Pohnpei

We decided - actually I begged and Willard acquiesced - that we would spend a couple of days in Pohnpei after Palau since it was on the way home. We have heard both good and bad about Pohnpei so I didn’t have huge expectations.

But first, it was back on the Island Hopper. It was brutal in a new way. We had to board the plane in Palau at 2 AM which meant there was no sleep that night. I was wearing a skirt since I had visited the Ministry of Education that morning and found out the hard way that they frisk you if you are in a skirt. When we got to Guam we saw Cheryl and Phil off onto their flight - they had to make a mad dash and almost missed their connection - and then we went to chill for two plus hours waiting for our next plane. We were up, then down in Chuuck, then up and down again in Pohnpei somewhere around 2 PM. By this time we were exhausted and I was questioning my sanity for wanting to make the extra stop.  In addition to being tired, we had not made any reservations - we were flying by the seat of our pants. The only thing I’d done is to research hotels online and I thought I had a reasonable place to try.

After we collected our luggage, we started to stagger outside. Willard approached a young man who said he’d be glad to take us to the hotel; it was on his way to his place of business. We hopped in his rig and off we went. He dropped us off and Willard handed him $5.  The Rainbow Cliff had room and it was exactly what the Internet said - somewhat outdated but clean, fine, friendly help, and good food. It didn’t seem like a $100/night room but we were too tired to argue. After unpacking our things we went down for an iced tea and Willard began looking at the map/brochure and asked what I wanted to do. Nap. By this time I was beyond tired - that was that for the day.

The next day, however, we were able to get on what we thought was a day of snorkeling. A cab driver took us down the road to a spiffier hotel, The Village, where we met five Japanese JICA folks, an Australian woman, and a young man from America who is doing firefighting in Kwajalein. When one of the Japanese began to explain JICA (these folks do a two year volunteer stint akin to our  Peace Corps), I explained that I had just said good-bye to my JICA Japanese teacher and was getting ready to welcome a new one. It turns out they all knew the new teacher; she was in their training classes! Our guide was a Pohnpei man named Ward.

 Our first stop was to go to Manta Road, a channel of water between islands that has manta rays. The whole time we were in Palau, Phil, Cheryl, and Willard, mentioned repeatedly that it would be very cool to see a manta ray. I was indifferent really. I have seen large eagle rays off of our reef and so a ray wasn’t on top of my list. But, immediately, when we pop into the water, everyone is excited - there is a ray! But it is really deep and I only see it for a couple of seconds so I decide not to concern myself and move over to the reef and enjoy the coral and the fish. After a half hour everyone climbs back in the boat so I figure that is that.  It turns out we needed to hang out for a while, while the tide changed and while we did Ward showed me where there is a school of fish. He showed me how the water bubbles or looks like it is boiling and that’s how you know the fish are there. Then he goes on to say that the manta rays like to circle these fish and the next thing we know, he has jumped in. We follow and, true to his word, there is the ray! This creature was over 8 feet wide and swam right to us, within a yard, before turning off.  It was too fast to follow but we found that if we stayed with the school of fish, sure enough, it would come back around. Before we were done there were two, doing all sorts of acrobatics right in front of us. I almost got an affidavit signed by all of our witnesses because I don’t think Phil or Cheryl will ever believe us! The manta rays are amazing and now I understand why the others were keen to see them.

From there we went to a small little island to eat a nice lunch and we snorkeled off its shore. We then went to a waterfall. We hiked for five minutes to a fall that was about 200 feet. It was beautiful and I think it is the first time I have swam under a fall! Ward then took us to the Nan Madol Ruins. This looks to be a village that is made from huge basalt stones. The walls are 15 feet or better and the stones are up to 6 tons. These ruins date around 500 A.D. and no one knows the real story of why they are there or HOW they got there. Archaeologists say there are several tombs that were for royalty and a place of worship but mostly the 150 acres of 93 man-made islets of ruins are all a mystery.

We finished the day feeling like we’d made new friends and had an incredible tour. We called for a taxi driver and a man named Keeper (not lying) came and got us. He took us to a local saceu (the Pohnpei version of kava) stop and we passed the coconut cup of brew. He agreed to come for us again this morning and take us around the island for $50. Since it cost $65 to rent a car, we felt we had a deal!

Keeper was right on time and took us around the island. Almost all of it is very rural and the jungle is beautiful. The main road that goes around is paved and in good shape. There are no roads that go across - it’s uninhabited hill and jungle. Once you have headed out of town you better have eaten, peed, and have gas in your car because there are no facilities. We saw the national capitol building, the state capitol building, several schools and a pepper farm.

We liked Pohnpei a lot and would come back, even to live! The people are friendly and the island is cleaner than Majuro. The locals live poor but they have all they need; Keeper says they do not know starvation. They are able to grow bananas, coconuts, mango, papaya, breadfruit, taro and more. And of course they fish.

