Rounding out February 2012

This post is just a few random photos of things we have been up to in Feb that didn't fit into any of the other blogs.

Nic went to one of her friends' weddings. The local ladies did a great job preparing the church. The local flowers gave off a real 'pacific' feel to the event.

Jun and Rose, happily married.

Who would have thought you could get a cake this good on Pohnpei.

Yet another rainy day on Pohnpei. The rain doesn't bother the kids over here. Back in Perth in winter I'm sure it'll be a whole different story.

It didn't take Daddy too long to get in on the action.

One day after work we headed out to a nearby reef for a quick snorkel. Rain, rain and more rain. Oh well, better than being in front of the tv.

Always happy to be out of the compound.

Nic babysat a couple of local kids one Saturday. They loved playing with Indi and Jaxon, especially in the pool.

The pool is Jaxon's favourite place on island I think.

25 Feb - Fishing Tournament

Saturday 25 Feb saw a later than usual start for me in the first tournament of the year. The tournament started at 6am but since it was still dark then we left home about 6:30, not too worried about losing half an hour. Especially with the amount of rain we have been receiving, I was happy to delay the inevitable. What a day it turned out to be. We didn't even have all the lures out when we got our first strike. A barracuda that ended up getting up second place in that category. About 15 minutes later one of the reels started screaming.....

Ten minutes later we had this little beauty on board. An Indo-Pacific sailfish. It jumped four times as I brought it in, putting on an awesome display.

By 8am we had the sailfish, three good sized wahoo and three barracuda. Time to leave the reef in search of marlin. Not a thing until about 11am when we got this little guy. Luckily this also got us second place in it's category. Unfortunately it was our last fish of the day, and to top it off the rain started and didn't stop until just before we weighed in at 5pm. We were freezing....

Our second place, $100 USD stinky barracuda.

My best wahoo ever fell half a pound short of second place in the wahoo category.

The boys trying their best to 'not' break the bill of my sailfish.

It's colours still looks pretty good even 10 hours after it was brought on board. Normally you would let them go but tourament day it's a whole different story. We came second in the tourament with this fish, less than 2kgs behind the winner. That gave us another $250 to go with the $200 for the barracuda and dolphin fish. A pretty good result all in all.

Not huge but big enough. My wahoo was that big I couldn't shut the esky.

Thanks for coming. Fuel and registration covered with beer money to spare. You beauty.

Jerry (my partner in crime) and I back at the surf club. I gave the sailfish, a wahoo and the barracuda to Jerry to take home to his village. They all ate like kings and Jerry was in the good books with his parents and in-laws. If only every tourament was this good. If I can catch a billfish every tournament this year I'll be very happy.

19 Feb - Fishing Day

Well it had been over three weeks and I had a itch that needed to be scratched. The wind was blowing 40 knots at least at one stage during the night and I even thought about cancelling (heaven forbid). At 6am Brenda and I decided it was going to be okay windwise so out we went. No wind, but plenty of rain. I have never been so wet, not even in a bloody swimming pool.

10kgs of teeth. Fingers and toes away from the nose. Stinky barracuda.

Yet another wahoo.

Our two wahoo for the day, both caught before 0730. That's 37 wahoo in my last 5 trips. If only it was like that all year round I'd be letting them go. The wahoo run is close to ending though; luckily the freezer is stocked to get us through until next October when they start turning up again.

A beautifully coloured blue-fin trevally that our boat driver took home for dinner.

A fishing tournament is scheduled for this upcoming weekend. Lets hope that the weather is better then, and that I get a marlin into the boat......

07-13 Feb Guam

After a very enjoyable but busy week in Hong Kong we stopped back in Guam for a week before heading back to our island home.

The monster playground in one of the parks near the beach. If you look behind it you'll see what got Jaxon and Indi's attention first.

Yep. Too used to being on Pohnpei these kids.

The US Marine build up planned for Guam is going to be massive if it happens. The jets flew pretty much all day Monday to Friday. At the cost of jet fuel, parts and maintenance it's no wonder the US has financial problems.

The kids didn't take to long to upgrade to the 'biggest playground ever'.

What is that you ask? You'll see a little further down the page. Not my idea of fun though.

Navy IDs in hand we got onto the Navy base. Unfortunately for the credit card we got into the PX. Talk about spending money to save money. Unbelieve how much we pay for things in Australia compared to a US Military PX. We also went to Gab Gab Beach. Very secluded, especially on a week day. No civies and all the military families were at work and school.

Jaxon is one hundred percent into donning the mask and looking at fish.

Indi is getting there pretty quickly. As long as she can touch the bottom she is more than happy to put her head under all day.

Good boy Jaxon. Just what big brothers are for; keeping little sisters afloat. Lucky he's already an excellent swimmer.

More aggressive triggerfish.

About a hundred metre swim out from the beach the shallows drop away. Coral, fish and water clarity was fantastic.

Nemos everywhere you looked.

At Tumon Bay (hotel strip) the snorkelling is awesome as well. Plus it is pretty sheltered from the wind allowing the kids (and Japanese tourists) to swim safely in the shallows.

This is the result of the contrapion you saw on the surface before. One guide dressed up in scuba gear and then hooks up Japanese tourists to the bottles on the surface, gives them a weight-belt and then drags them through the water. Definately didn't look like fun at all.

The fish life in Tumon Bay was amazing, especially for an area that has some many people swim there every day.

I don't think the area is even a sanctuary.

Warm water and colourful fish, what more do you want when snorkelling the shallows.

More family sandcastles.

Sushi, sashimi and rice for lunch. Standard fare for us.

It's not normally this flash though.

Mummy's boy.

Daddy's girl.

Jaxon finally gets the Gangstar fingers and face right (kind of).

After the seafood smorgie at the Guam Reef it was time for dancing with the background music lady. I don't think she will be giving her tamberine to any more little boys any time soon.

Our final lunch was at a spot call the Beach Bar. A fantastic spot with a play ground for the kids, beach volleyball courts, cocktails, beer on tap and great food.

They had a mixed pairs comp on while we were there.

Looking back up from the beach.

Nic enjoying a moment or two to relax before heading back to Pohnpei the next day.

We are back on Pohnpei now, and after finding absolutely no fresh food in any of the stores Nic was ready to hop on the first plane back off island. That's life on Pohnpei though. Only ten months to go on our island paradise.