CMDR Robert retires

The commander of the FSM National Police Maritime Wing Robert Maluweirang retired last week after reaching the grand age of 60. He has been with the Maritime Wing for a very long time; being a part of the teams that arrested illegal fishing boats from a sailing yacht prior to the patrol boats being gifted by Australia. He is affectionately known at CMDR Robert and will be missed dearly by all the troops. Geoff our MSA contacted all the previous MSAs that have served here with Robert and most were kind enough to send back a few words for Robert to take with him. We had a small ceremony for him on the wharf after work last Monday. The troops all brought along a 'pot luck' style meal for afterwards. It was a great send off for Robert, that ended with a few beers into the night.

The guys all got dressed up and marched into place for the parade.

Not a bad photo with FSS Palikir and Sokez Mountain in the background.

CMDR Robert conducts his final inspection of the lads.

Depich (also retiring), Robert and the National Police chief.

A very proud man.

Robert was presented a certificate of appreciation from the FSM National Government that I'm sure is displayed proudly in his home.

Geoff, Dean and I donated a pig for the after party. Baron (XO FSS Palikir) did a great job carving it up for us.

Depich also received a certificate of appreciation. Depich was the base technical officer on the engineering side of things.

One final mark of respect for CMDR Robert. The 'eyes right' by the troops.

Alvino was proud to be given the job as 'guard commander'.

Yep a great job by Baron. I'm sure he has carved many a pig before this one.

Dean, Geoff, Robert and Scott all enjoying a beer after the ceremony.

The new Maritime Wing Commander David Marar declares the evening meal open.

Heather and Dean have Dean's Mum and her partner visiting us at the moment. They all had a great experience being part of the celebration.

Another great event at the Maritime Wing. Life is great in Pohnpei.

04 June - Ant Atoll Dive Day

Saturday 4th of June saw us heading to Ant Atoll with Lori and Stephen for a relaxing couple of dives. The trip over was on a beautiful flat ocean with next to no wind. What a life we lead!!!!!

As is always the case the fishing rods are always onboard. So we decided to troll all the way over from Pohnpei. Unfortunately we didn't catch any marlin this time.

First dive saw us get down to 36.5 metres. Here is a couple of beautiful Maori Wrasse. The bigger one was about 20kgs at least.

The colours in the photo don't do this fish justice. It is some sort of parrot fish and had great colours.

29 degree water lets us stay in swimmers all the way down to 36 metres. We don't miss the water temp in Perth that's for sure.

The highlight of this dive was coming across four eagle rays. They played around in front of us for about five minutes. It was simply awesome.

It was like they were playing tag at one stage. Great just to stay still and watch it all happen.

Facinating.

As we often seem to on our dives or snorkels here in Pohnpei, we come across Nemo.

The first dive was awesome: we saw Maori Wrasse, Red Bass, Giant Trevally, Blue-fin Trevally, Rainbow Runner, Eagle Rays and a Dog Tooth Tuna.

After the first dive we pulled up the anchor and headed to a different spot. At our intended destination we came across what was easily a hundred dolphins. We drove around with them for a little while and had a few of them come swimming beside the boat and under the bow. Awesome.

The second dive was on the back side of Ant Atoll which is pretty much a sheer face cliff dive. Freaky but very cool at the same time.

The visability is unbelievable, 50 metres at least.

Another beautiful clam. We always come across a lot of these as well and you never get tired of seeing them.

A different type of Nemo but no less spectacular.

The funny thing is they always want to look head on so getting a good photo can prove difficult.

Most of the little fish have fantastic colours that really stand out against the bleached coral.

Right at the end of the second dive we became engulfed in a massive school (200-300) of blue-fin trevally. I didn't have the camera on so I missed what would have been some awesome photos but here is the school on the other side of Nic.

Not the best picture but they were never far away so staying close to the reef was the best anti-shark plan.

What a fantastic way to spend a Saturday. Another great day on Pohnpei.

