Spearfishing in Yap

Today I went out with some locals for spearfishing. The Chief of my village put some

pressure on me. "We need a lot of fish, better you are good!". ;-)

First by boat to another village for getting the permission to fish at the place the guys wanted to and 

then to the first spot. They all have handmade spearguns, which is impressive compared to my own 

facility made one.

The visibility was like 5m-7m, very bad. The first half an hour I had 

problems with my mask and I couldn't localize where it came from. All the time water was running 

into my mask at the right side. Like in the past at the Lake of Zurich during training, it was

the silicon which was not covering the glass 100%. After I fixed that, one of my best Spearfishing/Freediving

days started ;)

The locals did not went really deep for fish, they stayed between 3-10m. I spotted some Buffalo-Fish 

(better known as Humphead Parrotfish) and bigger Groupers at 15-17m and tried to get one of them. 

No chance getting in shooting distance, except once, but already counted 11 Grey Reef Sharks. Not 

worse it risking accidentally getting bitten by one of them. 

So many Sharks around there so I was watching my back all the time. That's also the reason why

the Eagle rays and even two Manta ray's!, scared the shit out of me when I saw that shadows not even

one meter above my head. One of my best moments in freediving!!!

Getting surprised by an Eagle ray during spearfishing (Tonga) is quite nice, but getting surprised by two 

Mantas, that's really cool!!!

You also have to know, that it is not allowed to do Freediving/Skindiving with Manta Ray's at that spot 

we've been in Yap, I already asked for that before. So I was very lucky!

Two Manta Ray's, seven Eagle Ray's, one Leopard Shark and Whitetip Reef and plenty of Grey Reefs.

Not easy shooting there something, specially when every one is hunting on there own, but

at the end the Chief was satisfied and I shared some of my fish with some Japanese in the Restaurant.

Fresh Bigeye Travelly sashimi and fried Spadefish, delicious!

During Dinner, the Dive Instructor (and owner of the Restaurant) told me, that I was fishing at a dive spot, which was 

voted a couple of years ago to one of the best diving sites, I can imagine why ;)

Looks like the storm is coming in 2-3 days.

All set for my trip to Ulithi Atoll

Today I finally set everything up for my travel to Ulithi in the Outer islands of Yap

Plane will leave Yap on the 3rd and return will be on the 21.03. Between 07.03 - 18.03, there is no chance

for getting a flight back to Yap. 

I now have my permission from the "Council of Tamoa", which allows me to stay on Falalop in Ulithi 

and some of the locals in my Village I'm staying, already gave me some names from people on some other

islands in Ulithi. I hope I can set something up when I'm there for some home stay on other islands.

The dive instructor told me, there is one place where he saw once over 60 Eagle Rays

at once ;). That’s what I'm searching for. I also hope there will be plenty of turtles to

see at Turtle Island and I will finally have a chance seeing a Tiger shark.

Hatching time is from July - October they told me, but their should be Turtles around all the year they 

are saying. Same for the Tiger sharks, which feed on the Turtles ;)

Some more exercises

I went out again for snorkeling in the inside of the lagoon. No Stingrays and Nurse sharks

that time, but a very good and hard training again.

Tried to go to the edge of the lagoon, but both, current and wind been very

strong. At one point I was only able to stay at the same spot with full leg power

and still estimated, 300+ meters to go. Have to check that on google maps some day.

I guess around 1km+ against the current and wind and return.

First day on Yap

First day on Yap and I already saw a Tawny nurse shark, Stingray and traditional dances.

It was like a preparation dance for the Yap day (which is the biggest event on Yap) 

all the people from there own village are judging them and give them some last

advises for Yap day. 

On Yap Day it self, all the Villages, even some from the outer islands, are 

competing against each others. Will probably fun seeing that ;) 

Sadly the weather is so bad, that there is no chance at the moment seeing some 

Manta Ray's mating, one of the main reasons I choose Yap as one of my destinations!

It looks like it will be the same as on Rarotonga. No chance going outside

the reef for freediving or diving at all. It also looks like there is potential for a 

big storm. Probably arriving in a couple of days.

From 4C° back to 31C°+

After loosing nearly all of my sun tan, thanks New Zealand and Japan!!!, I need a refreshment ;)

 Japan Airlines and United

Three days Manila, four hours Guam and over four weeks in Yap and around. 

I cannot wait to get back into the water.

I still had no chance checking my sinuses if everything is fine again...hope so!

Tackle!!!

Even if I don't go often out for fishing since I started Freediving, that was on my bucketlist. Going to one of the big Fishingshops in Japan

Joshuya Tackle Shop in Shibuya. 3 floors, the pictures only show one third of the first floor ;)

This was like heaven for every fishermen.

I remember the time when I was like hunting on ebay, night by night or tried to translate japanese fishing sites and ordered there by email.

Here you take your cart and 3hours and probably 1500€ later ;)

Five silent lures, had to hold my horses ;)

And again, the Japanese are so friendly, they even tell you, that you should go next time to Osaka for buying

lures, because they are way more cheap over there.

Nobody would even think about doing that in Germany or Switzerland!!!

All about the view

Lucky strike!!!

First we thought about booking the Hyatt Park Hotel during our stay in Tokyo,

but after comparing with some other Hotels (price/location) we booked the Tokyo Park Hotel for

a great deal. Not even one third the price of the Hyatt and an Award winning View.

See yourself!

Also the location of the Hotel is in my opinion one of the best you can have.

Nxt to Shimbashi Station and in walking distance to Ginza and Tsukiji

Shrove Monday in Akihabara?

Shall I buy someone a costume for carnival? ;)

Weird!

After saying that I'm German and that my grandfather served in the war, they allowed me 

doing some pictures.

Probably over 70% in this store is forbidden in Germany.

I also found this one

Mhhh, only available in one size ;)

There is so much do discover, absolute fascinating this town and country

Tokyo!!!

Third attempt going to Tokyo. Till now everything looks pretty much like

 it will work out this time ;)

I hope AirNewZealand is well prepared for me and they still serve one of the best

 Sauvignon Blank I ever had.

Hector's dolphin

That's how you start a day ;)

Kaikura

After three days staying in Kaikura, some impressions.

delicious!

 

Sadly, no Orca's so I can not put them off my bucket list.

Hopefully I can dive with some Hector Dolphins tomorrow

Botanic Garden Wellington

For my special female readership, a small impression of the Botanical Rose Garden in Wellington.

At least one thing I learned about gardening today ;)

The one we have to plant next time is "Strawberry Cream". The name describes perfectly

how it smells, awesome!!!