THE CAT TRANSPORTER

July 26, 2012 Thursday
HAFA ADAI!

I know you have all heard of the Horse Whisperer and the Dog Whisperer.  Well, I have been contacted by TLC to be in a new series they are starting called the CAT TRANSPORTER.  Yes, yes, I have become an expert in the area of transporting cats half way around the world and now I am offering my services worldwide.  The pilot is in the can and should be ready for viewing shortly.......I will keep you posted on the details.

I guess you can tell this post is going to be all about my adventure with moving my Grandkits half way across the world from the teeny tiny little island of Saipan to Arizona, USA.  This was NOT an easy feat.  So sit back, grab a treat and enjoy the story.........

Hurdle 1:  I started looking into moving the cats back to Arizona prior to coming back to Paradise, aka Saipan.  I found a company on the internet that specialized in transporting animals and read reviews about dogs being shipped to France, other European countries and around the states and how wonderful this company was.  The best thing was it is located in Tucson, Az., right in our back yard so to speak.  I tried to contact them prior to leaving but could never get hold of them.

When I arrived in Paradise I got an email from them informing me they do not transport animals from this part of the world.............grrrrrrrrr!  So, once again, I had to find someone who could fly the cats out of here.  United Airlines have a PetSafe service that specifically deals in transporting cats.  It was impossible for me to contact them however since they are based in Houston, Texas and the time difference was a big issue so I told Audra, who was back in Arizona by now looking for a job, that she could handle that part and get all the details.

I found out from PetSafe via email that they did not have any transportation services for animals out of Saipan so that was my next hurdle.  The prop-jet plane that is the commuter plane between Guam and all the Northern Mariana Islands did not take pets.  So after asking around for several days I found a little commuter service, Freedom Air,  that had a Cargo plane and they would ship animals to Guam only on Fridays.  I passed that info along to Audra and she and Steve got busy making the reservations for the cats.

This is when the nightmare started for me.  Talk about hurdles!  I felt like I was in a video game constantly having to dodge obstacles tossed in my way.  Every day was something new.

Hurdle 2:  of course each cat needed his/her own cat carrier.  They had to meet certain specifications as well.  Remember, I am currently living on an island that is 15 miles long and 5 miles wide without many shopping options so where they heck was I going to find cat carriers???  The vet office doesn't carry any of that stuff so I was at a loss.  I started asking around, thinking it was useless, when someone told me ACE Hardware had them so I rushed right there.  The carriers were pretty cheaply made but the tag said they were approved by the USA Department of Agriculture for transporting animals so I figured that was good enough and bought four of them.  Each kennel had to have a water bowl and food bowl attached to the front door and have holes in four sides of the carrier...........the ones I bought only have holes in three sides.  I was freaking out about that when I thought of Pam's husband (one of Audra's friends here).  He has a business repairing generators and boats so I knew he could get the holes drilled in the back of the carriers so hauled them over there and got it done.  Each carrier had to have a bag of food attached to the outside of the carrier too.  I went shopping at Dolphin, kind of like a mini WalMart here, and found some Buzz Lightyear/Woody Bags that would be perfect to hold the food and bought four of them.  I wrote each cats name on the back of their bags.......(I was starting to feel like I really was transporting people instead of cats:)  I bought little plastic bowls and use fishing line to attach them to the door or each carrier for water and food along the way.  Hurdle number two was completed over a series of weeks....

Hurdle 3:  the cats needed Health Certificates and proof of Rabies shots, even though there are no rabies on the island.  Audra had Dr. Tudor, our Vet, give them those shots earlier so I didn't have to deal with that.  I was also told they needed clearance from the Saipan Department of Agriculture in order to leave the island.  I kind of thought that was not right but called them any way.  Of course, the only time you would need to contact them is if you were bringing animals INTO Saipan.  So after inquiring around for several weeks, literally, I was told I had to contact the Arizona Department of Agriculture since that was the final destination for the cats.  I had to have a permit from them allowing the cats into the state.  Once again I called up Steve and Audra and got them on that.  Steve ended up calling Washington DC and was told no permit was required since we were transporting animals from a USA Commonwealth to the USA stateside so that hurdle was cleared........................or so I thought.......

The health certificates are only good for 10 days of travel so you have to get them for each cat right before you leave so I went in on Wednesday since the cats were set to begin their journey on Friday, July 20th.  That went smoothly but it was a task getting all four carriers down the stairs with the cats in them and then packed into the car and driven to the vets.  The cats were not happy at all.  Little did they know this was a piece of cake compared to what they were going to face on Friday.  I have to jump ahead to Hurdle 4 for now to continue........but will come back later to Hurdle 3.....

