wild SPS corals, Marshall Islands

[Mangodude]

Amazing.. well I know where I wanna live now!

[r-balljunkie]

Thanks for all of the kind words. please do forgive my lack of updates. I've actually had to come home and shower TWO days in a row now, smelling like diesel fuel, turning wrenches on the job site trying to wrestle a fuel meter in place. it's nice for me to get my candy ARSE out in the field and actually show the guys I can do a day's work, help curb the 'you're the engineer, figure it out' comments I've dealt with my whole career.

Originally Posted by gbru316

I'd love to, and I'm sure she wouldn't be against it as long as I didn't make the REAL reason known. A bit warm for me, but she'd LOVE the temperature. 85 is right around where she is comfortable, damn mediterranean blood...

I'm assuming it takes that long partly because of clearance issues?

We have pictures of launches of certain systems that my employer supplies subassemblies to that I'm assuming were taken out in your neck of the woods.

However, it'd be hard to finish my engineering degree at Penn state from the middle of the pacific. Incredibly tempting though

I usually discourage people from attending college and completing their degrees, especially in the engineering field. it creates more competition in the work place for me...totally not cool. with that said, have you considered a career in the exciting field of long haul ice road truck driving?

Yes. the clearance levels are just below 'secret' clearance requirements, IMO. In fact they ask you if you want the option of getting a secret clearance…I said no, because I thought it might have been more work (sorry, I am a lazy person when you get to the root of my id). In hindsight, I should have for future employment opportunities. Yes yes yes…..its all about the mission around here. I'm more so on the public works side of the fence, but we do 'jump' when it comes to supporting the mission.

Gotta jedi mind trick the wifey. you'll get used to the heat. shorts and flip flops at work…plus we worship the AC gods here. 70 degrees in my casa all the time. I usually don’t like it this cold, but you have to combat the humidity just the same…this temp seems to keep the air crisp.
Good luck with your degree….they last forever….even if you don’t pay off your student loans

Originally Posted by 007Bond

WOW, Just spent most of my day, start to finish on your great thread. As already posted, PLEASE don't stop your updates. I'll be looking. Was a home builder for 30 years, but the banking industry decided they did not want anymore homes built, so I'm just kicking the can. Wouldn't take much to get me to move, but my wife who sold real estate for 20years has one more year to become a RN. Then were out of here! Thanks and have a great day on your island!---Rick

Come one, come all. we take the tired huddled masses, whether you want to breathe free…. it's totally up to you. shoot me a pm if you are really interested. we have a 'vacuum' to fill on the construction shop side. looking for a superintendant. have to warn you, you'll have to manage (read babysit) 60+ workers, drive around job site to job site, and generally elevate your blood pressure to unsafe levels as you herd cats all day, sclerosis of the liver is also inevitable as well as you drink your blues away during your off time.

good luck with the Mrs'es finishing her RN!!

Originally Posted by spiderphil360

This is totally amazing !!!! Thank you for you thread.....because today , in quebec canada, it's snowing outside
I look your post almost 3 hours..............

and to look all your picture it's the same image in my dreams.......

you make me feel better and smiling....one day , i will see that in person !

thank you again

sorry for my bad english

sorry for my bad english too. I'm sure your French is better than mines. have you considered moving to BC? The weather is great, the girls are prettier, and the people are nicer I joke, I kid.
My wife is from Vancouver/Summerland/Okanagan area. I'll be in Canada in July for vacation….best time to go IMO.
Glad you enjoyed the pics.

Originally Posted by lowbudget

awesome everytime i log on i look at this thread

why thanks. it's tough to gage sentiments….hopefully not too repetitive in nature.

Originally Posted by gemini aquarius(t)

Just finished reading this! Oh my lawrrrdddy. I want your life.

Keep it updated please!

did you say wife, or life?….might pm me a pic of your wife later, perhaps we can work out a trade, ill even throw in some frags ( please laugh….im just kidding…do not send a pic of your wife….dont threaten to beat me up)

Originally Posted by WickedBlue28

I'm a little late to the party but been reading the thread and living through your post and pictures. As tons of others have said amazing stuff!

thanks a bunch. appreciated. keep in mind I have 7 kb dial up, total PITA do upload to photobucket. they keep stringing us along like crack heads, promise of high speed internet. soon soon soon.

Originally Posted by Surf&turf

Simply awesome, thanks for sharing!!

