At the time of our visit not a single boat was anchored at the dock, but there were many youngsters swimming in the area where many boats used to be secured in the old days.
The scene of the empty dock prompted an elderly relative from Babeldaob to say something very enlightening about Palau’s physical development. “This is not the T-Dock I used to know when I was young. The completion of the Babeldaob Compact Road and the relocation of Palau’s capital to Ngerulmud in Melekeok changed all that. The Babeldaob Compact Road made the use of boats for transporting people and goods to and from Koror unnecessary”. An elderly lady relative asked me if I still remember coming to T-Dock every week to pick up food packages which our parents used to send to us from Babeldaob on the “Kumiyai” and the “Habier” when we were attending schools on Koror. I replied, “Yes, I still remember those days, Auntie”.
Nowadays, if you go to T-Dock on most afternoons, you could still see large number of youngsters, both boys and girls, swimming on the right side of the boat anchorage just outside the public waiting house near Harry Fritz’s place. In the old days, these kids would risk being seriously hurt or even killed by boats coming into or going out of the docking area, but today we are lucky because very few boats are still operating in our waters. And the few boat operators who still frequent the T-Dock anchorage know that the area is a favorite swimming spot for youngsters and they always take great care to avoid hitting the children swimming and frolicking there when they leave or enter the anchorage.
The swimming pool which used to be located in the area has been completely ruined and is not useable today. Most of its walls, which were constructed from sea rocks, are scattered all over the place. Many of these rocks are even strewn inside the pool itself. That old swimming pool has been there for over fifty (50) years. Many of our important sport events such as swimming, diving, and canoe racing took place in or near that pool. Many of Koror’s traditional leaders swam there when they were young boys and so did many others who today are some of our most prominent leaders in government, business, and in the various professions. The Palau swimming team, which dominated the swimming events in the1969 Micro games on Saipan, practiced and exercised in that pool up to the day before they left for Saipan. We urge the Koror State Government to do all it can to restore that historic piece of property back to its former glory. The late Rubasch Fritz once said that T-Dock (Arkemais) was the “Keng-kang ra Oreor” (the door step to Koror). The swimming pool there is part of that “door step” and should be repaired and made beautiful befitting its role as part of the doorway to the State of Koror.
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