Hurdle 4: GUAM!  I talked to Freedom Air when Audra was still here and found out I couldn't just send the cats from Saipan to Guam by themselves.  I had to go along to transfer them from Freedom Air Cargo to United Cargo at the Guam Airport because the workers wouldn't do it.  Working with the reservations Audra and Steve has made for the cats travel from Guam to Arizona I wanted to make the reservations for them to leave Saipan on Friday and the cats would leave Guam for Hawaii on Saturday morning at 6:30AM.  We were told to just notify Freedom Air a couple of days ahead of time to let them know the cats would be part of their Cargo so I didn't think anything further about it until the date for their travel got closer.  So a week before they left I went to the airport to make their reservation and my own reservation (we had to go on separate flights with different carriers).  I made my reservation so I would arrive a couple hours earlier than they would in Guam but did not have to make a reservation for the cats.  I was told to just bring them to the Cargo area on Friday morning at 9AM and could pay for it there and complete all the paper work.  Oh, yea, and I needed an ENTRY PERMIT for GUAM.  Say what?  The final destination was not Guam, it was just a stop over.  So I called up the Guam Department of Agriculture and guess what?  Rule change had just taken place two months ago.  Not only did each cat need an Entry Permit to get into Guam  but they had to be placed in quarantine for their 12 hour layover.......say what?  This is being told to me four days before they are to leave.  I called Dr. Tudor, the vet, and he said no way.  Since they were in transit they didn't need to be quarantined and no entry permit was needed.  When I got home I had an email from the only vet service on Guam telling me what necessary paper work I needed to get to them so they could kennel the cats for the 12 hour layover.  I called  Dr. Tudor and that's when the battle of the vets started.  Needless to say GUAM won:(  So with minutes to spare literally I got the info to them, got the entry permits issued for me to get the cats into Guam and found out how much the kennel charges were, which I will NEVER tell anybody so don't ask!  Let's just say I was robbed!  Then I was told since Friday the 20th of July was a holiday for Guam, their Liberation Day from Japanese control back during WWII that I had to contact Customs in Guam and arrange for a Custom Agent to meet me at the Cargo shack so he could clear the cats for entry into Guam.....PLUS I had to pay him for doing this since it was a holiday!  I tell you, they have a racket going on in Guam that is all about the GREEN.

Back to Hurdle 3:  So before I took the cats to the vets to get their Health Certificates the Department of Agriculture told me the cats needed current blood tests as well to get entry into Guam.  Mind you it was Wednesday and the cats were scheduled to leave Friday so I called Dr. Tudor again and was told that was not correct and they would contact the Department of Agriculture and straighten it out with them.  Thank heavens they backed down on that because there is no way we would have gotten the results from the blood tests back in time.  The Health Certificates and proof of rabies vaccinations were issued along with a luggage tag for each cat.  The Vet office took pictures of each cat and put it on their tag along with all their information about what type of cat they were, how much they weighed, etc.  So dang cute!  Then, I went to lift Jive's carrier up and the damn handle broke right off!  Thank goodness it didn't break while I was hauling him down the flight of stairs at the apartment or he would have been killed.  Too late to get another carrier (they cost a lot here too) and I had those holes drilled into the back so couldn't take it back anyway so pondered what I was going to do about this on my drive back to the apartment with the cats meowing their heads off.  My answer came to me while I was sleeping and I headed back to Ace Hardware Thursday morning.  I got straps to wrap around each carrier so the cats could be transported using them instead of the handles.  They worked like a charm but I told everyone to carry the whole carrier rather than use handles or the strap when moving the cats.

I have had tons of sleepless nights over this ordeal and wouldn't wish this on anyone.  I am an expert though on the necessary paperwork needed in a place that isn't supposed to be considered as a foreign place but is treated like you are in a foreign place.

So ok.....I think I'm all set for the cats to take off on Friday.  I had scheduled the people from the rip off place that were kenneling the cats in Guam for 12 hours to be at the Cargo shack at 3PM and the Customs Agent to be there at 3PM to clear these cats..  All the paper work was in order, copies made, kennel requirements met, cats loaded into their carriers and ready to go to the airport.

Audra's friend Wendy stopped by to help me get them to the Cargo Terminal.  We hauled them down the stairs, loaded them up and took off for the airport.

Got to Freedom Air Cargo at 9AM Friday, worked on the paper work while the cats were weighed and stacked up.  They were not happy at all and begging to go back to the apartment.  After a while they quieted down.......except for Payaya.  SHE was not so easily pleased.

