Saipan

This one is a doozy, it's not perfect but I hope you enjoy it. I apologize for the lack of spacing, and paragraphs, I couldn't figure it out. It has been way too long since my last post. In a city that seemingly never stops it is hard to get some time to sit down. What can I say, it was an intense finish to the first semester at school. The kids were buzzing with energy as we came closer and closer to the holiday break. As their energy picked up mine dwindled, but I made it and we had a lot of fun along the way. It has only been a half year so far and it is very easy to see how much the kids have changed. Their level of confidence has increased so much and it is fun to watch them as they charge forward in discovering new things. I was in need of a break, and couldn`t wait to get out of Tokyo for a bit. My cousin Kristen, his wife Kathryn and our friend Charles decided to take a trip to Saipan. Saipan is a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It played an integral part in the Pacific battle in World War 2 and is now considered an American territory much like Guam. The island was beautiful, or looked beautiful and there were a lot of old World War 2 sites to visit. So off we went. I was in a daze and basically just went through the motions of packing my bags and heading to the airport. I was tired and it hadn’t really hit me yet, I remember asking myself two questions, “where am I going?” and “where can I get coffee?” The plane ride was uncomfortable, and it felt like it took forever. It wasn’t until I walked out of the airport in Saipan until it hit me, the thick hot air. Merry Christmas, I was in paradise! I was pretty happy to walk out of the airport, I knew I was in the right place, a nice relaxing trip with sightseeing and swimming was the perfect thing I needed after a hardworking semester. Little did I know at this point that this trip was going to be one I will never forget, it had it all, relaxation, fun and sheer terror, yes, terror, I had to find something to keep me on my toes. We arrived in Saipan in the afternoon Sunday December 18th. My cousin Kristen, his wife Kathryn and a colleague of ours Charles were thrilled to have the opportunity to be on this beautiful island. We went directly to our hotel and checked in. We unpacked and met up in the lobby, our agenda for the rest of the day consisted of eating, drinks, eating, drinks, maybe a walk, sit on the beach, eating and more drinks. We took it pretty easy that afternoon, continued to enjoy some more drinks on the beach at night and went to bed early so that we were well rested for the next day. We woke up early Monday and decided that we wanted to rent scooters to check out the island. Before we started on our way we went to the hotel beach to soak in the view. It was a beautiful day, 30 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and the water was crystal clear. Charles, Kristen and I were looking out on the water. The island was surrounded by a huge reef, the waves broke out far from shore, leaving the inshore waters nice and calm, perfect for snorkelling and swimming. Out by the reef we could see some sort of ship wreck. We stood there wondering what kind of ship had crashed against the reef and sunk, was it a ship from World War 2? Out of the corner of my eye I saw a local man, standing close to the shore by a picnic table. I remember saying to Kristen and Charles, “hey you know who will know what kind of ship that is, that guy.” I pointed to the local man and walked over. I had no idea at this point what was going to happen next, the rest of our week was changed at this moment, we met Norris. We introduced ourselves and asked him about the ship, he told us it was an old oil tanker that got stuck out on the reef a long time ago. Norris was kind enough to tell us about the ship, he then proceeded to give us his sale pitch. Norris worked on the beach, he and other locals helped tourists do the things they want to do while on vacation. He was a funny man, claiming to own a small area on the beach which he called his ranch. Norris told us if we needed anything while we were on the island he would get it. We liked him, and liked the fact that we would be paying for the services of a local rather than a company from the hotel. It was only the morning of our first day but we wanted every day to count, so we set up the next day’s agenda with Norris, he was basically our guide for the week. He was going to take us over to a very small island just off the coast of Saipan for swimming and snorkelling, on our way over there he promised to take us by the ship wreck as well as an old plane that had crashed inshore and miraculously stayed intact. We told Norris we would meet him the next morning at his ranch, we then set out to get Kathryn and rent some scooters to tour the island with. We had day two planned and we hadn’t even started day one. Renting scooters was pretty easy, there were a few places to choose from. As long as you had cash they didn’t care about a drivers license. Yikes! So there we were the four of us, with our own scooter out on the open road in Saipan. We followed the only major highway that wrapped around the island, it was a beautiful ride up to the northern coast. We were free from the concrete jungle of Tokyo. There were few people and no high rise buildings, it was a peaceful ride. Surrounding the road was fairly dense bush, so dense you could not see a meter through it. I could not imagine what it was like for the Americans landing on this island and having to move through this jungle environment, carrying their gear all the while looking out for Japanese bunkers that were scattered throughout the island. Most