ADVENTURES IN PARADISE 2004 – PREAMBLE
Ten years ago buoyed by my success in surviving my
trip to the Cook Islands, I planned something far more adventuresome – three
weeks in Micronesia. I would be visiting
the Islands of Saipan, Guam, Rota, Tinian, Palau and Yap. For those of you who don’t know where Micronesia is, it’s approximately half way
between Hawaii and the Philippines .
I had always wanted to go Micronesia since I was 12
and saw pictures of wrecked WWII Japanese Zeros and topless women in a copy of
National Geographic. It only took me
about 45 years to get there.
Battle of Midway in the Pacific |
Some of the biggest naval battles in WWII took
place in the waters surrounding Micronesia and the ocean bottom is strewn with
wrecks. I had taken an “introductory”
dive in the Cooks and thought it couldn't be much more difficult to get my
certification and explore the wrecks for myself.
It wouldn't have been challenging if I had taken
the certification thirty years earlier – but at 59 I was the oldest person in
my scuba class. The next oldest student
was 25! Somehow I managed to huff and
puff my way through the course and a few weeks later was awarded my “open
water” certificate. I would be off to
some of the best and most challenging diving in the world with a total of two
(my qualifying dives) under my weight belt.
Most divers can make a tank of air last more than
an hour. My personal best at that time
was about 15 minutes. The thought of
being trapped underwater with a limited supply of air, and being reduced to number
two on the food chain tends to make me hyperventilate and it’s difficult to
breathe into a paper bag underwater.
To help compensate for my inexperience my son,
Elan, an experienced graciously offered to accompany me – as long as I was
paying – a decision he would soon came to regret.
I spent several months during the winter
researching my planned trip to Micronesia - costing my options on wear to stay,
how to travel between the islands and the best dive sites. One dive company I contacted was MDA in
Guam. When I explained to them the scope
of my trip they offered to cost out the whole trip (minus the trip to and from
Saipan) including accommodation, flights, and diving. I figured it was a lot cheaper arranging it
myself online - but thought what the heck- it’s not going to cost me anything
to find out. I was shocked to find out
that MDA could do it a heck of a lot cheaper than I could – almost a third
cheaper! It was a lesson I learned and
put to work on future trips as well. I
found that dealing with a travel agency based in the country I was going to
visit could put packages together better and cheaper than I could – and if
anything went wrong they were on site to fix it. This worked extremely well for me on later
trips to Africa, the Philippines and Vietnam.
To make this trip a bit challenging I planned to
travel standby via Seattle-Tokyo-Saipan. However I learned from my previous trip to the
Cook Islands not to chose an airline that go out of business before I planned to return.
So, without further ado, I give you my Adventures
in Paradise.
Monday
Nov 8, 2003
THE SHROUD OF TINIAN
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Best Value Motel Seattle |
My
flight to Saipan leaves tomorrow. Right
now I’m in Seattle. I decided to take the Airport shuttle to
Seattle and spend the night in a “budget” motel near the airport. Looking online I found the “Best Value
Motel” near the airport which looked like a good deal. Now here's my question?
If it's called the “Best Value Motel" is there a “Least Value"
Hotel? What would it be? A packing crate
under an overpass?
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The Shroud of Tinian |
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The Northern Mariana Islands |
Now I know most of you are asking why I don’t just ask the Better Value folks just to come up and change the damn thing. Well that would mean I would have to take down the barricade I've erected in front of the door. I put that up after I paid a visit to the office to complain to Rasheed, the night guy, about a non-functioning TV remote control.
“No problem, man,” he says. “I’ll come up to
your room and reprogram it.”
“Can't you do it here?” I asked, not wanting him in my room.
“Nah, I need to have the remote and the TV together.”
I seriously consider carry the TV down to the office. About a half hour later Rasheed shows up with my remote and piece of paper with the programming instructions. He's distracted by the MP3 player on the desk.
“So how much did that cost?” he asks.
“I don't know,” I respond. “It was a gift.”
“Can't you do it here?” I asked, not wanting him in my room.
“Nah, I need to have the remote and the TV together.”
I seriously consider carry the TV down to the office. About a half hour later Rasheed shows up with my remote and piece of paper with the programming instructions. He's distracted by the MP3 player on the desk.
“So how much did that cost?” he asks.
“I don't know,” I respond. “It was a gift.”
I
can see the wheels turning inside Rasheed's head. He notices my camera on the bureau and picks
it up.
“Nice Camera.”
“Nice Camera.”
'Yeah,
but it's old.” I say, trying to make it seem that it might not fetch a good
price at the Sport's Bar up the street.
Rasheed
finishes programming my remote, tosses it on the bed, and with one final appraising
look around my room leaves. That's when
I decided to erect the barricade in front of the door with the
heaviest object I could find, which according to the airlines, is my luggage.
heaviest object I could find, which according to the airlines, is my luggage.
Well tomorrow morning
it’s off to Saipan!
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