Oh, This Exotic Life

As we were sitting here covered in sweat and deet the other night watching a movie, Andy and I were laughing about how “exoctic” our life is.  I know everyone at home thinks we sit around on beaches and drink margaritas all day (and sometimes we do), but the last few weeks have been some of the most un-romantic days we’ve had in a while.  So, just for fun, I thought I would share some pictures of some random things that drive me crazy about this little boat life.  I hope it makes you chuckle a little bit.

This is our mosquito scorecard.  At the time of the picture, we were 12-0 with the mosquitos and still going hard.  And for all you cruisers out there….yes, we had our screens up.

Have you ever seen those yachts that are all shiny and covered with beautiful teak, everything in it’s place, stowed away properly, tidy and neat?  Yeah, that’s not us…

This is where we go to the bathroom.  Our boat has lots of room.  Unfortunately, it’s all out in the open.  Very little space to “hide” our junk.  So, we pee and poo with our generator, compressor, vacuum cleaner and scuba tanks.  The garbage bags are temporary.  They’re full of a bunch of stuff we cleaned out of Jake’s room to give to kids in the Philippines.  We just didn’t have anywhere else to put it.  Under all that stuff is one of our engines.  Makes for an interesting time when we’re underway and you gotta go.

This is Andy’s space.  I just don’t even know what to say about this….

Welcome to our “garage.”  Here’s the other engine along with any bags we have, food stuff, extra scuba gear, rope locker, trash can.  Again, lots of room, I’m not complaining, just no doors to shut so I don’t have to look at it.

This is our power station.  That’s what you have to do when you have 2 computers, 3 iPads and a few thousand camera batteries always needing to be charged.  Too bad it sits on my “sofa.”

This is where we keep our  ????  I really don’t know what’s in there.   But it all used to be housed in four boxes and now it’s just one, so I think that’s probably the best we can do.  I do have a small iPod shuffle missing…it may be in there.

We spent a gazillion dollars replacing our battery bank.  After almost dropping one of these 150 lb babies in the water, we finally got them on board (by “we” I mean Andy and our friend Chuck), installed and jam packed with juice.  We’re reaping the benefits now, but what a pain.   AND I had to give up three full bins of storage for them.

I don’t have a picture of this one, because he’s too fast, but about once a week, I get surprised by a tiny little gecko that has taken up residence in and around my galley.  I know they’re good for bugs, but they are bad for my heart.

This has nothing to do with the boat, but bugs me every time I look at it.  You see those two big mugs on the outside?  We got those about 6 years ago at the Annapolis boat show when we bought a few “pain killers.”  See that little one in the middle?  I went to the boat show this year while I was in VA and got another one.  I paid MORE for that than we did for the big ones 6 years ago.   Irritating.

This is Jake’s latest selfie.  Well, I said I was going to show you some pictures of things that drove me crazy, right?  This little guy has days when he’s at the top of the list!

To be fair, I’m going to post this picture… probably something that would be at the top of Jake’s list of things that drive him crazy.  When mom and dad are too lazy to come look at the battle he’s having with his little men, he has to take a picture of it and bring the camera to  our room to show us.  Because those 20 steps it would take for us to go look, just seems so hard sometimes.

And the most un-exotic job of the week is being completed right now by the greatest man in the world….he’s scrubbing the barnacles and crap off the bottom of the boat.  When he comes up, our cockpit will be covered in scuba gear and Andy will be covered in tiny little shrimp.  They will die on his BCD (because they’re impossible to get off) and will stink.  His wet suit will smell equally bad and take a week to dry because well, it’s going to rain.  It always rains.

Enough whining for now…I thought you guys at home might appreciate that we have the same types of issues that you do.... things get dirty, we collect crap, boys don’t pick up after themselves, mom’s don’t always feel like cleaning, etc.  But after all of our cleaning today, we’re going to reward ourselves with some paddleboard jousting (don’t ask me) and a nice last dinner at Kramer’s with our buddy Bob.

