Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. Stop #4 on my little adventure last month.
About an hour after leaving Kosrae, Pohnpei appears. Pohnpei: an Eden-like landscape, a mind-numbing ceremonial drink called sakau, and the world-class surfing break at Palikir Pass. My kinda place. If I were decades younger.
The state of Pohnpei is located roughly midway between Honolulu and Manila. Its land area is about 133 square miles. Most of Pohnpei Island is volcanic, with the highest peak of around 2,600 feet. The island is roughly circular, with an 80-mile coastline surrounded by a coral reef. The population is approximately 37,000.
I presume most of the state revenue comes from commercial fishing licenses. There were many large commercial fishing vessels inside the reef.
You can see why the pilots love this flight. Who wouldn’t want to land a Boeing 737 here a couple of times a week?
Once again, we were not permitted to deplane. We were late. Strangely, no one seemed upset about staying on board. There were four of us who were simply along for the ride. Others were trying to get home for the holidays, to Guam or Manila.
We were perfectly content watching roughly 150 passengers cycle on and off the plane. The segments from Kosrae to Pohnpei to Chuuk felt a lot like riding the Metro bus at rush hour—only with palm trees, clouds, and coral reefs outside the windows
A flight like none other.