Miss Behaving

Hi everybody. We decided to extend our visa for another 4 weeks. Little choice really with some wild weather about. I just spent another 4 days down in Peleliu with Dave from SY Soggy Paws and Philip from SY Carina. We met the team from Cleared Ground Demining, an Australian funded (90%) bomb disposal group and got to know the American MIA Forensic Anthropologist in charge of finding missing soldiers in Palau. We had an amazing visit this time and aside from finding at least 2 more dead Japanese soldiers we gained a tremendous insight into what the soldiers had to contend with. The Japanese had a limitless number of natural caves from which to fire and attack making the job of the US soldiers almost a suicide mission. Heaps of memories and well worth the visit before the jungle and looters spoil what is left. A word of caution though, the demining mission mandate is only to clear visible munitions. There is so much metal that it is impossible (financially) to clear the place, ever. There are few cleared paths but even these are only cleared to 15cm which is less than the buildup over the last 70 years.

When the weather settles down to a pattern I am happy with we will decide on which way to sail. At the moment it is looking like we may have to bypass Pohnpei and head towards the Solomons and Vanuatu. We will let you know when we know. Cheers.