Papaya was so scared she hid underneath her pink towel most of the time they were waiting to be put onto the plane.  She wasn't used to see so many strangers around and it really freaked her out!

I bid farewell to the Grandkits and told them I would see them in Guam.  Wendy drove me to the terminal and I got checked in.  Took off at 11:30 and arrived in Guam at 12:30PM.  As I was going through Customs in Guam  the agent  wanted to know why I was visiting Guam so I told him about the cats. His face lit up and he pointed out the agent who was going to clear the cats for me and guess what.......he was working, not at home enjoying the holiday.  Total rip off that I had to pay Customs extra for the agent to come to the Cargo terminal which was within walking distance of the main terminal to clear the cats!  GRRRRRRR!!!!  Their Customs is controlled by Guam so they can get away with taking money (it had to be cash and the exact amount) for these "extra" services.


HURDLE 5:  Once I arrive in Guam I went to the United Airlines desk to see if I could check the cats in ahead of time and pay for their airfare instead of having to come back to the airport at 3AM Saturday morning.  Of course I could not do that so that meant I would be back at 3AM.  I wasn't going to rent a car but decided since I had to come back so early in the morning I my as well rent a car.  I got my car and went to check in at my hotel which was about 3 minutes away from the airport.  I headed back at 2:30PM to meet the cat at 3PM only to find out the plane wasn't going to land until 3:45.  Thanks God I got there early so I had time to call Customs and tell them the guy wasn't needed until 3:30 or else I would have had to pay him extra.  The lady from the kennel showed up at 3PM and we sat around and chatted until the cats arrived.  Turned out she was the owner's daughter.  I let her know I thought the price I was being charged for 12 hours of lodging was outrageous but didn't want to raise to big of a stink since they were watching the cats:)

The cats arrived in the funky Freedom Air Cargo Plane.

The forklift headed out to the runway and they started unloading the cat carriers onto a pallet.  I could hear them meowing all the way out on the runway!  By the way, Freedom Air Cargo consisted of a little shack with a fenced off area where the cargo was brought into.  Nothing fancy at all.

The forklift brought them back and the lady from Harper Valley   Kennels was there getting the paperwork for the cats to take inside to the Customs Agent.

Once the paperwork was completed and they were "cleared" to enter Guam (those little holligans) they were loaded up into the Kennel's pickup truck and took off for their 12 hour stay.  Justine said they would be put into a play room together for the wait so they could roam around and eat.  Papaya got to ride in the front seat because she was raising such a fuss.

I headed back to the hotel for much needed rest and peach and quiet until 2AM.

2AM rolled around too soon and I was back at the airport waiting for the Grandkits to arrive.  Once again they were meowing their heads off and just couldn't understand why I wasn't taking them out of those cages. I felt so bad for them:( The owner's son brought them back to the airport and he said they were all piled up together sleeping when he got to the kennel to load them back up into their carriers.  He said they must really like each other, which they do.  We got all the paper work done, paid for their air fare and they were loaded up to be taken out to the airplane for their next leg of their trip to Hawaii.  All the workers loved the Buzz Lightyear bags and got a kick out of their luggage tags.  I know they thought I was totally nuts too but oh well, who doesn't????


The Grandkits spent almost 24 hours in Hawaii before heading for Houston, Texas.  They couldn't come directly to Phoenix due to heat restrictions according to United so went to Houston which is United's home base.  They were due into Phoenix Sunday the 22nd at 9:30PM.  I stayed in Guam until Monday (which is your Sunday if you are stateside) and snorkeled.

As soon as I walked back into the apartment on Monday I got a call from Steve saying the cats didn't make it to Phoenix.  HURDLE 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He and Audra got to United Cargo at Sky Harbor and waited, and waited, and waited but no cats.  United Cargo called up Houston and found out the cats were not loaded because (this is their excuse) no Customs agents were on duty to clear the cats into the states (I think they probably forgot to load them).  We are still trying to figure out why they weren't cleared in Hawaii.  And since when don't Customs Agents work on Sundays???????  So to hell with the heat restrictions, they would land in Phoenix at high noon on Monday, which they did.  They are now safe and sound in their new home (for now) in the desert and have totally adapted.  Our two cats have not and want nothing to do with their step-siblings according to Audra:(

So ends my experience with transporting animals half way around the world.  After going through all this do I miss the cats?  No!  I will see them again soon enough but for now it is nice to be able to leave my craft stuff out and not have to chase down cats stealing my tools.  I have been sleeping soundly and able to leave my door open all night too!