Tomorrow we are back on the Island Hopper and back to Majuro. It has been a good vacation!

Love to you, Becky and C.B.

Pohnpei

I didn't take this picture but this is exactly like the rays we saw

Keeper and Willard

In my new skirt from Pohnpei!

Vacation in Palau

We are on vacation! My sister and brother-in-law, Cheryl and Phil, joined us in Guam where we got on the plane for Palau. While this destination was highly recommended to us by islanders and tourists alike, I really didn’t have much in the way of expectations except a clean hotel, decent food, and great snorkeling.

We arrived at the nicest airport I’ve been to in the South Pacific (except Guam which doesn’t really count). It’s clean, attractive and efficient. We were picked up by a man from our hotel and brought to the Waterfront Villa. It is not posh, but rather funky. For $80/night we have our own furnished apartment that is nicer than our house in Majuro. It is run by Seventh Day Adventists so there is absolutely no help from sundown on Friday to 6 PM on Saturday, but they forewarn you and beyond this little inconvenience, the help is warm, friendly, and eager to please. There is a restaurant that serves a decent breakfast and a pool.

Two of my favorite Palauans so far are the two ladies we met at the Budget Rent-a-Car. They were happy to chat with Cheryl and I about their customs, including the money beads the Palauan women receive from parents and husbands that is worth more to them than actual money. They told us that their country was originally Belau but people said the name so fast that others misunderstood the B for a P and so it because Palau. They recommended restaurants and things to see and do. They were wonderful!

My other favorite person is Swing. On Sunday, we helped ourselves to the posh resort, eating lunch and snorkeling off of their beach. I asked the bartender what he would do if he was a visitor here with just a couple of days. He said, “I’d call Swing and have him take me out on his boat. He is Palauan and he knows all of the good spots.” We got a phone number and thought we’d give him a call later on. Later that evening we were at a restaurant, chatting it up with the waitress. She wanted to know what we were up to and we told her we wanted to snorkel. She told us that she knows Swing and that yes, we need to go with him. In fact, she said she would call him on the spot and she did!

So yesterday we go with Swing. He is funny and friendly and he does know all of the good spots. We started out a little crabby because we found out there is a $100 permit we needed to purchase in addition to the boat ride but we buy our permits and board. From there we pick up another couple who are from Germany and off we go. The snorkeling was amazing and just kept getting better. He took us to four different spots in addition to Jellyfish Lake.

This is a lake that is 60% saltwater and 40% rainwater. Somehow the jellyfish made their way through crevices from the sea into this lake and over time lost their stinging tentacles through evolution since there are no predators to threaten them in the lake. Willard and I hiked up some very uneven and quite vertical steps for several minutes until I thought I would die (there are no steps in Majuro to keep me in shape) and then down into the lake. You just put on your mask and fins and hop in and swim with a gazillion jellyfish that range in size from a marble to larger than a softball. There are a couple of species of fish as well but you don’t notice them - you just see that you are surrounded by these gentle moving peach colored sea creatures, everywhere! We were also surrounded by two hundred Taiwanese. It turns out that these folks can come to Palau for $500 on a chartered trip and they come in droves. What cracked me up is that we kept crossing paths with them in the lake and the ocean and every time they were out in the water just chatting it up with one another. Very few were actually looking at anything beneath the surface! It made me even happier we had chosen to go with Swing!

As I said, the snorkeling here is amazing. We have seen more varieties of coral than I have ever seen and there are fish galore! There is absolutely no litter on the sea floor which makes me happy to have paid the permit fee. I think my new favorite creature is the giant clam! We find the shells on our beach in Majuro but I have not seen one live until now. They can weigh up to 400 pounds and can be 3 feet high. What is amazing is that most of the ones we have seen have these brilliant, electric colorings - almost psychedelic - and each one is very different than the next. Some are blue, others green or pink or ….. Anyway, at the end of our last snorkel, Swing told the six of us to grab the tow rope and he drug us through the water. It made me feel like a kid and it was a fun way to end the day. We all had to admit we were very tired; Swing had given us our money’s worth!

We are loving our time with Cheryl and Phil and happily eating our way through Palau. We have eaten in several places and feel we struck gold every time. They even have a brewery here that makes a very nice amber! We’ve also toured the aquarium and museum and found them to be nicely done. Today we are driving the islands so we’ll see what kind of mischief we can make on this new adventure!

Being with Cheryl and Phil makes me realize how much we miss all of you. Please let us know how you are doing – throw us a line once in a while! Take care, we send our love,

Becky and the Cabana Boy

Having an amazing snorkel day in Palau!

Swing driving the boat

 /s

The Rock Islands

A picture of a giant clam - no I didn't take the picture but this is what they look like

The jellyfish - I didn't take this picture either

This is a cave the Japanese blasted out and used to hold fuel