I am so excited to formally introduce the rest of our family living with us!  While we have tons of fun here, I couldn't imagine not having our pets!  They make every activity extra fun and way more silly.  I mean prepping fishing gear and taking out a transmission are interesting but why not let the cats help?!  There are times for sure when we would prefer they didn't help like at meal times in the kitchen, or seeing three cats' heads in the coconut shreds to be milked, or any time a machete is being used, or even following us down to the boat only to be rescued from a rainstorm.  They never hesitate to attempt to help themselves to our plates when we aren't looking.  I'm sure Jason doesn't appreciate the cats helping him stay awake with allergies after sleeping on his pillow all day. 

Their personalities couldn't be more different but couldn't be more pleasant either.  Having pets are not only fun but essential for living here: The dogs ward off trespassers and the kitties keep the rodent population in check.  So in order of age I give you:

Master "Chief"
 Australian Blue Heeler, age 2; weighing in at 57 lbs; Chief came from Australian with Anna and Bob when he was a puppy and is definitely the brawn of the group.  He is the scariest thing the Fijians have ever seen and that's the way we like it.  If they only knew he's really a clown!  He for sure has the most nicknames:  Asteroid, Beefy Chiefy, Toe-Dragger, and sometimes Jesus.... He will walk over anything or anyone to get where he's going and the more of an obstacle, the better.  Chief enjoys chewing on bamboo, Gus's legs, goat skulls, and thinks he's a tight-rope walker.  

Lulu
Beautiful female Calico born in Fiji and our longest surviving cat.  Lulu is the original hunting prodigy of the group and has survived a broken leg.  She loves coconut, climbing, rubbing against feet, and "swimming" through the grass.  She kept Jason company for many months when he was here alone along with Mr. Kitty who is no longer with us.  On March 28, 2015, Lulu gave birth to four kittens when we were out fishing and is the best mommy!  The poor thing is attempting to teach her babies hunting but to no avail.   

Monkey Pod
Anna surprised us for Christmas with our very first pet: a black and brown striped fireball of a kitten!  Yes, Monkey Pod is an unusual name but has sentimental meaning for Erik and I after our time in Hawaii.  Besides, it's how we say it rather than the words themselves.  With Lulu on maternity leave, Monkey Pod stepped it up as reigning hunter.  In fact, she rarely snuggles comfortably without scanning for geckos or large insects.  What sounds like thunder is actually her paws on the tin roof at night.  The attest development is her crush on Chief who is not quite sure what to do with her!  She is by far the softest and always finds time for a bath between kills.  Monks loves using our mosquito net as a ladder and a hammock.  When she's not hunting or sleeping, you can find her bullying Lulu or wrestling with her sister.  

Roscoe
A delicate female Calico born in Fiji and sister to Monkey Pod.  Being almost skin and bones when she came home, we weren't sure Roscoe would make it!  "Survival of the fittest" is no joke in Fiji with a vet being a hard two-hour drive away.  Long story short, Roscoe is a brand new kitty with the help of chicken livers!  A real sills head and definitely the princess of the property.  Her hunting style is more targeted at butterflies and leaves, but you can tell her heart is set on a bird.  And that's ok because she is the sweetest cat ever.  Known as Erik's stalker as a kitten, Roscoe will follow him all day, anywhere (remember the rainstorm rescue?).  She loves to sleep (especially wedged between Erik and I every night) but not too far from the cooler containing her livers.  besides sleeping, she can be found wrestling with Monks, climbing trees, and has survived a cane toad encounter.  

Last, but not least, are our newest arrivals:  Count, Yoda, Mini Monks, and Tupac.  Lovingly called "the box of allergies," these are Lulu's four babies and two (Tupac and Mini Monks) have already gone to new homes as of this week!  

This post is in loving memory of Mr. Kitty AKA Mista Kitts, the original coolest cat ever until his death, December 2014.  

