Weekend Reel — Paddling in the Lagoon

Weekend Reel — Paddling in the Lagoon

It was a sunny day in mid-May. I had gotten up early and was feeling restless.

I cleared the drying rack, washed the dishes, and worked on repotting some plants and mixing soil for the balcony garden.

Ian and I chatted with his parents on FaceTime.

Then it was high tide, around 11ish in the morning.

Ian, sensing my restlessness, suggested we go for a paddle to the lagoon mangroves out back, and I immediately brightened up.

We would normally go to the beach in the front, but the trade winds were blowing extra strong which would make paddling with momentum nearly impossible. Besides, we hadn’t hung out in the mangroves in a long time.

I was getting hungry—we hadn’t eaten anything all morning—and started making an egg omelette (or a disheveled scramble, really) with onions, cheese, turkey sausage, and mushrooms. We packed the omelette in containers with a wooden spork, tobasco hot sauce, a bag of chips, a bowl of homemade hummus, a flask of juice and rum, and another flask with water. And we were ready to go.

Ian grabbed our stand up paddleboards from the rack behind the house while I lathered up in sunblock and changed into a bikini and lavalava and we got our boards in the water.

We saddled our boards next to each other to share our brunch picnic, then explored the maze-like mangroves, watching birds and laying on our backs to look up at the sky.

It felt good to get out of my routine and do something different.

When we paddled back home, I thought to myself: how lucky am I to live in such a beautiful place, have this sweet hunk of a man as my husband, and to be able to feel so free outside?! I truly am…

Here’s a reel I put together from that little morning adventure.

Photo journal compilation from off the camera roll…

Idyllic Beach Camping

Idyllic Beach Camping

It’s been a while since we’ve gone camping…

This island will always and forever be my home, so camping is one of the best ways to celebrate my surrounding environment. Still, it sometimes seems too small and like Trevor says, “because we’ve got A/C”.

It was a long weekend, and our friends made plans to camp in this isolated cove, which for the sake of everyone involved will remain a secret (for now). I couldn’t say no because it’s been on my bucket list for the last 4 years! It felt almost unreal to finally be there, and to just be away from it all – we were pretty remote, even though a couple of tiny fishing boats did pass through.

Val started the fire, Dustin caught some fish to roast later in the evening, the kiddos Eve and Sam jumped off rocks into the shallow waters, and a few of us paddled out to explore the caves and check out the coral life.

As the sun was setting behind the Pola islets, I realized yet again the magnificence of nature in its raw form, and let out a grateful sigh as the sun kissed the horizon good night.

View more photos of our adventure here.

Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com
Beach camping American Samoa | Nerelle.com

A Little Big Island Adventure

A Little Big Island Adventure

LABOR DAY WEEKEND 2018

We went with a group of friends on a little adventure… scratch that, it was a big island adventure. Something we’ve been wanting to do for the last 4 years. I was unsure I could leave work early but I promised to work over the weekend. Then Ian picked me up with his kayak and my SUP already strapped to our bright green truck, and a huge smile on his face, and we drove north. Thank God for Ian too because he packed all my stuff and prepped food and carried our vessels onto the truck, which he later offloaded in the bay, and then we paddled out to sea…

(…continued)

I used to be scared of paddling out in deep waters because of the sensible/irrational fear of something ominous beneath the cerulean sea.

I became so much more aware of the beating of my heart.

It took repeated familiarity and a good amount of hand holding before I learned to quell those fears and am now more excited than scared.

And thank goodness I overcame this because if not I would not have been rewarded with idyllic lush mountains and isolated beaches.

Photos taken by Nerelle Que and Ian Moffitt – but on the GoPro, mostly by Ian 😉

Viejo San Juan at Dawn | Travel Diary

Viejo San Juan at Dawn | Travel Diary

We slept late the night before, dancing the merengue–or at least trying to, but having a blast on the town with friends. I woke up early in Viejo San Juan and admired the little town from my balcony. The aged blue cobblestone streets and the tall colorful haciendas. The soft sunrise gave me all the feels.