T8OK Team will be active from Palau, OC - 009, 4 - 19 March 2026.
Team - OK1BOA OK3RM OK6DJ OK2ZA + XYL Jana + Tom.
They will operate on 160 - 6m, CW, SSB, Didital modes.
QSL via ClubLog OQRS, LOTW.
Palau – a country of underwater wonders
If you are planning to fly to Palau, try to choose a flight that arrives during daylight hours. Then, on approach, you will be able to see an amazing sight – bright green islands, like a handful of emeralds dropped into the blue ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of 328 islands between the Philippines and New Guinea. Only eight of them are permanently inhabited. Thanks to this, Palau's tropical nature has been preserved like few other places on Earth. There are no luxurious sandy beaches or standard resort entertainment here, and a third of the territory is protected nature reserves, closed to outsiders. But what is open to tourists is impressive, as they say, for the rest of your life.
Jellyfish Lake
There is an uninhabited island called Eil Malak in Palau. The entire island is the top of a coral reef that was lifted above the water millions of years ago by the restless earth. During the uplift or later, part of the lagoon was cut off and turned into a lake. Despite the tropical rains, its dark green water is salty—three narrow tunnels connect the lake to the ocean.
By chance, predatory fish did not enter the lake, but a flock of jellyfish did. Freed from their enemies, they multiplied rapidly. Now their number reaches 10 million! Wherever you dive, you will see dozens of golden-yellow jellyfish floating in front of you. Some are the size of a human head, others are no bigger than a fingernail.
Their relatives swim about 200 meters away in the ocean, but the lake jellyfish, with no one to defend themselves from, have changed — their tentacles have shortened and their stinging organs have disappeared. They feed on single-celled algae that live inside their translucent bodies. The jellyfish try to keep it in the light so that their green cohabitants can accumulate organic matter and reproduce. In clear weather, it is interesting to watch the streams of jellyfish moving in the transparent water from shore to shore following the sun.
Palau takes great care of this unusual body of water. Tourists are asked not to splash too much with their fins, to swim calmly without harming the jellyfish, and not to use sunscreen so as not to pollute the water. Scuba diving is also not allowed. The jellyfish have nothing to do with this, though. From a depth of 15 meters to the bottom, the water is devoid of oxygen but saturated with hydrogen sulfide, which is dangerous to humans.
The Milky Way Invites You
This is not about night walks. It's just that in Palau, one of the bays near the Rock Islands is called Milky Way. The water there is indeed white, like milk. The bottom here is covered with white clay, whose beneficial properties are confirmed by doctors and all the local guides.
Tourists dive for the plastic mass and cover their faces, hair, and entire bodies with it. It is unlikely that anyone will look younger after just one session, but everyone takes pictures of themselves looking like snowmen under palm trees. Palau's spas use clay to refresh and heal the skin. Foreigners have repeatedly tried to obtain permission to extract and export this valuable raw material. But the government is adamant: we do not trade in natural resources. Tourists and citizens alike are prohibited from exporting white clay under threat of huge fines. The same applies to shells, corals, starfish, and other gifts of nature.
The only exception is made for the neighbors—the indigenous people of the Yap archipelago. They have long used huge stone coins (up to three meters in diameter!) as money. They use them to buy cattle, land, and pay bride prices. These “coins” are carved in Palau.
Caution: sharks!
Several years ago, Palau announced its intention to protect sharks. This is not a mistake; the author did not omit the preposition “from” after the word “protect.” We are used to seeing sharks as bloodthirsty predators just waiting for the moment to attack humans. In reality, humans are only prey to a few species of these fish, and there are only 450 known species in total. Commercial fishing and water pollution have brought many sharks to the brink of extinction.
So, the people of Palau created a marine reserve for sharks. Its water area, by the way, is larger than the area of France. In the reserve, it is prohibited to catch and destroy all 13 species of sharks that live in the waters of the archipelago.
But seeing sharks in their natural habitat in the archipelago is not a problem. It is no wonder that divers from all over the world dream of scuba diving in Palau.
The reefs descend vertically to a depth of 200-400 meters, and you swim above this abyss. Over millions of years, the water has turned the limestone rocks into bizarre sculptures. Grottoes, caves, winding tunnels... The waters of Palau are home to 1,500 species of fish! As well as colorful crabs, lobsters, and octopuses. Sometimes a manta ray, a huge stingray resembling a drone, swims majestically by the reef. Slow-moving mammals the size of cows graze in the underwater thickets. Dozens of species of local fauna and flora are found nowhere else in the world.
Those who are not inclined to extreme sports can observe the sea creatures while lying on the water in a life jacket. The water is transparent for about twenty-five meters, and in some places the sun reaches the light sandy bottom. You are slowly carried along by the current. And below you are turtles, colorful “bouquets” and “fans” of coral, patterned fish, shrimp, sea urchins, and tridacna shells the size of a baby bathtub. And, of course, sharks. They feed closer to the bottom, but when you see a fish as long as a tour bus...
The remains of military equipment that have been lying on the bottom since World War II add to the picturesqueness of underwater travel. The Americans had a hard time smoking out the Japanese garrisons from the islands. Since then, downed planes and boat hulls have been lying underwater.
It's nice to say goodbye to Palau on a sightseeing helicopter. The pilot knows where and from which side to approach. For the convenience of photo and video shooting, the door is removed from the aircraft in advance. Only a seat belt will separate you from the endless expanse of the ocean. The sensations are indescribable!