New Years

For New Years we left the hustle and bustle of Pohnpei and went to Black Corral Atoll. A ten minute boat ride away, Black Corral is small. If you put a football field on Black Corral, there would be no room left for the bleachers and to be honest I’m not even sure you could fit a football field on Black Corral. It is owned by one of the old families on the island and they rent it out for day and overnight use.

A group of 20 of us rented it out and enjoyed a potluck dinner and campout under a very full moon. New Year’s Day we were treated to a pleasant and delicious surprise lunch. Conrad, out fishing, passed by the atoll and offered us a freshly caught wahoo. Paul swam out to the boat and returned with lunch. He cleaned it and cooked it over the hot coals of a fire. The peanut butter sandwiches stayed in the cooler.

Back on Pohnpei, New Years is an excuse to let out a little exuberance. The local tradition is to pile onto a back of a flatbed truck on New Year’s Day and drive around yelling new years greetings, throwing candy to kids, and banging on various metal objects. We returned mid-afternoon New Year’s Day and saw a little of the festivity and heard even more. Using old oil drums and who knows what else, the banging was actually pretty musical. Floating up the mountainside, it sounded more like steel drum music then I expected and was surprisingly enjoyable to listen to.