7.31.2009

It's Not The Rainy Season

I've been told this isn't the rainy season; it's the doldrums. We've been having a lot of rain lately though. I'm going to have to invest in a better raincoat....a rainsuit in fact.

7.25.2009

Finally A Success!

*This post has been updated. I was informed that the fish in the pictures is not Skipjack but Kawa Kawa. (Thanks Bill!)

I am happy to say that I have finally been on a successful fishing trip. Up to this point I've only been out for a few boat rides. This trip was the best so far.

It started out good:

Along the way we saw some spinner dolphins too. They are way to fast to get any pictures of though.

Bird piles pretty much ensure successful fishing. The big fish round up the little fish that the birds try to catch and eat.


Here is the dogtooth tuna that we caught:
We'll be making sashimi with it later in the week. We also caught a few Kawa Kawa. These supposedly make good poke but we gave it to some friends to grill for a party last night.

Here is a picture of our "haul" for the day:


It was nice to finally catch something and very fun going out with friends and being on the water. It doesn't get much better than this.

7.22.2009

My Only Possesion

When I found out I was coming to Kwajalein, I sold everything. The car, the house, the motorcycle, the furniture, and most of my clothes. I came here debt free and owning nothing but a cat. It's a great place to be.

Since then, I've learned how to sail and since you can't take rental boats in the evening or on overnight trips I decided to purchase a boat.



It's a CAL 20 sailboat. It came with a dinghy, a boat shed, and it's in great condition.

Sailing is a blast and now I don't have to ask anyone to use their boat, I can just go when I want to.

7.19.2009

Incoming

Not only do we send off rockets around here, sometimes they shoot rockets at us too.

7.15.2009

Falcon 1 - RazakSAT Mission Successful

Here is footage of the SpaceX Falcon 1 - RazakSAT launch. I'm pretty excited to say I was directly involved in this mission!
Check out the full video here:

7.10.2009

Music On Kwaj

Tonight we were treated to the sounds of The Uglistick. They are a really great band from Mobile, Alabama. What variety; they are very talented.



I was super impressed with the fact that the three front line players could all sing. I don't think I've ever seen a band where all of them could sing. Very impressive.

Thanks guys, we appreciate you making the trip to play for us!

7.06.2009

This Weekend Has Been a Blast

I can hardly believe it but I forgot to take any pictures at all this weekend!

The first thing I have to say is WOW! The fireworks show here on Kwaj was most impressive. The whole show was like most grand finales I'm used to seeing, and the grand finale....WOW!

Pretty much the whole island was on the beach watching as the fireworks were launched from a barge about 200 yards off the shore. My favorite firework was the one that exploded into a star shape. Amazing.

Sailing was on the agenda and got foiled again by the doldrums. Darn the luck! I ended up renting the party barge and drumming up a handful of people to go snorkeling over by the Prinz Eugen shipwreck near Carlson island. That was impressive.

While we were snorkeling though, the mooring ball we had attached the boat to broke and the boat drifted to shore. I've never swam so far so fast in my life. Some Marshallese islanders that live on Carlson caught it and held it until I could get it going and back out to a safe anchoring spot. That was pretty exciting. Excitement I would prefer not to have again however.

It's been a great weekend so far, I still have today off as well; I think it will be a quiet one though. I can't believe I don't have any pictures! Next time.

7.03.2009

JF Is Not Coming

For those of you who are interested and maybe so I'll stop getting questions about it.....JF has decided not to obtain employment on Kwajalein and has decided to focus his energy toward his career back home.

Since I have decided to stay here for at least four or five years and will be heading to a new exotic location after Kwaj rather than returning home.....I think you get the idea.

This was decided about a month or so ago, I just figured it was time to let everyone know.