of the bunkers were still there, ghostly concrete structures that I am sure would tell stories from the war, much of sorrow and loss. It was amazing the see the remains of World War 2 on the island. Such a peaceful place, its beauty, so natural, easily brings you to a state of relaxation. It’s hard to think that so many years ago this place served as a horrible memory for so many who fought here. A place of damnation, a living hell, men were stuck here, fighting through the vines, the bush, and the treachery. We drove along the coast for about a half hour until we came upon the last command post for the Japanese army. It was an incredible bunker, still intact and built into the side of the mountain that overlooked the ocean. It was surrounded by heavy artillery guns, a few machine guns and a tank. The tank was blown open revealing its engine and the new life which had taken it over, plants. Fitting and picturesque the tank now sits there below the mountain, pointing out towards the sea, in peace. Close by was memorial site for the lost civilians and Japanese during the war. Bonzai cliff it was called. Many of the Japanese and locals jumped off this cliff, scared of the American army which they did not want to surrender too they took their own lives, hoping to move on to a more peaceful one. The memorial and monuments on Bonzai cliff were beautiful as they looked out onto the open ocean. This was not a peaceful place, a high cliff, ravaging waves pounding against the islands walls, and large sharks lurking underwater below. I could not imagine the scene during the war when people were jumping into these waters. What a horrible way to go. One monument in particular caught my eye, a large stone with an engraving on it. It said, “Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” Such beautiful words for such a tragic place. Moving on we headed even further north to check out a Grotto, a natural cave inland that the ocean water finds itself flooding. When the tide is out you can swim in it, unfortunately the tide was in and the waves were too strong for any swimmers. Bird Island was out next stop on the road. We drove our scooters further north, through steep and winding roads. I was in awe as we climbed, more and more of the island was revealed the view in front of us was beautiful as well as behind us. It was hard to pay attention to driving the scooters. Finally we arrived at a lookout point where we had a great view of bird island, a sanctuary for birds, protected from poachers and well preserved, it was beautiful. Surrounded by clear blue ocean water this small island stuck out high above the water. Large jagged rocks carved out the islands physique and trees, shrubs and other plant life clothed the island. As we were looking at bird island I noticed a small beach just below it, from our view it looked like the best beach on the island, white sand and crystal clear blue water, it also seemed to be free of tourists, a perfect spot to relax and have the beach to ourselves. We didn’t have time that day to go down to that beach but we did make a stop there a few days later and it was exactly what was expected, paradise. Tuesday December 20th, my birthday. The previous morning we had met our new local friend, Norris. We had planned to use his services and go out on a boat to check out the ship wreck as well as the island that was just off the coast of Saipan. It was a very small island, you could walk around it in about 15 minutes. It was beautiful, surrounded by shallow waters and white sandy beaches, it was the perfect place to spend my birthday. The Americans had landed on this island during world war 2 before landing on the mainland. American amphibious machines and artillery guns had been sunk around the island and are now home to schools of fish. We were eager to check them out. Just before we left shore to go to the island Norris mentioned that they sometimes have a bbq on the beach. If we were to pitch in some money we could have a bbq there for dinner and he would prepare some local food for us to eat. It sounded amazing, so we forked over some cash and hoped for the best, we had barely started the day and it was already shaping up to be something special. We spent the day on the small island, laying on the beach, enjoying the warm water and snorkelling around the old wrecks. I had never gone snorkelling before, it was quite remarkable, swimming with schools of fish that were brilliantly coloured and seemingly clueless to us swimming around them. I was a bit nervous, at times in the water. I have a fear of sharks and I was not eager to run into any on my vacation. I remember at times being very scared in only water that was five feet deep, yes laugh, but that seemed deep for me, and there were sharks all over the place. I blame two people in my life for this fear, Steven Spielberg for making the movie Jaws and my father for always chasing me in the pool while humming the dreadful song from that movie. In the back of my mind I always thought of sharks. To me they are the most terrifying creature one could encounter in the water, you could never tell what they are thinking. I tried to block out my imagination and thoughts about seeing a shark and just tried to enjoy the moment. It was all good until...about 15 feet away I saw a rather large fish, slowly, methodically swimming at the bottom of the ocean floor. It’s body, it’s tail, its black tipped fins were everything I had ever imagined. I was choked for about 2 minutes, amazed at what I saw and completely terrified at the same time. It was a black tipped shark, and it was swimming around us for a few minutes before it took off into the deeper water. I popped my head