Welcome to my Kosrae-Pohnpei blog - May 1 - May 20!

I hope you enjoy my blog about my solo trip to Kosrae and Pohnpei May 1st through May 20th.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Seattle weather here?

Woke up this morning and went across the street to the gazebo to do some reading and ran into Jack from next door who knows Shary quite well from when she was here 20 years ago.  He and I talked for about 30 minutes as he gave me all kinds of information about Kosrae, his family, other Kosraens, US military recruitment, etc.  It was great to connect that way with a local.  He says he sits in the gazebo every morning so I may wander over there for more information on other mornings.

As Jack and I sat - a rain shower moved in.  Well, more than a shower.  It poured, then it rained, then it POURED!  Spoke to Doug and we decided to wait to see if it would clear a bit before we decided on diving or not as it was quite miserable.  We reconvened 30 minutes later and he left it to me so I said "let's dive".  So - he and I and Salyk loaded up and headed out.........

Dive Three
Site:  Cockle Sanctuary
Dive Buddy:  Doug Beitz
Other divers:  n/a
Duration:  72 minutes
Max Depth:  36ft
Visibility:  70 feet
Outside temp:  77.4 degrees F
Water temp: range from 77.4 - 83.8 degrees F

With the overcast skies the visibility was not as good but still a ton to see.  It really is more than your eyes or brain can comprehend.  My comfort level in the water continue to improve and therefore I can spot a lot more interesting things to look at.  Doug pointed to a cockle and gave me the "do not touch" signal.  It was wiggling this little thing out the top "fishing".  Doug told me on the boat that it attracts fish and then shoots a small dart to instantly paralyze and kill a fish 8-12 inches long and then eat it.  He said if the dart hit one of us - we would die within 30 minutes......(mental note, do not touch the small cockle shells with the little thingy "fishing").  Saw a couple more flat worms, sea cucumbers, numerous tropical fish and the highlight of the dive was right at the end as we prepared to do our safety stop - Doug spotted a huge anemone that was a turquoise green color and he was taking all sorts of pics and video of it.  There were teeny little cleaner shrimp on it and little nemo-like fish (pink anemone-fish) guarding it.  We spent a lot of time there and Doug got some great photos and video.......



.............. the anemone is red in color but when we were looking at it with our own eyes - it was turquoise green because red is the first color to go and we were only in about 15 feet of water.  

We surfaced to more rain but not oppressing.  We went into the shelter of the outer harbor and off-gased some nitrogen and ate some fresh fruit.  The bananas here are small but amazing!  I think I ate 3.  Since Doug and I had stayed so shallow and it was dreary on the boat - Salyk and I jumped in the water after only a 45 surface interval....


Dive Four
Site:  Shark Island
Dive Buddy:  Salyk
Other divers:  n/a
Duration:  64 minutes
Max Depth:  36ft
Visibility:  75 feet
Outside temp:  77.0 degrees F
Water temp: range from 77.4 - 84.6 degrees F

I really like this site.  The coral is more colorful and has a large variety of both coral and fish.  We stayed shallow and saw a ton of great things.  It may sound like a cliche but it was like swimming in an aquarium.   Let's see.... I dropped down on the reef right to a brittle star, saw another puffer fish whom I coaxed from his hiding spot and swam right past me, lizard-fish, beautiful lion fish only 3 feet away from a leaf fish which apparently are very rare here.  Salyk spotted it and we spent a lot of time looking at it - its defense mechanism is its camouflage it just looks like a black leaf but when you look really close - you can see very small fins.  Doug was bummed he wasn't on the dive to photograph it.  A couple more flat worms, nudibranch's and one very large barracuda chilling in about 8 feet of water while we were doing our safety stop.  Several varieties of colorful tropical fish - too many to comprehend or document.  Got out of the water to more rain and headed back to the resort.

I thought it necessary to show you the terrible conditions I am forced to blog from (you can see my laptop on the table)......


I understand I just missed a waterspout/tornado while on Oahu?  That would have sucked.


Bye for now.........

5 comments:

  1. Weather forecast is showing a lot or rain and thunder showers the next week... :(
    Hope you get some clear days.

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  2. What?! How did Luke's name get on here? It's me your sis. Seriously, he would not be checking weather channel...lol

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  3. Yeah - that was the forecast before I even left but they all say it's normal this time of year. Looks a lot more promising this morning though with some clearing. More diving today. :-)

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