Inventory of Broken Stuff

It's been another busy month aboard Renova, in terms of stuff that has
broken. Here's a quick list:

- whisker pole broken in two
- spinnaker sail ripped
- alternator quit (spare installed)
- transmission troubles (repair in progress)
- GPS behaving oddly
- stove drip plate screws (not affecting use)
- outboard engine impeller (replaced)
- Lifeline broken (replaced)
- Traveller block broken (repaired)
- speedometer broken
- My sunglasses broken
- John's sunglasses overboard

Ahhh....this isn't uncommon. Everyone we talk to has a constant stream of
broken bits. But this many things in one month is unusual. Even for us.
We're grateful we have so many spares, and John's expertise to keep us
floating!! After all isn't the definition of cruising: boat repairs in
foreign ports??

Labels: maintenance, Renova, gear

Leisure time in Abaiang

Life in Abaiang is pretty laid back.

Once again, our beach access is limited by the tides, but we're less
frustrated here. We're happy to be hanging on the boat. Most days we do some
boat chores in the morning, have a mid-day siesta, then head to shore at
high tide in the afternoon. Most evenings, we watch a movie after dinner.

A family in the village has adopted us. They are two teachers, their son,
and their grand-daughter. Lovely. They invited us into their home for a
rest, and we chatted, drank coconut, and shared stories. We returned the
following evening and shared dinner with them - salted fish and rice. We're
hoping to have them to the boat for a meal - perhaps tomorrow.

The village is picturesque, the children love to see us and practice their
English, and yesterday they were chasing us down the road, asking us to take
photos of them!

The anchorage is absolutely blissful. While there is a steady and often
strong wind, we are well protected and the boat hardly moves. Finally, we
are able to sleep peacefully.

Labels: Abaiang, Kiribati, Gilbert islands, food.

Arrived at Abaiang, Kiribati

We made the day trip from Tarawa to Abaiang in less than 7 hours. It was a
lovely sail with winds from 15-20 knots - slightly forward of the beam. The
pass was easy to find with the waypoints we had on hand, yet was directly up
wind. We tried to tack back and forth, but with the current pushing against
us, we made no headway, and so the engine was turned on to help push us into
the lagoon. The waves through the pass were high, and I was continually
soaked as I stood on the bow looking for coral heads. It was a wonderful and
refreshing spray, and I was so pleased to be in a place where the water was
once again clear and clean! We anchored on the eastern side of the lagoon,
and I immediately took a swim. Tomorrow we'll head ashore to explore. David
and Pauline on SV Wasatch (US sailboat that we met in Tarawa) are also here.

Labels: Kiribati, Gilbert Islands, Abaiang, passage.

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.

Hanging in Tarawa

We're hanging in Tarawa. John has fabricated a brace that will hold our
transmission in place. So, that hurdle is overcome. For now.

We've done a bit of exploring here. We jumped on a bus, and travelled to
some of the other islets surrounding the lagoon. We checked out some of the
WWII relics that have been left behind here - Japanese guns and bunkers
mostly, and an American tank rusting on the beach. We also had yet another
fabulous lunch of Chinese food, and wandered through a few villages.

This place isn't ideal for shopping. We're having trouble finding fresh
produce. You have to know when a shipment is coming in, and be prepared to
pay for it. We paid $1.25 each for two tomatoes yesterday. And we though we
were getting the tourist price when we reluctantly paid $0.60 per egg the
other day. Only to find out later, that other stores were more expensive!!
YIKES. But, we're slowly getting re-stocked. We'll likely spend at least
another month here in Kiribati, before we move on to the Marshalls.

I've been feeling a bit under the weather the last couple of days.
Really...who gets the sniffles in the tropics??? Ridiculous.

Labels: Kiribati, Tarawa, engine, sightseeing, food, provisioning

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.