Black Coral Resort

This weekend Ben and I went to Black Coral, a VERY small atoll off the coast of Pohnpei. We went with 12 other adults and 2 kiddies, and booked out the whole island (told you it was small!!). We arrived Saturday morning and stayed overnight. It was wonderful. Admittedly, we took about as much stuff as we did when we departed Australia, but we didn't want to starve.... and tragedy still struck when we ran out of beer. We had other back-ups, but sometimes beer is all you feel like. Lucky there were more seasoned veterans of the overnight stay who generously provided a couple more. Then it was G+T - to stop the malaria, you know. It's medicine.

We spent the days snorkeling, playing 500 and scrabble and snoozing. And eating filled significant potions of our time.

The water was 30-32 degrees Celsius, depending on if you were up or down current from Ben... only kidding. There were cold bits in the channel! Used to the bracing freshness of the South Coast, I would have thought that temperature would be too warm, and not refreshing. But no. It was perfect.

We saw seven sharks on one expedition to the reef drop off, which is about 50m from shore. They were white tipped reef sharks, not dangerous or particularly large. I still swam and hovered right next to David when one of them appeared to be heading my way... I'm so brave.

Here are some random photos of the weekend.











The weekend was almost tainted when we got the boat back to the island and our car wouldn't start. Being marooned on the edge of Kitti is not my idea of fun, and there is no NRMA/RACV to call to come and get you! David and Alison bravely offered to tow us back to town.... with a car full of gear, 2 children and 2 Russian friends packed into their 4WD! Driving on Pohnpei is terrifying at the best of times, so this was going above and beyond to call! We made it back safely (Ben and David are great drivers! hooray!) and the car is being fixed.

Coming back to our place, we noticed just how much our temperature sensitivities have changed. We sleep with the air-conditioning on at night to stop mould growing on everything we own. I turned it on, went to the kitchen, came back, and started shivering. It was so cold! Our air-con is set to 24 degrees.
I don't think I can ever go home.
Jo