http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , Micronesia en-us Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:26:36 BST Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:26:36 BST Think about your first imaginings of a romantic Pacific island and you are probably seeing Yap. It lies low in the water surrounded by a reef and lagoon. It is not dramatic like Hawaii or Bora Bora but it so natural and beautiful itrsquos like you are Robinson Caruso landing on a deserted island. The island is part of The Federated States of Micronesia a republic but legislative decisions m http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/Yap/blog-256815.html Saturday March 15 2008Today we arrived at Yap Island the Land of Stone Money at approximately 600 am only to find that the pilot boat this is a local persons that helps direct you through the harbor and to the dock. In this case they did not arrive at the ship until after 730 am. They work on Yap time which is apparently similar to Lake City Colorado time at your own slow pace. We w http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/Yap/blog-256519.html Friday March 14 2008Today was another sea day so the activities calendar was filled to the brim. It is always a matter of pick and choose since there is really too much to choose let alone try to do everything. The day began like most by going to Mass exercise class and finally breakfast. I ate with some folks I met on Cruise Critic that has been really great meeting or getting to know p http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/Yap/blog-256220.html The people of Guadalcanal are smaller in stature to the people of PNG. Beatle nut is still chewed in PNG and young menrsquos teeth are just stubs. Older men have none at all and many of the women and children chew.The UFO unidentified floating object was identified as a marine tracking device perhaps tracking tuna or whales.The most seriously injured passenger from the scaffold collapse was http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/Yap/blog-256006.html Wednesday and Thursday March 1213 2008On these two days we were at sea travelling to Yap Island in the Federated States of Micronesia. On Wednesday night at about 1100pm we passed over the equator and if you havenrsquot had the opportunity to do that on a ship it is quite the ceremony. Of course the joke on the ship was to go out at night and watch for the bouys that designate where the eq http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/Yap/blog-255741.html 11 Oct Well it is back on the blog again after an absolutely wonderful break in Yap. Unfortunately as my camera spent most of the week in its underwater housing I did not get many good blog type surface shots. I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Guam and we depart this afternoon for Cairns where I will stay twelve hours and then fly to Auckland. Tom and Shirley etc. are continuing on with t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/Yap/blog-210257.html 02 OctWell I didnrsquot get my blog away last night as I bumped into Rohan Ellis and lost track of what I was doing. It was good to catch up wih Rohan who has lived now in Beijing for six years. I am currently in Agana airort in Guam and nothing is open so no access again. I will send this tomorrow from Yap and as we will be there for a reasonable time I will stop the blog until I am on the mov http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/Yap/blog-207979.html sorry it took so flippin long to write to you guys my life has beenabsolutely crazy since i have been here. i'm sitting in an incredibleboring history class that sucks up every saturday from 85 so i thought iwould write you an incredibly detailed update on my life instead oflistening to the soulsucking speaker.housing even though my house is amazing my landlord is really creepy...60 year http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/blog-195795.html morning it's 510 am here and i can't sleep in any longer. here's a recap of my life the past few daysi cried all the way to msp airport. all the people thought i was a crazy... once we got to msp there was another plane in our landing dock so we couldnt land for 45 minutes...my plane to tokyo started boarding at 210 and we were not able to get off the bji plane until 236 according to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/blog-185532.html i just found this place and will hopefully be updating it often during my time in saipan. i leave the us on monday and will be teaching 7th grade science on the island for the next 2 years. keep checking back for current news http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/blog-183931.html So it's 8 am in Davao I've been up since 3am just downed a cafe mocha and my body and mind are moving at hyperspeed. Back in the Philippines and wondering if Palau really happened or if it was just a crazy dream. Eight days went by in the blink of an eye minus the huge hole in my bank account afterwards. Four days of diving two sometimes three dives a day and some amazing sea life interact http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/blog-142582.html This again is going to be more of a photo journal until I have time to update the journal entry. Hopefully I will find the time. In the meanwhile I hope you enjoy the photos. The hotel I stayed at was Manta Ray Bay Hotel and I dove with Yap Divers a dive shop attached to the hotel. The staff at both the hotel and the dive shop where amazing. Alex my dive buddy was the greatest and got me to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/blog-84239.html A hundred different shades of green and blue. White foam of surf breaking on the reef the sapphire blue of the deep and the turquoise green of the shallow. Air that does not have the heavy scent of salt but the strange and unfamiliar luring sweet of the mangrove blossom. A breeze blows the faintest hint of plummera.I follow a village elder and a small group of tourists down a mossy stone path http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/blog-84196.html