Be sure to check you TV Guide for my series.  It will be exciting................guaranteed!

Keep the peace and be nice to one and other and your four legged friends too:)

Wednesday, June 26, 2012
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HAFA ADAI FROM PARADISE


I know I know, I haven't posted for awhile.  Been very busy getting Audra moved off the island, doing craft projects for the kids Bible Camp (I do go to church on a regular basis here believe it or not.  Audra's friend introduced her to a cool church where nobody is in charge and everyone has a say.  I love it and the people are very welcoming and make you feel like family), getting her car fixed up, and, of course, snorkeling:)  I promise this blog post will not be about snorkeling.........I will cover my latest experience with that next post when I get my new pics developed.


I stated a while ago on Facebook that I would show you all some of the markets here on the island.....well the west side of the island.  I will have to go take more pics of the ones on the other side.  


Most of them are either Japanese owned or Chinese owned and quite a site to see at night.  They are relatively small, although there are some big ones (but none as big as our regular grocery stores back home).  I love going into them and looking at all the foreign stuff.  The packaging is all in Chinese/Japanese so it is difficult to figure out exactly what you are looking at.

Let's start with The NEW XO market.  It is on Middle Road and sits across the street from H-Mart which had a big fire in it last month.  XO Market is big compared to the other markets here and has a variety of stuff in it.  Most of the meat is frozen since it is imported and looks really funky looking in all the stores.  But once you thaw it it looks normal.  I love how this is called the NEW XO Market because I don't think there was an old XO Market.

The next market is called "Happy Market.  I haven't been in this one yet but will go in it soon.  It is right in the down town area of Garapan and is pretty small.  In fact, you can only use ONE food stamp when you shop there according to the sign:)  This has been an on going joke between Audra and I ever since we first got her because all the stores accept FOOD STAMP only, NOT FOOD STAMPS (according to Audra the Asian language does not think in terms of plural like we do when they write so everything that is supposed to be plural to us isn't).

I shop on a regular basis at Twins Market (the other one is on the South side of the island and they look alike).  I stop there every day to buy the island newspaper so I can keep up on all the goings on here.  This past weekend they had the worst car accident since 2008.  Three brothers ran off the road that goes up the mountain and over it to the south side of the island and all three of them died.  The road is paved and in fairly good condition.  It was 11AM too.  I don't know their ages or if alcohol was involved but the cab of the truck was totally smashed down.  It hit a make-shift garage when it went off the road.  Any way, getting back to Twins Market, it is Chinese owned and the cashier doesn't speak English but she knows me so always has my paper ready.  All of the Chinese Markets have the paper lanterns hanging out front and the good luck Hello Kitty inside by the register:)  Twins has a very fascinating selection of various types of Bettlenut for sale too.  It is perfectly legal, a nut from a local plant and is kind of like speed.  I so want to try it but it turns your teeth a very ugly red so I guess that's a good thing to keep me from trying it:)  Cracks me up they have signs posted all over about driving sober but it's ok to chew Bettlenut:)

I found another market that opened up since I was here last time called The Green Consume II.  I think it's supposed to say Consummer but I guess they get the point across.  I haven't been in this one yet but it does look interesting.  I will have to go investigate and see how "green" it actually is.

Now for my very favorite finds that just opened up.......the "PRETTY" line of stores.  There is Pretty Market that is very pretty lit up at night.  Audra and I went in there looking for Doritos one day but discovered it is not a place to get American food, only Asian.  It is very nice inside and clean.  The best part is they have two funky kiddie rides out front I am dying to go on.  One is a good luck Kitty and plays a weird little Chinese song.  I haven't had the guts to hop on it yet but one of these days........  Audra wouldn't let me do it when she was here but now that she's outta here anything goes!

Then, to my surprise, as I was driving down Beach Road past McDonalds in Garapan what do I see but "PRETTY TOURS".  It is lit up just like the other Pretty store.  The store was open when I jumped out of my car to take the picture and I think they were sad when I hopped back in my car and took off:)

The last picture is Saipan's version of WalMart.  It is called Dolphin and has stuff in it like most of our 99 cent stores have in them.  It is always fun going shopping there and looking at all the retro stuff like "Dippity Do" hair gel.  I hadn't seen that for ages.








So that is your tour of a few of the markets I have found here.  This sampling is less than one tenth of all the markets that are on the island.....they are everywhere!  I don't know how they all manage to stay open but they do.  Next time I'll take you on a tour of the vegetable stands.....they are a trip too and plentiful.  A lot of them are operated by the Chinese as well and the veggies are imported from there.  The locals sell their fruit and veggies along the roadside down on Beach Road.


