Ron's Here

Ron has arrived!!! We've been looking forward to the arrival of John's
brother for months. It is great that he's now here, and we are looking
forward to 10 days of touring Majuro, sailing, and celebrating the holiday
season.

Unfortunately, his bags did not arrive with him. We'll go back to the
airport today, in hopes that they've now arrived.

Going to Hawaii...

We're going to Hawaii. We've agreed to deliver MY Laysan, a 50'
motor-sailor, to Hawaii next month. You can find out about the boat here:
http://roundtopdr.wordpress.com/

So, last week we met the owners, John and Kathleen, and had a busy couple of
days getting to know the boat and her systems. Since then, we've been
spending some time every day getting her ready. Getting to know the boat and
her systems, keeping the batteries charged, and making water in preparation
for the trip. She's a great boat, and we're looking forward to the passage.

Labels: Majuro, Marshall Islands, Laysan

Nothing Going On

Dec 5

I tried to tell you that there wasn't much interesting going on here.
Interesting is the key word. We've been busy enough with various boat
projects. But not so interesting. For example, last week I spent 3 days
polishing 2 lamps. Yep. Good times.

Labels: Majuro, Marshall Islands, maintenance, projects

Medical Services in Majuro

We've been testing the medical systems all around the pacific.

• stitches and attempted blood donation in Mexico
• tetanus shot in Samoa

And we've been thrilled to find great services everywhere we have been. Why not check out the system here? John's had a sore throat for a couple months. It hasn't responded to home care - salt water gargles, throat lozenges, antihistamines, or a course of antibiotics.

He decided it was probably cancer. So yesterday, he trekked to the local hospital. He met a
wonderful surgeon from Chicago, who immediately scheduled him for a something-scope for this morning. Dr. Kwan led John to the various hospital departments, and then set about sticking a long scope down his throat and into his stomach. Thankfully, he gave John the all clear. John reports that the hospital was in good condition, for the most part. Nevermind that he changed into his surgical gown in a linen closet, or that he noticed the roof had a few holes in the prenatal unit. The operating room was spotless and well equipped. Both visits were $17.

Let there be Light!!

Nov 29

We are slaves to our battery bank. When it is sunny, and the solar panels
are putting in lots of amps, we are happy campers. But (and there is always
a BUT), Majuro isn't an especially sunny spot. I know...we're in the
tropics. Crazy. But still - not sunny. Hot? Yes. Muggy? Yes. But sunny?
Well, sometimes. Good for our water tanks. Bad for our batteries. So, John
happily gets to put our new generator and battery charger to good use.

As a result of the lack of sun, we are miserly with our power usage. We have
solar lights that we use inside the cabin to read at night. And we have a
solar garden light that we use as an anchor light. Both are not so bright.

But, we've found a solution. A local yachtie sold us two strips of LED
lighting. John attached one to a long cable and velcroed (is that a verb?)
it around the mast. The second strip he fitted into our existing anchor
light fixture at the top of the mast. Now, we have SUPER bright lights, and
we can be seen at night. Which is a good thing. Especially on Sundays. When
the locals might be just a bit tipsy. And might rage through the mooring
fields. Mighty Fast. Mighty Close. Sheesh.

Here's a pic of our new light wrapped around the mast, and a pic of the boat
John took while installing the anchor light on the top of the mast.

Labels: Majuro, Marshall Islands, weather, maintenance, gear, projects

The Parking Lot

After the war, the US Military lined up all the vehicles and drove them off
the pier. Or maybe a barge. We don't really know. But that's what we've
heard. So, over the past couple of days Andy, John and I went to explore
this underwater parking lot.

We found a turtle, a big sting ray, lots of fish, and many vehicles. Fuel
trucks, fire trucks, ambulances, jeeps, bomb-loading trucks and many that
were unrecognizable.

Stay tuned, we'll try to get a pic or two from the video footage that Andy
took.

Engine Success!

It's no secret that we've had transmission troubles. We're still running, but it's making an odd sound, and there is movement where there shouldn't be. We had ordered a new damper plate and adapter flange from the US, and they arrived this week, on (US) Thanksgiving...and thankful we were!!7

We weren't sure exactly what was wrong, but we (ie John) had a few suspicions, so we ordered both the damper plate and the adapter flange just in case. Good thing. We spent Black Friday pulling forward the engine, in order to remove the transmission. We discovered the damper plate had a big crack in the plate, and the adapter flange has severely ovalized bolt holes. No wonder there was so much movement (and a big clunking sound)!!

Yep. That's a pretty significant crack.

Those two holes look perfectly oblong. But they should be round.

On Saturday, we managed to get the transmission put back together, painted, and back in place. By the evening, we had returned the engine to it's bed, and were able to do a test run. SUCCESS.

