I got to work today, early as usual, gave my breakfast to the guys, and then tried to figure out where I left off in the office.
The phone rang from an outside number. I assumed it was one of our Marshallese workers letting me know he wasn't coming in. It was Billy B.
Billy is a slim, silver grey haired Philippino guy probably near 70, at least mid 60's. with a kind face and attitude and very easy to talk to. He made a decision to leave at the contract change in February this year. He must have decided that after 37 years on this island he didn't want to deal with another contract change, or maybe it was simply a good time to leave in his mind. He had been here on Kwajalein since 1990. He must have been an American citizen, because he lived and worked here. I only had a month to get to know him while we worked for Chugach, and that was just a few brief encounters at work in the morning. There was another at "Camp Hamilton" where I kept the Hobie. One morning a few of us were heading out to go sailing there. He had a throw net and was wearing a pair of blue jean shorts looking at the water. He told me that dark spot in the water was a school of sardines. I'm fairly certain earlier I had mentioned in this blog my former workmate "Tiny" had told me about them. He said they were "out of reach". I didn't really get it at the time. He didn't want to get in the water because he was afraid of sharks. He never went in above his calves...
I asked him this morning how life was for him in California. He said he wants to come back home, Kwajalein is his home. 37 years does pretty much make a place a "home". He talked about coming back to work but there were no job openings. He said where he lived if he wanted to go somewhere, like the beach, he had to drive. On Kwaj he said, it was easy, after work if he wanted to go to the beach, he just got on his bike and peddled for a few hundred yards and he was on the beach.
I don't understand how people have problems with this place...
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Monday, March 12, 2018
March 10th, 2018 spearfishing with Tim and Dave.....more
The last post didn't really touch on what was intended. The three of us got in Tim's boat sunday morning with our snorkel gear, and Tim and I with our spear guns. Dave was just out to enjoy life and see what he could see. Actually, that could be said for Tim and I too, we just wanted to add spearing a fish to the menu.
The forecast was for 10 knot south to south east winds. The lagoon was as smooth as it has been for a while during this windy season. Tim had his forty horse 2 cycle at its peak with us screaming across the lagoon north to the second or third island up on the west reef. His boat is a "RIB"...read ridged bottom inflatable boat, a zodiac as most of the world knows it.
Kwajalein is pretty much the elbow of the atoll. From Kwajalein, in the lagoon you go either northeast (going up the lagoon side leeward side of the atoll) or you go sort of northwest(heading up either the inside of the atoll (read lagoon) or go Oceanside of the atoll)).
Kwajalein is pretty much the elbow of the atoll. From Kwajalein, in the lagoon you go either northeast (going up the lagoon side leeward side of the atoll) or you go sort of northwest(heading up either the inside of the atoll (read lagoon) or go Oceanside of the atoll)).
It was nice in the morning, we sped up to south pass with very little bouncing around, very little violence. We made it to Gea just south of that island and the pass and started there. Most of the atolls out here on the leeward side have these beautiful canyon ladened reefs with white sand at the bottom of the canyons and spectacular coral formations lining the shallow 10 to 20 foot canyons.
From the surface, you approach from this deep deep blue water. It is where the base for the color "blue" comes from. As you approach the atoll, the island or reef, the deep blue from where the atoll depths go from a thousand feet to 80, and then quickly to 40, then within fifty or so yards its 20 or so feet deep, the blues turn into a hundred other colors of green and blue. Its beautiful from above, just looking at it from the boat.
Once in the water snorkelling, the leeward side of the atoll in many places is incredibly beautiful. Its like the wind came thru and dug small canyons into the reef, then nature filled them with sand. The sand looks green from above, and slightly less so from below. Its a beautiful contrast to the coral that surrounds it. The coral is much darker, but much more alive, much more textured with the slow crazy growth of various other corals on top of it. It's a hundred different types of lime, all completely beautiful and all completely different. All thru this beautiful underwater landscape are hundreds of different fish species, incredibly beautifully different.
