March 3, 2018 - Diving Near Walong, Kosrae

March 3, 2018

We are up bright and early to get ready for our diving day with Pacific Tree Lodge. Actually, very early as our clocks have not adjusted to the time zone, so we are an hour early getting up at a little before 6 instead of 7, but the extra time is needed as waking up takes more time than usual today. With all our gear packed except for tanks, we row to shore in the dingy and Mark soon arrives with the crew at 8:30 and we start our adventure.  

We make a stop on the way to Okat Harbor to pick up a man named Richard and soon he and Pete are sharing sailing adventures. He’s lost two boats and I’m thinking should I ask Pete if he’s every lost a boat or maybe it’s better not to know. At least he’s had Miss Kiss for nearly twenty years, so that’s a good enough record for me.

We get to the Harbor and walk to the end of the dock where the boat is waiting. There is a ton of gear to haul for the six of us and we make our way watching for holes in the dock where the wood has rotted away and I wonder if people fell through those holes and if they could tell that it was going to give way, so I step gingerly.

Situated in the boat, we begin putting our gear together and check that all is working. Mark tells us that it will be a pretty smooth ride to dive site on the south west corner of the island near Walung, but the ride back could be rough. Comparatively, it’s all a smooth ride to me.

We get to the dive site, fall overboard backwards and I feel my usual anxiety stepping in. Seems to always be right before I’m supposed to go under and I get the feeling I won’t be able to breath and feel I can’t. It’s the worst part of diving for me, but I take a deep breath, shove in the regulator and go under. It takes me a while to go down as my ears don’t want to clear. I try to relax, focus on clearing and look at what lies below; all the wonderful creatures to see and coral to investigate. Still getting used to diving, plus the new gear, my buoyancy is off, and I struggle with that as well, feeling like a complete novice, but soon a clown fish appears, and I’m again mesmerized by the ability to see, up close, the wonders of the deep.

Roughly and hour later, we are doing a safety stop before heading to the surface. I take off my fins to soon and Mark has to tow me back to the boat as the current is to strong to swim without them. Lesson learned for next dive – the boat was right there. Back on board we are given fresh drinking coconuts and Tuna Paninos. I’m not that hungry, but know the sandwich is too good to pass up. WE talk and wait until it is safe to go in for the second dive, having already switched out our tanks for full ones.

This time is much better, there’s no anxiety going under water and my ears clear faster this time. More comfortable, my buoyancy is much better as well and my confidence level soars enough, so I can relax and really enjoy the dive.  On of the dive masters points out a turtle, which I’ve been longing to see since arriving in the South Pacific and in a few seconds, it sees us and quickly swims away. There are lovely Christmas Tree worms all over the coral, but it’s difficult to take a close up photo before they disappear into their holes. Soon, our time is up, we board the boat and pack up our gear as we head back to Okat Harbor, enjoying the sights along the way and seeing the ‘Sleeping Lady’ on top of the mountains.

We stop at Pacific Tree Lodge to pay for our dive and I buy a few souvenirs in the hopes of mailing a package to my grandson when we get to Pohnpei. He was excited about the idea of unique ‘show and tell’ items for school.  Mark drops us off at Ace and we haul our gear back to the boat and unload before heading back to shore.

We find out the laundromat is open until midnight but decide we can wait until Monday. There are strict cultural rules for Sundays and that includes no swimming, kayaking, touring, laundry…it is a day to focus on God and a true day of rest. After a long look at the meat section of the grocery, I try to pick some chicken breast that seem to have the least freezer burn on them and we pick out some beef that I know will need a day to marinate before we can begin thinking of eating it. A stop at the produce stand and we get a fresh watermelon, more eggplant and some lettuce, which is more like a lighter colored, very leafy bok choy, but it’s fresh and I find that taste buds get used to the differences quickly. I also buy some of their homemade salted chili pepper to send in the care package to my grandson, Sam, though I don’t think he will enjoy that.

Back on board, we decide to make a chicken stew in the pressure cooker as the chicken is completely frozen solid and there’s hope it just might be tender. It turns our well, a mixture of; black rice, fresh pumpkin, carrots, chicken, onion, garlic, spices and eggplant thrown in for a few minutes at the end. And I’m learning to be like Pete an organize my photos right away – what a difference it makes.

Well fed and after a full day, sleep comes very easily tonight.

Here's a compilation of Pete's videos, shortened and reduced quite a bit so it can be uploaded with the slow internet. I not even sure why I bring my camera along he does such a fine job!