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!

Eggs Aboard

John and I left Samoa with 6 dozen eggs. But we eat a lot. Most mornings for
breakfast. Baking. Pancakes. Etc. We also had a HUGE stalk of bananas on
board...so lots of eggs were used for banana bread. The good news is that
they last a long time. But, you must remember to flip the cartons
regularly...so the yolks don't stick to the shell.

Shortly after arriving at Canton, Eric's eggs were on the verge of
sulphurizing. Yuck. So we quickly devised a plan to make quiche for the
Sunday village feast. No problem. He made the pastry. I mixed up his eggs
with some canned cream. I threw in some canned spinach and canned crab.
Presto. Yum.

The locals loved it and asked for more. Oh no. Renova's supply of eggs was
getting low, and we couldn't really fathom losing a dozen or so eggs in one
dish. So...we did what Tom Neale* would have done. We collected Tern eggs.
Here is the trick, learned from Neale. If you put the egg into a cup of
water (salt water is fine), the good eggs will sink to the bottom and lie on
their side. Yeah. The fertilized eggs will sit on the bottom, in an upright
position. Put it back. And the rotten ones will float. Run away.

Tern Eggs

Eric made Tern egg quiche again the following Sunday. John refused to eat
it.

*Tom Neale wrote the cruising classic, "An Island to Oneself", about his
time living along on Suwarrow in the Cook Islands.

Shelling Heaven

If there is a shelling heaven, I've reached it.

Yesterday, the matriarch of Kanton, Tekarai, invited me to do some shell art
with her. When we arrived, we were gifted with shell necklaces, and have
since received an ornate vase, in thanks for some epoxy and other supplies
that John provided.

But now, I would learn.

I arrived early in the day (10 am) to begin the adventure. Tekarai showed me
the basics of preparing the shells, and I immediately got busy with punching
two holes in each small shell. Also, I sorted the shells into the sizes that
I'd be using for my project, a bracelet. With help from Tekarai and her son,
Kabuta, I was shown the basics and was on my way! With a few minutes, Eric
stopped by the house, and also started to create shell magic. What a day. By
mid-day, I only had to add the crowning glory...a border of dark seeds and a
shell clasp that would finish my art! Now, I was ready for a more advanced
project - a vase!

It was interesting to learn that everyone here makes shell art...the men and
the women. They use these shell pieces for trade with passing boats, and
they return them to the other islands, where they are sold to the tourists.
What I've done so far is the easy part. During the full moon, the shells are
collected and laid out to dry, which may take up to two weeks. Then, the
shells are individually cleaned. Eric and I used hundreds of shells in our
projects, so we are now interested in helping them with the collection
process to replace the shells that we have used.

Kanton - A tour of the warship

The patrol boat arrived on Wednesday. It is Kiribati's only patrol boat. 32
meters. And we got a grand tour. I don't know when the last time that you
got to tour your country's largest/smallest/best war ship, but that is what
happened. The X.O. gave us a tour, and we chatted for a while in the mess
about the ship, the patrol, and the country. He gave us lots of good info on
islands that have a pass into the lagoon and/or good anchorages.

As with all visitors, the community held a feast for the crew. A fabulous
meal was served to thank these men for coming to the island and bringing a
few supplies for them. They will return again, on their way back from
Kirimati (Christmas) Island, and they will stay a few days in order to do
some fishing before their return to Tarawa. Perhaps we will see them again!

Kanton - A bouncy anchorage

We've had consistent squally weather since arriving here at Kanton Island.
Our passage was fast with fresh winds, and the winds have continued while we
have been here. Some days we prefer to stay on the boat to be sure that she
doesn't move from her holding. Or simply because a rough and wet dinghy ride
doesn't sound like fun. We've had a few days where the winds have blown over
30 knots and our two boats are bouncing up and down over the swells that
have built up in the lagoon.

Here we are, setting a second anchor

We have set a second anchor, and haven't moved, so we're feeling pretty
confident in the setup. To be sure, Eric dove on both of our anchors to
inspect the connections, and be sure they were well set. Our primary anchor
was buried so deep in the sand, it was almost invisible. At least we now
feel very secure.
Now that we feel better about our anchor, we're contemplating a bit of
windsurfing. Wow.

Kanton - Snorkelling

Well, we've had amazing snorkelling on this trip, but I think this place
tops the charts for abundance and size of fish. John, Eric and I snorkelled
near the pass and were amazed by the variety, size, and courageous these
fish were. They had no fear of us, or of the boys' spear guns. Eric was
having a good day with his spear, and shot two parrotfish, plenty for
dinner.

One of the many dinner fish caught by John and Eric

Unfortunately, during dinner, Eric felt a bit of numbness on his lips. A
symptom of the toxin ciguatera found in some tropical lagoons. Although
Davis assured us that there is no ciguatera in the lagoon, we decided to eat
more pelagic fish in the coming days. No problem. Tuna, barracuda,
wahoo....these are all delightful too!!

Feasting at Kanton

Kanton welcomed us with a few songs!

