Passage to Marshalls - Day 1

A perfect day of sailing. The light breeze pushes us along beautifully. The
drifter is flying, showing her dazzling blue and gold hues. Dolphins visit,
play in the bow and give us a show by spinning loops and twists as they
launch into the air. And the past week of calms has left a residual sea that
is flat and easy. This is a sailor's dream.

But the day didn't start out that way. From Tarawa, our check of the morning
weather showed that winds were going to ease sooner than expected. The wind
would stop before our anticipated arrival day in the Marshalls. We decided
to leave Kiribati today, instead of tomorrow as planned. So, I gather our
papers and make my way to shore (where I fall into the water while getting
out of the dinghy) to clear out of the country. Customs takes FOREVER, but
goes smoothly (well, except for that huge sandy puddle I've left in the
middle of their lobby floor). Then onto the bus (where I leave another wet
spot) and to immigration. It's 11:30 by now, and the young staff are more
keen on their lunch orders than my exit permits, but no worries. They are
kind and friendly, and I'm in a cruiser...no schedules, right?! I'm on my
way after only an hour (only half of which was spent searching for the stamp
needed for my passport - found next door). By the time I return to the boat,
John has everything secured ship shape and ready to go. We raise sail, heave
the anchor, and wave goodbye to our newest friends as we make our way out of
the lagoon.

But...that was this morning. Now, we're living the dream. Bring it on.

News...or Gossip???

For the last couple of days, an interesting news story has been circulating among cruisers... rumours perhaps? I'm not sure. But for your information and/or entertainment...here is the story of a young cruiser who was eaten  by cannibals on Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas...one of the island we visited last year.

http://news.msn.co.nz/article/8361657/cannibal-victim-identified-by-teeth

By the way, CELSIUS returned to the anchorage today. And THREE more sailboats showed up. All of a sudden we're not alone anymore! 

Battle of Tarawa Tour

Those of you who know John are already aware that he's a history buff. Especially war history. He loves the stuff.

So, for his birthday treat, I booked us on the WWII Betio Battlefield Tour by Molly's Tours.

Molly has a few odds and ends in her front yard!

Molly picked us up at the wharf in the bus, and took us back to her house to watch a dvd on the Battle. The Battle of Tarawa was one of the bloodiest battles in US Marine Corps history. After the video, we jumped on the bus and walked to the various war remains that lay scattered across the islet. Although we'd seen many of the sites on our own previous explorations, Molly's descriptions and additional information added to our knowledge and made the tour interesting!

Remains of an American Tank

An unexpected surprise was walking through various villages on our way to the beach relics and buried bunkers. We was how the locals are living in very cramped quarters. We talked to a couple of men who were digging a new well, and had come across machine gun parts, and ammunitions. In some cases, we saw bunkers, gun mounts, and search light bases in yards and between homes.

Tank track buried in the sand

Around Abaiang

Oct 5

Our friend, Ngaluenga, offered to tour us around the island for an afternoon - we jumped at the chance. A few of the sights we saw.

First we had to fill up with gas. Here, the two guys are measuring our gas into 2L plastic bottles. 

Measuring the fuel

Full service

Boat repairs - notice they are stitching the boat together!

The tower of the catholic church - built in 1907

View of the village's large canoe shed from the tower

Cutting toddy - collecting the sap from the tree, to be fermented into a local brew

Our host, Ngaluenga, and his granddaughter, Merri

The best singer on the island...performing in a private concert just for us!

Kids of Abaiang

Oct 5

The kids at Abaiang LOVED to have their photo taken. They love to look at the camera's screen and see the pics of themselves. Here's a few:

Terio Islet - Abaiang

After saying goodbye to our friend on Abaiang, we set off the following day to the other side of the lagoon. We planned to stop for the night at Terio, where an Englishman has a small rest house on this beautiful islet. We went ashore and met Derrik, who seemed happy for the opportunity to speak english, and we were happy to hear about his 30 years of experience in the South Pacific.

When he heard we were on our way to Tarawa, he asked if we would take an eskie (cooler in Aussie-speak) of clams with us. Of course!! Early the next morning, Derrik paddled the heavy cooler of clams to the boat. We were able to easily meet his daughter in Tarawa, and pass on the clams to be sold while still fresh.

Derrik and the boys paddle the clams to Renova. Notice their typical Kiribati paddles - chunks of wood.

