Release Date 4/23/2011

Kate was going to an event to kick off a Mangrove Planting program down the highway at the Solwara School. This is a facility run by Aslan Awareness a local NGO organization that she does a lot of work with.

They are about 5 miles down the coast. I decided I would try to paddle down to attend if I could find them and then either cartop or paddle back.

I had to run the market that morning because I had made an arrangement with a woman to purchase some rose bushes. It was the day before Easter, which iis a huge holiday here, a 4 day weekend, so she naturally didn’t show up, but I still bought a bunch of food and got a late start.

I had no idea if I could find their place because I have only been there a few times, and only by land. Fortunately I found a couple of kids swimming right about when I thought I might be close and they gave me vague directions (around the next point).

I then called Kate and guessed she and I were looking at the same point. I paddled for another 15 minutes, and thought I saw it, but it looked too small so I went further than called again.

Kate couldn’t see me, but other people on the beach told her I had already passed by, so I turned around and went in.

The whole thing was delayed so even though I got there at 11:00 it didn’t start till later.

The program was kicked-off by Miss PNG, Rachel James.

She is from New Ireland and is a Marine Bilologist. She has been an Ambassador for environmentalism and conservation, and has been in the news often promoting it.

Here is a picture of her and Kate. I just missed the embrace…

I wimped out and took a car ride home, since I had been cooked pretty well by the time I got there. The sunscreen washes off and I had much more sun on my hands and dark bands of intense tan.

I didn’t even realize it was Earth Day! It was actually Earth Day in the US, it was the day after Earth Day here.

There have been great and really full moons this week, that make it almost light when I ride to work in the dark in the mornings. This picture is about an hour before sunrise taken to the West out of Nusa Island. Really pretty and nice.

For Easter we went out to a local island, Uissen, with the staff from a restaurant in town “Bamboo” They had a great meal and all the kids had fun on an egg hunt. Unfortunately we got dumped on by intense rain and had to spend about 90 minutes huddled in the local’s huts, under trees, and even in the water trying to stay dry and warm. The food was great.

I never get over what litterbugs people are here. We should take them all to the US to see some of the beaches around NYC. The owner was trying to get them to keep things clean, but the minute she turned her back they would throw things in the ocean.

The beach and island was just stunning and beautiful, and they had chucked a huge bag of trash that we had picked-up, along with an assortment of beer cans, plates and foil. I picked it all up and brought it back to the boat, but noticed it wasn’t with us when we left. The people who lived there offered to “take care of it” hopefully this didn’t mean tossing it back in the ocean!

Truth:

You need water to live.