We got busy hunting. Well Tim and I did, and Dave took the lookout position snorkeling around as Tim and I dove down to get some fish. Grouper seems to be the fish to be gotten when out with Tim, (and when his brother Steve was here). It's like the "fallback" fish if no dogtooth tuna, or trevally, jobfish, or larger mackeral show up.
Grouper is a reef fish, as opposed to a pelagic fish like the tuna, or trevally. Tim (along with his brother Steve, now living in the states) did their research and have their opinions on what size and type of grouper should be harvested (yes, read shot). Once you spend a little time hunting grouper on the reef, their profiles stick out like a sore thumb. Easy to spot from a distance, even against the dark colored reef, which they camouflage themselves with. Most times they are easy pickins. They see you coming, stop, face off to you and then slowly turn broadside. Most of the reef fish are more shy than this, but maybe the grouper is near the top of the food chain and has little fear. We usually take them about end of fingers to elbow in length. Much bigger, and the risk of the dreaded ciguatera, according to Tim and good logic, increases. The bigger ones (I've seen up to 4 foot and around 35lbs), are even less shy then the already less shy smaller ones. This is something I learned after swimming down to face off with one. He won. His large underbitten bottom lip with the fangs hanging out, his size, and his confidence made me decide going up to the surface for air was a good choice.
Grouper is a reef fish, as opposed to a pelagic fish like the tuna, or trevally. Tim (along with his brother Steve, now living in the states) did their research and have their opinions on what size and type of grouper should be harvested (yes, read shot). Once you spend a little time hunting grouper on the reef, their profiles stick out like a sore thumb. Easy to spot from a distance, even against the dark colored reef, which they camouflage themselves with. Most times they are easy pickins. They see you coming, stop, face off to you and then slowly turn broadside. Most of the reef fish are more shy than this, but maybe the grouper is near the top of the food chain and has little fear. We usually take them about end of fingers to elbow in length. Much bigger, and the risk of the dreaded ciguatera, according to Tim and good logic, increases. The bigger ones (I've seen up to 4 foot and around 35lbs), are even less shy then the already less shy smaller ones. This is something I learned after swimming down to face off with one. He won. His large underbitten bottom lip with the fangs hanging out, his size, and his confidence made me decide going up to the surface for air was a good choice.
March 10th, 2018 ..Spearfishing ocenside with Tim and Dave and pics of GPS tracks
Not having the opportunity (read guts) to go Oceanside much given the fears of taking the 17' Hobie Camaran to a place that offers no room for mistakes.
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A snapshot of the route we took with Tim's boat on Sunday March 9th maybe.
So this may not be the best spapshot to explain the fear or maybe respect that is needed while venturing out one of the pass's to Oceanside west reef. The wind nearly always blows from east to west down here, this time of year its normally fairly strong, around 15 to 25 knots. So, in the snapshot above from the GPS tracks app on my phone, the wind comes from the right and goes left. Any time a boat is to the right of the west reef -still in the lagoon (ie the land mass in the pics which is the lower western part of the Kwajalein Atoll), it is somewhat safe. If something were to go wrong with ....whatever is driving your boat, be it sails, motors or whatever....there is always a shallow spot to catch an anchor on if one is on the right side, the upwind side of the reef. It's a failsafe.
Writing about it now, kind of makes me realize I shouldn't be so fearful. There are many other "failsafes" other than catching the anchor on the reef as one gets swept out to sea beyond the west reef. The regulations out here, which aren't always followed, but are by this boat captain, contain many failsafes.
A float plan is filed before you take your boat out. You carry a radio, and many like myself, have an PLB (personal locator beacon) which once its been wet for a while, or activated by you, its sends a distress signal to the coast guard. It works, I've seen it in action, from a PLB 6 years old. It works, I was there when the coast guard from Hawaii called Jobe. The regulations also stipulate that you have a "second form of propulsion" if going Oceanside west reef. The regulation is vague on what that entails. It could be oars, fins (read flippers), or it could be a second motor, or second sail. Most people with respect to the danger (read: not many of the Marshallese (that do not of course, fall under our base rules)) have a second motor, or in the case of a sailboat, a motor in case the sails fail for some reason.
