Fanu

Fanu is an island at the edge of the atoll. The 4 other JVs, Kieran, the Xavier staff and I took a few motor boats from a nearby dock to go there for a picnic today. The ride was awesome. It took about 25 minutes to get from Weno to this other small island. There were not many waves, but we were going pretty fast and the small boat was bumping up and down hard, which was fun. Only if I can travel to my friends' houses like that at home.
Passing by the island was amazing. I haven't really seen a tropical paradise getaway until this. If you can picture a deserted, uninhabited island that you day dream about, this is it. The water was clear and hot, and the sand was white. The island was probably not even 50 yards big in every direction. In the back of the island there was very shallow coral that we could walk on. We walked through it, checking out the small tropical fish swimming around and the amazing plants and coral. You walk about 30 yards through this shallowness until you hit the actual Pacific Ocean. Today was calm, so the surf wasn't the bad, but the waves were pretty big. We would have gone swimming in the waves, but there was no real beach or sand to crash into, just sharp hard coral.
Lunch was great. By great I don't mean a bowl of Angel Hair pasta with home made pesto sauce with a Dr. Pepper on the side. I mean it was an experience. They had local food: bread fruit, taro, fish they literally just caught (they swim out, tred water, and lower a hook down. Pretty simple, but effective), rice, and some cooked chicken. The best part was that we had to eat it with the local utensils: our fingers. I actually ate the fish, too, thank you very much. So it was pretty cool to eat this local food, on a small itty bitty island with sand, coral and palm trees, with some Chuukese staff. After lunch Joe, Chris and I put on our flippers and went snorkling (towards the lagoon side, obviously). We were in the water for about 2 hours. I have the sunburned back to prove it. But snorkling made snorkling by the Japanese dock look pretty bad. The day was pretty clear, so we were able to see pretty far down. We saw huge, pretty coral, hundreds of tropical fish, and two small sharks (coral sharks, half the size of your arm, don't worry). We even saw one of the staff members spear fishing. One Chuukese staff said i can learn how to spear fish with him next time.
So we were there all day. I'll need to get the pictures out soon, cause they were honestly those types of pictures you'd find on the tropical posters or postcards. It was pretty amazing.
I'm glad this week is all about hiking and swimming and travelling around the island and lagoon. Next week will be quiet, but a lot of prep for actual work. Then the week after that the kids come to campus, and things will be insane. And next thing I'll know it will be Christmas break, sunny and 83 degrees an palm trees still around me.
Keep on posting.