Here are the unofficial results for last Tuesday’s elections:
Four Year Senate Seat
Two Year Senate Seat
Referendums:
(PL 15-60) Make Senate Terms Uniform (4 years)
(PL 15-61) Dual Citizenship
Constitutional Convention
When the results are official I will update the election results page on the Kosrae Village website.
Katrina
As you all know today Japan has suffered from a terrible earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
It appears that our region has escaped injury from the earthquake generated tsunami. According to NOAA’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center the tsunami measured 2.1 ft when it passed Saipan in the Northern Marianas and .5 foot when it passed Yap, one of the Micronesian islands.
I don’t have the height of the wave when it passed Kosrae, but it doesn’t appear to have had any impact here on Kosrae Island.
All guests and staff at Kosrae Village are safe and well.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Japanese people,
Katrina
This past week I was able to join KCSO (Kosrae Conservation & Safety Organization, a NGO), KIRMA (Kosrae Island Resource Management Authority), and Kosrae State Marine Resources in surveying the coral and reef health at 8 different locations around Kosrae Island. Our team was lead by Dr. Peter Houk, a coral scientist from Saipan.
Peter was extremely generous with his time and help me improve my coral id skills as well as teaching us some new data collection and analysis techniques. It was hard work, but worthwhile and fun.
Identifying and Measuring Coral
And, oh yeah – I just happened to find the largest frog fish that I have ever seen. Here is his photo:
Giant Frogfish (Antennarius commersonii)
Giant Frogfish FACE (Antennarius commersonii)
Wow! A week or so ago I got a new lens (the Olympus M.9-18mm f4.0 – 5.6) for my Olympus EPL-1 and it is amazing! Fast to focus even in low light conditions and able to capture amazing detail.
We are lucky to live on Kosrae, one of the most photogenic places I’ve been, above and below the water. I’ve been trying out the lens / camera combo every chance I get and I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days in my favorite place (underwater 
) with nothing to do but practice with the new lens.
Here are some of the photos. I’ve added these and few others to the under water gallery.
I hope that you enjoy them, or even better come diving with us and take your own
Cheers,
Katrina
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By special request, here is our famous bread recipe!
Bread behaves very differently in different climates, I would reduce this recipe by half or even a quarter and experiment. You might need more or less flour, longer or shorter baking times, etc.
Experiment with different grains and seasonings, but don’t overdo the grains or the bread will be very heavy.
Kosrae Village *Fantastic* Bread bake at 375 for about 30 – 35 minutes
1-> 6 cups water– heat to 100 degrees
2-> Check water temp, add honey and yeast
3-> After yeast bubbles, add:
4-> Knead until bread is elastic, rub oil in a large bowl and on top of bread, put bread in bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size
5-> Turn bread out on counter, let rest, portion (we would make about 6 loaves)
6-> Form, place in pans, let raise, bake
7-> Remove from pans as soon as the loaves come out of the oven, let it cool before you slice it
Enjoy!
Katrina
Here are this morning’s results for the runoff elections for the Kosrae State Governor and Lt. Governor.
These results are still unofficial. I should be able to update the elections page with the final certified results tomorrow.
The unofficial total ballot count:
Governor
Lt. Governor
Congratulations Governor Jackson and Lt. Governor Sigrah!
Early in December I visited Guam for the Pacific Asia Travel Association Micronesia Chapter (PATA) membership meeting, representing both Kosrae Village and the Kosrae Visitors Bureau (I’m a KVB board member and on the PATA chapter executive committee). Traveling for the PATA meetings also gives us an chance to explore other places in Micronesia.
In this case, because of the flight schedules I stayed on Guam over the weekend following the meetings and was invited to attend one of the famous village fiestas.
This is a photo of the beautiful toys made by weaving the coconut leaves. There a more fiesta photos in the Guam album on the Katrina’s Photos page.
The fiestas are usually hosted by one or two families in the village, but everyone in the community pitches in by bringing food and talent to the fiesta.
The Dededo fiesta was in honor of Santa Barbara. It’s an all day event with hundreds of people, dance groups, artists, coconut frond weaving and much more going on.
After leaving the fiesta I decided to explore the island to the south and came upon a few wind surfers on the beach. This was the first time I had seen the kites up close, I didn’t realize that the kite are inflated with air. Are they all like this? 
The are also more wind surfing photos in the Guam album.
The runoff elections for offices of Kosrae State Governor and Lt. Governor were held yesterday. The unofficial local ballot count:
Governor
Lt. Governor
Overseas and absentee ballots have yet to be counted. Keep an eye on the blog and the elections page for the final results.
Higgin in Double 100cf Tanks
Bruce just got in some 100 cubic feet tanks and he and Ben quickly put together a set of doubles.
Sepe’s 3 year old son, Higgin, decided to try them out.
Aren’t you suppose to be bigger than the tanks?
Well, the water was pretty rough, but I had a private student who had to finish his class. So we did two short dives right outside Utwe harbor. Here are a few photos of my student and the reef. It’s pretty amazing to find coral like this within a few hundred feet of a harbor.
Diver over Kosrae's Astounding Reef
Kosrae's Hard Coral Reef
Guilded Triggerfish
Crinoid Dancing in the Current, Kosrae Micronesia
Not a bad way to spend New Year’s Day!
