 fame) is actually a very large Yucca found around the Mojave desert, but in the largest concentrations here in the Joshua Tree National Park.

One of the other things i've done since I arrived in the US is to buy a Laptop. There seemed to be a distinct lack of Internet Cafes here and those that do exist are expensive. So, I bit the bullet and bought some more technology to lug around. As it turns out most of the motels i'm staying in have wireless Internet and of course there's aways the coffee shops. So I no longer have any excuses for the website getting out of date. For the bike trip, i'll try and post daily entries with a map, although I won't send out daily notifications.

Posted by Russ Jones at 2:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Joshua Tree N.P.

Spending the night so close the National Park meant that I could make an early start and get straight into the park as soon as it opened. The other advantage of being in the park so early is that the private roads there were empty and this gave me a chance to get comfortable with the bike and practice a few motorcycle maneuvers - wheelies etc. :-)

From here I was heading to the second main stop of the day, Lake Havasu City over in Arizona. The only real draw to this city is the fact that they bought London Bridge back in 1962. At the time, the structure wasn't considered suitable to support the increasing traffic volumes in London and so The city of London sold it to Lake Havasu City . Taking it to pieces, labling every piece, shipping and rebuilding it in this remote desert city. Rumor has it that they thought they were buying Tower Bridge!

Pushing on South bound in search of somewhere to stay for the night took me down to Quartzsite. Not a great choice as all three motels were full and I ended up heading back in to California, to Blythe for the night. I'll push on through Arizona tomorrow.

A few pics:

Joshua Tree NP

Joshua Tree NP

Lake Havasu

London Bridge

London Bridge

The Long Road South

Posted by Russ Jones at 3:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)