The thing is, you don't want to have to be rescued, especially as a private boat owner. It's tantamount to military justice. YOU mess up and everyone pays. You don't want to be that guy. Also, its a very big ocean, if you screw up late in the evening, the helicopter doesn't come out until the next morning, so there is that.
Ok, now I'll find some more pictures of GPS tracks....
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Tuesday, March 6, 2018
THIS place.............
It's a U.S Army Garrison. I have no idea what that means, except that there are more rules than in most places. When you arrive (from the states) you are sort of escorted into a block structure within a fence. Its about the only place that gives one the "feel" that it is an Army Post.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Basketball.....
its the end of February...
The championship basketball tournament was tonight.
Two months ago, my new boss at Chugach, asked me to co-sponsor a Marshallese team of basketball players. I learned that one guy can sponsor 10 Marshallese guys to be on Kwajalein, after their work hours. So 15 or so of the guys we worked with signed up, and Dan needed someone else to cover things if more than ten of them actually wanted to play.
As a sponsor, we are expected to be with the group we sponsor the entire time they are on island. We have to be at the checkpoint to sign them in, and be there to sign them out. It turned out to be the slightest inconvenience compared to the entertainment of watching them play.
I will have to keep coming back to this post to completely describe the beauty of watching these guys play basketball.
On Ebeye, its the favored sport. There is not enough room for soccer, they played softball at the dump but too many guys were getting impaled on junk so they stopped it. I hear there could be tennis courts? Volley ball is big too, but I would guess its viewed a womans sport over there. So its basketball.
Jurajar, the tallest guy on our team is my height 5'11" and he's equal to the shortest on the other team. Aichy is nearly as tall, but much thinner, looks like an NBA player, and plays better than i would guess they do. He's incredible. Maybe 140lbs. Those two are the tallest on our team, which is equal to the shortest "rebelle" on their team. Their team had two Marshallese guys. Two incredible Marshallese guys. Not as incredible as Aichy, but damned good. They are the ONLY reason our team lost tonight. The Marshallese guys ..wait people...are twice as quick as the white folks (rebelle). It only takes one Christmas visit on Ebeye to realize this. Near the end of the dancing and all they throw can goods out. "Throw" is a misnomer. "Rifle" or "Launch" or "shoot" etc is a much better description. The only reason the rebelle faces in the back don't get hit is because of the reaction times of the Marshallese people in front of them. The can could be heading at your face at nearly the speed of sound, where you pretty much write things off.....then from nowhere a dark skinned arm and hand shoots up like a rocket ............phewww.....life saved.
We have Jimmy, who is also nearly 5'10" but he has to weigh well past 300lbs. Jenson, same height almost but maybe 240lbs. They are walls. Even against the towering opposition. They are walls, but both very quick walls given their size.
The opposition - Eric at 6'5" played college ball. Brian at 6'4 or 5" didn't but can shoot close up, Alex teaches high school and coaches two high school basketball teams at 6'4". The rest of their team was chunky white guys over 5'10" and two Marshallese dudes that saved their asses at 5'9" and 5'10".
Besides Aichy, Jurajar, Jimmy, and Jenson, oh wait Nelson is about 5'10"....most of the rest of our guys were around on average 5'7". Timothy, 25 or so, shaved head except his tribal lock, drove in several times and scored against and in the middle of the giants, he is 5'6". It was amazing.
Timothy came back during the second half and hit 3 three pointers in a row.
Aichy drove in once, with the heat of two tall guys right beside him, for a lay up. Eric and Brian both slammed their arms down above him as they all jumped, expecting a regular layup from the guy 7 inches shorter than them. Aichy new it was coming, jumped forward spun so his back was at the basket and tossed the ball over his head behind him without looking. SWISH. He landed and walked away a smooth as ice as though he had been doing that his whole life. No big deal.
