Snap Crackle Pop

Remember that satisfying sound Rice Crispies make as you pour milk onto the cereal? That same snap, crackle & pop can be heard from coral in the evening. Before nightfall at Enecko, another island part of the Majuro atoll, I was out with my friend Jeremy. He was spear-fishing and I was hoping to get a shot of him pulling back the elastic, bow-and-arrow like, before launching the 6ft spear at an unsuspecting fish. But the light was bad, so I contented myself with listening to snap crackle pop. It's the sound of hundreds of fish biting off bits of coral for dinner, only this supper doesn't require milk.

Jeremy, a Californian that works in the Marshall Islands, learned to spear fish as a volunteer on an outer island. The Marshallese like to go out after dark with only flashlights to see by. Sleeping fish make easy targets. Sharks also feed at night (for the same reason I suppose), so you won't catch me snorkeling after dark.

Jeremy couldn't find any edible fish during our excursion, so he contented himself with showing me how to spear-fish. Then we headed ashore.

All dogs go to heaven

Dogs on Majuro tend to be of a certain size. They need to be small enough to survive on scraps, garbage and dung. They need to be large enough to defend themselves against other dogs. In North America we generally love our pets. Some people, as much as children. I wouldn't say that dogs are man's best friend in the Marshall Islands, though.

Mangy, tick-ridden and largely unappreciated, Majuro dogs are far more likely to be kicked than petted. As a result, the dogs can be mean and territorial. I was warned before I left home that I'd have to throw rocks at dogs. I balked - I'm a dog lover after all. But when a snarling dog ran towards me with a toothy sneer, I understand that Majuro dogs are not the happy house pets familiar to me. That angry sneering dog barked at me. I turned to face it and growl back at it. I then feigned a lunge, as if to throw a rock at it (though in fact my hands were empty). That did the trick. The dog backed off and I kept walking.

It was actually the only time in nearly 3 weeks of walking around Majuro that a dog was agressive towards me. Lest anyone worry about dog bites, the dogs here don't have rabies (doesn't exist in the Marshall Islands). I'm also careful not to judge the Marshallese for mistreating "man's best friend", because people sometimes don't have enough food for the family, much less to buy premium milk bones for Spike. I've heard that when times are tough, dogs offer a source of protein. It's hard to let yourself love something you might eat.