Good Shark, Good Shark!

MAJURO, Marshall Islands — A man lost at sea for 15 weeks was rescued after a serendipitous meeting with a shark. Toaki Teitoi, a 41-year-old policeman in the central Pacific island nation of Kiribati, said he had drifted in a wooden boat for 106 days before he was picked up by a fishing boat near the Marshall Islands. The man had watched a movie about being lost at sea one day before he and his brother-in-law embarked May 27 on what was supposed to be a two-hour trip from Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati, to Teitoi's hometown, Maiana.

Teitoi and his brother-in-law, Lelu Falaile, 52, stopped to fish along the way and decided to sleep on the boat. When the pair awoke the next day, they found they had drifted out of sight of the island, and soon ran out of fuel. Teitoi told the Herald the pair had food, but no water. Falaile died July 4 due to dehydration, he said.

"I left him there overnight and slept next to him like at a funeral," Teitoi told the Herald. He then buried his brother-in-law at sea. A day later, a storm blew through the area, providing Teitoi with fresh water. The morning of Sept. 11 brought a fishing boat into his sights, but he remained unseen. He fell asleep and awoke in the afternoon to the sound of scratching: a six-foot shark was circling the boat, bumping the hull as it went.

"He was guiding me to a fishing boat," Teitoi said. "I looked up and there was the stern of a ship and I could see crew with binoculars looking at me." Teitoi said if the shark had not nudged him awake, he would not have been able to alert the crew of the ship that he was in trouble, and the crew "might have carried on sailing past me." Teitoi was given food and water and remained with the men for a few days. He is scheduled to fly home on Sunday.

Story thanks to Stephanie Grimes of KSL!

Mirror Lake Fourteen

And so we finally wended our way back to the northwest corner of the lake and to the parking lot. There waited warm, dry clothes for the girl, and a clean socks for Dad.

Mirror Lake Thirteen

And then onto the unnatural fauna, the fishermen, who were clustered around the north west end of the lake. They were all enjoying themselves catching little rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

Mirror Lake Twelve

Then we ran into some of the local flora and fauna while Keziah was sunning herself on a rock. First there was a cute little chipmunk (Neotamias umbrinus) and some water weeds that looked like long spaghetti floating on top of the water. I honestly don't know how anything grows in that icy water.

Mirror Lake Eleven

So off we set on the trail around the north side of Mirror Lake on pathways made out of timber for a nice even walk.

Mirror Lake Ten

Let's go back to the car, I'm freezing!
(I found out later that the lake is feed by Pass Lake, which is higher still, that is in turn fed by snow-melt from Bald Mountain, which is 11,943 ft (3,640 m) in height. Now wonder the water felt like liquid ice).

Okay, but we are half-way round, so let's complete the journey.

Mirror Lake Nine

Ok, should we go for a swim?
Sure, where? Out there? It will be freezing!
Yep!

Mirror Lake Eight

Oh look there's an island, and nobody else is there, lets go claim our very own island!

Mirror Lake Seven

Two or three miles further up SR-150 is the turnoff to Mirror Lake, a beautiful forested lake set at 10, 050 feet (3,060 metre) high in the Uinta Mountains. It is about a 53 square acres (about a quarter of a square kilometre) in size, although it seems much larger, probably from the grandeur of the setting. For my family and friends in New Zealand and Australia, Mirror Lake is 2,740 feet (or 835 metres) higher than Mt Kosciuszko, the tallest mountain in the Australian mainland. It is only 2,266 feet (or 690 metres) lower than the peak of Mt Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand proper. So in other words, it is up there!

Mirror Lake Six

Dang that water is cold. My feet are like blocks of ice. It doesn't matter it's right at the end of summer and has had several months to warm up.

Mirror Lake Five

Is that a fish that I see in there?

Mirror Lake Four

If you climbed all of the terraces it would be like walking up the stairs of a ten-storey building at least. Luckily you can take it a slowly as you like, enjoy the scenery on the way up, and stop for a dip in each pond if it takes your fancy. Nice.

Mirror Lake Three

 What a beautiful and unusual falls. They are terraced like a long, wide set of grand stairs. Keziah just could not resist running up and down them all. Too much fun.

Mirror Lake Two

We drove south to Interstate 80 and turned east toward the Wasatch, then up Parleys Canyon, past Jeremy Ranch and Kimball Junction. We then took US40 and SR 248 past the Jordanelle Reservoir to Kamas where we stopped for a cold drink. Kamas is a pretty, alpine town of around 1,200 people in Summit County, that is often called The Gateway to the Uintahs. Then up into the foothills along SR 150 to a great country store that sold a bunch of hand-made food and souvenir items not available anywhere else. We were able to purchase our $6.00 -3-day recreation pass, to allow us to go up to the lake. About 30 miles (50 kilometres) up SR 150 we made out first stop, Provo River Falls.

Mirror Lake One

My daughter Keziah and I have been planning on going for a drive up in the mountains this summer, a daddy-daughter getaway. We settled on going up to Mirror Lake, up in the Uintah Mountains in Duchesne County. I have been really wanting to travel there for several years, but have just never found a good time. So last weekend we ate our lunch and jumped in the car for our afternoon trek.

All in the Family

It's a pretty incredible and touching story a grandfather and paramedic delivered his own grandchild Saturday morning after his daughter unexpectedly went into labor. Grandmother Kathleen Forsyth said her daughter called to tell the family she was going into labor and wasn't going to make it to the hospital. She and her husband David Forsyth, still in pajamas, rushed over to their daughter's house where paramedics were already getting the mother into an ambulance.

The baby could only wait long enough for her soon-to-be grandfather to arrive. As they took off for the hospital, delivery couldn't be avoided. That's when the he started helping deliver the baby. "I saw a little tuft of hair and I thought, "Uh-oh, we're gonna have a baby,'" he said. He said he was able to stay calm because not only is he a paramedic with the City of Orem but he's helped with a few deliveries.

"I got to be the first one to hold my granddaughter. it was pretty good," Forsyth said. Little Jane was delivered just before 6 a.m. Saturday morning. She is healthy and a pretty happy baby. The mother says that while of course having a child is special in itself, to have her father do the delivery made it that much more remarkable.