up out of the water and wanted to yell to Kristen, “Shark!” Suddenly realizing that was a bad thing to say on a beach, I tried to discreetly tell him that there was something that he needed to see under the water. From that point forward I struck with a great sense of awe, it was such a magnificent fish, the way it swam along the bottom of the ocean, it was majestic, seemingly at peace but most likely our for lunch. I was so fascinated with seeing my first shark I wanted to see another. I started swimming out a little deeper and didn’t see one again for a while. I did have another run in with one and was able to swim with it and follow it for a few minutes. They were a little skittish but then again I would be too if there was a long gangly white man chasing me in the water flailing his arms, I’m not the greatest swimmer. I was sun burnt, I was tired and hungry, we must have spent at least 6 hours on the island snorkelling and drinking. We caught our ride back to shore. It was a good day. When we arrived back on the main land Norris was there to greet us. He was ready and waiting, the BBQ was in full force. He had bought everything and had the fire ready. We went back to our rooms showered and changed and went back the Norris’ ranch. His friends had come and had brought a few of their kids with them. It was kind of nice. They joined in on our bbq, it was fun meeting new people and having some laughs with the locals. I pitied the tourists who were a mere 20 yards away watching a “traditional show” put on by the hotel company. While eating BBQ and hanging out with Norris and his friends we met Derek and Jackson. The two locals were free divers. These guys would take a boat out to the middle of the ocean and jump off with their harpoon guns, knives and flippers. The boat would leave them there for hours, sometimes all day. They would spend those hours spear fishing, making a living to feed their families. These men were not ordinary fishermen. Derek and Jackson could hold their breath for a long period of time and used weighted belts to dive down as far as they could in the deep blue sea and spear whatever they could find. They told us that they usually like going at night as its easier to catch the fish, scary to me, fun for them. They admit to killing sharks and other large fish, not in abundance but enough to make a living. The left fear at the shore and swam because they loved to. I revelled in the mystique and skill of their craft, it was amazing. They said at one point of the night, “birthday boy” (a name given to me and used throughout the trip) “do you want to come diving with us tomorrow?” With my brow slightly raised and my gut sagging low I said, “hell yeah!” It just came out, and that’s how it happened. There we where, committed to a day of open ocean spear fishing. Derek and Jackson said that we would go fishing in a place where there are large nurse sharks and black tip sharks the size of picnic tables, sting rays and octopus, Yikes! We finished our drinks knowing what we had committed to and went to bed. I will admit it right now, I was scared to death...I needed some sleep. We woke up the next day for breakfast and I was waiting for something to happen that would give me an out for the day’s excursion. While eating at the breakfast table Charles had eluded that I had talked in my sleep. Remembering about my nightmares the night before I sheepishly said, “I did?” He said, “umm, yes, you did, you yelled my name.” That night I had a nightmare. I dreamt of our open ocean spear fishing date with Derek and Jackson. Charles got attacked by sharks. I remember distinctly the point in my dream where I yelled out his name, “Charles!” I must have actually done that. Charles, who was sleeping in the bed next to me in our hotel room woke up. It wasn’t until the next morning at the breakfast table that we put two and two together, the story unfolded. Of the four of us Kathryn was the only smart one. She decided to take a day of relaxation instead of the trip out to the ocean. We also figured we needed someone on shore just in case we never came back. Thanks Kathryn! We were to meet Derek and Jackson by the beach the next morning. We had ate a nice big breakfast and were ready to go. After meeting him we had to get our stuff ready, within a few hours we were on our way. I will never forget the feeling I had while on the boat. I was terrified, mortified, I felt so sick. I thought to myself, this is what the Americans must have felt while they were taking the boats to the island, we were going to war...we were going fishing...I have never swam this far out in the ocean before, the water was extremely clear and you could see everything under the water. Not sure if that was a good thing or bad thing. The boat engine stopped and Derek and Jackson jumped into the water, the captain told us to jump in too. My heart at this point was beating so fast I felt like it was going to spontaneously combust. We jumped in and the boat drove off. Yes, the captain had to run some errands... Immediate shock hit me. Kristen, Charles and I did have life jackets on, but I hadn’t put my goggle and snorkel on yet. I was just floating there, I had no idea what was below me. We were going to be there for a while so I figured I might as well swim around. I put on my goggles and snorkel and peered below. I saw the ocean floor, the water was as clear as the blue skies and there were hundreds of beautiful fish and coral surrounding us. I could see it all. About every ten minutes Jackson or Derek would poke their heads above water and ask if we were ok. We were just following along, they never had life jackets or a place to stand, they swam the whole time