While on a dive trip down to Palau in 1993 with our friends the Walshes, I bought a Palauan Story board from the Koror Jail. I had been told the the inmates at the Koror Jail carved the story boards in the spare time and that you could get a good deal. The guy that carved the turtle board that I purchased couldn't even come to the front of the jail to deal with me directly because of his status but we had to deal through a messenger. They showed me a bunch of boards but this one was my favorite as I have always liked the legend about the egg laying cycle of the Sea Turtle.
Right Click for easier reading.
This is what was written on the back side of the story board.
Someone told me that the Palauan Storyboard was a fairly recent thing. After WW II a Japanese fellow living on Palau thought it would be something that tourists would buy and thus a way for them to make money. Also a way to preserve the traditions and oral history of Palau. Now most divers going to Palau bring home a storyboard.
Notice the different levels of depth of the carving to make it look two dimensional.
Here is a funny story about outside the Koror Jail. I saw a pretty, young Palauan girl walking down the street and then . . . . . . . she turned with a bright red toothy smile and spit out a big wad of spit and beetle nut juice. I wondered where the big red splotches on the ground had come from. Now I know!!!
Little Palauan girl admiring Brooke's blonde bali braids.
Trevor and Brooke snorkeling near WWII Japanese ruins somewhere in the Rock Islands. This is close to where the movie, "Hell in the Pacific", with Lee Marvin was filmed.
Palau is a magical place and a place that I would like to visit again.
There are many of His natural wonders of the deep there.
