Olympic Day

June 23 was International Olympic Day, and it was with much excitement that we learned that Yap was going to mark the occasion with a 1.2 mile fun run/walk around the Blue Lagoon.

The actual event wasn’t set to take place until June 26, but three days late isn’t too bad when you’re on island time. Both of us enjoy running and racing, albeit not very competitively, and the lack of a running scene here in Yap has been one of the more difficult things for us to adjust to. We do occasionally see people – mostly expats – out for a run, but most of the time it’s too dang hot to do anything but lay around panting.

The race itself turned out to be more of a walk. Most people find it a challenge to sprint in flip-flops, and running with a basketful of betelnut is likewise difficult.

We jogged around the Blue Lagoon once and then caught up with the tail end of the group on our second trip around. A good time was had by all, and we hope to do it again next year.

On Sunday we headed out onto the water with some scuba divers for a day of snorkeling.

It was a lovely blue-sky and blue-water day. This time of year is low-tourist season, but the Pacific, especially inside the reef, is as smooth as glass. In addition to perfect sunsets,

this makes for wonderful snorkeling in crystal-clear tropical waters.

We had run into some problems with condensation on our underwater camera during our first snorkel trip, but it worked much better this time around. The reef and the fish here are spectacularly diverse.

We’re looking forward to spending more time in the water as time goes on. Thanks for reading, and have a great week.

The Dog Days of Summer

Ok, so technically we're not at the dog days just yet. If we recall correctly, those are in August. But canines have been on our minds this week as we enjoyed the slightly longer days around the summer solstice. Yap is only 9 degrees north of the equator, of course, so the days stay around 12 hours in length year-round. In recent weeks, though, we've noticed that we have a few more minutes to enjoy the afternoon. That extra time has given us chances to take in more of the Pacific scenery and enjoy some beautiful sunsets.


We missed posting last week after KC suffered a bout of tropical stomach flu, and Matt came down with a mysterious rash on both of his legs that may be mange. KC finds this more amusing than Matt does. It does make us both nostalgic for the pups we left behind in Denver. Both were from the pound, and Chester (on the right in this photo) was a pretty mangy mutt when we got him.

Dogs have been on our minds for other reasons as well. Finding it hard to deal with the canine conditions here on Yap, some friends of ours here recently founded a non-profit called the Yap Animal Protection Society (Y.A.P.S. for short). Dogs (and cats) here receive the same treatment as they do in most of the developing world. They aren't treated as food in Yap (in contrast to Pohnpei State, where the capital city of Palikir is located), but they are badly neglected and live short and difficult lives.

Some lucky dogs are adopted by families who feed them scraps, but most are left to fend for themselves. We've seen dogs eating everything from coconuts to bananas to, on one unusual occasion, an entire turtle head. (Needless to say, the turtle head was almost more than KC could take.) We have a couple of local dogs who make the rounds to our house for scraps, and we're happy to do what we can to help them out.

Yap is too small to support a regular veterinary practice, so the goal of Y.A.P.S. is to fly in a vet this fall for a roundup and subsequent spay/neuter of as many dogs as possible. We know that many of our readers are pet lovers. If you have any interest in contributing (or if you are veterinarian interested in donating your time!), please visit www.yapsinc.org. Thanks for reading.

Snorkels Aweigh!

Last week, nearly 4 months after dropping it off at the post office, we finally got the last of the boxes that we shipped from Denver. We had been eagerly awaiting its arrival, so we were nonplussed when we saw the beating it had taken during its transpacific voyage. When we commented on the condition of the box, our friendly post office employee pointed to a hole and announced that a rat had likely taken up residence inside. This seemed possible since we had packed these boxes without regard to varmints. (As you may recall, USPS had told us that they would travel by plane and arrive in less than two weeks.)

We stood back a bit as we opened the box, unsure what we would find inside, but all was well. Although a bag of almonds had exploded inside, the remainder of the contents were in good shape, with nary a rat to be found.

One happy consequence of the delivery is that it contained our snorkeling gear. We’ve been out on the water on various kayaks and canoes a number of times since our arrival, but we hadn’t yet explored beneath the surface, where world-class scuba diving and snorkeling awaited.

This morning we hopped on a boat with a group of a scuba divers heading out from one of the local dive shops. Yap is famous in the diving community for its resident population of manta rays, and our

destination was Gufnuw channel, one of the two hotspots for seeing these giant creatures.

We followed the scuba divers into the water,

and within a couple of minutes we were lucky enough to spot several manta rays about 60 feet under the surface. This photo, with a manta passing just a few feet from one of the divers, provides a sense of scale. This was one of the smaller mantas, which can exceed 15 feet in wingspan.

In addition to manta rays, Gufnuw channel is flanked by a spectacular coral reef that is just a few feet beneath the surface at high tide. At low tide the water isn’t high enough to allow for easy swimming, but our timing was perfect and the snorkeling was spectacular. Due to a fogging problem on our camera’s underwater casing our pictures, unfortunately, were not. (The fogging is visible in the manta picture above -- the water clarity was much better than the photo represents). We can’t wait to get this fixed and head back out to the reef for more underwater photography.

We’re looking forward to more underwater adventures in the coming weeks and months, and we’re both planning on getting scuba-certified in short order.