Yep, I said ‘last dinner’...after a full month of waiting, we have finally received our parts for the autopilot.  They’ve been installed and Savannah is ready to go.  We’re going to provision up tomorrow and check out Monday morning.  So as you sit down to watch the Super Bowl Sunday night,  we’ll be dropping our mooring ball and heading out the west pass , starting our long awaited 520ish mile journey to the Philippines.   

Brining in the New Year...in Palau

We tried.  We really tried.  We just couldn’t pull it off. 

We checked out with Customs and Immigration around 10:00 on Friday and were underway by 11:00.  It’s about 16 miles from Sam’s to the west pass.  We were about half way to the pass when the autopilot went out.  We pulled into a little cove and dropped the anchor so Andy could work on it.  The motor was dead.  Luckily we had an extra.   It took Andy a bit but he finally got the new (old) spare installed.  We spent the rest of the day contemplating whether we should go or turn back around.  The spare had been sitting there for years…and it was an older model than the one that broke.  The last thing we wanted to do was hand steer the 510 miles to the Philippines.  I know lots of people do it, but we didn’t want to.

So, to make a long story hopefully not so long, we spent the next two days hiding out in our anchorage while Andy fabricated some parts to another motor trying to get us another “spare.”  On Monday morning, we had made the decision to give it a go.  Everything worked great until we were about 10 miles out of the pass.  Both motors broke within 15 minutes of each other.  We decided to turn around.

Jake, painting his dinosaur bones from a kit he got for Christmas
while Andy worked on the autopilot.

Our last sunset in Palau...or so we thought.

So here we sit, back on our mooring at Sam’s Tours, celebrating the new year.  There are definitely worse places to be stuck waiting on parts, right?

Here are some pictures from our last days before we checked out...

Saying good-bye to Sam

Last beer at Sam's

Exhausted after a day of provisioning

Christmas in Palau...New Year's in the Philippines!

Santa ate his fudge and it looks like Rudolph chewed up a
few carrots...

Santa found Jake here in Palau and he spent all morning putting stuff together and trashing the main salon with all of his playing.  We spent Christmas Eve with some good friends drinking egg nog and Christmas night we had Bob from s/v Braveheart over for dinner and some lively discussions!  All in all, it was a great Christmas.  We’re back together, we’re healthy, and….. we’re leaving!

Homemade Egg Nog with Linda and Bob on Christmas Eve.

That’s right…we’re checking out of Palau this morning and getting underway for the Phlippines.  We’re all very excited.  We’ve thoroughly enjoyed Palau, but we are more than ready to move on.  We don’t have a very solid plan other than arriving in Cebu.  We’ll meet up with a friend of ours we met in Mexico and catch up a little.  Then we’ll move a little north and do some diving.  Following that, the only plans we have are to move through the northwest islands of the Visyas and make our way to Palawan. 

My brother and his wife went to Spain earlier this season
and brought us back some really neat gifts for
Christmas.  This was a small cutting board made out of
Olive wood.

All of our goodies from Spain.  We were VERY excited.

We should be underway for about 4 -5 days before we arrive at the first stop over, just before New Years.  From there, we’ll have to day hop to Cebu.  There are some strong currents and lots of debris in the water from what we’ve heard, so we’ll avoid moving around at night where we can’t see anything. 

Until then, we hope everyone continues to enjoy their holiday!  From our family to yours.

Andy and Sam getting the grill ready for the Christmas party
at Sam's Tours with the Yacht Club.

Jake and Maya - two peas in a pod.

He's really going to miss this little girl.

Jakes first solo dinghy expedition.

Someone has been busy...

Well, I finally made it back to Palau and our reunion was just as great as I thought it would be...lots of hugs and kisses and stories.  I knew Andy had been busy while I was gone, but it was really surprising to see all of the results of his hard work.

Project #1 – New Sails

We’ve been putting off buying new sails for a few years now.  Since we were going to be in Palau for so long, we decided it was a good time to go ahead and knock that out.  After researching quite a few places, we decided to go with Lee Sails in Hong Kong.  They have a pretty good reputation around these parts of the world and we were not disappointed.  The process was simple, relatively quick, and it didn’t break the bank (at least not any more than we had planned).

