Last weekend I went out of my way to spend as much time out on the water as possible. Vince and Donna are the married couple of our training group, and they wanted to have a few solid last nights here in Pohnpei before heading back to San Diego. Every Friday and Saturday, Alloise, our boat captain and manager of PCR hotel, takes a group out on the water for a sunset cruise. We went on the Friday one- it was the perfect combination of good company and good scenery. Through Donna and Vince, I was introduced to Kara, who is currently in Pohnpei working with the Tuna Commission. She grew up in, get this, LAKE OSWEGO, and her family has season tickets to Ducks Football games! This is only 1 of many "small world" moments that has happened to me recently. Kara and Alloise are both surfers and dive masters, so she helps him out with a lot of the trips he takes on his boat. Cori Jo, one of the M77's also came with us on the sunset cruise. We got back around 8:30, and Cori Jo invited me back to the house where she's staying for a nice home-cooked, grease- and rice-free meal. I tried to help out, but who are we kidding, I probably would have ruined it anyway. Cori Jo made a FANTASTIC meal of spaghetti with garlic bread. We even had cheesecake for dessert! Cheesecake!
Bright and early on Saturday morning we all met up at the boat again to go out to Nah island. Nah is an especially common day trip because of its sandy beaches. Pohnpei and most other islands are surrounded by mangroves. There was another boat jam-packed with about 40 people (or so it seemed) who had the same idea. With locals around, us ladies had to keep covered up. The sand felt great under our feet, but the general consensus was that it'd be a better idea to head to another island so we could be alone. Part of the day was at another small island nearby, and the other part was spent out on the water near some great snorkeling spots.