Last week we arranged for a boat to take us and our buddy Fuanes out to the Rock Islands for a bit of paddling. Shauna and I hadn't ever been to the Western Lagoon so that's where we headed first.

We paddled around Soft Coral Arch and Natural Arch. The winds weren't as kind as we had hoped. They were kicking up the water a bit.

We paddled through tunnels and archways and imagined spending a whole day here, paddling through the many rock islands and waterways. We'll do that on another day, when it's not so windy.

Next stop Ngchuus. It's amazing how the water conditions can change just by turning a corner. The waters around Ngchuus were just beautiful, calm, and clear. We paddled along, exploring as we went. This is one of the most beautiful places in Palau, if you ask me. The beach is long, winding its way around the curves of the island. The view from the beach is gorgeous no matter which direction you look. The waters are clear and good for just swimming to cool off, paddling around and exploring and even for snorkeling. We even discovered a Japanese airplane wreck from WWII in the waters just off shore.

When Survivor Palau was here, they used this beach a lot for their challenges. While we were talking with Fuanes about this, he said that France was doing their own version of Survivor and were doing it here in Palau - Koh-Lanta is what they call their Survivor. We were shocked to hear it was going on right now. How cool is that?

Even more cool was our discovery of the Tribal Council area they'll be using for the French Survivor. On our way back to the dock, we saw some green awnings atop an island that we hadn't seen before. We travel past this area a lot while paddling, so we've gotten used to what it normally looks like. These awnings were definitely new. We headed over to what used to be a Japanese base camp on the island and found an older Palauan guy sitting there. There was definitely something going on here. We could tell by all the construction materials.

The guy was the security detail (just him sitting there in his shorts, sandals, and a t-shirt) and told us that this was the Tribal Council area for the French Survivor. We did a little bit of peeking around and it looks pretty cool, though it was still under construction. I can't tell you exactly where this Tribal Council area is because it's all very Top Secret - that ‘s what the French guy said who caught us up there nosing around. Shhhhh, don't tell.