I will end with a picture of one of the daily sunsets.  Every night there is a show as the sun is setting.  I sit out on the balcony and enjoy it.  Gotta love island life!  I am definitely a convert!

Hope you all are enjoying what is left of June.  I only have about six weeks left in Paradise and my heart is getting heavy.  It will be very sad when I have to leave:(


Keep the faith and be nice to one and other!

June 9, 2012

HAFA ADAI!

Yes, yes, I am back and I know you are all happy I am:)  I ended up going back over to Managaha Island last weekend with Audra and two other teachers.  They took their after school "Drama Club" students over there for swimming and lunch.  There were 14 kids, some parents and me.  Some of the kids had never been to the island even though they have lived on Saipan their whole life.  They were thrilled with the experience of taking the ferry boat over there and having a little island to explore.  We rode over on this funky ferry called The Jambalaya trying to look like it is straight out of New Orleans floatin' on down the Mississippi.....gotta love Saipan!  I rode on the bottom section just in case it tipped over.  The dock is at Smiling Cove which is very close to the apartment so I will be sailing on the Jambalaya a lot while I'm here.

I snorkeled on the North Side of Managaha for awhile where all the Japanese tourists go.  I was at the very tip of the Northwest side of the island away from the crowds.  If you get in the mix of all the Japanese swimming around they snorkel right over you which isn't very much fun. The picture below is looking across at the Japanese tourist.  You aren't supposed to feed the fish but they all do.  They have as much fun snorkeling as I do but are a bit more aggressive about it.

 Isn't the fish in the middle beautiful (I like the blue fish too)?  This was the first time I've seen this one.  I couldn't believe how colorful he was. He was posing for me too to make sure I got his best side.  He didn't swim away like most of them do but appeared to be pretty tame.  Probably because of all that food the Japanese tourist feed him:

    

 Here is the blue star fish I told you about in my earlier post.  They are so pretty just hanging out on the bottom of the ocean.  You can enlarge the picture by clicking on it and see the pattern on it's legs.  My friend said when you pick them up they are hard and stiff but I won't touch anything because I don't want to hurt them.

 I didn't see this brown fish right away.  He was swimming by some brown coral and blended right in.  I call them the Rambo fish since they are so well camouflaged




















I see these fish everywhere I go.  Some are more colorful than others.  They
must get fed a lot too because they are pretty tame and always come right up to you looking for a handout.  I've even had them nibble at my fingers.

This picture is of what I call the "fairy" fish.  If you look at the coral clump on the upper left side of the picture you can see all kinds of little blue fish swimming around.  When you aren't near them they swim in a school above the coral but when you get too close to them they swim into the coral and hide.  I have fun watching them!

Another cool experience I had was running across some old WWII wreckage.  There was a huge gun barrel and what looked like part of an old ship.  Plus there was a tank or something like it because it had the track on it instead of wheels.  Someone told me it used to be sitting on the other side of the island but they moved it to the east side to promote growth of the coral that has been destroyed and was a conservation effort too.  There was a beautiful big flat shaped fish swimming around in it that I called the "bully" fish because he kept chasing all the other fish away from where he was eating.  He had all different colors of blue and yellow stripes.  Of course I had used up all my film so didn't get a picture of him.  I saw some other pretty good sized fishies there as well.  I decided to swim further out to the other reef areas and came across some red fish that had huge black spots where their eyes were.  I think their real eyes were below the spots and the spots were a scare tactic for other fish.  They were beautiful.  Then I looked across the way and saw a really big fish (about 4-5 feet long and realized it was a shark.  I high tailed it back to shore and wasn't followed.  Guess he wasn't hungry!

When we headed back to the dock to catch the boat back to Saipan we had some time to kill.  The kids spotted an eel swimming around by the dock so we all sat and watched it for awhile.  It was grey. A  pretty reddish colored one swam over and entertained us too.  The kids loved the show and so did I.  Was really cool watching them.  We saw a couple crabs scooting about too.

I will be putting all my other photos from this snorkeling day on my FB Saipan 2012 photo album so stop by and look at them there.  My little underwater camera works pretty darn good!

My next blog will be about the Agriculture Fair I went to with Audra and Lori and also about different foods and the grocery stores here on the island.  Here is a sneak peak of one of my favorite finds.........it really tastes like bacon too:)  They have several different flavors of Spam.  My mission is to try them all!

Remember, be nice to each other and live for today!  Peace Out

May 30, 2012
HAFA ADAI!

