Whale Watching

Here are some pictures of whales that Kevin was lucky enough to see when he was on a helicopter Atoll tour.

Are you for Scuba?

Here are a few photos of Kevin and I scuba diving. We are working on our advanced certification which will allow us to dive to 130 feet. Once we have this, we will be able to venture to Roi Namur Island and dive the "Airplane Graveyard" site. The "Airplane Graveyard" site is a spot in the Ocean where there are a lot of WWII airplanes that were shot down during the war. We'll be sure to post some photos of those dives.

Bigej Islet Tour with Captain Beth at the Helm

Along the Atoll are several Islets but on of the more popular and only sparsely inhabited by the locals is the Islet of Bigej. Bigej is about twenty miles north of Kwaj on the eastern reef and is a great place to snorkel, hang out, or hunt for booty (pirate treasure). Over the past two weekends, Beth and I have been renting one of the boats at the small boat marina and cruising up to Bigej to spend the afternoon hanging out with friends and living the Corona Commercial Dream. Once we all get there, we tie the boats together to create a flotilla and proceed to have a great time. For our friends' kids, we put together a pirate map and take the kids on the islet and go hunt for buried treasure. Our neighbors used to live in Cambodia so we scored some Cambodian currency and buried the loot in different spots on the backside of Bigej and let the kids try and find the treasure. Like good pirates they decided to fight over the treasure. Good Times.

Captain Beth at the Helm!Little Buddy with the Skipper

Pristine Waters

Pirates!

Living the Dream!

RUSTMAN TRIATHLON

For the past 30 years the Kwajalein Running Club has sponsored one of the greatest events to occur within 2000 miles, really the only event within 2000 miles, fondly known as the "RUSTMAN." The RustMan is a near olympic distance triathlon 1k swim, 42k bike, and 10k run. (For you non-metric people that .6 mile swim, 26 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. A few weeks ago Beth decided that she had to live hard to be hard and began training for the RustMan. Thanks to her grueling regiment of training she was able to successfully complete the RustMan! Beth put in an impressive first triathlon time of 3 hours and 20 minutes. (20:58 swim, 1:44 Mountain Bike with Road Tires, 1:14 run). I was even out there too with Team Sail Fish Ale "One Sip and your Hooked" sponsored by our favorite island Brewer/Legal Guru. After killing off a few sharks in the lagoon I was able to build some confidence and contribute to the Sail Fish Ale Team Performance with an not so impressive swim time of 19 minutes and several seconds. Photos Below!
Late Evening Gun Show!

Beth Crossing the Finish Line!Pre-Race Photo with Team Sail Fish Ale - One Sip And Your Hooked!

Finishing in a not so impressive 3 hours and 4 minutes.

After Action Review Comments:

1. Invest in a decent Tri/Road Bike.

2. Actually Train.

Snorkeling the Lagoon

Snorkeling in the lagoon.

Coconut Cutters

Cococut cutters hard at work. Supposedly 30 people a year are killed by falling coconuts. So its best not to stand under any coconut trees. Safety First!

Its official we're KWAJers.

Beth and I stopped by a Kwaj Patio PCS Sale today, otherwise known as a garage or moving sale in the states, and we worked out a great deal for a Surf Board and a Kayak. I am very excited about learning how to surf with my own board. We also picked up a pull cart to haul anything from mail to groceries on our bikes.

So I think it is official we are now KWAJers. How do I know this well as Edgar Schein would say, "The culture of a group can now be defined as a pattern of shared basic assumptions that was learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems." I think this definition for culture of group does a nice job of describing why somethings are the way they are here on Kwaj.
Another good news story is that our household goods arrived yesterday so we are working on getting our potted plants together. One can generally tell how long you have been on the island by the size and number of plants in one's yard. Since top soil can't be found on island it becomes a hot commodity.

They are only allowed to sell two bags per visit to the store if they even have it. Fortunately we just got a new shipment so I'll let you know how the plants are doing as we get them situated.