Underway for Lamotrek

The last few days have been uneventful in Pulawat...a good thing. Yesterday, we cleaned the boat, pulled our hooks out and went in to say our goodbyes. The winds looked good on Sunday, dying out a bit on Monday, so we decided to go ahead and leave.

Everyone seemed genuine in their thank you's and goodbyes. I like to think we helped a little here. Andy's final list of fix its and to dos were fiberglassing a boat, fixing a block, programming a gps, patching a water tank, sealing an old compass, loading movies onto laptops and providing the daily weather report. I made a friend towards the end there in a lady named Josaline. We exchanged recipes and a bit of food, so when we went in to say bye, I gave her one of my bracelets that I had recently made. She had made me some lai's (I have no idea how to spell that), and gave Jake a plastic beaded necklace and her husband, Tony, gave Andy a Trident Trumpet shell and a few fish he had caught that day. They were very nice people and when not around her husband, Josaline spoke perfect English. That made it easier to get to know her than some of the other ladies. I'm assuming it's tradition or a cultural thing, but whenever her husband was around, she spoke through him. But if she rowed out to the boat or I caught her by herself, we spoke like old friends. She is from Weno, in Chuuk, but has spent a fair amount of time in Guam. Pulawat is a bit small for her and I think she wants to go back to Guam. She has two older kids there in school and misses them quite a bit. And her little one misses McDonald's (so does mine, I told her)!

Josaline and two of her kids.

The old compass Andy sealed and cleaned up.  It was
manufactured in 1944.  Wouldn't you like to have that?

We're a few hours underway and things are looking like we might possibly be able to arrive tomorrow before sunset, which is our goal. It's 170 or so miles and the winds are so so... we'll see.

Keep the prayers and good thoughts coming for Palau...the forecast this morning said the typhoon was still on track for hitting there and winds were currently at 130 mph. Our friends have taken refuge in the Rock Islands...we're hoping for the best.

Some photos of the Catholic Church here (Jake thought Papa Mac would like these)...

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