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  The Rainbow Cliff had room and it was exactly what the Internet said - somewhat outdated but clean, fine, friendly help, and good food.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!