Up early to pack - somehow I just wasn't up to doing it after sakau last night. Stacy, Sue, and I caught a ride with a PATS truck on its way to Kolonia. We got dropped off at Simon and Eileen's place in Ou (near The Village). The five of us loaded up their boat and we set off in ideal conditions - some blue skies, sun, and smooth water. We only got about 15 minutes out before we watched a big squall move towards us. We decided to wait it out on top of a shallow spot and we were all quickly soaked. After a half hour the rain and wind slacked off again. We debated going back in but then decided to do a closer dive at Mahwand Pass (pronounced "Mott") - 5 minutes away instead of 45.
It was quite choppy, but once we got in the water it looked great. The visibility was the best I've seen since I got back here - it's also the closest I've come to diving outside the reef. We started off just inside the pass, deep and swam towards the open sea. When the current got to bad to fight we started to ascend and drifted along the pass walls. There was fantastic coral and invertebrate life all along the walls. We made it about an hour then surfaced - while waiting for Simon and Eileen to pick us up it was nice to notice that the conditions were quite a bit nicer. Back on the boat we had a picnic lunch then headed for home. The good weather conditions lasted just until we got the boat to shore, then it started to rain as we were unloading.
We drove into Kolonia and checked into a new hotel that Stacy had wanted to check out. We took turns showering - while Sue was showering Stacy and I went on a quick shopping trip and bought some some snacks and beer for our fridge. That night we went to a little party at Simon and Eileen's. The food and company were great. Late we left and went to meet up with everyone else (Eleanor, Windy, and Tim - a friend of Windy and Sue's from Chuuk) at a local club, Flamingo. I was in a pretty grumpy mood - not sure why, but I just wasn't feeling too hot.
