Dood is so way Kewl Californian right?

sailed or motored. The comment was meant for the dreamers who are looking for the proverbial escape hatch from the realities of life instead of just taking what is there and dealing with it for the sheer enjoyment of living the realities of life. I always had and have a preference for Tonga myself. The fishing, the diving and the sailing were epic. But then every day as a full time liveaboard i'm reminded I live as my reality their dreams and my head is never in the sand but focused on the next horizon.

I had the pleasure of working on a support ship for MSC for the last firing exercise the Navy held in Puerto Rico. But then I wasn't one of the PR's who traded working for the Navy in exchange for making beds and serving the hotel clients or just left PRs legal immigration rate to the US has taken the bulk of the islands inhabitants who traded the joys that island for the paychecks of New York City and other unpleasant places.

For the inhabitants of Pagan once they ent back i hope they found their life but it reminded me of the former slaves of the Chagos Archipelago pretending Diego Garcia was a country and they were citizens.

Yet it is the British Military that keeps that last great paradise of atoll islands in it's natural state and protected from the predations of human kind. At least once they rid the place of brown snakes and rats. Both introduced by previous visitors. Many boats stop at Solomon in the North Chagos but I never heard of any one sleeping ashore. A project paid for by the US Military and carried out by the British Military - and the taxpayers of each country despite the repeated attacks by developers and their lawyers. Those who would strip the archipelago of all sea life.

As for MSC the experence made me glad I had chosen the military instead of the Navy.

Those who look at the results of professional photography and think of escape should look around where they live and ask ....would I do better with no malls and cigarette butt strewn streets and never ask why not clean up what we have....instead of trashing the place and then going elsewhere to do the same.

I can only answer for my small footprint on the planet and pick up the cigarette butts of modern society as they pass through looking for the hotel waiters and their next tray of drinks. But then I live the dream to me it is reality. I also see things as they are and not by visiting some pages of photos by professional photographers hired by developers looking for the next Club Med
site.

Whose going to save that island from the a far worse fate than Naval Gun fire? Gringo Tourists.

People out to do a 'little' research before flopping words like Island Paradise all over the place. Back to last weeks duck iyour head in the sand idea Zimbabwe. You recall I mentioned the military had the lowest percentage of AIDS' some 20 or so years ago? That's changed it's now 88% and the leader doesn't have anyone to rip off anymore. So come on in and bring money etc. One good place to check on the living value of any area is the PMC's or Private Military Corporations. If they haven't been brought in to clean up a place think twice.

The Marianas are now around 35,000 population of which 29,000 are imiported workers from the mainland. Textiles is the main industry as doing it there allows the label Made In USA to be used. But you won't find $15 minimum wages

http://www.infoplease.com/country/nor...

Try it durinig Typhoon season it's where the 200 mile per hour wind live year round. If it was a paradise it would be wall to wall cabanas and condos. However I'm reminded what one of the Samoa residents said and that echoing a similar comment on Tahiti Nui. One man's paradise is another man's prison. Did you notice all the black vegetation? Fishing is good though but no harbors or good anchorages. If there were Club Med would have moved in already.