So this is how the trip starts. I met Ken at his parents' place at about 3AM the morning of Sunday September 16th. Ken's dad usually drives us down to the airport and picks us up - hell of nice guy. We got to Philadelphia International with plenty of time to check our bags and kick back for a while awaiting our departure on Delta flight 5091 to Cincinnati, OH., the first leg of the trip to Honolulu Hawaii. Nothing would lead us to believe the chaos that would follow.
About a half hour before scheduled boarding time, an announcement was made over the intercom that there was a problem securing a flight attendant for the flight and that there most certainly would be a delay. We immediately began thinking of the problems we would have if we missed this flight or if it was delayed significantly. The trip to HI required two connections PA, OH, MN, and then finally to HI. There was about an hour to two hours between flights, so there wasn't really any room for error.
[Ken] They cannot get a flight attendant so they cancel the flight. Now what? Send us to Atlanta! We arrive in Atlanta and all those behind the counter are wondering why we were sent there. So, they do the only thing they can, book us on a nonstop flight to HI that is 14 people overbooked. We were told, "Good luck!" To ensure we were getting seats we made it to the counter at the gate 3 hours before departure. Finally, someone arrived and we are told to wait it out and listen for our names that are on the list. We were not going to get a seat. Meanwhile, Angelo is on the phone trying to book another flight to HI. Basically, he was told, "Nothing available. Good luck!"
[Ken] They cannot get a flight attendant so they cancel the flight. Now what? Send us to Atlanta! We arrive in Atlanta and all those behind the counter are wondering why we were sent there. So, they do the only thing they can, book us on a nonstop flight to HI that is 14 people overbooked. We were told, "Good luck!" To ensure we were getting seats we made it to the counter at the gate 3 hours before departure. Finally, someone arrived and we are told to wait it out and listen for our names that are on the list. We were not going to get a seat. Meanwhile, Angelo is on the phone trying to book another flight to HI. Basically, he was told, "Nothing available. Good luck!"
[Ken] By this time, there was a huge line at the counter trying to get on the flight. While patiently waiting, I began talking with a woman in our same situation. She happened to notice that the airline was not actually using the list but was just booking the people in line. I jumped up, in front of some dude, and claimed that I was in line first and that if people are getting booked that I should...another person behind the counter motions for me to be quiet and tells me to come around to the other side of the counter. I am handed two tickets. Problem solved. There was a huge line of people that never made it. Suckers.
Honolulu airport is one of the best managed airports I've ever seen. Once you clear security into the gates, the entire gate area is about 4 blocks long and filled with Japanese gardens that had some monster carp in them. The runway you see in the photo is a catwalk between areas of the gates and you can just take a stairway down into any one of these gardens below. So we have a few days to unwind in Honolulu, Oahu and took advantage of some of the great snorkeling and people watching around the island. One particularly good spot to snorkel was this small bay known as 
Hanauma Bay. It was important that we had a day or two buffer in Honolulu just in case there was a significant problem somewhere - there is only one flight to Christmas Island per week, so you can't miss it. Back at Honolulu international, we found ourselves waiting at the small Air Pacific check in counter with only a few other people. One of them was an Aussie gent and the other two were elderly gents that told some very interesting fishing stories. They (Bud Brown and Wilson (Bogie) Bogan) apparently had been fishing together for some 40 years and have been to some great places - like fishing for Nile Perch in Africa, Patagonia, Australia, Antarctica, Africa, the Amazon, 
and many other exotic locations. Ken e-mailed me when we got back and told me he had been checking out a journal of an Australian fishing trip from 2006 on Dan Blanton's website and spotted some familiar faces. Look at the photo to the right and then go to this link and scroll all the way down to the fourth photo from the bottom of the page. Pay particular attention to the shirts that the gentlemen are wearing.At this point, we're finally boarded on Air Pacific flight 823 to Christmas Island. We're now taxied and in line on our runway and I give Ken the thumbs-up and said "we're golden now". I apparently jinxed us. We were at the head of the line and they thrust the engines for takeoff - 
next thing you know the entire starboard side of the plane goes black after some flickering of lights. The next thing you know is the engines shut down and the pilot gets on the comm and says - "well, you have probably noticed that we've shut the engines down...". There was a frantic 10 minutes as they towed the plane off of the runway and then back to the gate, where we spent the next hour sitting in the plane while mechanics and engineers inspected the plane. They apparently could not reproduce the electrical failure, so the engineers decided that the pilot should try to "jostle" the engines, simulating the trusting on takeoff. They did that, and next thing you know, the lights went out again. It was at that point that I think I looked at Ken and said - "we just lost a day of fishing". Long story short - one of three electrical generators is bad, and that normally they can go with two, but since Kiritimati is such a remote location, it's their policy to have all three working to fly there. Bottom line is we had to stay another night in Honolulu and they said they would get a generator from Australia overnight on a Qantas flight and try to get the plane off the ground by 11 AM the next day.