We're now back in Tarawa, to resupply, and organize a few odds and ends. But Abaiang was so beautiful, that I suspect we'll be back there soon.

Leaving Abaiang...for now

Abaiang has been fun. Although the tide has limited our time on the shore, we've been able to walk on most days. Our friend, Ngaluenga, arranged for a motorbike for us to see some of the island. So he and his daughter took us to see the large Catholic Church in a village called Koinawa. We walked up the tower, had a look around and took a few pictures.

 

En route, some of the locals offered to seek out the island's best singers to perform for us, if we would provide some funds for kava. We were initially skeptical, but our host was encouraging so we decided to go for it. When we returned from the village, first the local policeman and the bar owner performed for us. Soon after, the husband and wife singer team joined us in the kava bar, and sang local songs for us. Our host translated the songs for us, most of which were love songs. Unfortunately, one of the mics was giving
them problems, and constantly buzzed and offered screeching feedback. They didn't seem to mind, this must have been normal for them! And, there wasn't any Kava to be found on all the island!

 

Finally, we took Ngaluenga to the boat for a quick tour.

Off to Explore

After hanging in Tarawa for a while, we're now motivated to see a nearby island. Tomorrow (Sunday), we'll move on to Abaiang - a small atoll a short day sail north of Tarawa. We'll leave in the morning, and expect we'll have our anchor set by mid-afternoon. We're looking forward to returning to pristine waters and the traditional Kiribati lifestyle.

A Few Images of Kanton

The Moray Eel are their favorite fish

Eric sews up a Kiribati courtesy flag

Hermit crabs feast on shark

Rooting around amongst the junk

A fire extinguisher from the 50s (?)

A tribute to the Samoan Clipper

Katua and Davis show off their afternoon catch

Tires are a common toy around here

Cutting up the cake tabacco

The daily slaughter - tonight we're eating Trevaly

Eric at the tiller of the USS President Taylor

A few of the bullet tips we collected on the beach

Fish drying in the sun

I've also added a few pictures to the blog posts from Kanton - look back in the blog to check them out.

Arrived in Tarawa, Kiribati

We made the move. We decided to head to Tarawa, the main island in Kiribati,
to work on the engine. I was disappointed that we didn't stay for Saturday's
mass and feast, but the weather forecast showed us that after Friday, the
winds were going to drop dramatically. So, on Friday morning, we went ashore
to say our good-byes. Masa and Bwebweniman, who have been so friendly, and
have hosted us for tea, were sad to see us go. We left them a small gift of
canned pears and some tea. After we left, they called us back to give us
their pandanas mat. This was a big deal. After all...they were just visiting
this village for the church celebrations, and this would be their sleeping
mat. I tried to refuse. But she wouldn't hear of it. So, we now have a
beautiful, hand woven pandanas leaf mat. Gorgeous.

Our overnight passage was uneventful. We made good time. Too good. We
arrived in the dark. So, I just tacked away from the island, and sailed for
an hour, before returning to the island in the daylight. The pass is HUGE,
and there are many tankers here, so it was a fairly easy entrance, and we
quickly found a nice spot to anchor, fairly close to the big city of Betio
(pronounced Besio...remember Kiribati language pronounces 'TI' as 'SI' or
'S').

Although we had placed bets on how many sailboats would be here - we were
both right. John guessed there would be none. I guessed one. Turns out there
is one motor sailor here - from Australia. They dinghied over after wee
anchored and gave us some local info on hardware stores, the best spot for
chinese food, and groceries. After a quick nap, we went ashore. The town is
pretty dirty and crowded, as we'd heard. But we did find a great Chinese
restaurant, and a store selling eggs and sausages! MMMmmm

Today has been raining on and off all day. Very unusual for us. We've had no
sun. But, we've been collecting rain water, and our water tanks are full!!
We're now running the generator to charge our batteries, so we can watch a
movie later. ICE (the motor sailor) has invited us over for dinner, so we
look forward to chatting and hearing more about the island. They've been
here for quite some time as they wait for engine parts, so they'll be a
great source of local info.