As most of you already know I finally got to do some serious snorkeling on Memorial Day.  The teachers at Audra's school went to Managaha Island, which is about a 10 minute boat ride from Saipan for a bar-b-que and day of fun.  Of course I was invited to go along.  Audra and I had to take a different boat from what the other teachers took because that one was full but we all met up on tiny Manangaha.  It is a little bit of land sticking out of the ocean just after the beginning of the reef that surrounds the island.  It has beautiful white sand beaches, lots of palm trees for shade and several veranda's with barbeque pits......true paradise.  And best of all the snorkeling is great!  The water is deep and there is even wave action since you are so close to the reef.  The fish are way tame because even though you aren't supposed to feed them all the Japanese tourist do (this place is a must for all the Japanese tourist that come to Saipan. They all hang out under the shade of the palm trees so the beaches are empty.  For us Caucasians who want to get tan the beaches are ours, for the Asians, however, the shade is theirs because they want to have white skin.

The coral isn't very pretty on Managaha either due to all the human traffic the island gets.  In fact the coral is the prettiest on the east side of Saipan where the currents are stronger and not many people get out past the reef to cause damage to it.  I got to do that last year when I was here and the coral was fabulous!

I spent around three hours floating around with all my fishie friends while Audra hung out with her friends.  I   even was challenged by a fish off and on.  It was a "trigger" fish and one of the teacher's told me I was probably getting too close to where it's babies were hiding.  She also informed me these fish bite and have sharp teeth.  Who knew....I just thought it was a silly fish playing around with me.

I used an old underwater camera we had from our trip to Hawaii years back.  It takes 35mm film and the actual camera is enclosed in a plastic case.  I wasn't sure it would still work but found three rolls of film we had laying around at home so brought it along to see how it worked.  Was I pleasantly surprised with the results!

 Can you see my little fishie friends (if you click on the pictures you should be able to make them bigger)?  It was hard taking pictures because the waves kept me bobbing up and down.  I didn't think any of them would turn out but low and behold there they are!  You can see most of the coral is damaged but there are still some pretty ones left.  My favorite though is the "brain" coral.  It's fun to look at!  I didn't see any sea snakes this time like I did last year but I did see a lot of pretty blue starfish.  I used up all my film before I ran across them though so you'll have to wait until next time to see how beautiful they are.

 

This is the boat that we went over and back on.  Normally we ride in a little motor boat and get all wet from the water that splashes up but this one was so big we didn't get wet at all.  We left for the island at 9AM..............yes, I even got up early for this outing!

                           We had a great day and I will always remember this Memorial Day!

I am now an official islander too!  I got the mayor's ID card so I can get to Managaha Island for free (I'm considered a local if I have the card).  Since this is probably the safest place for me to snorkel by myself  I figured I should get the card and save me some bucks getting to and from the island. The only problem with getting the card is I didn't know it was a picture ID.  I was on my way to the gym when I went to get the ID so threw on my visor hat and didn't do anything to my hair.  When the guy told me I had to take my hat off for the picture I freaked.  He told me to fluff up my hair and took my picture.  It turned out pretty rad!

I am still soaking up everything to do with my little slice of paradise and thanking the universe every day that I get to be back here!  I am sooooo loving my retirement!

Remember to be nice to each other and always pay it forward!

Peace out my friends

HAFA ADAI

May 24, 2012 

I Finally got to go snorkeling today!  There was a brief moment where the sun peaked out this morning so I grabbed my swim gear and headed down to Pou Pou beach.  This is a pic taken of it the first time we came here in 2010.  It is a wide open beach and you can swim forever so get a great workout.  My fish friends were very excited to see me back and swam with me for awhile.  I even got to see what I can the "fairy" fish.  They are tiny little things that are a neon turquoise color.  Then the rains started pouring down so I had to swim to shore and say farewell:(  There was a couple around my age sitting under a tree waiting for the storm to pass (a brother and sister) and they offered me some mango.  The sister came over from California for their mother's 91st birthday celebration.  The brother lives here full time.  They were both trying to convince me to stay which you all know I would love to do!

Audra and I go out to eat almost every night.........say what???  A couple nights ago we tried to go to the Thai House but since it was only 4ish it wasn't opened yet.  It's a little building trying so hard to have "ambiance" on the outside, I just had to take a picture of it.  Hey, wait a minute, who is that trying to get into my picture???????  She always has to be in everything......I wonder where she gets that from?  Most of the restaurants are stand alone buildings like this.  It is actually very nice inside and the food is yummy.....too bad it wasn't open..