next thing you know the entire starboard side of the plane goes black after some flickering of lights. The next thing you know is the engines shut down and the pilot gets on the comm and says - "well, you have probably noticed that we've shut the engines down...". There was a frantic 10 minutes as they towed the plane off of the runway and then back to the gate, where we spent the next hour sitting in the plane while mechanics and engineers inspected the plane. They apparently could not reproduce the electrical failure, so the engineers decided that the pilot should try to "jostle" the engines, simulating the trusting on takeoff. They did that, and next thing you know, the lights went out again. It was at that point that I think I looked at Ken and said - "we just lost a day of fishing". Long story short - one of three electrical generators is bad, and that normally they can go with two, but since Kiritimati is such a remote location, it's their policy to have all three working to fly there. Bottom line is we had to stay another night in Honolulu and they said they would get a generator from Australia overnight on a Qantas flight and try to get the plane off the ground by 11 AM the next day.They fixed the plane and we were finally off to Christmas Island. Upon approach, the captain rounded the entire Atoll. 
What a breathtaking view it was - a hundred square miles of emerald water and endless Bonefish flats. As I peered out the window, I smiled and realized that one of my lifelong dreams was about to come true - fly fishing in the ultimate Bonefish destination. This is after all, the fly fishing equivalent of the Super Bowl. I recall Ken saying to me about a year back - "you know we're going to go there eventually, so it might as well be now". What's unique about this Atoll is that it's a pure coral Atoll. 
There is no vegetation at all on these flats, just pure blindingly-white coral sand. There are areas on some of the flats that have fields of orange coral on them though. The weather here, averages 84 degrees and moves no more than one or two degrees in either direction. Other than that, it's the same temperature, day and night, 365 days/year. Rain on this Atoll is virtually non-existent, and there isn't a trace of humidity, just the warm and ever-present Pacific trade winds.
What a breathtaking view it was - a hundred square miles of emerald water and endless Bonefish flats. As I peered out the window, I smiled and realized that one of my lifelong dreams was about to come true - fly fishing in the ultimate Bonefish destination. This is after all, the fly fishing equivalent of the Super Bowl. I recall Ken saying to me about a year back - "you know we're going to go there eventually, so it might as well be now". What's unique about this Atoll is that it's a pure coral Atoll. 
There is no vegetation at all on these flats, just pure blindingly-white coral sand. There are areas on some of the flats that have fields of orange coral on them though. The weather here, averages 84 degrees and moves no more than one or two degrees in either direction. Other than that, it's the same temperature, day and night, 365 days/year. Rain on this Atoll is virtually non-existent, and there isn't a trace of humidity, just the warm and ever-present Pacific trade winds.
Ahhh....we've finally landed at Christmas Island International Airport - all four rooms of it. The rooms from left to right are baggage, customs and immigration, a waiting room, and a small office. Yeah, you could sneak a bomb through this place without even breaking a sweat. We get everything squared away with customs and we're off to New London, which is the main village of the Atoll. We get into a small truck with Bud and Bogie and spend the next hour riding down a pretty rough road. We soaked up some scenery and s
pent some time chatting with Bud and Bogie (that's Bud in the back of the truck). They were to shack up at a new place called The Villages, which was about 10 miles south of New London. We would not see them again until the return flight. We arrive late afternoon at our digs for the week and a short while later, we were met by our guide Michael to discuss the next day's plans. We decided Bonefish would be the order of the day. We kicked back and readied our gear while 
our hosts cooked us up a wonderful first dinner. Our hosts prepared and packed lunch for us each day. There was always more food than we could possibly finish. Most of it was very good, but I'm not a big fan of over-easy eggs (I like them cooked), which is what we had the first few mornings.One thing we found out after seeing one is that you have to check your flats wading shoes every morning for Centipedes - these things are huge and Michael told us he has been bit and it is very painful, head to toe.
No comments:
Post a Comment