Exploring Abemama

Yesterday, we rented a motorbike from a couple who we met while hanging out
in front of the bank/telephone co/admin bldg/etc. They were waiting to be
paid for their copra harvest, and expected they would be waiting most of the
day. In the meantime, they offered us their motorbike to explore! And
explore, we did! We jumped at the opportunity and headed out on the dusty
trail. Well, sandy trail, actually. We decided to travel South, and went all
the way to the end of the island...about an 8 mile trip.

We passed over three causeways and through a dozen or so villages. Most
villages have a church and a maneaba - a community gathering place, usually
a cement foundation with a steep, metal roof, that hangs low on the side, so
you must stoop to enter. Most homes are small raised wooden platforms with
thatched roofs for sleeping. Some are left open to the breeze, while others
are closed in with coconut leaf mats, or with wooden slats. Each family may
have one or more sleeping platforms, and a separate cooking hut. In some
cases we saw a small screened area that contained a pit toilet, but more
often, they used the beach for that purpose.

We also popped into a couple of the stores on the island. Our trip wasn't
planned, so we hadn't eaten lunch. But, as with the other stores we'd
visited here, there wasn't much that you could eat off the shelf. Most
stores sell some canned goods and a few bulk staples (rice, sugar, flour),
there wasn't much that we could eat for lunch. I offered to John that we
could eat some dried instant ramen noodles - a throwback to my childhood -
but he refused. We settled on a package of crackers, and big bottle of
water.

It was a great day. Even though I'm not sure my butt will recover anytime
soon. Three hours perched on a steel luggage rack...yowsers.

Feast or Fix

Where does the time go? We've already been here a week. We were planning to
stay here at least another week. Not least of all because of this:
Once again, we've stumbled onto a time of local celebration - this week is
important in the Catholic Church here - we are celebrating the Virgin Mary.
There is daily mass (we think), and it all culminates on Saturday with a
morning mass, followed by a big community feast. Already there are people
staying here from other villages. For two days, the women have been wearing
a blue dress - all identical - to mass. We understand that Saturday's dress
will be yellow. There is a great sewing bee going on in many of the homes as
these dresses are prepared. (By the way...hand crank sewing machines like
mine are the norm here)!

So, needless to say, we're glad to be here, and are looking forward to the
community feast, and all the celebrations that lead up to it. But, we are
cruising after all....so of course, there must be some critical boat part
that needs maintenance!

John has discovered that we have a problem with our transmission. So now,
we're contemplating our options. Stay for the celebration?? Or leave early
for Tarawa to work on the engine? Tarawa, though it is the capital of
Kiribati, is not likely to be the end-all and be-all of repair locations.
After all, this is a very poor country. We're not sure if engine work will
be possible in Tarawa, or if we'll need to keep moving to a bigger port.
Lots to think about - we'll keep you posted!

Abemama - Off the Beaten Path

We're definitely far from the Coconut Milk Run now! The police officer told
us that only one boat came here last year - an Australian.

In our last post, I spoke of our dreams of a dinner ashore. Our hopes were
quickly dashed. Although our outdated guidebook spoke of a hotel, it clearly
hasn't been in operation in many years..

We have walked around on a few occasions. Each time, the children are
pleased to see us, and call out to us "Matang, Matang" (Foreigner).
They like practicing their english...hello/bye-bye. The adults are much more
shy. They happily respond to our greetings of "Mauri" (hello), but are
reluctant to reach out into further conversation.

On Sunday, we went ashore early, dressed in our Sunday finery, to seek out
the Catholic church. While we waited, we were befriended by a herd of
children, and eventually three of the village women joined in. We had a
lovely conversation, and they seemed impressed with the few words of
Kiribati language that we'd learned in Kanton. After church, we were invited
to join them for tea. We also met a local teacher whose english was
excellent, and he answered many of our questions about the island, and
offered to help us find a motorcycle, that we hope to use to further explore
the island.

By the way...so far we've seen three trucks and one car on the island, but
most people get around on motor bikes. If you're into that sort of thing,
like John is, you may like to know that almost all of the bikes are Honda
Trail 90's...which apparently cost about $2000 AUD brand new. I'll have to
do some more research, but I'm guessing that the average salary in this
country is less than $4000 AUD.

Arrived in Abemama

We made it! We're now anchored off the village of Kariatebike on the island
(atoll) of Abemama. We made the trip in just under 7 days - averaging 5.8
knots, which is a great speed for us. In total we travelled 955 nautical
miles, a few more than the pass-to-pass distance of 907, as we had to gybe
back and forth of our course line after the loss of our whisker pole. A
great trip.

