Happy New Year from Travis and his two big ones

G'day!

Håfa Adai, as they say here. That means something like “Welcome”.

The year 2023 is almost over here. And for you it will probably take a few hours longer. It's exciting, the thing about the time difference and the fact that it's evening here when the sun is just rising elsewhere. My older ones explained something to me: that the earth is a ball and revolves around the sun and itself. To be honest, I didn't understand it exactly. But it doesn't matter. I also used to think that you shouldn't always just focus on yourself. But maybe the earth doesn't know that yet. Or it may not be true at all. The earth is already very old and perhaps knows it better than we do 🤔

Anyway, today we were on the northern half of the island. Diving wasn't an option for my two older ones today. Firstly because of the weather conditions and secondly because my older one broke his buoyancy compensator. Do you remember? This is this jacket where you can put air in and out when you're underwater. For buoyancy and stuff.

The one day of diving they did here probably disappointed them a bit too. Well, that was to be expected after Palau. At least they brought some funny pictures of the so-called Harley Reef:

Do you recognize the Harley?

Well, in any case, there is a nature reserve on the northern tip of the island. We looked at that today.

On the way there you will pass US Navy and Air Force bases. They take up quite a large area of the island.

Even though it is of course generally nice that something like this exists, the visit there was also very sobering at the same time. It was shown what nature above and below the water here on the island was originally like and what it is like today. Corals destroyed, endemic plants largely displaced, original forests disappeared and almost no birds left (!!!) because a brown tree snake was introduced from somewhere, which wiped out almost the entire bird population here.

The Chamorro have actually lived here for a very long time with great respect for their environment and nature. This must all hurt your soul. At least that's how I felt when I looked at it. And definitely my older one too.

The thing about birds here is actually very strange. No chirping. Sometimes almost a little scary.

The beach there - Ritidian Beach - is certainly wonderful, even though it was only reopened about 2 weeks ago. The area suffered a lot of damage in the bad typhoon in May 😯

When we were there on the beach, I saw that there seemed to be small and large seashells running around everywhere around us. I was a little worried. But my older ones showed me that they are little hermit crabs that always look for a “house” that is suitable for their size.

Sometimes several of them meet and swap houses in descending order of size. That's what I call sustainability. Nothing is left to chance.

The beach and the entire area is closed in the late afternoon so that, for example, the turtles can rest there to lay their eggs. It's nice to see that a lot of effort is being made to give nature space again and to regain a little of what was lost. Unfortunately, this will probably not succeed in its entirety. A pity!

I am all the more grateful that I was able to visit such incredibly beautiful places with my adults on this trip. This means that this year 2023 will end in a special way.

And the new year 2024 will continue in a similar way for us. With new adventures and other exciting places. I'm looking forward to it and hope that you can look back on some of the past year with a certain amount of gratitude and approach 2024 with confidence.

Of course my two older ones wish you the same!

All the best and see you next year!

Warm greetings from Travis the Buddy Bear