We had a fun day this morning, which involved a boat ride to an uninhabited island ... and now I'm totally boat/motion sick. I just threw up 5 minutes ago, so now I feel fine, so I better hurry up and type before another wave rolls over. (TMI - I know!)
Back to the boat ... my dad rented a boat from the marina and we boated over to Bigej (pronounced Bee-Gee, like the '70's band). Since it's uninhabited, there is no boat dock, so we had to anchor about 100 yards off shore and swim. We snorkeled around first. Since these islands are all made of coral, the snorkeling is amazing! There are just mounds and mounds of coral, and very colorful fish swimming in and out of them.
Swimming ashore was much harder than it sounds, b/c of all the coral. There was no sand, just coral everywhere. Since I don't really know much about coral, all I know are the rumors - doesn't it cut you if you touch it? Well, the waves bounced me off 2 huge coral heads, and I'm still ok. Jonathan's right leg did take a minor beating though - poor guy. Once onshore we walked 1/2 way around the island looking for shells. We didn't find anything too exciting, but I did get a couple sweet shells to add to my collection. The jackpot find is always a cowrie (I think I spelled that right). Google it to see a photo - or I'll be able to post photos when I get home.
We ran into a gang of Marshalese kids (who said they lived on another island). The kids were about 9 or 10. The Marshallese are all really friendly, and a little curious, but these kids kind-of freaked me out. There were about 7 of them, all unattended, and 2 of them had machetties! (sp?) Kind-of scary, since we were out in the middle of nowhere. I smell a horror movie - The Slaughter of Bigej! The freaky kids actually found me a sweet brown cowrie shell (brown ones are rare), so thank you kids!
After fighting with the coral to snorkle back to the boat, we zoomed home. And now I'm totally sick. But it was all worth it!
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Pass Fail
18 hours ago
4 comments:
omg, those kids do sound freaky!!! what the heck are they carrying around a machete for? that's a little frightening!!! Dont forget to watch for beach glass washed up on the beach, it's my new favorite obsession!!! Sounds like an amazing place. pea green!!
Sounds like "Lord of the Flies" to me! I'm sorry you got the icks, take a nap! Sleeping it off is about all that works for me. Ugh, I feel your pain. Though thankfully for me it's not boats, just cars. (Vans & buses are worse!!)
The place sounds beautiful and I can't wait to see pictures!
Terry - actually we are going to (what my dad calls) "Glass Beach" one of these days to to 'shelling'. They have big piles of beach glass in their house. Cool stuff!
waaaaaaaaaaaa, i only have a tiny pile of beach glass.
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