The championship basketball tournament was tonight.
Two months ago, my new boss at Chugach, asked me to co-sponsor a Marshallese team of basketball players. I learned that one guy can sponsor 10 Marshallese guys to be on Kwajalein, after their work hours. So 15 or so of the guys we worked with signed up, and Dan needed someone else to cover things if more than ten of them actually wanted to play.
As a sponsor, we are expected to be with the group we sponsor the entire time they are on island. We have to be at the checkpoint to sign them in, and be there to sign them out. It turned out to be the slightest inconvenience compared to the entertainment of watching them play.
I will have to keep coming back to this post to completely describe the beauty of watching these guys play basketball.
On Ebeye, its the favored sport. There is not enough room for soccer, they played softball at the dump but too many guys were getting impaled on junk so they stopped it. I hear there could be tennis courts? Volley ball is big too, but I would guess its viewed a womans sport over there. So its basketball.
Jurajar, the tallest guy on our team is my height 5'11" and he's equal to the shortest on the other team. Aichy is nearly as tall, but much thinner, looks like an NBA player, and plays better than i would guess they do. He's incredible. Maybe 140lbs. Those two are the tallest on our team, which is equal to the shortest "rebelle" on their team. Their team had two Marshallese guys. Two incredible Marshallese guys. Not as incredible as Aichy, but damned good. They are the ONLY reason our team lost tonight. The Marshallese guys ..wait people...are twice as quick as the white folks (rebelle). It only takes one Christmas visit on Ebeye to realize this. Near the end of the dancing and all they throw can goods out. "Throw" is a misnomer. "Rifle" or "Launch" or "shoot" etc is a much better description. The only reason the rebelle faces in the back don't get hit is because of the reaction times of the Marshallese people in front of them. The can could be heading at your face at nearly the speed of sound, where you pretty much write things off.....then from nowhere a dark skinned arm and hand shoots up like a rocket ............phewww.....life saved.
We have Jimmy, who is also nearly 5'10" but he has to weigh well past 300lbs. Jenson, same height almost but maybe 240lbs. They are walls. Even against the towering opposition. They are walls, but both very quick walls given their size.
The opposition - Eric at 6'5" played college ball. Brian at 6'4 or 5" didn't but can shoot close up, Alex teaches high school and coaches two high school basketball teams at 6'4". The rest of their team was chunky white guys over 5'10" and two Marshallese dudes that saved their asses at 5'9" and 5'10".
Besides Aichy, Jurajar, Jimmy, and Jenson, oh wait Nelson is about 5'10"....most of the rest of our guys were around on average 5'7". Timothy, 25 or so, shaved head except his tribal lock, drove in several times and scored against and in the middle of the giants, he is 5'6". It was amazing.
Timothy came back during the second half and hit 3 three pointers in a row.
Aichy drove in once, with the heat of two tall guys right beside him, for a lay up. Eric and Brian both slammed their arms down above him as they all jumped, expecting a regular layup from the guy 7 inches shorter than them. Aichy new it was coming, jumped forward spun so his back was at the basket and tossed the ball over his head behind him without looking. SWISH. He landed and walked away a smooth as ice as though he had been doing that his whole life. No big deal.
Monday, February 26, 2018
Lucky vs Blessed
Ok so that was a catchy kind of controversial headline ending in neither or both. I'm not so religious, but its good to cover the bases.
This place ....I feel fortunate/lucky to be here.
Lucky vs blessed. Gratitude is Gratitude, it shouldn't matter who you blame. Good fortune, Karma, God, your mamma....shouldn't matter. Being grateful is being thankful. Being thankful means you've taken a step back, thought about things and realized somehow that something beyond you and your efforts has stepped forward and helped you.
Maybe it's not been "something beyond you and your efforts". Maybe it works out that way if you just do what is right. Maybe if you just treat people right, live right, and do your best to do the right thing ...it works out.