The Kids in May

It's the time of year that all mothers hate - SCHOOL HOLIDAYS. Nic has been kept very busy as Jaxon and Indi are at very different ages...... Sometimes they play really well together, other times one hundred metres apart isn't enough. The joys.....

Indi's Wednesday morning playgroup is continueing through the holidays. Roman is covered in paint yet again.

Not to be outdone.....

Of course Jaxon has to be involved now, and everything is bigger and better when Jaxon is around.

The end result; painted spagetti. If only I was so cheaply entertained.....

Nic managed to escape on Friday and had a girls lunch at CoCos Mariner. I didn't think she was ever coming home.

New bikes for the kids. Indi hasn't quite got it yet. Jaxon on the other hand is off and racing. It took him a little while to work out how to brake. Needless to say we have a few extra broken branches on the compound bushes at the moment from his impacts.

Nicho Beach was a day trip on Monday for Nic, the kids and some of our friends. Indi is a really water baby at the moment. She will put her face under the water with a mask on and watch the fish now. Hasn't mastered swimming just yet but she is getting there.

Kids, Kids and more Kids.

Nicho Beach is really protected so it is a great place for the kids to play in the shallows.

If only they were like this all the time. Only two months and 18 days to go until school starts again; but who's counting........

31 May - Memorial Day

Memorial Day in the USA is also celebrated in Micronesia as a lot of Micronesia Citizens serve in the US armed forces. As sadly too often happens when serving in any military force people pay the ulitimate sacrifice. This year the US Embassy decided it was fitting to honor those Micronesian men and woman that have fallen in the line of duty while serving in the US military by placing photos of them at the international airport. This is aimed to serve as a reminder to all vistors that freedom is indeed not free and these are the faces of some of the people that they have to thank for it.

The US Ambassador to Micronesia His Excellency Peter Prahar gave a great speech and thanked all of Micronesia for the contributions to the US Armed Forces.

Governer of Pohnpei State The Honorable John Ehsa responded to the Ambassadors speech and gave a moving speech including a statement about Micronesia's debt to the US for freeing the country from Japan during WWII.

The US Embassy provided a great bookley with the names of the fallen.

Initially the photos were lined up, covered and positioned down one of the airport walls.

Family members of the fallen then came forward to unveil the photos. A very difficult job to do I am sure.

All the photos proudly on display before being hung in their finally resting place.

The US Ambassador, The FSM President The Honorable Manny Mori, CMDR Gibb (USN) and I having a chat after the ceremony. We are certainly exposed to the upper echelon of society on this posting, a real 'representative posting' this year.

We Lynn from the US Embassy.

Nic in amongst the others taking a somber look at the photos.

A great occasion with a big 'hats off' to the US Embassy in Pohnpei.

30 May - Heathers Birthday

Monday was Heather's Birthday and we had planned on having a feast at our house. The compound is a very happy place with invites to the other two houses happening often these days. Unfortunately the power went out at about 2pm so the girls where left trying to work out how to cook up the storms they had planned. Dean and I came home after work and fired up all the bbqs, we even used ours to cook the cake.

Indy and Jaxon love being on 'clean up the cake tin' detail.

A little bit of creative cooking on our flash new bbqs.

The end result - Great job Mummy. Another Happy Birthday for Heather on Pohnpei.

27 May - CO Asher

Time for a relaxing afternoon bbq and beers at the Maritime Wing. Life in the Pacific, you wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

They say that time stands still for no man and that is also true here on Pohnpei. The Commander of the Maritime Wing has reached retirement age and sadly has to leave. He has proven to be a very valuable asset in his lengthy time in the maritime wing and his knowledge will be greatly missed. His moving on has allowed for a major reshuffle of the three crews as people are swapped between the three boats with several promotions being effected. My-crew (inside joke) is no more.

Nothing like a Friday afternoon bbq to build up the teamwork side of things.

Now those are some pretty solid ribs....

Dean, the Maritime Commander David Marar, a new CO Jack Asher and me. David and Jack will do a great job in their new roles with a difference being experienced already. The wheel is rolling in the right direction.