Dad has taken over the writing in general and I have not been writing much but thought I would send out a message here to tell about some of our trip. We have enjoyed our stay at this island called Agrihan, there are nine people that live here. These including family with 3 young children are on the island to do some work and keep things maintained. Apparently there are some people pushing for a medical post and school so that they can start a town here but will see if that happens. We were invited for coconut crab meal at 3:00 pm soon after we anchored and it was nice. The first thing they did was promptly climb a tree for a coconut for each of us to drink and relax. The coconut crabs live on land and are pretty big but what is surprising is that they live on coconuts. They tear the husk off and crack the nut to get inside meaning they must have some serious strength. We were also served a type of banana cooked in coconut milk that seemed like potatoe only sweeter. The people here also eat large fruit bats raw or cooked in coconut milk but not today. Dad ate some of the stuff that I presume is the guts from the crabs but didn't get too far into it. When we got back to the boat Kevin and I went spear fishing and Dad boiled up some of that other type of banana and it was very good with butter. We speared a couple fish but none of the sharks that went by. It is a good thing Kevin missed the one large fish (probably a travally) or we would have gotten tired of hearing that story<g>. It was bigger than the tuna we have caught so far. The main guy or at least the most talkative one on the island was generous and gave us a large bundle of that cooking type of banana, some mangoes, and a type of green bean perhaps to taste, you don't eat the bean but the material between the seed and the shell, tasted a bit like apple. They also have papaya and pineapple that I would have liked to get. Since the wild pigs are not around close the produce is doing well. Naturally they have some chickens running around and also a couple bird houses for what looks like a king fisher and tern. What they eat depends on when the ship gets in with supplies and what they feel like eating. They eat the wild boar as well which must be a bit tough to hunt on the island as it is the highest peak in the Mariana's Islands and seems pretty steep. The little dogs help with that and some have the scars to prove it. There ain't much to those dogs, ribs and nuts as Jeff would say. Apparently the dogs do some foraging for themselves going after fish in the shallows. The Japanese also occupied this island before and during WWII. It sounds like they used the locals for labor, probably forced. Again it is interesting to learn the history and some people are still alive that remember that era. The island a short distance away is considered an active volcano and one of the islands in the chain did erupt around 2002. We hope to find another active volcano only 3 meters under the surface soon. Speaking of tuna we had a nice yellow fin the other day and Kevin did an excellent job of cooking it a couple hours later. I will still have to ask how he did the batter so well but then again perhaps he should just show me a few times. It is best if we can eat it right away, the spam can wait another day. We are enjoying the fish more than expected. While at Guam the fuel was delayed so we waited at the fisherman's co-op. Manny appears to own most or all of it and was good to talk to and gave us Coke and some fish specialties from his shop each day. The sashimi was great, Kevin enjoyed it more than he expected. Manny also ranches water buffalo and cattle as well as pigs and chickens so interesting to get on the topic of farming. He was missing a few animals that it sounded like someone took. We seemed to learn more about fish and fishing in Guam partly because we did some spear fishing but also they have a small commercial operation there so it is easier to understand, most of the fish is imported which seems odd. A disgruntled guy delivering fish said that they could produce more but a local family of four automatically gets $41,000 from the US government so why work alot. The people are US citizens but cannot vote in the federal election, they are more of a territory. The local bumper sticker slogan is "Guam, The start of America's day" as they are ahead with the time zone at GMT +10. Guam may get a carrier group which means an aircraft carrier and about 7 other ships as well as alot of people which would help the economy. While at Guam we met some very nice people and always interesting to hear the stories. Some of them had the cruisers story of a plan of 2 - 2.5 years of traveling by sailboat, that was 10 or 20 years ago now and they are not sure if they want to go back to the real world. A couple from B.C. had a child during the travels and when he finishes high school in 2 years they may look for work in Fort McMurray or something. They also had a skinny dog at the club, this one a weiramer or something, almost like a greyhound but with only three legs. It seemed to do alright and also foraged for crabs and small fish in the ocean also. He was the Mariana's Yacht club mascot I guess. Guam was different than Palau but like Palau the people were very friendly. Guam is more developed with industry where Palau is more pristine, both great places with alot of Japanese tourists as it must be cheaper than the Japanese Islands. The water is clearer in Guam (definitely not in the bay though) with less sharks whereas Palau has more coral and fish life. We have left the island of Agrihan and the weather is rougher than the wind suggests. The island was great but there was alot of flies, an awful lot. After an attempt this morning we are rid of most of them. The traveling is going well. Later, Brad -- Bead Gray Idlewild Custom Buehler 55 powered by a 55-hp Kubota Home port: Dunvegan, Alberta http://www.idlewildexpedition.ca/ http://dieselducks.com/Idelwild.html http://www.trawlersandtrawlering.com/ Where to follow Idlewild if you have Google Earth installed: http://tinyurl.com/ksnhg For the JPEG version: http://tinyurl.com/ovdt7

--- Georgs Kolesnikovs <georgs@trawlersandtrawlering.com> wrote: >We were also served a type of banana > cooked in coconut > milk that seemed like potatoe only sweeter. >a type of green bean perhaps to > taste, you don't > eat the bean but the material between the seed and > the shell, tasted > a bit like apple. The "bananas" were plantains and the beans were probably fava beans. Typical stuff for the Pacific Islands. I'm suprised they weren't given a couple of lobster too. Patrick Willard 40PH Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com