Then there are the chickens in downtown Garapan.  We were driving down the dirt road to Audra's friends apartment complex and came across Mr. Rooster and his girls.  I had to stop and take a picture and torment him.  He was not too happy with me.  Another car passed us and gave me "the tourist look".  He was showing off his feathers and struttin' his stuff and his girls were giving him center stage!

Last time I was here it was all about the pigs. We saw a pig tied up to a tree at a house behind the Bank of Guam.  Audra was very upset when I told her that was going to be "dinner".  The poor little guy was trying so hard to get away.

Beach road is one of the three major roads on the island and runs parallel to the ocean. It is lined with Flame trees and is such a pretty drive.  They have a walkway that you can stroll on for quite a distance.  There are always joggers and walkers on it.  In this picture you can see the ocean off to the left.


We were driving past it and I noticed one of the WWII Tanks has a little plant growing out of it so had to pull over and take a picture.  Here was something that caused tons of destruction and killed people all these years later with a plant growing out of it.  What a statement, huh?  It sits beside one of the Flame trees too.  The plant is right in front popping out of the metal body.  There are all kinds of WWII guns and machines and memorials all over the island and people still come across WWII shells and stuff on the beaches.  There is a blog about all the stuff a guy has found during his stay on the island just wandering around the various beaches.  He even came across several ammo boxes.

I guess that's about it for now.  I'll have to go take a picture of the big grocery warehouse that burned down last week on Middle Road.  It really gutted the place.  Middle road was closed down for two days and caused quite a traffic jam since everyone was re-routed down to Beach Road.  Weird seeing a traffic jam here.   There is a big controversy going on as to whether or not one of the fire hydrants failed.  That was one of the big stories in the Mariana Islands paper this week.  I LOVE reading the paper because of all the local drama that goes on.  Audra laughs that I get such a kick out of the goings on with the island and it's people.  It's like a big soap opera!  The politics here are not much different from being stateside....everyone is on the take and the place is broke because of it.


The sun is shining and it looks like the storms have passed over us so hopefully tomorrow will be a fabulous snorkeling/communing day with my fishies again.  I brought my underwater camera along so will take pictures to share!


Have as great a day as I'm having!

ATVing

Hafa Adai!

This will be my last post in paradise for 2011:(  I'm only hours away from leaving my little island.  I am very sad and know I will cry when I'm flying away from here.  The five months I've been here went by way too fast.

I had quiet the send off yesterday however.  I went riding ATV's with Audra and a group of teachers from her school.  We only paid $15 each for a two hour ride which was a bargain.

We left from the south end of the island in an area I hadn't been to yet and rode up a hill almost to the top of Mt. Tapachio.  There were 18 of us total and most of us were new to the ATV experience. 

We did a practice run first going up and down hills by the house so we could get used to accelerating and braking and then took off on our adventure!  The girl in the very foreground was afraid to do this but she got talked into it and she did really good!

Once we got going we rode on a trail that was just wide enough for our ATV's and part of the way there was high grass on either side of us.  Lots of bumpy road to go over and ditches to try and not get stuck in or turn over the ATV!  We went up steep hills and down steep hills but all made it up and down them without any crashes or injuries!  The only down side is we went very slow and were bunched together.  I wanted to let loose and go, go, go!  We all found our horn buttons too so, of course, we had to toot them off and on:)

We stopped along the way about three times to take pics and absorb the scenery from the top of the hill.  The hill we climbed had a major battle fought on it during WWII when the Americans were trying to gain control of the top of the mountain (which they ended up doing after many soldiers died on both sides).  At the top you can see the entire island from end to end so it was a very strategic area to control.  The radio tower in this picture is the spot that they were fighting over.  The valley is known as "the valley of death" but look how beautiful it is now!

I can see now why so many people like ATVing!  It was a blast and I'm happy I got to do it!

After we got done with that adventure Audra and I went to the apartment, got changed into our swim wear and headed off to a new beach, Marine Beach on the east side of the island.  We met six other teachers there.  It was beautiful and had flat "step" formations on the south side that you go on.  Each step had a tide pool in it and you could see fish and sea urchins in them.  The waves were crashing against the steps so we stayed against the cliff side.  There was even a big blow hole that we could get really close to as well.  After we walked around that area for awhile we went into the water by the beach, stood around drinking beers and chatting for about three hours.  We all got burned but it was worth it.  


