Cocktails out of Coconuts

Kids - General

Another 'general' collection of photos - mostly the kids this time.

You know that uneasy feeling you get when it's way to quiet......... INDIANAA BABY Where are you? No answer. Off we go and find here sitting on the toilet with her fingernails and toenails painted; up the first knuckle. Kids, got to love em. Not a bad first attempt I must admit.

Halloween is massive here. Any excuse to get dressed up.

Five going on fifteen. Pretty cool.

Face painting at home. Good job Mummy. That's a very scarey tiger.

A robot I think......

Daughters..... Indi has started choosing her own clothes now. I can only imagine what she'll be wearing in ten years. Time to go back to sea....

Okay Okay. We'll sit still long enough to eat something.

Hey Soniber. Aren't you meant to be the security guard. We have been blessed with the current batch of gardening and security staff. The kids love them and they are only to willing to keep them entertained from time to time.

Not quite strong enough Muffin.

Jaxon Boy is off and racing though.

Indi (aka Dora the Explorer).

Compound exercise.

The training wheels are off. Jaxon is on the bike every day now and loving it.

Yet another bloody day off school this month. At least the school had a fair to keep them entertained for a little while.

Dini and Silly Lilly (the rat) came over for a visit.

Indi is a very smart girl. That's an easy way to exercise the dog.

General Goings On

On of those collection of photo blogs that include several events.

Sam (Australian Embassy), Ecki and Antonia have returned back to Aus. Canberra will be hard going after two years on Pohnpei. We had them over for dinner just before they headed out.

Ecki, Nic and Dini - another terrible trio...

The lads.

I took Mike out for a fishing trip trying to catch the big one. Way out, far far away from land, the big marlin lure goes off. Teasers and other lines are pulled in and Mike is ready to fight.....

What the hell was a small barracuda doing all the way out there. Talk about a let down. Oh well, next time Mike.

I know many won't believe it, but it's true. Nic has joined some of the ladies on island every Tuesday and they 'quilt'. I must admit Nic's results are pretty impressive.

And Nic says fishing is boring.....

Bill and Tammie joined us at the Annual Rotary Quiz night. We didn't do that well on the quiz, but we had plenty to drink and won a few really cool things in the raffle prizes. Nic and I won a lunch at the Joy Restaurant and an old chinese glass fishing float. The Rotary club also had some items for sale in a silent auction where we picked up a wooden pesto bowl, another chinese fishing float and a plane ride to an outer island.

All in all it was an awesome night. Can't wait for the outer island trip. Something else to squeeze into our ever dwindling time on Pohnpei.

As you would expect I'm out fishing at least once a week in our closing stages. Last weekend I went out for a four hour session. I tried the reef for some wahoo with no luck. Then out from the reef I lost a big marlin so things weren't going great. Then one of the reels started screaming and I landed this very tastey morsel. Time to head in, sad about the marlin but content with the Mahi.

Cori Jo

World Teach plays a huge part through out the Pacific. The volunteers live in the community and assist the teachers in the outer lying local schools. A difficult task at times, no doubt. One of the young girls, Cori Jo, also volunteered to do 'Story Time' on Thursday afternoons at the Pohnpei State Library. Jaxon and Indi look forward to this every week.

The sessions are really well attended.

To keep the kids attentive they dance to the stories, do craft, sing...

Indi and Jaxon dancing up a storm.

Cori Jo unfortunately has had to leave the island, rotating back to the real world. The girls took her out for dinner at The Village. Cori Jo was staying at our place that night and had a hot shower and used a hair dryer - It was like all of her Christmas's had come at once.

Long Island Ice Tea anyone.

Happy times.

A terrible trio if there ever was one.

Take care Cori Jo - we will all miss you.

04 Nov - DA Visit and P-Pass

The Defence Advisor for the South West Pacific CMDR Geoff Turner and his wife Vale visited us for five days in early November. Essentially he is my boss and luckily for me, a good one. We took them out to Palikir Pass for a snorkel trip on the Sunday afternoon.

P-Pass is one of the world's best surf spots but when the surf is down it is an awesome snorkelling spot.

Luckily for us the sun was out in full force and combined with the clean water of the incoming tide provided us with great underwater visability.

Nic's favourite - the blue starfish.

From out of space.

Even more Nemo's.

Jerry was our boat driver for the day.

The muffin without a life jacket on..... Cheeky Monkey.

Jerry and Jaxon trying to climb up the mooring line.

Bombs away.

I took Geoff out fishing in the morning and unfortunately we only managed one skipjack.

Geoff and Vale out for dinner at The Rusty Anchor.

02 Nov - Manta Pass Trip

02 Nov was the Independence Day public holiday on Pohnpei. So we rounded up a few friends and headed off to Manta Road to try and find the mantas. Unfortunately we only saw three during our couple of hours there. They were on the bottom, about 18 metres down, so the photos don't really do them justice. The great thing about Manta Road is that the coral and fish on either side make the trip worth it, even if you don't see any mantas.

As always Nemo is about.

These electric blue fish really contrast well against the dull coral.

No life jacket required for this five year old.

Indi still wears a life jacket in the deep water.

Is it just me or does this piece of coral look like Australia.

Out on the Pohnpei Surf Club boats again.

Believe me there is a manta ray in this photo. This was taken from the surface, I duck-dived down about 10 metres but the photo didn't turn out.

Fishing buddies - Brenda and Scott

The crew for the day.

Nic and Randy (US Embassy)

Roro our super boat driver.

Jaxon, Indi and Dini. Dini is a hit with the kids.

Yet another fantastic three hours on Pohnpei.

01 Nov - Nic visits Indi's School

Nic took some time out from her busy schedule to visit Indi's school and read some stories at story time. All of the books had an 'Australian Focus'. Indi stands out as she is the only 'whitie' at her school which makes her a very interesting subject. To have her 'mom' come in increased the fascination factor.