Sapain Zoo

We had to check it out... Little zoo with some exotic and not-so-exotic animals.

Emu and a turkey.

Sweet little Sugar Bat.  Endangered species. They liked to lick our fingers and nibble (gently).

A lion here....and some piglets there.

If this cute monkey likes you, he'll groom you. :)

And the wildest animals of all: Taotaomona (a.k.a. homo sapiens). Shown here grooming Isra.

Outnumbered!

Here's a quick shot of a tired dad.  When people figure out Norah is a girl, here and the States, they usually say, "Oh, you can try again."  So it was nice to be told that in Korean culture having three daughters is considered to be be extremely lucky. We agree most days.  However, Isra says they can date at 21 and pay for their own weddings. ;-)

One Fish, Two Fish...

Red fish, blue fish! Some more snorkeling shots for you. Visibility was great at Wing Beach last weekend and we happened to be there at low tide. We saw a lot of bigger than usual fish and fish we've never seen before. Check out the fish in the anemone! Very cute - some sort of Clown Fish playing peek-a-boo. It would peek out, get a little brave and swim out and then swim back in. :-) We also got some good shots this time of an Urchin and one type of Sea Cucumber.

Island Dancers

Here's a few shots Amelia took of the dancers during street market. The dancers and dances vary depending on which group is performing. We think this is a Tahitian dance.

 

Tsunami?

When we were planning this trip we talked about various worries of traveling with little ones. Some understandable and realistic, some just far-fetched and crazy. Some friends were worried about air travel, some were worried about illness or accidents - as a mom, my fears tend to lean toward the far-fetched and crazy... So for me it was fear of a tsunami! Remember the story of the woman on the beach with her kids when a tsunami hit? I do. Anyway, I asked around once we got here and learned that this island is safe from tsunamis. Each layer of coral reef breaks a large wave off from the bottom so that by the time it reaches shore it's pretty small. That's what they said...and then one morning we found a slip of paper under our door with a tsunami warning! Huh? However it all ended up being pretty anti climatic. The Emergency Management Office had issued a watch the night before and then upgraded it to a warning for a tsunami to hit the island by 1p.m. and then canceled the whole thing by 10:30 in the morning. So, what do you do?  We went to the beach to check it out. I guess it's kind of like going outside to watch the tornado in Iowa.