Project #2 – Repaint deck

If you’ve been following us for a long time, you’ll remember Andy repainted our deck in San Blas, Mexico almost 3 years ago.  It has held up pretty well, but it was time for an update.  Not only did it need an update, we had run out of the original paint so the deck was two different colors.  They were close, but not exactly the same and it always bugged us a little bit.  So now, it’s nice and new and all one color.

Project #3 – Refinish captain’s chair

The captain’s chair was beyond need for repair.  It was ripped, moldy, dirty and just ugly.  Andy took it up to a local shop and for $75, it looks as good as new.  They only had the option of grey or blue.  We went with the grey and I think it turned out quite nice.  AND, even though it wouldn’t have been my first choice, I think it will hide the dirt and grime much better than the previous white.

Project #4 – Fix our rudders

When we hauled out in Yap last year, we noticed our rudders had a ton of worm holes in them.  They needed some serious repair.  Andy was able to use Sam’s boat yard to haul them out and fix them.  He cut out all of the rotten spots, drilled a million holes in them and filled them with GitRot epoxy.  After that dried, he sanded them down and finished the fiberglass work.  They weigh a gazillion pounds now but they still float!

Project # 5 – Refinished the countertops

Our countertops were looking seriously used.  Andy found the same kit we used back inSan Diego and decided to refinish all of our surfaces.  I have to say, it looks fantastic.  This was the cheapest way we’ve found to get all of our countertops looking the same.  It lasted almost four years and only cost $250.  The second kit was a little less than $200 and he used some of the leftovers from the first time around.  Looking good for another four years….

Project #6 – Rebuild head

Well, that was the worst job I think, but it needed to be done.  More maintenance than anything…

Project #7 – new sail bag

Bob on s/v Braveheart was kind enough to loan his sewing expertise  and machine to Andy and helped sew a new sailbag.  It took about 3 half days, a case and a half of beer and a bottle of rum.  The seams are pretty straight considering...

Project #8– dinghy engine…unfortunately, this one is still in progress

We’ve hit our fair share of rocks here with our long shaft dinghy motor.  The result is a damaged lower unit.  Unfortunately, it’s a European model and no one here has the part we need.  I checked while I was in the States and that turned out to be fruitless as well.  We found the part in Singapore, but the cost of the part and the shipping is almost reason to buy a whole new motor.  We’re going to limp our way around the Philippines in hopes of finding the part there.   If all else fails, we have a perfectly good kayak and paddleboard.

Project #9 – Transmission – also in progress…

Andy found a leak in our transmission and thought it was easy enough to fix.  After further scrutiny and a second opinion (Bob  and Andy spent many a beers contemplating this little issue), there may be more to it.  So, again, we’ve decided to limp our way for a little longer…we do have two engines after all.  We’ll just crank this one up when we need to maneuver and hope for the best.  We usually like to have everything in tip top shape, but sometimes you’re limited in your location and ability to find parts (not to mention we don’t have a bottomless cruising kitty, regardless of how we spend).  We’ve seen boats jury rig their way around the world….one or two ports hopefully won’t kill us.

Now we sit here waiting on our last few packages, getting ready to head out.  If they arrive tomorrow, we’ll check out Thursday.  Otherwise, we’ll wait until after Christmas.  The trades have kicked in and it should be a pretty fast passage to the Philippines.

If you don’t hear from us, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (or whatever it is you celebrate) where ever you may be.

What's for dinner?

Have you ever seen the show “Man vs. Wild?”  It’s a popular show on Savannah.  We have several episodes and it’s a family show we can all watch together without having to be subjected to another cartoon.  If you haven’t seen it, it’s about this British guy that puts himself in survivor type situations (stranded on a desert island needing to be rescued, dropped in the middle of a rainforest and has to find his way out, etc.) and educates/entertains the viewer with various ways to find food, water, make tools, navigate, etc.  You can imagine the draw to an eight year old boy. 