Thanks bro. your most welcome.

Originally Posted by wyattroa

stunned, such great pictures and a great looking tank!

thanks. I still have a tank? yeah, I'm sure some of the RC purist don’t like me posting in this forum…meh. hopefully I stay somewhat on topic.

Originally Posted by smoq

This thread is amazing. We should be grateful to Chuck for taking his time and bringing this little piece of paradise close to everyone thru his written words and photography. It's a great journey from a reefer's point of view. I'm glad I found this and learned new things about corals in the wild. Keep up with that great thread man and I wish you all the best!

why many many thanks. glad everyone is tagging along for the ride. I'm a horrible writer to be truthful. You have a lot of eloquent folks that get their points across much better than I do here on RC.

I think I'm a bit terse, sarcastic and brief in my writings…sorry but hey….it's the engineer in me.

I'm still newish at being an islander and having access to pristine reefs in my back yard, coming up on two years now. it's still a novelty to me every time I hit the water; whether scuba diving, snorkeling, walking the low tide or a beach day with my family. my wife accuses me of going on too long of snorkels during family time, diving too much on the weekends etc. What can I say? I love to be in the water and enjoy nature. I know this won't last forever and ill eventually have to go back to the reality of making the booring rounds of the LFS circuit all while complaining about the high prices and gasp….have to actually buy fish and corals. I'm sure ill reminisce about these times like I reminisce about all my ex-girlfriends in college.
until that dreadful day comes, I'm enjoying every second of every day out here, especially the time on the water.

Originally Posted by Mangodude

Amazing.. well I know where I wanna live now!

not all rosy here. weekends to rock tho!!
I should have a major update soon. my ultra reef guru marine biologist collecting buddy who is waaaaaay too cool to post on RC is itching to try out his new video housing….I might sneak some bandwidth at work and upload some videos.

once again, thanks for all of the kind words.

C

[007Bond]

Chuck,
Please keep it coming, love the pictures, and your wit always makes me giggle no matter how my day is going.---Rick

[lgull1]

Always enjoyed your thread. Great life there where ever you are. Sorry to see the lobster pics with a female full of eggs though. Would of been nice to put that one back. Can't keep egg bearing females here in the states. You shouldn't anyway if you want to perpetuate the species.

Great pics

[gbru316]

Long haul ice trucking eh? That comes with the opportunity of fame and fortune via reality tv, right? Might have to look into that!

I never adjusted to the 120 degree heat in Iraq (dry heat my ***, 120 degrees is unbearable, however it's served), heat and I just don't get along.

I do enjoy the "accomplish the mission" attitude, usually a little more leeway regarding rules and regulations. I'm not one to try to break every rule I come across, but if there is one that gets in the way of what I'm trying to accomplish, and it isn't a career ender if broken, I tend to manipulate my way around it. I prefer to live life in a permanent grey area :-P

I guess that's an odd attitude for a future engineer to have..... I blame my technician roots. And global warming.

[Tat2demon]

Originally Posted by r-balljunkie

Any idea on what kind of trigger the big one is?

[r-balljunkie]

Originally Posted by 007Bond

Chuck,
Please keep it coming, love the pictures, and your wit always makes me giggle no matter how my day is going.---Rick

good to hear….have to dive with the ball and chain tomorrow with her crew of female friends…groan. going to give her the stern speech about me being the boat captain…..she is merely a passenger and has to listen.. we'll see how that go's

Originally Posted by lgull1

Always enjoyed your thread. Great life there where ever you are. Sorry to see the lobster pics with a female full of eggs though. Would of been nice to put that one back. Can't keep egg bearing females here in the states. You shouldn't anyway if you want to perpetuate the species. Great pics

these lobsters were collected in a remote, restricted and uninhabited location. At best you get 20 visitors a month (by helicopter, or one hour speed boat ride), and the folks are passing thru and not in the water. The lobsters were collected by a Marshallese. Like I stated earlier, if it were left to me to collect….hot dogs for dinner. We've all heard the proverb/adage 'When in Rome'. I could explain the above logic until I was blue in the face, and it would not register to the average local. They eat clams..deresa, crocea, maxima…all of it. They eat tangs (surgeon fish), squirrel fish and whatever else they can manage on the end of their hooks. If they had to pick between a nice tuna and a reef fish….they'd pick the reef fish for dinner. They eat tubeworms you'd find in live rock. They eat sea turtles(not as much…like in the past). They eat coconut crabs.

