Beware of Rocket Scientist

Hey everyone, just wanted to tell you about my first trip to an outer island on the atoll. The island is called Meck (easy to remember). I was sitting around the office at the end of the day last friday (Thursday in the states) and my boss walked and said, "By the way, did I tell you that you are going to Meck tomorrow?" My first thought was "awesome" my next thought was "awe man!" That was when I remembered that the boat leaves at 6 am. There are a lot of things that happen there especially during mission time. The island is an hour boat ride and I just missed the boat. I got to the dock as it was leaving the harbor. I was on the phone with Harbor Control begging for them to turn it around and pick me up. They said they would call me back. They called back and told me that another boat was going that way and that I could hop on that one. So all I had to do now was track down the captian of that boat. Not an easy task. I didn't know who he was. I did manage to find him and he was a nice enough guy to pick up a hitchhiker. It was a small boat but a very comfortable ride.

Well I showed up with a box full of parts and a few tools and nobody was expecting me. My job was to install a Hazmat washer and dryer. Sounds harder that it actually is. The first thing that really got my attention was this sign...

Only at Nasa and Meck can you see something like this. Meck is a very small island and it only took about ten minutes for my grand tour.

The harbor at meck

A tree overgrown with grass. Interesting.

Downtown meck. Not excatly your New York skyline is it? When I took this picture I was about 50 feet above sea level, the highest I have been in almost 5 months.

And finally, after a long moring and a rather boring afternoon and the lunch I finally got at 3 pm, the ride home showed up.

I wasn't sure how this thing was going to get out of that harbor but it will spin on a dime. It was crazy.

What a sweet sight to see after such a long day. It was an hour boat ride back to Kwaj I turned my ipod on and drifted away. I tried to name all the islands I saw on the way up there, I will need to know them when I get my boat licsense, and didn't see a one on the way back. Well that was my first trip to another island and I would do it again. Maybe next time I will actually catch the boat. lol.

A weekend on Kwaj

Man, have I been slacking. Sorry about that. Well lets see. Nothing too exciting has happened lately. Life moves pretty slow around here. The only exciting things going on is that the produce plane is broke down in Hawaii. So far we are out of milk, and if that plane doesn't get here soon we will be out of a lot more items than just milk. Oh yeah, and there is a Coast Guard ship here to work on all the buoys in the water. So exciting! Right. I did manage to do a couple of dives on Sunday...
This is an Ahku. They have some mean looking teeth but some really good tasting meat. :)

A 4 foot black tip shark. Very curious little guy.

Morrish Idol. I finally got a good close up of a face of one. I am not zoomed in. It was right there.

I don't have a clue what it is but it sure is pretty.

On Monday I laid around my room most of the morning and managed to pedal my way out to the golf course for a quick round.

Around the airport...

and pass the two runways along the long and windy road next to crashing waves up to the course. :)

The parking lot is always a crowded one at the Holmberg Fairways.

See, I told you so. ;)
There I am trying to decide if I should go over the palm trees or around them. Really it is just a surprise every time. I do manage to play an average of 27 holes a week. I love it!!! I figure that I will know the course pretty well by the end of two years. LOL.

While I was at the far end of the course and far from any shelter what so ever, it decided to rain yet again. I was really into the game and forgot to pay attention to the clouds that were coming in. I got soaked! You would think that some one who lives in an area that averages 100 inches of rain a year would "invest" in an umbrella, but all my experience is from eastern New Mexico where I use to laugh at people who wasted their time messing with umbrellas. Oh how little do I know. LOL.

That is what a typical weekend is for me way out here in the middle of nowhere. I did start my boat orientation class tonight so I will be able to rent out my own boats. That means all day diving trips to an outer island and laying on the beach between dives. :) Hope to hear from y'all soon.