So it should come as no surprise that Jake likes to “play” man vs. wild when we go on hikes or venture out to the beach.  He has a “camel skin” pouch that he drinks his water from (there was one episode where the guy used a camel skin for various different things, one of them being to collect water.  I think that was the same episode he opened up the stomach of a dead camel and squeezed water out of his digested food.).  He has been known to try and navigate by the sun as well as use bamboo and a leaf to try and make a water catcher.  My favorite was when he and Andy went foraging for termites. 

Him:  “Mommy, mommy, mommy!  You have to try these!”

Me:  “Try what?”

Him:  “Termites!”

Me:  “Why?  I have snacks in my bag….good snacks.”

Him:  “Oh come on!  They’re good!  They taste like pine nuts!”

Me:  “Fine”  crunch, crunch  “hmmm…they do taste pine nutty”

These little adventures are often instigated by my dear husband and are usually pretty tame, yet entertaining all the same (like when he fried up grasshoppers in OK this summer for all of the cousins to try).

Well, it seems they’ve stepped up their game since I’ve been gone.  It started with an air rifle.  Before we get all anti-guns on me, let me just say, Andy and I both come from families with guns.  They were always used for hunting, we learned gun safety at an early age and while I’m not a card carrying member of the NRA, I don’t believe that guns do bad things.  I think people do bad things.  While we don’t have guns on board, its strictly because they’re a pain in the rear when traveling between the various countries.  Ok…with that out of the way….

Andy bought Jake an air rifle and while they were waiting out the super typhoon in their little hide out, Jake took target practice at some buoys Andy set up in the water.  When he got bored with that, he took to shooting the hundreds of leaves floating around and got quite good with his aim.  Like anything, when you get pretty good at it, you want a new challenge.  So it went with Jake.  He wanted to go hunting.

If you’ve ever been to this side of the world, you would know that there is never a shortage of rats.  All shapes and sizes…mostly the big, hairy, disgusting variety.  Andy figured no one would complain if there was one less rat on the islands.   So off they went to an undisclosed location and searched for the rats.  Apparently, Jake is pretty good at this hunting thing because it was a one shot, one kill right to the head.

As he stood there with his kill, Andy said he had the biggest grin on his face.  He said a 12 point buck wouldn’t have gotten any more excitement.

“Let’s eat it, daddy!”

“Really?”

“Yes!  You have to eat what you kill!”

Can’t argue with that…if don’t want to eat it, don’t shoot it, right?

So being the kind of guy he is (I just couldn’t find the right adjective there), Andy showed Jake how to skin and gut it (I had no idea that’s how they were fitting science in while I was gone), and threw it on the barbie….far away from the ribs they were supposed to eat that night (I hope).  After numerous bouts of “is it done yet?” they finally dove in.

 “Hey daddy, you know that really bad taste you get in your mouth when you eat a bad chicken?  That’s what this tastes like!  Yuck!”

And just like that, rat is off the menu. 

I know some of you are worried about the whole disease aspect of this…rest assured, these are not garbage eating rats…they’re coconut eating rats…I think that makes a difference?  Anyway, that which does not kill us, only makes us stronger, right?

A few extra tidbits about rats….  http://discovermagazine.com/2006/dec/20-things-rats

And in case you’re curious, Jake is not the only one who wanted to try the rat meat… http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/03/5_ways_you_know_youre_eating_rat_meat

Super Typhoon Hiayan

From yesterday's weather report

Wow…the Philippines have really had their rear ends handed to them this year when you talk about natural disasters.  A major earthquake hit a few months ago and this week, the fourth typhoon of the year will crash through the Visayas, the central part of the country.  Super Typhoon Haiyan, the Chinese word for a petrel seabird… also known as the largest typhoon this year.  Once it hits Philippine waters it will be known by Yolanda…not sure why they rename it?  It’s a category 5.  Wow.

The eye passed right over Kyangle yesterday, one of the northern islands/atolls in Palau.  Further south, Andy had Savannah all tucked into a tight little hole with one other boat and he and Jake hunkered down.  Winds were supposed to reach 40 – 65 knots where they were depending on how close it passed.  I was a nervous wreck.  There was absolutely nothing I could do.

To compound my worry, we have several friends on their own boats riding it out in the Philippines right now. 

Savannah, with ALL of her lines out.

