Bigej Boat Trip!

Bigej April 7th

Boat trips to Bigej are always fun. All you need is a B-boat, some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and LOTS of sunscreen! April 6th was my Dad's birthday, and April 8th was my birthday, so on the seventh we decided to go do a little birthday boat trip. Bigej is a remote island about 30 minutes away from kwaj (by boat). It's a popular destination for Kwaj residents. It's a common place to go for tanning, family boat trips, and school trips. It's funny, because when I was out here before (2007) the island was deserted and had NO people living on it, but sometime in the past four years Bigej has developed a tiny community of little shacks and Marshallese residents! So whenever we go out to the island we like to park at the far left end so we don't disturb anyone. The boat was occupied by my dad,  my sister (Jamie), Colby, and myself. Just the four of us in a boat is not the greatest idea (my dad likes to mess with me and

 swerve the boat until I feel like I'm going to pass out!). There is about a 25 minute ride of nice calm water (on a good day), where you can see the coral heads underneath the boat as you pass the other islands that dot the range on the way. Sometimes there is the occasional flying fish or pod of dolphins that jump out in front of your boat! Then there is the 5 minutes of ocean pass that you have to maneuver through right before you get to Bigej. Some days the pass is not too rough and the boat either surfs the waves and hops along them lightly, but other days the little B-boat FLYS through the swells. Right when you get to the island its immediately calm. I, of course, always freak out going through the pass whether it's rough or calm (I'm not a boat fanatic). When we got to Bigej we spent the day tanning, snorkeling, fishing, listening to music, and gazing at the beautiful bright blue and green scenery around us.

 Colby fished for a little bit (while I was snorkeling, which was a scary experience). He had a hard time tieing knots for his lures, which made up for great pictures! Didn't catch anything though. My dad snorkeled in hopes of catching some fish for the fish tank. We walked away empty handed on that one too! So we stayed on the island all day, soaking up the sun, (which burnt us all), and floating in the water. We were so lucky how extremely bright of a day it was too, because the water was crystal clear and you could see all of the coral heads dotting the shore! Colby and I enjoyed sitting on some rafts together before we had to leave. We returned to Kwaj at about five in the afternoon with burnt backs and wobbly legs, but it was definitely worth it! Boat trips on Kwajalein atoll are always pretty whether the trip consists of fishing, island hopping, or just cruising around to get an adrenaline rush. Being able to rent the B-Boats is definitely a great benefit of being a Kwaj resident, mostly because of how cheap it can be compared to renting a boat anywhere else, and also because it is always a fun excursion! Until next time! *spell checked by colby:)