The above conservationist approaches, ideals, and logic don’t apply here. Do I agree with it? No, but the bounties of the sea and the resources it provides to locals are bound by different rules than what you and I think are the norm. The first time I seen a naso tang on the bbq pit….it made me queezy. I picked a piece off and chunked it in my mouth and chewed. not exactly to my liking, but I ate it.
When in Rome………..

Originally Posted by gbru316

Long haul ice trucking eh? That comes with the opportunity of fame and fortune via reality tv, right? Might have to look into that!

I never adjusted to the 120 degree heat in Iraq (dry heat my ***, 120 degrees is unbearable, however it's served), heat and I just don't get along.

I do enjoy the "accomplish the mission" attitude, usually a little more leeway regarding rules and regulations. I'm not one to try to break every rule I come across, but if there is one that gets in the way of what I'm trying to accomplish, and it isn't a career ender if broken, I tend to manipulate my way around it. I prefer to live life in a permanent grey area :-P

I guess that's an odd attitude for a future engineer to have..... I blame my technician roots. And global warming.

keep at it. don’t ever conform and break the norm. once you graduate, you'll have a license to be yourself forever….the way I look at it, I can always get another job

Originally Posted by Tat2demon

Any idea on what kind of trigger the big one is?

That is a juvenile titan trigger. You will respect the trigger. What you see in the trade, and what you see in the wild are two different sizes. these suckers get big (12"-18"). when its mating season….watch out. Outside of sharks, this is your next big worry. Get too close to a triggers territory, it will attempt to take a chunk out of you. Hyper aggressive. Matter of fact, I'm not worried about the shark as much…triggers, I keep my distance, as does everyone else out here.

[007Bond]

Honestly Chuck, your outlook, wit, and humor are very entertaining. Maybe you missed your calling. You should look at a writing job on SNL when you decide to leave paradise.---Rick

[Johanv]

Any Updates amigo?

[r-balljunkie]

Originally Posted by 007Bond

Honestly Chuck, your outlook, wit, and humor are very entertaining. Maybe you missed your calling. You should look at a writing job on SNL when you decide to leave paradise.---Rick

Thanks Rick. I’m much much less funny in person....i may come off as being rude and arrogant, until you get to know me, then realize I don’t take things too serious and I’m trying to make light of a situation, any situation. After 10 years of marriage, my wife still doesn’t get my humor some times.

Originally Posted by Johanv

Any Updates amigo?

Asketh and you shall receiveth.

Went diving with my wife and one of her friends last weekend. I had to give her the ‘I'm the boat captain’ speech before we left out the door. She didn’t appreciate at it one bit, but have to say, she did a fine job of setting/retrieving the anchor, not giving me boating / directions / speed advice.
She’s gotten her advanced diving classes finished….there goes my usual excuse why I never take her diving.
I guess I’ll take her out again…but have to say, much funner going out diving with the guys, talking guy stuff and generally being manly men.

These are pics from that trip (my wife took these, I was busy catching fish). I'm getting tons better at catching fish. I caught a bunch of juvenile Ctenochaetus striatus (striped tangs in the photo). They’re pretty to me at this stage, but get rather plain looking when they are older. Ill keep them in the tank until they get bigger, then back to the ocean.

I caught some extra’s, since I know of some folks that would cause the tang police faint on site, waay overcrowded 55 gallon tanks…I would offer them amnesty, one for one exchanges.
My new obsession is catching a mystery wrasse. These suckers are very smart and hard to catch. No wonder retail is 100 bux on these guys. Ill get one before I leave here. As a consolation prize, I picked up a lovely yellow wrasse, as well as a smallish yellow tang.

I netted a trigger fish, but was afraid to put him in my catch bucket for fear of of what might happen to the others. I swam around with him in my net (weird croaking sound) trying to scare other fish into my free empty net….it didn’t work out, so I had to reach in and uncock his trigger to get him out of my net. Kind of stupid, conceptually in afterthought, but sounded reasonable to me at the time.

Get to go diving with the maestro tomorrow, and the next day. Should be interesting, whereas he is going to test out some new video equipment, but ill drag my nets along…as well as my photog gear.
I picked up some thread on filters (red and purple looking) for my underwater camera. Will see how these pics turn out

Enjoy the pics…I'm especially enamored with the blue softie. She’s lucky I didn’t see that one. Absolutely gorgeous.

