amazing coral

approaching the atoll

On the way out, its wet

erin, captain, lucas, ira, sarah, isaac

Ant Atoll

Last weekend a group of ten of use decided to take a day trip to one of the atolls outside the reef of Pohnpei. A brief geography (or is it hydrography?) of many pacific islands and what the hell and atoll is... After part of volanic islands sink into the ocean, a fringe of coral reef is left surrounding the remaining island. This reef forms a barrier around said islands, protecting them and their shores from the battering that the ocean puts on such islands. Atolls on the other hand, have almost nearly completely sank beneath the ocean and all that remains is a sort of string of land in the open ocean. Ant atoll is a serious of small islands (maybe three or four) about sixty miles from Pohnpei. The atoll is uninhabitated although at one point about or over a thousand people lived on there. Now, the place is a day trip or overnight visit for tourists and locals who can manage to get out to it. We took a trip with a boat and paid way too much money to go, but the trip was well worth it, at least for the first time. Even though it was stormy and rainy the whole way there and while we were at the atoll.
Ant has probably some of the most amazing pristine coral reef in the world. Very few visitors go the atoll, so we saw only two other people and their guides while there and didn't ever actually interact. We started the day just swimming and snorkeling off the beach checking out coral heads in spots. Lots of fish and interesting coral were there and we managed to spot a large sting-ray who was sort of chilling at the bottom covered in just a bit of sand. The eyes on this one were amazing and the whole thing sort of blew my mind.
After visiting another small beach and drying off in a shelter of sorts and eating lunch, we decided to head back, and stop at a coral wall near the channel leading out of the atoll to snorkel. This channel was the most amazing thing I have ever seen with plenty of various kinds of fish that I can't even begin to name. A shark, or maybe it was two were lazily swimming back and forth maybe 20 feet below us the whole time which was absolutely breathtaking. I have learned, or started to, to not fear these amazing creatures as they are most often not a threat to humans and there are next to no stories of any kind of attacks on humans on Pohnpei or the surrounding atolls. There are some pictures of the trip that a kindly guy, Ira, snapped some photos of on the trip (those waterproof 10 ft. depth cameras are the best thing is this climate and region).

our boat captain..."no pictures please"

Side-note, on the way out, still in the lagoon, one of the boat engines wouldn't start which delayed the trip by maybe 45 minutes. After returning to the dock and getting everything working. Our captain took us speedily out of the lagoon and into the open ocean, this boat ride was akin to a roller coaster but with lots of splashing ocean water and oft-times pelting rain on us. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and found the whole thing fun and amusing, not so sure about some of my fellow riders however. Many of them found that they were actually shivering and cold which is a bit of an odd feeling when you are residing nearly on the equator on a tropical island. The ride back, although the waves were larger, was much smoother as the captain of the boat took the ride much slower and expertly navigate up and down the large swells that we encountered.

the way out, wet as hell

Also, returning to Pohnpei, we saw about six dolphins jumping simultaneously out of the water and one or two of them coming close to the boat jumping in and out of the water. I have never seen dolphins before and have much respect for these creatures who are incredibly intelligent (probably more than any of us realize) and have an amazing agility and speed capability. The dolphins were the most amazing part of the trip, I only wish the water had been a bit calmer so we could have jumped in and swam and snorkeled with them. They are incredibly playful and curious, and to swim with them would be a moving experience that would stick with me for a long long time.

Nice beach....about time