So what do we do in a typhoon?  Typhoons are pretty regular in this part of the world so the first thing we do is find multiple “typhoon holes” – coves or anchorages known for their near 360 degree protection from the winds.  I say multiple because other people will have the same idea and you don’t want to be the last one trying to find cover.  We retreat to our chosen spot a day or two ahead of time so we have time to put out the lines and secure everything.  In Pulawat, last year for Bopha,, we put all four of our anchors out and tied several lines from the boat to some hefty coconut trees on land.  This year for Haiyan, Andy put out all four anchors and tied many more lines to the trees.  They stocked up on groceries and rode it out.  If I were there I would have tried to convince him to leave the boat and go to a hotel, but that didn’t happen.

I checked the various weather sources non-stop for 24 hours, pretty much making myself crazy.  My brain would tell me they’re fine, but that didn’t stop this worrier from worrying.  I knew it would be a while before he could communicate with me so my coping mechanism was a bottle of wine, a good friend and the CMAs....imagine my relief when I got an email right before settling down in front of the TV last night that said all was good.  Palau saw wind gusts up to 75 mph, but Savannah never saw anything over 25!  Whew, am I glad that’s over.

It’s not time to stop praying yet…we still have friends in the Philippines, and well, the whole rest of the country.  

A long look back

It appears they're doing just fine without me!!

I was reading through our old blog entries the other night – feeling nostalgic and missing my boys – and I came across our list of projects we HAD to do before we left.  We completed a huge amount of work, but I found it quite funny that many of those projects are still unfinished 3 ½ years later.  So this post is for those people who aren’t quite sure if they’re ready to leave.  I think this is timely as it’s getting close to the end of hurricane season in North America and many are preparing for the Ba-ha-ha in CA (the yearly migration to Mexico) or for heading south here on the east coast.  My advice, Just go.  If it’s important, it will get done. 

Just for fun…Here’s our list from 2010 and the CURRENT status of those projects…it’s actually a pretty short list now that I look back on it.

Galley Remodel

Lucky for me, this was complete and has made a world of difference in our comfort level.  We expanded our fridge and added a freezer.

Extend bed, new mattress

While we did get a new mattress (love it!), we never extended the bed.  We just switched which way we lay our heads.  And now that I’m stateside in a real bed, I find myself sliding down to the end so I can hang my feet over and hugging the edge of the bed (normally the wall on the boat, so I give Andy more room).

Single Side Band “stuff”

We did install the modem but it took a good year after being out to finally figure out how this thing worked.  In the end, we bought a new radio (and still took an additional six months to come up to speed).  This is an area that still seems to need chicken bones and voo-doo dolls to make it work.  One lesson learned for us though…we bought a huge, expensive antennae and drove it down to Mexico for better reception.  It never worked properly and literally broke off into the water shortly after purchasing it.   After duct taping it back together we now use it to hold the very inexpensive 30 feet of wire needed for proper reception.  Most of the time, it works like a champ.

Lifeline netting

Installed and very helpful for keeping toys on board.

Deck box for compressor

Never did this.  The compressor has a permanent home in our head on top of the engine cover.

Configure cockpit for shower curtain so we can have some privacy while bathing

Never did this.  We still shower outside but have decided it’s not that big of a deal.  The way our cockpit sits, I don’t’ think anyone can actually see anything.  I wear my bathing suit top anyway just in case, but overall, cruisers aren’t really that concerned with your showering habits (I do have to watch out for tour boats in Palau though…learned that the hard way).  Jake forgoes the shower altogether and just jumps in the water naked, using soap when forced to do so.

Now here’s a list I did find useful…

• ·       Quit Job/ Retire/ Leave of Absence (my favorite)
• ·       Get all checkups, shots, teeth cleaning, eye doctor, hair cuts, etc.
• ·       Beef up the first aid kit for long term/remote travel
• ·       Put together ditch kit
• ·       Establish residency in homeschooling, tax friendly state.
• ·       Sell Car/Truck
• ·       Provision – a few times.  I find that I am always thankful to have too much, rather than not enough.  Many people disagree with this advice.  It depends on your relationship with food….we love food, therefore we never leave home without the essentials.
• ·       Last but not least…Plan a party!  Say goodbye to friends and family, relax, have fun.  You’re just getting started…

Good luck to all those leaving this season!  Maybe we’ll share an anchorage one day.

