Kwaj trip, Post 8: The last few days

To wrap up our Kwaj blog entries, here are some photos from the final few days of our trip.

On our last Saturday on Kwaj (January 14th), we went bowling again with Charlie and Betina. The bowling alley - which is open for public bowling only one night a week - had got new bowling balls and new shoes since we were there two weeks earlier! At one point I noticed a gorgeous sunset in progress, so I ran outside to take photos of it. Stunning!

Peter, Marissa, me, Ben

On Sunday night, our last night on Kwaj, we had a BBQ picnic at the beach with Peter and Marissa. We had barbecued filet mignon, corn on the cob, pineapple rings, and onion rings. Delicious food, wonderful company, and a spectacular setting!

Sunset at the beach

Peter and Ben

Filet mignon

Peter and Marissa

Marissa's photo

Marissa's photo

Tucker time!

After dinner, we noticed a jet fly overhead and then approach Kwaj to land. Being familiar with the small number of scheduled commercial and Army flights that land on Kwaj each week, Peter and Marissa knew this wasn't one of them, so we rode our bikes halfway down the airstrip to watch it land.

Later on, we dropped by the airport to see the jet up close. Quite a number of Kwaj residents were doing likewise - I guess entertainment options are somewhat limited on a 3-square-mile island! The jet was a US Airforce C-17 Globemaster III, called to Kwaj from Osaka for a medical evacuation to Hawaii. We saw an ambulance at the jet's rear loading door, and watched the crew and airport staff wandering around for what seemed like ages.

We got chatting to another onlooker, who happened to be the patient's father. He told us that his 6-year-old daughter had broken her arm that day while riding her skateboard, and the Airforce was flying her to a hospital in Honolulu for orthopaedic surgery! (Kwaj does have a hospital and a couple of doctors, but they try to avoid doing surgery where possible since they are a long way from anywhere should complications arise.) The little girl's mum was going with her to Hawaii. Her dad is a mechanic on Kwaj and has lived there for 17 years. When the jet eventually took off a couple of hours later (we returned for the takeoff), the little girl's siblings clung to the airport's mesh fence screaming "bye, mommy!". We figure that was a pretty expensive broken arm for the US government...!

I did even more bike riding than usual during our final days on Kwaj, as it was one of my favourite things about the island. There are no private vehicles on Kwaj, so the roadways are full of pedalling Kwaj residents, most of whom smile and say hello as they ride past. The bikes are generally old and rusty, and often have trailers for transporting groceries, scuba gear, or small children.

The bike collection at P&M's place

Before we left Kwaj, Marissa and I fulfilled my goal of circumnavigating the island by bike. It probably took about 45 minutes of actual pedalling, but the rest of our 1.5 hour expedition was filled with reading WWII history signs, peering inside a Japanese bunker, sitting on a bench at North Point watching baby sharks splash around close to the shore, chatting to some friends who were out on their evening walk, and admiring the rising full moon. What a wonderful lifestyle Kwaj enables, in so many ways!

On our last morning on Kwaj - Monday, January 16th - there was a swap meet at Emon Beach. Most of the island turned out to see what their neighbours had for sale. One item I was amused to see, here on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific, was a bottle of Bundaberg Rum (as Bundaberg is the town where Ben and I met, and where I lived for 4 years)! Emon Beach - shown in the photos below - is where we did most of our shore entry dives from.  Not bad, eh?!

Swap meet

Parking lot

Peter and Marissa manning the Scuba Club stall

Emon Beach

Life looks pretty good from here!

That evening we started the long trip home... flying Kwaj-Honolulu-Los Angeles-Seattle, and then driving from Seattle to Vancouver. The mainland greeted us with a sizeable snowstorm... the I-5 was littered with police flares and at least 8 cars that had slid into the roadside ditches. There was no gentle easing out of tropical vacation mode for us! But we arrived home safely, about 28 hours after leaving Peter and Marissa's house.

Thanks a million, P&M, for a truly wonderful time! We can't thank you enough for being such awesome hosts, tour guides, dive buddies, etc etc. We hope we can return the favour someday. THANK YOU!!!