15 April - Family Boat Day

After church it was into the boat quick smart to get to Manta Road for low tide.

As soon as we got there it was straight into the water and guess what we see. They were deep today so the photos aren't the best.

Indi and Jaxon both snorkelled today and loved seeing all the brightly coloured fish.

Indi going solo over the reef. She saw her first manta today and is still talking about it.

The Pohnpei Surf Club boats.

A better shot. Unfortunately clearer photos come from the tidal flow increasing, which makes it hard work to keep up with them for a photo.

They're good kids. Indi racked out on a life jacket and Jaxon read his books.

We moved to a different spot for a dive and Jaxon and I fished for about half an hour while we waited for lunch to go down. Our first one definately wasn't a monster.

A double header than I got Jaxon to wind in.

After this Nic, Brenda and I went for a dive. I didn't take the deep-water camera but you'll have to believe me when I say it was a pretty cool dive. Huge fan corals, a school of barracuda, soft corals and nemos - yep it was good enough to do again sometime with the camera.

13 Apr - Sunset Cruise

After catching a marlin it was time to unwind. Baby sitter organised and we headed out for a sunset cruise. Sokez Island with about half an hour of light left.

Looking very happy and relaxed (read sore) after catching his marlin.

There it goes....

Nothing like a swim and a few beers at sunset to unwind from a short but busy week.

Allios keeping a good on the GPS to get us safely through the unchartered, unmarked inshore reefs.

Just another great week in Pohnpei. A quiet Saturday at home and then snorkeling with the mantas and a dive on an inshore reef on Sunday. Love it.

13 Apr - Pohnpei Marlin

Friday the 13th now has a whole new meaning and it's definately not a bad thing. I headed out with Brenda and Jerry once again chasing what has been the elusive Pohnpei marlin. Nothing but marlin lures were out, I wanted no other species this day. As luck would have it 40 minutes after we had lines in the water one of the reels starting screaming. I looked out the back and saw a marlin jumping, it was hooked solidly. You beauty. Brenda cleared the other lines, Jerry drove the boat where I wanted it to be and I put on the belt and we settled in for the fight.

32 nervous minutes later I had my first Pohnpei marlin boat side. I have hooked about seven or eight and lost them all before today, but I've learnt from every one. I had never really trolled lures before coming here so I'm happy to have reached the pinacle for the pacific, the pacific blue marlin on stand-up gear.

Not a monster but it was a thing of beauty, you'll have to believe me.

Jerry and I with our catch of the day.

Brenda and I have been waiting for this moment for about six months now.

Nothing like a 'Rex Hunt' for my first marlin in Pohnpei.

The scales, however old, don't lie. 160lbs of pacific blue marlin. Caught on 50lb line = very happy.

I'm not a fan of kill shots but for the first one I had to have it done.

It was obviously hungry. It still had a whole skipjack tuna in it's stomach when it hit my lure.

So it's done, a marlin in Pohnpei. Now I can sleep at night. I just have to catch one next Saturday during the monthly tournament.......

Easter Monday

We took the boat out on Easter Monday afternoon for some snorkelling and playing on a local inshore island. On the way we passed some local ladies net-fishing from a couple of rafts. You see some pretty cool things here.

The crew all geared up and ready to swim on arrival.

At Nah Island I finally caught a good sized coconut crab. Not massive by coconut crab standards but it's the biggest one I've seen on Pohnpei so I was happy with that. And he tasted good as well.

Powerful claws that bust open coconuts. Being very careful at this point.

The kids found a place to relax in between spots.

On of our favourite spots on island - The Village. This is where Nic and I stayed for Nic's birthday a couple of weeks back.

The old and the new.

As always the snorkelling was fantastic with the colours of the fish simply amazing.

No trip would be complete without seeing Nemo.

Or Mummy's favourite, the blue starfish.

There isn't as many clams on the inshore reefs as there are on the atolls. Dirtier water (rain run-off) and the locals keep the numbers down.

A pretty cool spot to stop for a swim.

No need to take depth soundings when you have four very loud kids telling you how deep it is.

Just another day in paradise.

Easter Weekend

Easter has come and gone for our last time on Pohnpei. We kicked it off a little early with a compound easter egg hunt on Thursday afternoon. All of Jaxon and Indi's little island playmates came over to enjoy a few hours on the compound. Nic did a great job on her home-made easter hot-cross buns.

After the initial excitement of all being together again wore off they all sat down for story time.

Jamie told the story of Easter and kept the kids captivated the entire time.

Then, after a quick swim, it was into the important stuff - the egg hunt.

Not bad Indi. Especially when you get the adults to do the 'finding' for you.

All ages turned up and no one went home dissappointed.

The victors go the spoils.

Now it's time to see what's inside these things.

Easter Saturday was a quiet day at home, Sunday morning was off to church. The kids had been practising in Sunday School for the last month or so and loved singing their songs and saying their lines in front of everyone.

Jaxon is an old-hand at this now, three years in a row.

It was Indi's first go and after a false start it was all engines running.

Songs with actions, can't beat it.

Sunday afternoon saw us at the church easter egg hunt. First of all the kids (read parents) had to made their own egg bags.

The older kids showed up which was great to see, especially when the tunes fired up.

Before the egg hunt the church leaders put on some games for all ages.

Something to do with running with a cup of water and putting it in a bucket at the other end. Of course both teams tied for first place. As you should as that age.

Next was dropping a peg into a bottle. No computer games or tv to keep kids occupied here.

The good ole egg and spoon race.

Next came the easter egg hunt. Mirmi is quite a loud (but lovely) Pohnpean lady. When I was asked to help hide the easter eggs I took it upon myself to seize the opportunity to keep her quiet, for a little while at least.

Mirmi's friends thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Hiding easter eggs, island style.

The boy comes through. We ended up 'sharing' some of his eggs to the kids that didn't have so many.

Next it was a game for the adults. The women had to husk a coconut and run it up to the men.

I have tried this and shared Nic's pain, it isn't as easy as the locals make it look.

Then the men had to get all the capra out of the coconut. Pretty cool. Lucky I had Indi to supervise operations.

Dinner was served and after dinner we also celebrated Epel's 60th birthday.

Our last Easter on island. A sad day when you start to think like that, ever day is the last day at the moment and we are trying our hardest to cram things in and continue to make the most of every day.