Palau’s Chandelier Cave

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Palauans call Chandelier Cave Iiel Temekai, or Cave of the Grouper.  This is always on the top of favored dive trips on the vacation.  With four catacomb chambers, Chandelier is located in the Rock Islands of Koror Harbor.  The underwater caves interlace with massive stalactites jettisoning down from the caves’ ceilings into the water depths.  Quiet possibly matured since the Ice Age, stalactites formations are the creation of the slow moisture drips.  As these drips meander their way through the limestone from above, they carry calcium residue, ultimately adding to the stunning stalactite formations.

With formations so stunning, the chambers were ultimately named Chandelier Cave.  The crystalline formations hang from ceilings with the grace and beauty of the finest chandeliers hanging from the finest European palace ceilings.

As one as leaves the caves, be prepared for the added wonder of the incredible streams from the sun’s natural rays lighting the way from a space of total darkness.  At first, the rays are distant.  Streaming in blue and white hues guiding a course outward.  If other divers are on their way in, one gets the eerie sense of floating in space with the oncoming bodies casting distant shadows through the streaming rays.

Jim Caldwell, Redondo Beach
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