Majuro - Thanksgiving and other stuff...

My apologies for the lack of posts lately.   Due to my laziness and a few technical difficulties (Andy accidentally erased my last post I had ready), we’re a little behind.  So this post is a conglomeration of the past week or so – several unrelated activities.

One of the most exciting things since we’ve been here has been Jake getting to ride on a surfboard behind a boat.  Our friends on Love Song have the use of a fast motorboat (Alan is fixing it for the owner) and they have some wake boards, knee boards, etc.  They pulled Jake behind on their surfboard while he hung onto the rope.  He was so excited – one of the best times he’s had yet.

Thanksgiving was ok.  It was a potluck and most of you know how I feel about potlucks.  Andy was one of four people cooking half a turkey (all our oven will hold) and he also volunteered for scalloped potatoes.  I decided to make dinner roles so we ended up cooking all day like we would on a normal thanksgiving.  But we like cooking for the most part, so that was the highlight.  The potluck itself was typical, but we’ve made a few good friends here so time spent with them was appreciated.

Andy, carving his turkey.

As usual at big potlucks like this, there was tons of food.

Lena, Gabriella, and Anna enjoying their
day out on the boat.

There’s a couple here that we’ve met who is adopting a Marshallese boy.  They have three little girls and their new addition makes four.  They’re from Missouri and this is the first time their kids have ever been to the ocean.  So we decided it might be nice to take them out on the boat.  They were trying to get to Eneko but the hotel charges $50 a person.  We go out there all the time, so we told them to come along with us on Saturday.  The weather held out for us and it proved to be a really good time.  We borrowed some snorkeling gear and life jackets for the girls, while they brought along lunch for us all.  The girls got to drive the boat and they went snorkeling for the first time ever.  It was quite a treat for everyone…even us.  I was telling Laura that it was nice to talk to someone from home who wasn’t a cruiser every now and then.  We get stuck in a rut with our same old boat conversations so it’s nice to be normal for a change.  The ride back wasn’t the greatest – into the wind with 25 knots – but hopefully the rest of the day made up for it.

The initial dinghy ride to the boat...

Jason with little Levi, the newest addition to their
family.

The girls LOVED driving the boat.

They all took turns.

Today, we’re doing boat chores and being a little lazy.  It’s raining again and there’s not much motivation to go ashore just yet.  The rainy season is supposed to be over in November and the winds start to blow more consistently then.  The winds are starting to blow, but the rain hasn’t subsided just yet, but it looks like maybe we’re in the transition phase.

We’re still working on getting to Kwajalein – actually, not making much progress – hopefully we’ll be heading out soon.  They just had elections here so we have to wait until all the officials are finished counting votes before we get our permits for the outer islands (limited manpower). 

On a semi-positive note… the investigator from Tarawa has been writing us and they have arrested three people in conjunction with our robbery in Tarawa.  They haven’t recovered anything yet, but are still looking.  So even if we don’t get anything back, at least we have a little satisfaction knowing that the guys got caught. 

More random pics....

Jake has become quite useful...bailing water out of the dinghy after
a big rain.

Naomi and John on s/v Renova

Leslie and Phillip on s/v Carina

An example of some trash we often come across on the various motus.
It's a shame what washes ashore.

But all you have to do is look up a little and it's really
beautiful.