Back in Majuro

Sorry for the radio silence.

We're back in Majuro. We left Honolulu early Monday morning, crossed the
date line, and arrived Tuesday morning. After a passage of 22 days, we
managed to cover the same distance in just 5 hours. Amazing. And no charges
for our overweight bags. Well, unless you consider the rips and tears a type
of fee.

Being back has its pros and cons. For instance...we wondered if Renova
always smelled like this? A bit musty. Even mildew-y. Did her woodwork
always have these worn patches here and there? I suspect so. We've simply
been spoiled with the wonderful new-ness of MY Laysan. Even so, after almost
two months of neglecting Renova, we're glad to be home, and after our
initial day of rest, we're already in frantic cleaning mode. We're anxious
to begin exploring the reputedly phenomenal outer islands of this country.
And...it feels good to give Renova some love.

Renova in a state of disrepair, as we do a mad clean

So far, we've scrubbed, de-cluttered, installed a new VHF (with AIS...yeah),
and dined with our fellow yachties! We've also spent time with our friends
on SV Carina, who were kind enough to help us with some sail repair while we
were away. We had noticed that some of the stitching on our 2009 genoa was
coming loose at the clew, and we had some areas of chafe. Philip and Leslie
did a fabulous job of the repairs and we've learned a lot along the way.
We've got a few more projects on the to-do list, before we leave here. SSB
installation. Alternator install. Provisioning. Immigration. Computer
set-up. And the list goes on.

Leslie and Philip from SV Carina help us with sail repair

I'm sure there are a zillion emails in our inbox. We've been very negligent.
Sorry. I need to spend a couple days tapping out our belated replies. Until
the captain sets me free from cinderella duty, please know that we are
thankful for your emails, and will respond personally asap!
If it is any consolation...I was able to take advantage of free and fast
wifi at the yacht club by uploading pics to our flickr page. I posted pics
of our time at Abemama, Tarawa, Abaiang, Majuro, Johnston and Honolulu. You
can check them out here: www.flickr.com/photos/naomit

Stay tuned...I'm keenly aware that we have more to blog about the rest of
our time in fabulous Honolulu, and some stats summarizing our trip from
Majuro to Hawaii on MY Laysan. Coming soon to a browser near you!
Pics: Leslie and Philip do a fabulous job with our sail repairs. This is
what Renova looks like in major de-clutter mode. Yep - that's my flip flop
collection at John's feet. I've made a major contribution to reducing our
gross tonnage by sacrificing two pair.