Winds were consistently 15-20 knots, although a bit lighter for the last two
days. The swell was irregular, and from 3 directions, the largest swell was
about 3 meters from the SE, but not close together. Easterly swell was about
1.5 meters and more regular. So the boat had occasional rolly periods, which
kept us (and our stomachs) on our toes. As a result, we didn't do much
emailing, with the exception of a couple of blog posts. HUGE thanks to
everyone who sent us emails in the last couple weeks. We really enjoy
receiving them and getting news from home - it really is the highlight of
our day. I'll work on catching up with our replies over the next couple
days.

Now that we've arrived, we'll have a quick nap. Our anchorage is (for the
moment) flat calm. We're about 1/2 a mile from the beach, as the coral flats
in front of the village dries at low tide. Apparently we can only go to the
beach during the 2 hours before and after high tide. No problem, today that
corresponds with dinner time...whenever possible, we like to celebrate a
passage with a meal out!

Oh, we found the 'spot' locater...so we can now send our position again. Not
very useful now, as I suspect we'll be pretty stationary for a while.
Friends of ours recently said that they like to stay somewhere at least as
long as the time it took to get there! Good philosophy, I think.

Our current position:
00 24N
173 54E

Mass Amounts of Mass

Tiim's new house - and the location of Sunday Mass

After Sunday, us 'yachties' enjoyed a small glimmer of satisfaction, knowing we'd just attended our last mass! Church is a big part of the community here, and although important, it is a bit difficult to sit cross legged for
an hour or two, while listening to a foreign language! So, we weren't too upset when we thought we'd enjoyed our last mass.

As it turns out, the Catholic Priest for the outer islands showed up on the Teanoai (patrol boat) yesterday. So, we've been blessed with extra mass. One yesterday evening, after their arrival. Another service tonight. And yet another tomorrow morning, before we leave. Wow.

We're massed out.

But the cool part about tonight's mass is that we were able to witness the confirmation of Temwaniti and Enoki. The two eldest children in the village. Very cool to be part of something so special.

Thank You Kanton

Wow...After five weeks, we'll finally be moving on. Without a doubt, Kanton
has been the warmest place that we've been privileged to visit on this
voyage. The people have welcomed us into their homes and hearts. We've never
been without an interpreter, fish for dinner, some rusty relic to explore,
or a companion for tea. What an amazing place.

Tomorrow, we'll head to the beach one last time, to say goodbye to our new
friends. It won't be easy.

Takarei and her family

And most difficult of all...we'll also be saying goodbye to Eric, whom we've
been travelling with, on and off, for 5 months. In a few days he will also
weigh anchor, but his destination is south to Tonga. After spending every
day with him here, we're sad at the thought of parting ways.
We're already scheming about ways to return here in the future. Maybe our
next cruise? Maybe by air? There is talk of re-opening the massive runway.

A few of the vases we received

Next stop...Abemama. 900 miles to the north west - a downwind run. We expect
the passage to take 8-10 days. The island atoll is in the Gilberts - a group
of islands that also belong to the Republic of Kiribati. We hear that there
are two MP's on the island, therefore, it must have at least 1000 people. We
have an older cruising guide that says over 2000! Hurray. Do you know what
that means?? A STORE! We'll be able to re-stock on supplies. We've been
eating fish everyday, so most of our supplies are fine, but we are in
desperate need of eggs, flour and pringles.

Shell Collecting

Yesterday, when we went ashore, I found out that Temarive and Maria were
going shell collecting! HURRAY!! Eric and I quickly grabbed bicycles, and
went along. It was a full moon, so thus very low tides, and we found
ourselves wading on a shallow coral shelf looking for small (1 cm) white
shells that hid themselves in small nooks and crannies in the coral. It was
slow going at first, but we soon got the hang of it, and were pulling these
small, unsuspecting creatures from their happy homes, and depositing them
into our 4 gallon jug that I'd tied to my shorts. After an hour, I think I
had about an inch of shells in the bottom of my jug.

Today, Lucy and I went back and collected again!

Not at all in line with the yoga book I'm now reading that espouses
vegetarianism and the importance of karma. Yikes.

A Typical Sunday

Yesterday was our fourth Sunday here in Kanton. Wow. Over three weeks
already. Not sure where the time has gone, but we're still having an amazing
time.