Some of the latest from Palau....

Not sure what the toilet paper is about...I'm usually the one
that brings that

I seems the one good thing I'm missing is all the
crappy weather they're getting.

It looks like he still has enough left to lick off the bowl!

What's Palau like?

I thought I would deviate from the usual “we did this today” post (as riveting as they are) and talk a little bit about Palau, specifically for those cruisers who are deciding where to go next. 

If you’ve followed our blog, you know we never intended to end up here.  We were to leave the Marshall Islands and head back down to Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, New Cal, and then Australia like everyone else.  Given the wind patterns up here along with our very conscious decision to go the wrong way all throughout the Marshalls, I pressured our beloved Captain into heading “downwind.”  My insides couldn’t take it anymore.  He might as well have been single-handling.  It was a win-win for everyone.

And we have never looked back.  Micronesia has truly been the highlight of our adventure so far.  The people here have a unique culture and such a warm way about them.  While the area is visited by more and more cruisers every year, you can still find atolls and islands that are virtually untouched by western civilization (or not…whatever floats your boat).  And there’s no need to tell you that the diving is outstanding, particularly if you’re interested in WWII and wreck diving.  After spending a year in FSM and enjoying all it had to offer, we decided to continue west to Palau.  We couldn’t come this far and miss it.

This is what Jake and Andy have been doing while I'm gone.

…another decision we have yet to regret.  The first and most obvious benefit of Palau after traveling through Micronesia (or even PNG and the Solomons) is the wide variety of “stuff.”  You can take a break from taro and rice and actually visit a real grocery store (or 3).  Vegetarians be prepared to be delighted…not only are there actual vegetables, but due to the large population of Seventh Day Adventists here, there are all kinds of healthy meat substitutes and alternatives to the pork, pork, pork seen throughout the area.  There are hardware stores, restaurants, taxis, and diving.  The diving is phenomenal.  Which leads to the second benefit that some, but not all, may be aware of.  Sam’s Tours.  Hands down, the most hospitable place to cruisers we’ve ever been.  Sam’s is also home to the Royal Belau Yacht club, providing services such as a dedicated dinghy dock, showers, water, ice (when available), mail services, and of course, there’s always a cold Red Rooster for those who want it (the local beer).  Since being here we’ve participated in movie nights, Cinco de Mayo Cookoff, and a kayak race just for kids.  There are many other activities we either didn’t participate in or weren’t here for.  The point being, there’s always something to do.  Sam’s also offers very competitive prices for diving and any of his other tours.  You can rent a car right at the bar and Sam’s drivers even stop and pick you up for a ride every once in a while when they’re not full of tourists and space permits.

Palau itself also has lots to do.  You’ve read enough about the rock islands on this blog (and don’t forget jelly fish lake), but there’s plenty to do on the main island(s) too.  There are two museums, the National Museum and a privately owned one whose name escapes me right now (Etpison?).  The private one is actually cheaper than the National Museum and is really fantastic given its size and location.  It’s actually a museum for all of Micronesia so it’s not limited to just Palau.  The gift shop rivals most medium size museums in America and on the outside there is one of the famous Wyland murals (of which we love…Jake likes to keep track of all the one’s he’s visited – I think he’s up to 7).  Incidentally, there’s one at the airport, too.  There is a fairly decent public library and the college has a library as well.  If you have kids and plan on being here for a whole season, there are numerous sporting activities:  soccer, judo, baseball, tennis, etc.  Go to the National Gym and you’ll find a plethora of information.  There’s a dolphin awareness program that while a little costly is a very fun event for the whole family.  Jake actually got to ride a dolphin…no joke.

