Weekend Update

This weekend, Paul joined up with Curtis and Bobby from Kwaj to participate in the 18^th All-Micronesia Fishing Tournament sponsored by the Marshalls Billfish Club here in Majuro.  It’s a big tournament with teams from Japan, Taiwan, Kwaj, Ebeye, Pohnpei, Australia, the US, and Majuro. 

The boats are lined up - kind of.

And they're off!

Paul and the guys did great on the first day and got a ton of fish, but unfortunately they hadn’t read the rules.  A tuna has to weigh 40 pounds in order for it to count, so all those huge aku they caught (which I don’t think ever get up to 40 pounds didn’t count).  So, even though they caught a few yellowfin and a whole cooler worth of aku, they only scored 41 points. 

The next day, Paul and the guys did catch a marlin, which they tagged and released for 200 points, as well as yellowfin and some other fish. 

We all learned that it is really a billfish tournament.  On the first day, a group (Skip Bonham’s from Kwaj) caught 2 big marlin (400 and 300 something pounds), tagged and released a third, and caught some sizeable other fish for a total of 947 points.  They didn’t catch anything worth points on the 2^nd day of the tournament, yet still won the overall thing.

End of Day 2 of the Tournament -Weigh In

It really is a billfish tournament.  

While Paul was fishing, TC and I read books, observed the start/end of each day of the competition, went and saw The Other Guys.  Plus, I got a run in both mornings, which was nice.

Labor Day in Majuro

The highlight of my labor day weekend might have been washing my hair.  Totally serious. I love it when I actually get to wash out all the shampoo and conditioner.  There are few things more lovely than washing my hair with hot, high-pressured water. (Thanks Curtis!)

TC and I worked to install the new starter and solenoid.  I have to say that my share in the work was handing him tools, as well as flipping switches.  Bad news – still not working perfectly.  The actual starters that we got don’t seem to work.  We tried both of them.  So then TC put the solenoid in the old starter.  That works, it seems.  Although, it doesn’t start on the first attempt.  It always started on the 2^nd.  Hmm . . . we will continue to try and work things out. 

Poor TC - the engine will be sorted out someday.

Also yesterday, Paul and I observed a dangerously overloaded boat.

I am guessing they do not have enough life vests for everyone.

Then at the end of the day, we got a rain shower with a neat double rainbow here in the harbor.  It was a nice way to end the holiday weekend.

The double rainbow is faint, but it is there.  It was nice seeing the rainbow so close to us.