[Lamball1]

I love this thread!

[007Bond]

Chuck, Was going to come and see your beautiful dive spots, but alas, my ticket was not the winner.

[Chad Vossen]

Originally Posted by r-balljunkie

what are these?

[yamaha16bw]

Best thread ive read! Thanks for the great pictures!

[addicted2Nitrox]

Hello Chuck!
As my wife and I were at Papasitos last night munching the Fajitas and downing the 'Ritas, your thread was brought up. What a wonderful, stress free life, surrounded by nature and amazement (with understanding the aforementioned drawbacks...working in shorts and sandals) The one question that she brought up, that I thought I'd ask about;
In an earlier post, you mentioned your child's birthday. Non reef related question coming--how's the education system, or are we talking home school for the kiddos?

Outstanding thread that I've been lurking since your old MARSH days

[SERVO]

You just keep out doing yourself! This is my second favorite thread of all time in RC! Thanks for taking the time to continue to share your experiences with all of us. You should take a trip back home to visit your family this September. MACNA is in Dallas. You can take some new gear back with you.

Keep the updates coming!

[r-balljunkie]

Reply posts tomorrow....video's too

[r-balljunkie]

Originally Posted by Lamball1

I love this thread!

Glad you’re enjoying my chronicles and adventures.

Originally Posted by 007Bond

Chuck, Was going to come and see your beautiful dive spots, but alas, my ticket was not the winner.

Heard all of the hoopla. I guess we’ve all dreamed the dream. Not sure how id spend the money…I'm sure id be on the water though.

Originally Posted by Chad Vossen

what are these?

That’s the fun part about being out here. Collecting stuff you shouldn’t be collecting. Those are juvenile groupers. Ive since released them…they were getting big quickly.

Originally Posted by yamaha16bw

Best thread ive read! Thanks for the great pictures!

Not a problem, glad you liked them.

Originally Posted by addicted2Nitrox

Hello Chuck!
As my wife and I were at Papasitos last night munching the Fajitas and downing the 'Ritas, your thread was brought up. What a wonderful, stress free life, surrounded by nature and amazement (with understanding the aforementioned drawbacks...working in shorts and sandals) The one question that she brought up, that I thought I'd ask about;
In an earlier post, you mentioned your child's birthday. Non reef related question coming--how's the education system, or are we talking home school for the kiddos?

Outstanding thread that I've been lurking since your old MARSH days

First off. I hate you. OK, that’s out of the way. I'm dreaming of Papasitos fajitas with that lovely butter dipping sauce. I'm going to take the butter sauce, and pour it into a margarita first chance I get.

Regarding the schools. They are accredited to US standards. All of the teaching staff is from the US, same as most of the students. There are some Marshallese students as well, grades K-12, on a goodwill program.

It’s (Educational system) a mixed bag according to some. I have a friend who’s daughter is in high school and rather gifted. She’s taking AP courses on line, but there’s nothing to support her within the normal school channels. I think once you get up into grade 8 and above, this can be a problem. Not saying you won’t get a good education, but the school system (12-15 high school seniors this year?) isn’t able to support advanced courses.

For me, my kid is going into kindergarten….not really concerned at this point if he is taking AP classes. What’s more important to me is the social infrastructure and interaction he has. You gotta play nice around here….too darn small to burn bridges. You learn that lesson at 6 years old. The teacher to student ratio is rather low, as you can expect.

Originally Posted by SERVO

You just keep out doing yourself! This is my second favorite thread of all time in RC! Thanks for taking the time to continue to share your experiences with all of us. You should take a trip back home to visit your family this September. MACNA is in Dallas. You can take some new gear back with you.

Keep the updates coming!

Well, were due back in the states in July, pit stop over in Houston, say hi to some relatives and friends, check on the house,…don’t think a MACNA trip is in order, as I'm sure I'm gonna spend tons of $$ already..Pit stop in Arizona and a few weeks in British Columbia…..my wallet hurts thinking about it. I went back in 2006. I'm glad to hear D-town got it this year.