Fishing. The bread and butter of this operation and a sport I did not truly appreciate until now.  Sure, I’d done the touristy charter fishing on vacation (pretty awesome) and tagged along with my brothers when we were young, but none really "stuck" as an on-going interest.   Well, having the ocean in your backyard and no boat would be a tease for even a non-fishing lover like me! So of course we had to get us a 23-foot, Fijian long boat (think large john boat) named “Snake.”  The Snake can magically fit 6 adults,  6 dive bags, 3 fishing rods plus hand lines, 4+ spearguns, a cooler, 6 backpacks/camping bags, 3 camping chairs, 2 benches, a giant Pelican case, an anchor, 2 20 liter fuel cans, a 20 liter water jug, a tackle box, 5 life jackets, and a pile of fire wood….  I didn’t say it was the most comfortable fit but the things we do for fishing!  That stormy, soggy day I caught my very first fish here in Fiji after countless days out on the water.  My Spanish mackerel (our biggest till Erik showed me up the other day) almost took me for a swim!

From previously posted pictures, you can see the ocean, a bay, we spend many hours (days) out on the water.  To get to that bay is an adventure all it’s own!  First, we drive about 5 minutes to a canal running through cow pastures and rice fields, lug our gear through a couple cow patties, then take a 20 minute winding ride through the narrow, muddy mangroves.  (The mangroves are so narrow and shallow that we have to check the tides to be able to get in or out.)  Once out of the canal, the waterway opens up into the bay, and beyond that, the deep blue open waters containing one of the most elaborate reef systems in the world.  A barrier reef system full of caves, caverns, shoals, and shelves, some starting above the surface and plunging to depths of 2,000 feet, right in our backyard!  After snorkeling or diving in Costa Rica, the Bahamas, and Hawaii, I can say that I have never seen so much life in one reef.  And by “life” I mean millions of fish and other species of sea creatures of all colors and sizes that you’d only see in an aquarium.  The craziest part about our fishing is that we, with the exception of one Fijian dive boat, are literally the ONLY boat on the water, as far as the eye can see!!! 

When Erik and I lived in Hawaii, he spent lots of time spearfishing and brought those skills to Fiji.  For those of you unfamiliar with the sport, it is way more complicated and dangerous than it sounds!  I had thought it was snorkeling on the surface with a speargun in hand.  HA!  Way off.  Spearfishing is essentially free-diving with a speargun in hand which means: diving at depths up to 120 feet on a single breath hold, being completely camouflaged from head to toe, wearing a weight belt, hanging onto a 5 foot long loaded speargun.  The complicated part is kicking down to depth in specially-made carbon fiber fins, then once at depth, WAITING for your fish on that single breath hold, THEN shooting, wrangling, and killing your fish while being mindful of sharks and trying not to pass out! WHEW!  Makes me out of breath just thinking about it.  Erik’s personal record is 5:16, which might not sound too outrageous, but to put it in perspective, I could probably hold my breath for 30 seconds if I’m lucky!  Impressive for sure!  Erik and Jason are the advanced spear-fishermen of our group, teaching the rest of us.  So far, they have brought in parrot fish, red snapper, giant trevally (GT), Spanish mackerel, blue trevally, trigger fish, moo fish, eels, squid, groupers, baracuda, unicorn fish, emperor fish, gar, chubs, sweet lips, job fish, shark (by default), puffer fish (by accident), and squid. 

“Fishing” originally meant spearfishing for our group but in the past few months we have discovered our group passion for trolling.  But it wasn’t till about a month ago that we started getting serious about trolling in hopes of catching the really big fish.  Like really big.  Like marlin, tuna, sailfish-size big.  So far we’ve gotten plenty of nice GTs, Spanish mackerels, needle fish, barracudas, bluefin trevally, and mackerel tunas.  On our wish list (and we know they are out there):  marlins, sailfish, dogfish tuna, yellowfin tuna, and mahi mahi!  But for every thing on our wish list we don’t catch, we sight something spectacular…like a huge manta ray with a wing span over 11-feet wide swimming along side of us, or LITERALLY fighting off a reef shark stealing a fish from Erik’s belt, or spotting one of Fiji’s protected sea turtles! 

Now I understand why so many people become so passionate or obsessed or even addicted to fishing.  I do not "suffer" from this addiction, but once we catch that monster tuna, I may be singing another tune….