Surfung?!

Hey everyone,


This weekend was pretty relaxing but on Saturday I went out to Palikir pass to try to do some surfing. Here is a link to a ton of pictures of surfing around Pohnpei. http://www.pohnpeisurfclub.com/surfing.htm The pictures in the gallery are pretty much what I saw yesterday.
There are no beaches here on Pohnpei. In order to surf you need to take a boat out to the reef that surrounds the island. There are many passes through the reef that produce some giant waves that a lot of pro surfers come here to ride. The really huge waves only occur 5-10 times a year. However, I think that the waves are pretty big every day. From what I have seen so far..the waves are bigger than me standing up and at times they were around 8 feet tall. Some surfers from Hawaii and Kwajalein came with us to Palikir Pass and I got to watch them surf some of these giant waves.
I paddled out to the break and realized that there was no way that I was even going to attempt to surf these waves because I am definitely a beginner. But, it was really awesome getting to paddle around in the huge waves. I decided that it would be a better idea to go spear fishing and snorkeling than get pounded on the reef.
I was successful in shooting a decent sized parrot fish this weekend at the pass. I also saw about 4 white tipped reef sharks that were around 5 feet long. They were pretty awesome. After I speared the fish the sharks made it to the area that I was swimming around in in about 5 minutes. Thankfully I threw the fish in the boat before I went back for more.
After I returned to dock one of the local fisherman told me the secret to spear fishing. He said that the best time to shoot at the fish is when it is looking directly into the spear or directly away from you. This seemed counter intuitive to me at first but then he explained some more.
The fish are so quick here that the second that the spear is released from the gun the fish move. So if you shoot at them when they are facing you...they will turn broadside once the spear leaves the gun and then it will have a better chance of hitting the fish. Hopefully this will help me out next time.
I don't have enough credit yo post pics on here right now so I have to wait until I get paid on the 1st. Talk to you all soon.

Tyler