25 Aug - Quick fishing session

Took the boat out for a very quick session this afternoon. Came up trumps with my best coral trout so far. On jig (no bait) so even better.

21 Aug - Ant Atoll Fish and Dive - Dive

Scott wanted to take Nic to a spot that he had dived at about a month ago but we just could find it. So over the side we went at a nice looking spot. Unless you've done it you can only imagine the daunting feeling of diving a cliff face. The bottom is at least a thousand metres down. A little scary but fun at the same time.

As soon as we left the surface we were joined by a little white-tipped reef shark. He, and a couple of his mates, stayed with us for the entire dive. Here he is sizing Nic up, seeing if she could provide a meal or two (only joking Peter and Chris).

Another fantastic dive with a massive variety of beautifully coloured fish.

Nemo. There was a Daddy (pictured), Mummy and a little baby. Very Cool.

A bit of a perspective of the cliff face. The edge just disappears and you have no chance of seeing the bottom.

Crystal clear water with over 50 metres of visability. Fantastic.

21 Aug - Ant Atoll Fish and Dive

Saturday saw Nic and Scott heading over to Ant Atoll for a dive and some fishing. As soon as we left the inner reef we saw a massive flock of birds working the surface so out went the lures and in came the fish. We caught eight skipjack tuna and one yellowfin tuna in about half an hour. Nic even got up and fought a couple of tuna to the boat. A great start to the morning.

Scott loaded up on a 16lb skipjack tuna.

Beru does the gaff work and onto the ice it goes.

We left the school biting and heading over to Ant Atoll for a dive. We trolled a couple of lures over some likely looking ground on the way to the dive site and hooked up start away to a dog-tooth tuna. Fantastic eating these ones.

Nic had made up some lunch and it was quickly devoured. Beru insisted on having some skipjack sashimi though. We didn't have a cutting board so we found the next best thing. The spare engine....

Just incase you wondered why they are called dog-tooth tuna.

20th Aug - Scott's B'day

Friday was Scott's Birthday and he didn't really want to make a fuss about it. Who would when you get as old as he is.

Jaxon and Indi loved the idea of making a cake for Dad. Scott was surprised that there was a cake after seeing this photo.

End of work on Friday and the compound staff, our house help and the family got together for cake and beer. As you do.

We all went up to the Village Restaurant for dinner. Another cracka sunset in Pohnpei.

Pohnpei Pepper Crab. Not a bad birthday dinner at all.

We had our friends Allios, Haley and their little girl Milla join us. It was a nice night but I'm not sure the rest of the people there agreed with three little kids running around the place like it was a playground. Too much cake.....

13 Aug - Fire Extinguisher Training

Friday the 13th. If you were ever going to give the women and staff at the Embassy and Navy compounds fire extinguisher training, Friday the 13th would be the perfect day wouldn't it. What on earth could possibly go wrong...... Luckily for us nothing did. Scott and Dean rounded up some out-of-date extinguishers, got everyone together and after a quick brief about what to do it was game on.

Leading from the front was our Australian Ambassador Susan Cox. No fire is safe now.

Nic made sure that any little incidents that may result from Jaxon's adventurous mind are quickly dealt with. Not that we've had any such incidents yet touch wood, wait don't touch wood it might burn, touch dirt or something else that won't ignite.

While we were doing the training up at the Embassy Compound the power went out and the stand-by generator kicked in. No big deal we thought; power outages are a common thing here. It was only as we drove back down the hill that we found the reason why.

A tree was down and there were sparks and flames jumping in every direction. Lucky we had just all done our fire fighting training.

And wouldn't you know it, when Scott and Dean got back to work the Maritime Wing guys were doing fire fighting exercises as well. Must have been the day for it. And no, we don't know what the two little kiddy pools are for either.

Compound Kids

The main reason we applied to come to Pohnpei was to spend time together as a family. So when it's sunny, which is at least 50% of the time we are outside doing something. We spend a bit of time doing the touristy stuff, but it is great to enjoy time at home as well.

