This is a sink hole on the island of Peleliu in the Palau Islands. (1.5 hour flight southwest of Guam) Peleliu is where one of the bloodiest battles of WWII took place. The van in the background belonged to our guide. He drove us to the hole and then invited us to go for a swim. He said it was deep enough to jump from the top.The level of the water was 15 to 20' below the rim. The water was brackish water; fresh water mixed with a little sea water. It was so clear that when you looked down from the rim it looked to be about 3 feet deep. Our guide said, "jump, it's deep enough." But the vision of two fractured ankles flashed before my eyes and I decided to climb down an iron latter that allowed jumpers to climb back to the surface. When I got within about 8 feet of the water I finally jumped, but it was still a leap of faith because it looked terribly shallow. Once in the water you could see that it was 10 or 12 feet deep.
This looks refreshing but being brackish, I itched most of the rest of the day because of the salt on my skin.
A couple of years latter our whole family went to Palau on a vacation. While we were snorkeling in the Rock Islands, 6 Japanese divers became separated from their dive boat during a drift dive and eventually perished.
On one of the slates of the divers was written the time when a plane flew over the top of them but didn't see them. Interestingly, in 87 degree water, even with a 3 mil wetsuit, the longest surviving diver only lasted 36 hours.
Me, sitting in a Japanese Zero that crashed near the airport on Peleliu prior to the invasion.
Our guide showed us his collection of machine guns and such that he had found around the island over the years.
Me, on a tank abanodoned during the invasion.
The plane that flew us from Palau to Peleliu via the island south of Peleliu; Anguar.
