The echoes are comatose

I had thought of Bill's recommendation and tried it but on a computer that ultimately simply could not get on the blog, or at this point on the internet at all. Now I'm able to connect my own laptop from my room and that is a much better solution.
I did finally go snorkelling in the lagoon right behind my quarters and there are a lot of fish in there. There are 2 old bridges, one built on pilings that burned about 7 years ago, and one that was originally built back pre WW2 of concrete. That one is under water completely at high tide and only partially exposed at low tide. I was swimming along the edge of that bridge when I saw a spot that I thought was a likely place for a moray, lots of rocks piled up, so I took a breath and dove down to look. Just as I headed down about a 5 foot moray came from behind and swam right under me and into the spot that I had thought looked good. So I guess I think like a moray. He was big; at first he was so wide I wasn't sure what I was looking at.
The next morning we headed out for the annual beach clean-up; everybody on the island got together, split up and went to opposite ends of the ocean beach and then walked along picking up junk.It was very hot and intensely sunny; you could hear everyone sigh when the sun went behind a cloud for a moment. It was about 1.5 miles for each group, and we picked up 10 large dumptrucks full of stuff.Think of how small this island is and how big the pacific is, then think how much junk is floating around out there.
I was pretty exhausted so I had lunch, drank alot of water then took a nap, but was woken up by a big BOOM. I forgot about those EOD guys. There was a 100 pound bomb not far from my quarters that was quite live thank you and we are glad to have it gone. I can't imagine what it would be like to be on this island being bombarded with hundreds of those.
This am I went out fishing with a couple of guys and the island fishing captain. I really thought they were pulling my leg about having to get your fish in real fast or the sharks would get em, until we pulled in something that is locally called a rainbow runner, (it actually has rainbow stripes on the sides) that would have been about 2 feet long except the last 8 or 9 inches were bitten clean off. Then we caught a small tuna and watched as a really big shark came up and just took it and the hook and leader. I think he was just following us around. That happened altogether 5 or six times; I kept imagining the shark out there saying "please sir, I want more".We did come back with 3 roughly 15 pound tuna, a three foot barracuda, a similar size Ono, which is one of the most popular eating fish out here, and that 2/3 of a rainbow runner. Oh, and I hooked an albatross, but he wasn't a keeper. That was pretty weird getting the hook out of the bird and setting him loose.
The captain cleaned the fish and we brought it down to a fellow named Po - I'm not sure of the speilling - who is the proprietor of the Ioke beach house. He has fairly elaborate kitchen, a vegetable and herb garden, and the beach house itself which is like a large open gazebo, right at the shore overlooking the lagoon. It is a beautiful spot. Apparrently there is some form of traditional pecking order among the Thais as to who is allowed to have a beach house. There are a limited number of spots that the government will allow to be used and they are controlled by the folks who have been here the longest. Po and the 2 others who have the Ioke beach house are known as the elders. They hang out at the beach houses in the eves and days off, but don't sleep there.
Po served us a beef dish - lap moo - for lunch and warned us that it would be spicy hot; it really was. Then he deep fried some of the tuna as a snack and it was great. Tonight he is cooking a lot of fish. In fact I should be heading down there shortly.
I have been taking pictures and I hope I can figure out a way to get a few of them on line before I come home but I'm not sure.The lagoon is the most beautiful turquoise, and the sky is an intense blue. The sunsets are amazing. The stars have been pretty good considering the moon has been pretty bright so far. I'm really looking forward to seeing the stars on a moonless night.
Travel here took essentially 12 hours from BWI to HON, then an overnight there and a 6 hour flight from hawaii. People do a lot of fishing diving kayaking bicycling, and night time is poker and drinking. What else can you do on an island 2000 miles from anywhere and no women?
I really can't think of anything that I desperately need. I keep meaning to get the mailing address but I 'm still not sure. Someone told me that it's just a generaly delivery adress with a zip code, but I don't remember the zip. I'll try to remember to get it tomorrow. And no, I don't want to talk about the ND game. Maybe I can just stay here until the season is over.