15 Sep - Fishing Local Style

I fished with Jula over in Majuro a couple of weekends ago and there were long periods between catching fish. So over the course of those two days fishing and many beers we decided that I should leave the relative safety of my 'mahnwai' (white man) boat and venture out with Jula for a days fishing when I get back. Why the hell not I say. Little did I know what an awesome day it would be. Apart from the part were we started sinking and after I plugged the hole with a sinker wrapped in cloth and bailed about 200 litres of water.....

 

 Our first fish of the day. PVC pipe to hold the rods and outriggers in place. The combined value of the rods and reels came to more than he paid for the boat.... It did the job though, very well in fact.

 

 Our best fish of the day, 31lbs of yummy wahoo.

 

 Paul and Jula were hoping to get me more fish but in the end we caught some and drank a few beers so all was good.

 

On the lie detector.

 

Jula took the fish to his family's restaurant where the chef make me an awesome meal of tempora, sashimi and poke wahoo. Man I'm going to miss this place.

All Mike Fishing Tournament in Majuro

I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to represent the Pohnpei Fishing Club in the 'All Micronesia' fishing tournament over the first weekend in September. Free flights, entry fee covered and accomodation with the Navy family on Majuro, it's as good as it gets.

 

A seven oclock shot-gun start saw all the boats going flat out to get out to the fishing grounds. Todd is the Navy Advisor in Majuro doing the same thing as me in Pohnpei. As luck would have it my team drew Todd's boat on the first day so we got to fish together. Todd and I hadn't landed a marlin together on my two previous visits to Majuro. Today was going to be the day.....

 

 About 1030 we hooked up solid. The aim of the competition is get as many points as you can via the weight of the fish. Believe it or not the fastest way to get a fish to the boat is handlining. So with one guys winding the line back on the reel we took turns fighting the marlin to the boat. Definately an experience I won't forget, marlin are very strong fish and you can feel every head and tail shake when fighting them like this.

 

 After half an hour or so we saw it for the first time. Time to calm down now and get the bad boy in the boat. There'll be time to cheer later.......

 

 Two happy RAN sailors. Love it when a plan comes together.

 

Straight to the Pool Room.

 

Only five marlin were caught on the first day with three tagged and released. Ours was the first marlin the crowd on the dock had seen so they were a pretty happy bunch. 

 Go Pohnpei.

 

I don't know where it came from but someone had an Australian flag. Glad they did though.

 



 Day Two saw us fish all day for one wahoo and two tagged and released tuna. It was a very long day but in the end it was the biggest wahoo of the tournament. You beauty.

 

Not massive at 33lbs but nobody caught a bigger one, so that's all that matters come trophy time.

 



 My team with our prizes for the biggest marlin and biggest wahoo of the tournament.

 

 We also took out second place in the points section of the tournament.

 

The other Pohnpei team also did well taking out first place in the points section, biggest mahi mahi, second and third biggest yellowfin and most tagged marlin. Combined with our trophies it makes for a very impressive haul by the Pohnpei teams. An absolutely awesome weekend.

Legoland California

Our last day before the trip home to Pohnpei was spent at Legoland. We had planned to just line up and pay when this lady offered us two vouchers that got a child in with a paying adult. She wanted $60 for them so I said I'll give her the cash once I was through the gate. For some reason this had scam written all over it. Well the vouchers worked and saved much $$$ so you just never know do you. Now that's a great start to the day.

 

 Legoland. I wouldn't say it's a 'must do', but we enjoyed it.

 

 Our first thing saw us on a believe it or not, Lego Safari.

 

 A small motorised cart with all lego animals.

 

 Obviously a lot of work goes into this place.

 

 Crazy lego monkeys.

 

 A hot lego lady. Indi was a little concerned.

 

 Next was a lego car race. Jaxon was off straight away. All his Mario Cart practise was paying off.

 

 Indi needed a little bit of help working out that the steering wheel is what controls where you go. Once she got the hang of it, it was all systems go.