The time has come for the training wheels to come off. Mind you this was prompted by Jaxon leaving his bike in front of the car and Scott running over it. After getting fed up with trying to realign the training wheels they were discarded until Indi needs them. We aren't quite there yet but with a bit of practise each day I'm sure it won't take long. Especially if Indi continues offering pointers along the way.

From the grass the driveway. Oh well, little boys are meant to take a bit of bark off now and again.

See Jaxon, there's nothing to it.

The sandpit/playground gets a good workout just about every day. Indi and Jaxon love the swings and often we are roped into them aswell.

Luckily for us Indi is getting the hang of it and is happy to be gently pushed on the swing now. Jaxon on the other hand is happiest when he is going a million miles an hour. It's a boy thing we're sure.

11 Aug - Black Coral

After Manta Pass we headed South to a little island off of Pohnpei called Black Coral for lunch. It is owned by one of the families that we know and is a bit of resort island. Resort being a very loose way of describing it. The snorkeling is first-class, the island has little huts that you can stay in but you have to take everything else. Stretchers, pots, pans, water, food.... everything. No doubt we will stay there for a night or two over our time here.

Cobalt blue water surrounds the island with fish and coral everywhere.

This is taken from the where the boat was anchored. The water was waist deep and walking across to the island for lunch was a great way to cool down before eating.

Nic loves the snorkeling here in Pohnpei and Black Coral has some fantastic stuff to see. We'll definately bring the dive gear on the next trip here.

One of hundreds.

Just in case you were wondering what black coral is.

11 Aug - Manta Pass

Scott took Tuesday as a days leave and made the most of it by heading out in the boat with Nic. Unfortunately it has rained a lot lately and the water was a little murky so the photos haven't turned out as great as they could have. It was low tide just after we left which happens to be the best time to view the islands manta rays at Manta Pass.

We were in Manta Pass for about an hour and easily saw at least 50 of these magnificent creatures.

They come into the pass to feed, hoovering up all the plankton at the end of the run-out tide.

The current was a little strong so swimming didn't prove to be the best option to get close to them.

A black manta. The first time we had seen one. Fantastic. We saw about four during the session.

11 Aug - Manta Pass 2

Manta Pass Continued.

The current was fairly ripping through so it was easiest to view the mantas by staying in one place. We tied off a line to the boat (which was tied up to a mooring) and just let the mantas swim past us. Here is Nic holding on to a float while a large manta does a fly by. And they got a lot closer than this.....

These two look like Indi and Jaxon at dinner time. Hoovering their food down.

They are all awesome, with many different markings. No two are the same.

Nic was pretty happy, giving the session a big thumbs up.

06 Aug - Awak Marine Park 1

Friday Nic and Scott had our housekeeper Masita over for the day. It wasn't such a bad day (it wasn't continuously raining as it can do here) so after work we left the kids with Masita and drove five minutes down the road to Awak Marine Park.

Tourism just hasn't hit Pohnpei yet. Apart from Palikir Pass for surfing I'm sure the rest of the world doesn't know Pohnpei exists. Which isn't such a bad thing.....

It's about a 500m walk through the mangroves to a little 'Nahs' (BBQ area). From here you enter the water and are amongst the reef and heaps of marine life instantly.

Did I say Awak 'Marine' Park. The locals have no real idea when it comes to sanctuaries or 'no-fishing' zones. They've been doing one way for so long that trying to educate them about sustainability or trying to enforce it is a losing battle.

This sign was above the head of the guy fishing.

10 metres from the Nahs we came across the resident stingray. An awesome start to the snorkling session.

06 Aug - Awak Marine Park 2

Awak continued.....

As soon as you put your head under the water you are amongst the reef. One of the first things we saw was a school of fish that look like a cross between pike and barracuda.

Visually spectacular

Not sure what this is, but it was pretty cool.

Never a dull moment.

This is the little landing at the end of the mangroves when we walked in. This is the entry point and by the time Scott had swam this far and turned around to take a photo we had already seen 1000 fish, the stingray, the school of pike/barracudda and heaps of coral. Not a bad Friday afternoon.