Kaselehlie!

Kaselehlie means Welcome to Pohnpei!  

So welcome to Our Pohnpei Odyssey - a blog about our lives on this beautiful island - we hope you enjoy it.

An odyssey is defined as a "long series of wanderings" and Paul's career in the Royal Australian Navy has certainly meant that for this family!  Now, it has taken us on our greatest "wandering" so far and we are living on the beautiful island on Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Before I go any further I must confess that a blog about living in Pohnpei is not an original idea. I have been inspired by our new neighbour - the gorgeous Kristan - who along with her husband Steve, their 3 children and our other neighbours' Johnny and Jade - have made our first two days here an absolute pleasure (more on that later). Kristan's blog can be found at ourpohnpeiadventure.com

Please take the time to read it - it is brilliant.  Kristan started this blog before she left Australia and it details the preparations for this huge move perfectly.  It was a wealth of information for us in our own preparations and it took away a lot of the anxiety about moving here with 3 young children.  I am forever indebted to her for it.  Kristan's photos are also amazing - some of the best I have ever seen - especially the photographs of her children.  So please know that all credit for this blog goes to her.  Thank you Kristan - I don't know what I would have done without you before we moved here and I certainly don't know what we would do without your family now that we are here.

Now for some facts courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pohnpei

Pohnpei "upon (pohn) a stone alter (pei)" is the name of one of the four states in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

Pohnpei island is the largest, highest, most populated, and most developed single island in the FSM.  The islanders of Pohnpei have a reputation of being the most welcoming of outsiders among residents of the island group - (true!).  Pohnpei is one of the wettest places on earth with annual recorded rainfall exceeding 7,600 mm each year (so no water restrictions here!).

The population of Pohnpei is approximately 34,000.  Pohnpei is more ethnically diverse than any other island in the FSM.  The majority of the population consider themselves ethnic Pohnpeian but from more than a century of foreign occupation Pohnpei is truly the FSM's melting pot, a veritable hodge-podge mix of Austral-Asian Pacific Islanders and Japanese, German, Spanish, Chamorro, Filipino, American, Australian and other Western European people.

The offshore city of Nan Madol was built here, which was the capital of the Saudeleur dynasty until about AD 1500.  Pohnpei was first sighted by Europeans in 1828 by the Russian navigator Fyodor Litke.  From the mid 1800's to early 1900's, whalers, missionaries, the Spanish and Germans came to and took over the island.  The Sokehs Rebellion started on October 18, 1910. The island was Japanese territory in World War II, Japan having acquired Pohnpei along with the rest of the Carolinas, the Marshalls and the Marianas (except for Guam) as war reparations from German.  However, the island was one of those bypassed by the US Navy during the island-hopping amphibious campaigns of 1943 - 1945.  The military facilities were shelled on several occasions including by the battleships USS Massachusetts and USS Iowa, as well as being attacked by the aircraft of Cowpens.  In 1945, when the Japanese lost the war, all Japanese citizens were forced off the island.  Many of their Pohnpeian families remained.  Our compound - Kangaroo Court - was the Japanese timber mill during World War II and there are many artifacts still scattered around the compound.

The Federated States of Micronesia achieved independence in 1986.

With its spectacular and relatively unspoiled coral reefs, Pohnpei has long had a following among deep-sea fishermen (i.e. Paul - he is in fishing heaven!) and diving enthusiasts.  But it was not until recently that Pohnpei was thrust into the international surfing limelight.  Pohnpei is host to Palikir Pass, a reef pass often referred to by the surf industry as "P-Pass."  In fact we have just had Stephanie Gilmore, Kelly Slater, Andy Irons  and Mick Fanning and a host of other pro surfers on the island!

On our first full day on the island Zara, Jonah and Joshua were towed out for a few waves at P-Pass.....only joking.....but they were lucky enough to go for a ride on the jet ski belonging to the Pohnpei Surf Club.  They all said it was the best thing ever!

If you are keen to come over here yourself and catch a few waves check out the Pohnpei Surf Club website at http://www.pohnpeisurfclub.com/ These guys are our neighbours and Beru who drives one of the surfers boats for them also drives our boat.  Boat?  Yes, we are lucky enough to have a boat.....more on that later.....

Anyway....time to sign off on this, my first blog entry.  If you are interested in learning more about this fascinating island, here are some other websites to visit:

http://www.visit-fsm.org/pohnpei/

http://www.pohnpeiheaven.com/

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/fm.html

Kaselehlie!  (it also means goodbye)

Louise