When we got home everyone showered and then we headed out for the night to a fund raiser at the Hyatt beach and then moved over to a fish restaurant.  By the time we got there I had Audra drive me back to the apartment because I was bushed!  She went back out and joined her friends while I stayed behind and played with the grandkids:)


Today I went to church at The Church In Saipan for the last time and everyone there wished me well.  They are the nicest group of people and I'm happy to know they are taking good are of Audra for me.  I really like this church because nobody is in charge and everyone has a voice.  I even got a present given to me by one of the ladies.  I will miss them alot!


So ends my time in paradise for now..............I will be back!  I'm thinking next May after Travis graduates.  I'll be on the first plane I can get and I'm thinking about buying a one-way ticket this time around!


I hope ALL of you get to visit this tiny piece of the Earth some day so you too can find paradise............Hafa Adai!

HAFA ADAI

My time in paradise is coming to an end in five short days:(  I am so going to miss this place.  All my island pals don't want me to leave and try to convince me to stay but I can't.  At least I know I'll be back in May after Travis graduates from ASU!  Audra said she's getting sad as well.

We had one hell of a weekend and it was snorkeling paradise!  Saturday Audra, two of her friends and I went to Wing Beach and snorkeled for awhile and then we headed over to The Grotto!  I've never been down there in the water so was looking forward to this new experience.  It is located on the east side of the island at the northern end.   It is supposed to be one of the premier diving spots in the world due to the brightness of the water in the cave portion.

Thousands of years ago it was an underwater cave but part of the roof collapsed over time and made it accessible by land. 

Stairs (one hundred of them) have been installed so you can get down to the opening.  Once you get down there you are faced with crossing over an area that the surf comes crashing into.  They have railings installed on the rock wall and ropes you can use to get to the crossing but you're on your own at the crossing over to the big boulder you stand on to jump into the water at the cave.  You have to time your crossing just right in order to avoid getting swept off the path by the waves crashing in.  It's kind of scary the first time but once you do it you get the hang of it....even me with my bad knees!

Once you make the crossing you end up on a huge boulder.  Now you have the option of jumping off the boulder into the water or walking into the water using the exit, which I did.  Where these scuba divers are going is the exit.  The jumping off part is just on the other side of the divers standing on the top of the boulder.

Once in the cave it is beautiful!  The water is aquamarine and just shimmers.  There are constant drops of water hitting all around  from water falling from the top of the cave.  It is a blast snorkeling here because you can see all the scuba divers beneath you exploring the bottom (which is 75 feet deep).  You can snorkel to the back of the cave into another part of it but no further.  In order to take one of the three tunnels you need to scuba.  You can take one of them out to the other side which is the ocean and see sharks that hang out in that part of the cave.  I'll have to try that next time I come.

There aren't a lot of fish swimming around inside the cave section but you do see some.  This spot had alot of them.  It was close to the edge so I'm sure people must feed them to get them to hang out there.   


Pam, a teacher friend of Audra's took us here.  A scuba diver was blowing bubbles out of his mouth that would form a big ring on their way up to the surface and Pam would dive down and swim through them.  It was really fun watching that.  Lots of Japanese tourist come here to scuba.

Hopefully I'll make it back here before I leave for one more dip!  It's just getting down and up these steep stairs that is the hardest part, the rest is gravy!














There are pretty plants all over the place up top too.  This is a Palmyra flower used to make leis with.  It had just rained too!

We ate lunch at one of our favorite beachside restaurants and had great Mexi food and Margaritas.  We also stopped for ice cream before calling it a day.

Sunday we hit another beach I had never been to, Obyan Beach which is also on the east side of the island but on the south end.  It had lots of wave action and is also surrounded by a little reef.  

All of us except for Audra swam out over the reef and it was beautiful!  The coral was live and lots of various fish to see.  I noticed we were being pushed out to sea so started heading back into the reef area but the current was very strong.  It didn't seem like I was making much headway but with a little help from Audra's friend I was finally able to make it to the rope the divers use to pull themselves in over the reef because of the strong current and waves.  I got a good work out!  I took Audra out on the rope part so she could see all the pretty stuff too.  We needed our flippers to fight the current without holding onto the rope which we didn't have with us so we hung onto the rope!  We swam to the other side of the beach and went out past the reef using the rope over there as well.  Very fun day!  I was bushed and it took me most of Monday to recover!  My kind of weekend!


This coming weekend a bunch of my friends and I are getting together at a beach for a send off party for me!  I'm really looking forward to that.  I might go ATVing too with Audra and her teacher friends if there is room for me.  Always something to do around this little island, even if it's just relaxing by the shore!


Hafa Adai until next May my friends.  Hope you enjoyed your island adventure as much as I have.  I'm happy I got to share it all with you.  Now back to reality............................