So I thought I'd summarize a typical Sunday...

Today's church service was in Tiim's new house. They started the house
earlier in the week, and it is now mostly finished (building code is less
stringent here). We all assembled on mats of coconut fronds, and were able
to alternate between standing and sitting, which was a welcome relief from
the last few weeks with sitting room only. We're definitely not used to long
hours of sitting cross legged on the floor.
After the service, we relaxed with the parish, 13 people plus us 3, for tea
and chatting. Usually we get a bit of teasing about why we aren't singing
more. At least this week, we could sing one of the songs...it only had one
word - Hallelujah!

After tea, we quickly return to the boats to pick up our food, and I usually
change out of my church whites, into a more floor-coloured skirt. Then we
return with our food to the rusty warehouse, and settle in on the floor
where we chat for a few minutes while everyone assembles, or at least all
the men. John (not my John, rather, the teacher's husband) starts the
celebration with a welcome, the protestant priest provides a blessing, and
everyone claps three times to get started!

Us guests always eat first, as much as we've tried to delay! After we are
re-seated (with plate and spoon), the men attack the buffet table. The women
don't eat until all of the men are finished. This was a bit awkward at
first, but we're getting used to it. They also sit at the far end of the
warehouse, away from the circle formed by the men and guests, and seem to be
enjoying lots of laughs amongst themselves.

The buffet tables are heaped with food. All sorts of ramen. Who knew it was
possible to serve it in so many different ways? Here is a sample of this
week:
- fried ramen with corned beef and greens
- boiled ramen with chicken seasoning
- ramen with salted fish
- ramen with pumpkin

I know. Ramen Heaven.

This week, we brought along some of my chocolate chip cookies. They were
slow to move. At first. After all...they don't have cookies here. Not in the
stores. Ever. So...they are a definite foreign object. But Davis started by
tasting one. And then started telling everyone how terrible they were - not
very convincing when he had just stacked four more on his plate. Well, that
did it. Soon, all the men had cookies heaped on their plate. Sheesh. I was
worried that there wouldn't be enough left by the time the women and
children had their turn at the table. But it worked out well. Those who
wanted to, had a chance to try the cookies. And we laughed as we watch some
families hoard a few cookies and take them home. I guess we know what to
make for next week's feast!!

Because no one works on the Sabbath - Sunday is a relaxed day. We often
witness long naps. Or movie marathons, on the one TV in the village. But
this week, the men brought together the guitars, and they sang together for
hours. It was wonderful. Multi-part harmonies. They even wrote down a few
lyrics so we could join in. Can't wait for next week...

A School Visit

This afternoon, Eric and I visited the school. We were treated to three
lovely songs by the children. One was "Do Your Ears Hang Low"!! It was
awesome! We also spent some time crowded around a big world map, and
identifying where Kiribati and Kanton were, as well as Canada and America.
Then we took the kids across to Takarai's house, where we started up the
generator, and showed them a slideshow of images from Canada and USA,
including our families, our homes, and scenes from BC and WA including some
of the local wildlife! It was a great afternoon.

Kanton - lost in time

I don't really know where the days are going here. In fact, yesterday, I was
sure it was Thursday. But according to ABC news (Australia Broadcasting Corp
on the High Freq radio), it was definitely Friday. Great...another day lost.
I have no idea where.

How do you lose a day when you keep a daily journal? Sheesh.
Kiribati is on the same side of the date line as Australia and New Zealand.
The date line take a huge right turn to encompass the country, so although
north and south of us is Friday today, we're one day away from another day
of church and another feast.

This week has been pretty mellow. We had a few quiet days in the anchorage,
but lately the winds have been picking up again, and we're once again
dealing with intermittent squalls with winds in the 30+ knot range. Not
often, but a couple times a day. It has been great for collecting
water....we were getting low on washing water!

But...because school here takes place in an old warehouse with a leaky roof,
school was cancelled because of rain. Too bad. I was planning a school visit
with the kids. Oh well. Next week is exam week, so not sure if I'll be able
to visit without being too disruptive.

It's been a good week, though. We've done some exploring, lots of boat
projects, sewing, shelling, reading, snorkelling, playing dice, etc. The
boys have been out each afternoon to be sure we have fish on the table for
dinner. In fact, the last grouper they got was humongous!