Our first day in Kanton was spent chatting with the locals as they prepared
for a funeral feast in honour of Owen's grandmother. Throughout the day, we
watched them bring in a boat load of tuna and eel, some of which were salted
to dry, and others were prepared to be fried for tonight's feast. We also
watched as they brought a pig to the water's edge, where it was killed and
cleaned by Owen and two other men. It took most of the late morning and
early afternoon for the ladies to butcher the pig and prepare it for dinner.

A police boat is expected to come sometime this week, so the families are
all very busy drying various fish to be sent home to their families on the
main island of Tarawa. We're told that fish is difficult to come by at the
busy capital, and can be very expensive to buy. On drying racks throughout
the small community we saw tuna, eel, shark, octopus and wahoo. They told us
that the fish will keep for up to one year when prepared this way.
The evening feast was held in an old, rickety warehouse, whose tin walls
vibrated with the winds, and long strips of roofing threatened to fall at
any moment. This was also used as the schoolhouse, when they are living at
the wharf, instead of their usual village. After short speech giving tribute
to Owen and his grandmother, guests were invited to eat first, along with
the men. After the men had finished eating, the women and children
approached the banquet table.
A long, low, table held dishes prepared by the entire village. The pig was
presented in several ways, as ribs, steaks and other bits and pieces. Many
fish were also prepared - fried in garlic salt, salted, etc. Also the Moray
Eel was available as salted or fresh. I tried the salted, and it was very
delicious! I didn't get to the fresh eel - there were only HUGE pieces, and
our plates were overflowing. Of course, rice, ramen noodles, bread, pumpkin,
and other delights accompanied the meal. Everyone ate meals from simple
plastic plates, with a spoon and our fingers, while sitting on locally made
woven mats.
On Sunday, we arrived in our best outfits for church. Even in this small
village, we had a choice of a Protestant service (in the warehouse) or a
Catholic service (in the teacher's house). After the service, our welcome
feast began. Again, the table was heaped with dishes provided from the
community. John, who seems to be the local leader, and husband of the head
teacher, gave a short welcome speech, and we were gifted with ornate shell
necklaces, made here on the island. Again, we were invited to dine first,
followed by the men, then the women and children. After a meal, which
featured many of the previous day's delights, plus lobster, we had an
opportunity to express our thanks to the villagers, and present a few of the
small gifts we had brought for them. We had bananas, onions, oranges,
eggplant, bic lighters, fabric, fishing hooks and innertube repair kits,
which they seemed pleased to receive, and quickly divided into 7 equal piles
- one for each family. The villagers were also very pleased with the soccer
ball, frisbees, and heaps of movies that Eric provided. After the
formalities, the men quickly dragged the tv, dvd player, and generator over
to the warehouse, and the entire village crowded around to watch Sin City!

Dom's Photos

Dom has posted his photos online from his recent visit to us. You can check
them out here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/underwaterwanderer/sets/72157627237726076/

Arrived in Kanton

We arrived yesterday at 2:30 pm local time at the island of Kanton
(sometimes spelled Canton, but the locals prefer the "K"). As we approached,
a local fishing boat spotted us and guided us through the pass an to the
anchorage.

John has been talking about this island as long as I've known him, and it
truly is a dream come true to be here. Surreal.

After the fisherman guided us to our anchorage, they returned to shore,
where one of them changed into his police uniform, and they returned to our
boat, to check us into the Republic of Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas). We had
a great with Davis, and he gave us a run down of the local community, who
had all moved from their usual village near the old airport, to small shacks
adjacent to the anchorage at the old ship's pier. They had heard that we
were coming, and all were very keen to be here to welcome us. They have only
seen 4 sailboats here since September.

While dropping the anchor, we also dropped the camera into the drink. A sad
day. After the official business of checking in, the police officer returned
with his mask and snorkel and friend, and they helped us to retrieve the
camera from it's 38 foot resting place in the sand. Unfortunately, although
it is supposed to be waterproof, it didn't survive the swim. That's our
second camera disaster in as many months. Sad for a photo-holic such as
myself.

We were exhausted, so after the swim, we ate a quick dinner, and quickly
fell asleep. Winds picked up throughout the evening, and we stood an anchor
watch to be sure we didn't drag all the way to the beach. It is a very open
anchorage, exposed to the winds, but apparently, these conditions are
unusually strong. We hope. We will now put down a second anchor to give us a
good night's sleep.

Today, which is actually Saturday the 23rd, since we have crossed the date
line up here, we greeted Eric (SV Secret Agent Man) with pancakes as he
arrived from his 'knarly' passage. After breakfast, we went ashore and had a
lovely day meeting some of the 26 local people. Each family here has one
member who is an employee of the Kiribati government - there is a medical
officer, two teachers, a police officer, two priests, a post master/radio
operator, and a Weather man. Each employee bring his family, and is required
to stay for a minimum of two years. They all live in the village that was
once an American military base and missile tracking station. The island was
also used as a NASA space communication centre, and the British also had a
flying boat base here. Later, this was a stopping point for Pan Am and a few
other airlines. More history to come in future blog posts, and as we explore
the island.

This evening, we've been invited to attend a funeral celebration for Owen's
grandmother, who recently passed away on one of the other islands (Fanning).
Tomorrow evening, the community will host a welcome feast for us. But first,
we must nap and catch up on lost sleep...

Labels: Kiribati, Kanton, cruisers