We’ll ive killed some serious bandwidth at work loading up these videos. You all had to suffer thru my learning curve shooting underwater photo’s. Now you must suffer with underwater video. I don’t think the Cousteau research team is going to be beating down my door once they see these amateurish videos. I used my XZ-1 to shoot it, but I think the lens had a hard time correcting due to the light (and lack of) changes going from dark to bright.

This particular dive was at Ninni island, which has a cluster of three islands that jut inwards.
(click on pic)
<

The underwater topography is out of this world. The corals are not as dense and colorful as in some areas. The swim thru type caves more than make up for this. You can see in one of the videos how tight it was getting thru, had to do a bit of backing up to get uncaught, hand on the sand bottom. I learned a secret too, don’t be the first thru…you might wake up a shark taking a nap

This is one of the few areas where you have sand on the bottom on the ocean side. The channel walls are about 20-30’ tall and act as a protective buffer. Parts of the dives, I felt like I was swimming thru a narrow hallway. It’s a neat shallow dive, with loads of curious sharks, clams, and fish. I'm lacking a lighting system, so everything is blueish until you get right on it, and focus with the camera.

(click on pic)




Emerging out of the ‘cave’.
(click on pic)

[r-balljunkie]

Some pics.

















I left this image big on purpose. This was taken well below 100’ (leaving the depth ambiguous ). Can you spot the four Rhomboid Wrasses?



Lastly,

My junior reefer trying to net some fishes.



My junior reefer snorkeling in 30’ of water with me, no floaties on his arm…boy has gotta pair. For me, this is the best educational tools for building life skills, especially at this early of an age. Bonafide water baby.

[funkoptimus]

First off I love your thread and I appreciate you taking the time to answer everyones question. I enjoy the reef pictures as well as the "living the life" pictures!!

Couple question about the tank. I see you had a couple vortecs earlier in the thread and looks like you dropped them for Tunzes? Also other than the linkias do have any sort of cleanup crew? What is available as far snails in your locale?

Thanx in advance!!

[ziyaadb]

wow awesome pics once again

[r-balljunkie]

Originally Posted by funkoptimus

First off I love your thread and I appreciate you taking the time to answer everyones question. I enjoy the reef pictures as well as the "living the life" pictures!!

Couple question about the tank. I see you had a couple vortecs earlier in the thread and looks like you dropped them for Tunzes? Also other than the linkias do have any sort of cleanup crew? What is available as far snails in your locale?

Thanx in advance!!

Yes, dropped the vortechs, have tunze now. I’m currently running two 6055's on one end, and a 6095 on the other. I need to change out the two 6055's for one 6095...just been too lazy to order. All said, really happy with the tunze performance. The noise levels are nil compared to running three vortechs.
I'm going to stick with tunze, next tank. I ran vortechs for the last 5-6 years, but the novelty is gone for me….back to tunze.
The tank is in the living room, so sound was critical to my sanity. this coupled with the dimming LED's makes life better.

The big blue linkia is a PITA. It crawls over everything, knocks stuff down all the time. I’m more than likely gonna return him when i do a tank makeover. For other CUC, I just go out at low tide and look around the pools, pick out the snails and blue legged hermits. I’m finding nicer snails down deep on the halmedia beds when I randomly swoop my net thru. i pick out what i want (snails), throw it in the bucket. When you get live rock out here, its loaded with tons of crabs and pistol shrimp. Some nice, some with red beady evil eyes.

I'm going live rock shopping this weekend, it’s a nice low tide tomorrow mid morning.

Originally Posted by ziyaadb

wow awesome pics once again

Z, ur most welcome. been lurking with me for some time.


OK OK OK. I think I know why my first video attempts suck. They look good to me, because they are part of my memory BUT if you're looking at them for the first time, like watching an imax 3-d made movie on a 13" black and white tube.

I have a Sola 600 dive light i purchased awhile back. There’s a 15 dollar adapter that lets you convert it into a video light......IM MISSING THE LIGHT, muh ha ha ha. Amazon should have it to me next week, can’t wait to try it out.

I'm heading to Pohnpei for a 'mini' vacation/business trip in a couple of weeks..gonna sneak in some hiking/waterfall/diving when i go.


We have to stay at a hotel, open air (no windows) tree house type rooms. should be interesting

C

[klondike4001]

Subscribed and trying to convince the wife this would be an ideal long vacation.

[jxlex]

Subscribed! You are living my dream mate!! Keep the updates coming man!

[jus1moretank]

WOW just awsome !!!!