Uncharted Island Paradise
Rudy,
I really enjoy your show. I always make time to relax and escape with Savvy Traveler. I especially like the segments that explore the grittier side of the human experience - the ones that make us Americans a little self-conscious about our soft lives compared to the rest of the world.
I am writing because I want to tell you about an area known as the Marshall Islands. It's a trust territory of the U.S. that lies four degrees off the equator midway between Hawaii and Australia. I grew up there on an Island called Kwajalien - a military base. But the real story is the islands around it.
As a kid, my friends and I would take a speed boat out into the lagoon - the largest in the word - and head towards one of the many uninhabited, unmapped islands. We would fish for tuna, mahi-mahi, red snapper - whatever we could catch on the way. Upon arrival, we had a barbeque on the beach. We slept on the beach as well - without sleeping bags. Our bed was the fine, white coral sand. I would lay down where the beach sloped into the lagoon, wriggle around a bit to form a custom mattress, and fall asleep with the cool trade winds on my face, the warm sand on my back, and the lulling sound of waves hissing against the shore. Paradise.
Around midnight, we would wake up. It was low tide and the lobsters would be left clinging to the exposed reef. All we needed to catch a feast was a burlap bag and a flashlight to shine in their eyes. We would go back to the beach where a coffee can filled with saltwater sat boiling on the coals from our barbeque. Despite a few crunchy bites flecked with sand and some pinched fingers, that was the best lobster I ever ate.
We had a lot of fun exploring and even a few harrowing experiences. I definitely plan on going back someday and taking my wife and kids for the time of their lives.
Thanks again for a great show!
Justin
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