So there's been an overuse of the word "right" without a definition of what "right" actually means. I'd say 95% of us know what it is without putting words behind it.
May we teach the other 5%, and may the rest of the 95% not lose sight of it.....as we often do
This place ....I feel fortunate/lucky to be here.
Lucky vs blessed. Gratitude is Gratitude, it shouldn't matter who you blame. Good fortune, Karma, God, your mamma....shouldn't matter. Being grateful is being thankful. Being thankful means you've taken a step back, thought about things and realized somehow that something beyond you and your efforts has stepped forward and helped you.
Maybe it's not been "something beyond you and your efforts". Maybe it works out that way if you just do what is right. Maybe if you just treat people right, live right, and do your best to do the right thing ...it works out.
So there's been an overuse of the word "right" without a definition of what "right" actually means. I'd say 95% of us know what it is without putting words behind it.
May we teach the other 5%, and may the rest of the 95% not lose sight of it.....as we often do
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Walked out the door into the hallway of my BQ...Feb 2018
It was weird. It's nearly weird nearly every time. This little 240 square foot place is my man cave, my comfortable spot, my little refuge in a place that doesn't require a refuge at all. I walked out the solid oak looking door a while ago to take out some trash. My door opens to a hallway lined with doors. Kind of eerily similar to the Matrix with the pods, except well, its doors. Maybe 18 or so doors in a carpeted hallway. Its nearly always empty. Before I moved in to this BQ (bachelor quarters) from the new and improved "man camp" I was living in, thoughts ran about seeing a lot of familiar people in these hallways. Worries over them seeing my disheveled self in the morning or carrying out dead cats ran thru my head. Kidding with the cats. The huge football field long hallway with tons of doors is nearly always empty. Maybe 3 is the biggest number of humans seen in it at one time, but that was a split second.
So tonight I walked out, thinking how strange it is that I am here in this place. I've never lived anywhere else but Ohio, no farther than 40 miles from the hospital that my mother birthed me in. It felt strange that I could just give up all that after seeing a post on Craigslist of all places for a job on (the picture was an island with a runway on it) island in the middle of no where. I swear I thought this is how they harvest kidneys from people on the black market. I have a ton of friends there, good...no great people...I don't hang out with turds. My two sisters whom I will always always always love are there. My nieces and nephews are about the best kids you could imagine. All of my family too. My mothers side mainly stayed near Columbus. My fathers side not so much. I left some good folks.
The money was the biggest draw in the beginning. My future didn't really have a monetarily responsible answer to "how the hell" at that point. I left my best friend "Benji" for this place and the money. I did leave him in capable loving hands and I thank Catie for that.
So I walked out into that strange empty hallway tonight obviously wondering if I've done the right thing. I did. We all have to do what is the best for us, as long as it doesn't screw someone else.
I almost said "sorry Benji", but I know Catie loves you
So tonight I walked out, thinking how strange it is that I am here in this place. I've never lived anywhere else but Ohio, no farther than 40 miles from the hospital that my mother birthed me in. It felt strange that I could just give up all that after seeing a post on Craigslist of all places for a job on (the picture was an island with a runway on it) island in the middle of no where. I swear I thought this is how they harvest kidneys from people on the black market. I have a ton of friends there, good...no great people...I don't hang out with turds. My two sisters whom I will always always always love are there. My nieces and nephews are about the best kids you could imagine. All of my family too. My mothers side mainly stayed near Columbus. My fathers side not so much. I left some good folks.
The money was the biggest draw in the beginning. My future didn't really have a monetarily responsible answer to "how the hell" at that point. I left my best friend "Benji" for this place and the money. I did leave him in capable loving hands and I thank Catie for that.
So I walked out into that strange empty hallway tonight obviously wondering if I've done the right thing. I did. We all have to do what is the best for us, as long as it doesn't screw someone else.
I almost said "sorry Benji", but I know Catie loves you
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