Once again, John has hero status. There is a tiny, uncomfortable access hatch to the back of the engine, and no room for helpers. I did what I could, but he has managed another triumph in Renova's saga.

John squeezed into the back of the engine compartment.

John's kryptonite

We've heard from a few of you regarding our lack of blog posts. Actually,
this time, we're not out and about having too much fun to blog. In fact,
there just isn't much to blog about. Really. As evidenced by the blog
below...

---

I think I've finally discovered John's kryptonite. The one thing that
weakens him. Renders him quite useless. I'd say it turns him into a little
girl, but I find that a bit insulting. Here it is. A secret weapon.
COCKROACHES!

Yuck

Evil

Disgusting

If you've been following the blog for a while, you may remember that a
cockroach sighting on our boat in Mexico prompted the Captain to raise all
crew (me) from their bunks, and do a complete swath of the boat. In the
middle of the night. Empty all lockers and cupboards. Fun.

That experience caused us to stock up on a variety of cockroach potions.
We've been lucky so far (Knock on wood). Apart from a mammoth cockroach that
flew into the porthole while I was in the head (I not-so-calmly emptied half
a can of roach spray on his...um...behind), we've not had any infestations.

And we're careful to keep it that way.

Lately we've relaxed our "no cardboard onboard" rule. It's a bit cumbersome.
Lots of good things come in cardboard. Eggs. Mac and cheese. Cereal. Boat
parts. Etc. We've gotten lazy.

So I guess we shouldn't have been too surprised when a two inch cockroach
greeted John from the garlic container tonight. He let out a (girly) shriek
and took a step backwards. I'm sure he would have moved further away had our
boat been bigger, but we live in a one-step galley.

I ran for the roach spray. After a couple more shrieks from both of us, we
emerged victorious. I know, a bit unfair. 2 against 1. No sympathy here. I
believe that these guys will be here long after we humans are extinct. In
retrospect, we think it hitchhiked in the egg carton.

So...should you ever find yourself in a battle with John (and are not
concerned about maintaining a friendship), you might consider deploying a
huge, flying roach. Just don't tell him you got the idea from me.

Some diving in Majuro

We've been doing a bit of underwater exploring here in Majuro by teaming up
with SV Savannah. Within the lagoon there are several sunken wrecks, and
amazing coral. So far, we've mostly been looking at small fish - which are
plentiful. We have seen one spotted eagle ray, and a small shark, but
everything else is pretty small. Visibility is great. Andy's taking some
pics, so we hope to share an image or two sometime soon!

Two Years Aboard SV Renova

Well, I wrote this blog post a few months ago - early august in fact - but
didn't post it, while I sorted out the numbers. Well, I've finally done the
math...

Hard to believe that it was just two years ago, that I threw the last boxes
into our storage locker, tried to sneak an extra box or two aboard Renova,
passed my car keys to Brandy Lee, and boarded Renova for a short sleep at
the marina before we headed South on this epic adventure. What a chaotic
time that was!

Throughout these two years, we've endured crazy weather, crazy people, and
crazy places. But we've also been blessed by amazing sunsets, fascinating
wildlife, pristine anchorages, stunning landscapes and phenomenal culinary
delights.

But most of all, we've enjoyed the wonderful people that we've met along the
way. Both the other cruisers that we've met, as well as the local people in
the many various places have been an absolute joy. We continually met new
people on every part of this journey, who offered help and expertise when
needed, shared cultural experiences and anchorages, and generally were great
company. We look forward to keeping in touch with many of them in the
future.

We have so many memories from this journey, that it has been difficult to
capture it all in the small, readable tid-bits that we post here. For those
long-winded blog posts, I apologize. And then there are the times that we're
so busy experiencing...that we tend to fall behind on blogging. Oops.

Out of curiosity, I calculated how much time we spent at sea vs time in an
anchorage. To my surprise, we spent a lot of time in marinas! But thinking
back, it makes sense - San Francisco, when John was commuting to work at
home; La Paz, when John returned home to deal with our flooded house; La
Cruz, to do boat repairs after playing bumper boats in the anchorage; and
Samoa, where staying in the marina is mandatory. And of course, our trip
home to work during cyclone season had an impact on the overall numbers.

Nights at sea: 86 (12%)
Nights at anchor: 249 (34%)
Nights in marina: 177 (24%)
Nights at home in own bed: 219 (30%)
Total nights: 731

Here are a few other numbers:
Nautical Miles travelled: 11,672 nm
Countries visited: 8
Books read: 62 (just me - John's not included)
Flights: 10 (I guess this life-style isn't so carbon-friendly, after all)
Photos taken: 6000+
Guests: 10
Blog visitors: 4639
Blog visits: 19,937

We're now well into our third year. And the final year of this trip. By
spring, we expect to be crossing the North Pacific on our way home. By the
end of summer, we'll be looking for new jobs to recover from this trip, and
start saving for the next one!