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!