He caught this all by himself :)

For the culinary sorts who got hooked on mangrove crabs in Pohnpei, it is possible to get them here too.  It’s a bit harder though.  You see, there are saltwater crocs in Palau so being a mangrove crab fisherman takes on a whole new meaning here.  The prices go from $2.50/lb (Pohnpei) to $8.50/lb and you still have a very hard time finding anyone to sell them to you (most crabs are reserved for the restaurants).  But, if you really really really want some crab, you can drive up to the north western side of the island and find the crab farm (it’s on most of the maps).  They don’t have a ton of them, but they’re usually very eager to sell what they do have.  If you call first, even better.  At the very least, it’s an interesting tourist opportunity to see how they fence everything off and then watch them actually catch the crabs.

There are a few downsides and if you asked me 6 months ago, I probably would have focused more on those as they seem to have a direct affect on cruisers.  The bureaucracy is nuts and they’re constantly trying to find ways to squeeze another dime out of the few cruisers who stop here.  Sam’s and the Yacht Club work diligently on our behalf to keep these things under control.  We’ve had a few run-ins with the rangers, namely in Nikko Bay.  I don’t think it’s the entire force; just a few that we apparently rubbed the wrong way.  Unfortunately, the result is that no one can take the big boat back to Nikko anymore.  For that we apologize…although we, along with everyone else, are still not sure what we did.  It’s not a huge impact as very few cruisers ever go back there in the big boat (so few in fact that we didn’t meet any others), but frustrating none the less.  Maybe it will be like all the other rules and change very soon.  We’ve had time to get over it and let all the good things outweigh the bad.

I think Jake took this picture.

The biggest problem in Palau seems to be felt by at least ½ the fleet that comes through here.  Where do we go from here?  The possibilities are literally endless.  Philippines, Solomons, PNG, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan.  There are even a few, more adventurous folks that go back through Micronesia. But it is always a hot topic here.  We’ve considered every single one of those options and I think we’ve finally settled on the Philippines.  When I return from the states we’ll be packing up and moving on. 

I could go on for pages, but I won’t (you’re welcome).  If anyone has any specific questions about the area, please don’t hesitate to ask.  I haven’t been too diligent about my “cruising notes” on Palau because there is so much information in the guide book we use (I don’t have it in front of me, but I think it’s Cruisers Guide to Palau…google it, it’s worth it).  I’m attempting to just document the changes and /or our unique experiences and post that before we leave.

Close Encounters with the Dolphins

I realize we’ve had a lot of posts lately about Jake, but everything seems to have revolved around him lately - I guess that's a good thing.  Just when you think he’s done it all…  Jake was invited by his friend Charlie and his family to go swim with the dolphins last week.  The dolphins we’re talking about were rescued from Japan (where they were to be slaughtered) and are kept in a fairly large, enclosed part of the lagoon/bay here.  They have trainers and are used as a form of tourism to help heighten awareness of the ocean environment.  They offer a series of encounters with the dolphins to involve both petting and swimming with them.  It’s a win-win for both the dolphins and Palauans.

I wasn’t sure Jake could be impressed by anything these days but he came back with the biggest smile on his face I have seen in a while.  They not only swam with the dolphins but they were able to hold on to their fin and take a ride as well!  AND I WASN’T THERE TO SEE IT!  Jake assures me that he will take me back to get my turn.  We were really grateful to our friends Chuck and Ivy for providing this opportunity for him.  His last day for a while with Charlie and Carla was well spent!  

Jake, Chuck, Charlie, Carla and Ivy

Jake and Chuck up close with the dolphins.

Really?  It will be hard to top this one with the little guy.

My time with the dolphins is going to have to wait a while…Jake wants to spend the rest of the summer with his grandparents and cousins in Oklahoma.  He spends so much time with us, I think this will be a great experience for him (and his grandparents!).  So, in order to fund that little adventure (among other things), I have decided to try to find a short term contract in the States.   It’s looking good for me, so we’re flying out next week and heading home!  Andy will pick Jake up in September while I stay on and finish my contract.  I’m excited, nervous, and a bit depressed all at the same time.  We just spent 5 months apart from Andy last year and now I’ve signed up to do it again.  Only this time, I’ll be apart from Jake as well…something that has never happened for more than two weeks at a time.  So, wish me luck, say a prayer and cross your fingers…