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.

7 April - Shark Night

Last night we enjoyed a rainless sunset, music and then a half an hour documentary on the preservation of sharks throughout the world. The kids just enjoyed being up passed bedtime, because they were aloud to be naughty.....

Chris and Kylie also made the trip down to the park. Heaps of room as you can see.

No it's not your eyes Nana and Granddad. The camera didn't like taking pictures of the screen for some reason. The numbers quoted were 73 million sharks a year at roughly 200 thousand a day are killed purely for shark fin. Once the fins are off the sharks are pushed back over the side, still alive, to dive a very slow and painful death.

Palau is the first country in the world to turn their entire waters into a shark sanctuary. The Federated States of Micronesia are considering doing the same thing. If it goes ahead as proposed the FSMs shark sanctuary will be bigger than all the current shark sanctuarys world wide put together.

The yanks are starting to get with the program as well. With them on side, considering they pretty much prop up the FSM financially, hopefully the FSM will pass the bill. It will be an awesome thing to see.

Tennis

Last weekend was a long weekend celebrating Cultural Day on Friday. We took the opportunity to have partake in some Australian culture playing some tennis with our friends Wren and Brenda.

Best Buddies.

You'd think they beat us......

All's well that ends well I guess.

I also did a Pohnpean cultural activity, and only because I felt obliged to. I went fishing in the afternoon and caught some yellowfin and skip jack tunas.

Tawak and Palikir Passes

Nic took an opportunity to go for a morning snorkel with some friends. They headed out to Palikir and Tawak passes and enjoyed a rainless, sunny day. Very rare in Pohnpei.

Sokez Rock looks magnificent on a sunny day.

Brenda getting ready for a dip.

There is always an opportunity for a self-potrait.

Pretty cool sting ray, as long as you don't get too close.

We'll miss seeing Nemos when we get back to Perth.