I have been slightly disappointed during my island time that I have not had the quintessential setting of white sandy beaches and remote lagoons that are often depicted in pictures and movies representing the pacific islands. I have been amazed by the wonderful beauty of the rain forests and awed by the breathtaking views of calm ocean and lush mountains, but nonetheless I have been yearning for a soft sandy stretch to relax upon.
This last weekend, my dream came true. We heard of a picnic island out on the edge of the reef of the lagoon called Pisar and thought it would be a wonderful idea to spend a Saturday out on the little island. We talked to our families and roused a lot of enthusiasm for the idea. One of my cousins mentioned that you have to actually pay to go to Pisar, and he had a much better idea for our venture. His family owned two small islands that flanked both sides of Pisar. We could spend the day at these islands free of charge and free of people. We had permission to play for a day on our own private tropical island.
After buying gas and oil for the boats, we departed early Saturday morning in two outboard motor boats. Ben, Naavid, Paul, Becky, Julie and I were accompanied by my host mom Kira, my brother Boi and a few cousins. We zipped through the blue waters of the lagoon and reached the outer reef in less than an hour. As we approached, we noticed a small cluster of sandy atolls covered in waving palm trees. We drove our boat right up to the shore and pulled it onto the sand at the corner of one of the islands. The group of us hopped out of the boat and beheld the glory before us.
The site before our eyes was unlike any scene even imagined in dreams. I cannot do justice to the beauty of the place with my simple writings. It was beyond description. The water was clearer than any I had ever seen. The visibility had to be at least 50 or 100 feet underwater. You could look down from the surface and see 15 feet straight down to the coral with crystal clear precision. Waves could be seen in the distance crashing on the edge of the reef but the light blue water around us was as peaceful as could be.
There were three small atoll islands forming a triad of magnificence around a shallow lagoon in the middle. Each of the islands was covered in dense vegetation but had a welcoming crust of soft white sand. The beaches sloped leisurely into the water and eventually dropped a few feet into a sandy coral surface that encompassed the bottom of the small lagoon. I cannot attest to the accuracy of my estimates, but I surmised that the water temperature and air temperature both hovered around 85 degrees. Although the ocean was warm, it was still quite refreshing to relieve ourselves of the humidity and splash around in the shallow water. A slight breeze and thin layers of scattered clouds protected us from the harsh beating sun, but we still adamantly applied sunscreen throughout the day to shield our white pasty American skin.
We encircled the island with a short walk and took a rest under the shade of a large bush. We gazed out over the ocean and marveled at the pure ecstasy that we were enjoying. As the day wore on, we ventured out from our immediate location and waded through the water over to a sandbar about 100 yards from our spot. We snorkeled through the shallow water for a little while and then took off our gear when we got to the sandbar.
It was low tide and there was only about a foot of water that inundated the sandy knoll in the lagoon. I whipped out my Frisbee and tossed it over to Becky, it was out of her reach but she dove and grabbed it as she splashed softly into the water. This initial act of athleticism made us all realize how perfect this place was for flamboyant diving catches. We threw the Frisbee around and made acrobatic leaps without fear of any repercussions. The water was shallow enough to run through, but deep enough to cushion our falls. We spent about 20 minutes flying the disc through the crisp air as we stood calf deep on the sandbar. I then surveyed our surroundings and came up with a fantastic idea.
We were going to make history and possibly be the first people in the world to play a game of ultimate Frisbee while immersed in the water in the middle of the Pacific Ocean . We split up into two teams of four and began our game. We were free to push and pull each other around like rag dolls because there was no hard ground to harm us when we fell. We could dive like maniacs and implement novel defensive Frisbee techniques like splashing water at the thrower. It was definitely the coolest place that anyone has ever played a game of Frisbee. The timing, location, weather, environment and people made it the perfect situation to play the best game ever of ultimate Frisbee.
After our game of romping on the sandbar with the Frisbee we swam back to our home base and settled down to rest and drink some water. We were greeted by some of my other cousins who were cooking filets of fish on a fire made of dried coconut husks. They prepared a lime and soy dipping sauce for us and placed the freshly cooked fish on a large banana leaf sitting by the fire. We ate the fish and we were blown away by the mouthwatering taste and explosion of flavors. We all agreed that this was the best fish we had eaten in all of Micronesia
As we finished off the shark meat, one of my cousins scampered up a large coconut tree and ripped off a few for us to drink from. I decided this was a good opportunity to work on my coconut climbing skills. I had scaled one before, but it was rather small and I felt I was up for bigger challenge. After some urging from my friends I started my way up the slender trunk. The notches in the tree were spaced very far apart and I struggled to find hand or foot holds to help me in my ascension. As I neared the top I began to lose confidence and I held my body closer and closer to the tree. This method was successful in calming my nerves and assuring my safety, but it was unfortunately also successful and scraping up my chest and arms. I reached the top, tore off a few coconuts, and then slowly descended the tree as I bear hugged my way down. I did make progress in my goals by getting up a larger tree, but I was slightly embarrassed at my lack of dexterity and confidence in the style of climbing. The correct form to climb a palm tree is to bow your knees out and use the arches of your feet around the curve of the tree. You are supposed to keep your arms fully extended and use your legs to propel yourself up the tree like a leaping frog. I attempted this method, but always began to slip and then resorted to my safe tactic of squeezing the trunk with all my might. At the end of the day, I was safe but came away with a bloodied up midsection. I hope to continue to work on my palm tree climbing skills and become a nimble monkey very soon.