 

 Next was the fire engine race.

 

 You're supposed to work as a team and move the fire engine to one end and then put out a fire by pumping a handle. Jaxon and Indi seemed happy to have me do it all.....

 

 Scenes like this one were all throughout the park. Very cool.

 

 They have built replica cities from all over the world. Talk about attention to detail. Thousands of photos are taken of the original places and the painstakingly replicated.

 

 Nic and the New York skyline including the Statue of Libery.

 The White House including Mrs Obama's vege patch on the left.

 

 Tell me again why we paid good money to go to Vegas, it was all here.

 

 Very impressive.

 

More Vegas hotels.

A lego Chewbacca and R2D2, now that is very cool.

 

 Being a massive StarWars fan I was happy to see the recently open StarWars section.

 

 They replicated scenes from all six movies.

 

 I wouldn't have minded helping put these ones together.

 

 So much attention to detail.

 

 They even have the Endor Forest.

 

 Great isn't it. Sad I know.

 

 Love this guy.

 

Jaxon and Indi are well trained in the arts of posing after this trip. 

 Indi didn't make the height requirement for this one, much to her disgust. Jaxon loved it, I just held on and hoped my back didn't go out.

 

 Hi Mummy.

 

Bob the Builder. I'm not sure was relevence he has to Legoland but the kids love Bob and it was yet another photo opportunity.

 

Well that's the overseas holiday done and dusted. It was a pretty long trip home the next day with a flight to LAX, then to Hawaii for a very short overnighter. Up at 3am for an island hopper flight to Pohnpei, arriving 26hrs after leaving the hotel in San Diego. Luckily we arrived home on a Friday so I could recover from the holiday before going to work.

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Our second last full day saw us hiring a car and heading out to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Nothing like eight lanes of traffic in either direction, all going 115kph, first thing in the morning to get your heart going.

 

Nic's directions got us there in quick time. No mass murder in the car is always a great start to the day. Now prepare yourself for an onslaught of animal photos, you've been warned....

 

 A great photo this one.

 

 My plan was to do the 'safari' first thing before the day got too hot and the animals all headed for cover. It ended up being a good plan as we saw plenty of animals in the free range enclosure. Not quite Africa but close enough for this family at the end of long holiday.

 

 I don't remember seeing any coconut trees in the Masi Mara but these giraffes seemed to like licking them.

 

 Waiting for something to die.....

 

 A black rhino bred in the safari.

 

 Unfortunately the white rhino's story is a little bleaker. There are only seven left worldwide and this is one of the two females. She is too old to breed and there have been problems with the other female so that, I guess, is that.

 

 Yet another critter that whos head would look great in my bar.

 

Ostrich eggs just out in the open. You'd be game to go near them.

 

 After the safari we hit the enclosures within the park. Zoos have come a long way from big animals in little concrete cages. I'm a fan of warthogs, don't ask me why, I just am.

 

 It was hot, so time to partially 'nude up' and cool off.

 

 The breeding program here is working really well and has contributed significantly to saving many species of animals.

 

 Nearly a perfectly framed elephant.

 

 Mumma gorilla was having a rest from the heat. The baby boy was a little mischevious though and go the occasional clip behind the ears. 'See it still works'

 

 Feeding the lorikeets.

 

Done it plenty of times before, but it's still good fun.

 

 An armadillo.

 

This is first one I'd ever seen. Quite intriguing.

 It's all covered here including a playground near the lunch joint. Great planning.

 

 Not quite buddy, not quite.

 

 Yet another petting zoo. Kept the kids entertained for half an hour.

 

After doing it at the zoo three days earlier Indi was an old hand at this caper.

 

 

The Safari Park was about an hour from the hotel so when we finished up about 3pm we had a bit of time left in the day. Off the San Diego Naval Base Exchange to spend so 'island cash' we went. You've got to spend money to save money.......