Our flight left Palau at around 1:10 a.m. We had a quick stop in Yap where we had the most bizarre security check. They asked that all of the people on the port side of the plane gather their carry-ons and deplane. They then came through and searched every seat, headrest, seatback pocket and overhead for drugs. They then asked those of us on the starboard side of the plane to gather all of our belongings and move the port side where they did the same check. Once they were finished, we put our things back and took our seats. They then boarded the rest of the passengers. Not only was it the strangest security check I’ve witnessed, it made for a lot of grumpy people at 2:30 in the morning.

We arrived in Guam at around 5:15 a.m. We deplaned, made it through Customs, picked up our bags and worked our way through immigration in about 30 minutes (it was beautiful). There was a driver there waiting to take us to Fiesta Guam where we each had a day room to take a nap, shower and relax before our 7:40 p.m. flight to Chuuk (aka Truk).

When we got to the room we called home and talked to my Mom. She said they were having a great time; that Samantha misses us but she is doing well. In the week we have been gone so far she has learned a bunch of new words and can even tell people that Mommy and Daddy are in Palau. I cry like a baby when I get off the phone with her, but know that they are all fine and that we will have a great time in Chuuk.

After a shower and a couple hour nap, Scott and I make our way down to the World Café for a late breakfast (it is almost 10:00 a.m.). After breakfast we decide to walk the beach along Tumon Bay. The beach was gorgeous and the water was warm. There were a ton of people out – a combination of tourists and Chamorrans enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery. One thing we noticed very quickly was that we were two of only a handful of Caucasian people in that part of Guam – all of the tourists were Japanese. Turns out Guam is only a 3.5 hour flight from Japan, which makes it as easy to get to as the Bahamas are for those of us on the east coast.

After walking for a couple of hours, we head back to the hotel. We had to check out of our rooms by 2 p.m. so we take our bags downstairs and join Jon, John & Mike for a late lunch at the World Café. We spend much of the rest of the afternoon talking about diving with Jon – which certainly passes the time. Before we know it, it is 4:45 and we have just enough time to get an ice cream at Haggen Daz before the driver takes us back to the airport for our 7:40 p.m. flight.

After a short delay on the ground, we find ourselves in the air on the way to Chuuk. Everyone has had a great time in Palau and we can’t wait for what’s in store for us for the second half of our vacation.

We are met at the airport by the captain of the Odyssey, Mike, and some of the dive guides, including Sam. Turns out Mike used to work at Olympus Dive Center in Morehead City, NC – the shop that organized the trip we were on. Very, very small world.

They load all of our bags into a couple of vans and we had to the dock at Blue Lagoon Resort. The drive is nothing short of an adventure. Chuuk gets a lot of rain and the roads are in terrible shape. Not only are there potholes (and sinkholes) every where, most of the road was completely flooded. It definitely made for an interesting ride to the dock (and woke those of us up who were starting to feel the lack of sleep starting to catch up with us).

We boarded a little skiff and headed out to the Odyssey. It is a beautiful ship and our cabin is incredible. We have a king-sized bed, a personal head, television, dvd player. We know we will be more than comfortable here for the next week.

We get a brief orientation about the boat & general procedures (including the important things like “when can we dive” and “how often can we eat.”) and then we head out to set up our dive gear. At this point, it is after midnight, but none of us really seem to mind…we are so happy to be here!

Scott and I had taken our TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures class before the trip but did not get our c-cards. Obviously the captain can’t take our word for it, so I end up calling the dive shop (from a satellite phone) to get our instructor’s cell phone (it is on Scott’s phone which isn’t with us) and then I called Dave. Fortunately he answered (it was only a little after 10:00 a.m. Sunday for him) and was able to fax temporary cards to the Odyssey corporate office in Florida. With that, we are all set. We will be diving double 80s all week (we were going to be able to do that regardless of the Advancede Nitrox & Deco Procedure course) and we will be able to dive the San Francisco Maru (the main reason we wanted to take the class) at around 200 ft.

We finally get to bed at around 1:00 a.m. and are ready for what the week has in store for us.