We relaxed around the beach and rolled in and out of the serene water for a while as we soaked in the sun. My uncle then returned from his fishing expedition and arrived with a blob of flesh that looked like a gigantic octopus! On closer inspection, we noticed that it was actually seven octopi hanging off the same hook. The animals’ gelatinous fleshy tissue seemed to meld together in the hot sun and create one beastly globule of calamari. My uncle is renowned as one of the best fisherman on Tonowas and has a special talent for spotting octopi.
I later enquired about the methods of catching octopi and got a rather riveting explanation from another local. The Chuukese method of fishing for octopi is as follows. First step is to find the octopus. This is particularly difficult because they camouflage themselves against the coral when a predator approaches. However, when you are sure that you have spotted and cornered an octopus then you must stab it directly in the head with your spear. Keep the spear inside the head and shake it furiously until their brains are scrambled and the creature lets go its grasp of the rocks. It will begin to float up and then you must remove your spear, grab it by the head, finger through its tentacles and stab the spear up through its circular fang encrusted mouth. Then you must deal the final deathblow to the octopus. Find the slit at the back of its head and violently yank until the head is turned inside out. After this coup de grace, you can ascend to the top and finally take a breath with your prize in hand. A partner should accompany you in case the octopus is huge and attempts to drown you with its tentacles as you try to subdue it. Remember, this entire process must also take place during the length of a single breath under water……these guys are badass.
We were all very excited about my uncle’s fishing expedition and wanted to learn how to spear fish for ourselves. We jumped in the boat and my cousin took us about 200 yards out to a point where the reef dropped off a little. He showed us all the basics of spear fishing and we all got to try our hand at it for a few minutes. The spears they use here in Chuuk work fine for their purpose, but are quite basic in their construction. Usually a long thin metal rod is taken out from the interior of a car seat and fashioned with a point on one end and an indented notch on the other end. Then a piece of rubber is tied in a circle with a small string attached to the end. You hold the small string to the notched end of the spear with your left hand and grab the body of the spear with your right hand. Pull back with your left hand and release with both hands when you are ready to shoot. The basics are pretty simple, but the process is harder than it sounds. There were a lot of us trying to learn to use one spear so we each only got a couple minutes to take a few shots. None were successful. Nevertheless we enjoyed snorkeling around the reef and reveling in the perfectly clear waters.
We came to the surface after a while and noticed that the weather had suddenly shifted. The tide had begun to rise and the current was now considerably stronger. Dark grey clouds were approaching us from the east and winds were now whipping over the lagoon. It became apparent that a storm was imminent. We hoisted ourselves back into the boat just as the rain began to splatter down. By the time we got back to our base camp, the wind was roaring and the rain was barreling down. The calm waters that we had waded in before were now a steady flow of white-capped waves spinning in the wind. The rain drenched us to the bone and we actually felt cold for one of the first times since being in Micronesia
The clouds began to disperse and we relaxed for another hour or so before deciding to head back home on our boats. Our day had been more than successful and we were all exhausted. We piled into the motorboats and started our trip back to Tonowas. The tranquil waters of the large lagoon had been upset by the storm and were now violently rocking and shaking. After about 15 minutes, my little old mama turned to me and presented me with a Tupperware dish full of the leftover rice and fish. She told us all to grab a handful of rice and form it into a ball in our hands. She then directed the boat driver to flank the side of the other boat that our friends were riding in. We pulled along side and unleashed a fury of rice balls at our unknowing and unaware buddies. I deemed these rice balls “Chuukese Snowballs” and we began a full on food fight as we bounced through the waves on our two boats back to Tonowas. We finished the rice and then began throwing fish heads and spam at each other. We finally ran out of food and had to stop our crazy antics when one of the others was almost thrown out of the boat by a big wave when he stood up to huck a rice ball at us.
Overall, this was one of my favorite days of Peace Corps so far. Actually, it was one of my favorite days of my life. It fulfilled my dreams of stereotypical tropical paradise and amazed me with its indescribable beauty. The perfect relaxing day was also punctuated by ultimate Frisbee games in the shallow water, quick and ferocious storms, and a high-speed food fight to top it off. If any of you ever decide to come visit me out here in Chuuk, you can be assured I will take you on a trip out to these flawless islands.
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