and we floated and swam along with them on their amazing hunt for our dinner. Watching them spear their fish was pretty amazing, everyone that they caught they would string around on their belt. I remember thinking that they were pretty much bait for any sharks. After about 20 minutes Jackson poked his head above water and said, hey, there are black tips around...meaning, there are black tip sharks around. At this point I really wish I would have been able to swim to shore, but with shore at least a few miles in we had no other choice but just float. I remember frantically looking around, where are they, where are they? Jackson said they were pretty big ones, I didn’t see them, they were stealthy, Jackson told me numerous times just to keep my head straight and not look around so much. He told me that I missed them several times because my head was moving a mile a minute. This whole thing was maddening, the worse part was Charles...Charles could not swim, he has spent maybe a few hours in his whole life in water and had no idea how to swim in a small pool let alone the ocean. He was brave and did not want to turn down the opportunity to go spear fishing. Incredible, probably one of the bravest guys I know. He would just float around, we always made sure to stay close to him. We would always look back at him and raise our thumbs for a check to make sure he was ok. Little did we know that at some point, somehow, he had cut his thumb. He was bleeding about an hour into our trip. To stop the blood from seeping into the water he raised his hand above the water, he raised his thumb in the air. Every time Kristin and I would look back to see if he was ok we would see him with his thumb in the air and we would raise our thumb as if to say, yes all is good. All was not good...At some point I remember Jackson pointing at me, he pointed then pointed out about 10 feet in the water and said “hey!” A black tip shark was leaving the oceans floor and , making a run at Charles. Jackson bolted, and scared the shark away. Thankfully Jackson is a good swimmer and got their before the shark did. If something had happened we would have been pretty much doomed, there was no way to radio the boat or anyone on shore, we were stuck out there, just floating around. This was the idiocy of our adventure. The only thing at this point that kept me going was adrenaline. It’s funny, usually people this scared just pee their pants...swimming trunks in this matter. Since we left that beach that morning I had to go. I figured I would just go “out there.” I was so terrified I couldn’t. I held it for almost 2 or more hours until I was on dry land. If you are wondering, yes, I made it to a toilet. Amongst all this fear I did see some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my entire life. I swam above a sting ray, swam through schools of beautiful fish and saw parts of the ocean that the movie the little mermaid clearly inadequately portrayed. The sting ray was the highlight, like most ocean creatures it was majestic as it glided along the ocean floor, peacefully, not wanting to bother anyone or not wanting to be bothered, we swam above it, in awe, in love, in the moment. I can’t say how happy I was when the boat came back, I was even happier to get my two feet back on dry land. We were dead tired, swimming for two hours and had nothing to drink out there but the salty sea. The whole week was filled with adventure, either snorkelling or riding scooters. At night time Charles and I got into a habit of getting massages, we would go for dinner, have some drinks, get a massage then go out on the town for more drinks. It was a life of luxury, one that I will rarely get to experience so I made sure I got a good taste while I could. On our last day we decided to go back to the small island we visited on the day of my birthday. We went back to the same spot and spent the day snorkelling. In the afternoon we ran into Derek and his friend Nemo. They joined us for a few beers on the beach as we chatted and reminisced about our adventures spear fishing. To us what we did was out of the ordinary, spectacular dangerous or crazy if you want to call it that. To Derek, it was life, it was work. Derek asked us if we saw anything cool out around the island when we were snorkelling. We told him we saw an octopus. As soon as we said this a spark hit his eye, “dinner!” He says. “Let’s go get it! He took out a knife and quickly made a spear out of a small stick. We took him back to the area we saw the octopus and sure enough it was still there. It was hiding in a whole. We all watched Derek underwater as he stuck his hand in the whole trying to reach for it and pull it out, jabbing his spear then thrusting his hand in to see if he could catch one of its tentacles. He kept putting sea cucumbers in the whole to scare it out. Octopus have a allergic reaction when they touch sea cucumber, Derek says it’s an easy way to scare them out of a whole. Soon enough Derek had it. All the sudden we saw the octopus emerge, it wrapped its tentacles around Derek’s arm as if it was eating him. As soon as the octopus was out of the whole we saw two huge explosions, black ink. The water became very murky as we watched Derek struggle with the octopus. Derek then proceeded to bite its head to kill it and end the struggle. It was exciting to see, Derek was very happy, it was a large octopus and would be a lot of food for us and his family to eat. He told us he would cook it for us that night on the beach. The perfect meal for our last day on the island. I will never forget my trip to this beautiful place. Well, that’s enough for now, hopefully my next post won’t be long away. Lots of love, Matt