Coconut crab

A couple of times I had this now, but the size of that whopper is outstanding for me.

Even the locals say its a big one. Normally the crabs I had reminded me on the Mud crab I had in Fiji.

More work than food and at the end you are still hungry. But this one was enough for two people. ;)

yummy!!!

Doggy style ;-)

One of a couple of Dogtooth Tuna I was able to shoot. Not very big, but still strong fighters.

Missed only one and a real big one (reminded me on the Fiji record) we spotted far away.

The reef is pretty much overfished. They shoot and eat everything they can, without an exeption.

Half the island of Falalop is protected, means spearfishing is banned. This banned area includes 

also a nice Doogtooth Tuna spot ;) But it is definetely nesseceary or they will run out of fish fast.

I'm pretty sure the blue is full of fish and if you come with a buddy who you can trust, fell

safe with and can share the boat/gasoline its a nice place, but for reef fishing, nearly empty.

If you are staying long enough in the water, you've been lucky that some Rainbow Runners are passing by

Exept the fishing it is really nice here. The people are very friendly and helpfull with everything

Some impressions

Some mixed pictures from the Outer islands of Yap

 

Spearfishing Ulithi part 1

Strong current and because of that not much diving. At the end got really badly stung

by a Portuguese man o' war. When I surfaced and put my snorkel back in my mouth it was tangled

around it and I got stung in my upper lip, one small peace on the lower lip, left side of my face (under my mask) and
during my try to remove it, also on my left knee.
I only saw some very very thin tentacles and some blue,

for sure a jellyfish, but I did not see any umbrella/head/body. 

Luckily I had at least the upper part of my body covered in neoprene. 

I waved with my speargun, as discussed with the people before, calling them like this

means fish or something wrong. It was paintful I can tell you. For me the best way to compare it with

something I experienced before, is eating a Ghost Chili or a Bhut Jolokia Chili.

This kind of pain you have in your mouth, muliplied maybe by two, on your skin.

They gave me on the boat some leafs (I gave them some before for chewing with betelnut) to rub it on my skin

I was thinking all the time about my epi-pen, which was in my guesthouse and about the time, how many minutes is 

it ago... hopefully not getting an anaphylaxis.

We went straight to the next bigger island (Isor) and they asked all the time about my situation.

Arrived on the island my lips felt like I had a collagen injection in or like you really got a hard punch on it ;)

The lips started getting better, but the situation with my knee changed. I felt like something

was moving up inside my thigh, probably the muscle or nerve I thought. It was now about 25 minutes ago

since this thing got me. And they found one part of it tangled in my floating line. Looked like

a small ballon, about 3cm long with blue on the belly.

90 minutes later, only my knee was still hurting a bit. Luckily nothing more happened.

For the first day, enough action.

Still thinking about how thin this tentacles been. I was not able spotting them under water,

only during the time when I hold my snorkel out of the water.

They told me, Mahi Mahi Season, plenty of them, but its not Mahi Mahi season ;)

Tomorrow we are going to Mogmog, one of the most traditional Islands here and after that,

some spearfishing on our way back. But this time, with my epi-pen in my backpac

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 ;)