Where are we now?

We left Bigee Sunday morning and arrived in Rongelap early Monday afternoon. Rongelap is one of the atolls in the Marshall Islands that got most of the fall out of the hydrogen bomb testing the US did in the 50's on Bikini atoll. As a result, the residents have all been moved to other atolls while they clean up and rebuild Rongelap. They're on their last phase of that rebuilding and we've had the luxury of seeing it before everyone moves back. Right now there are about 50 people on the main island working mostly in construction, with a few looking after the facilities. We have found the people here to be the friendliest we've met so far in the Marshalls...maybe that's because they never see anyone new?

The first full day at the main island, we went ashore and started our looky loo around. Fred, the island guy in charge (for all we know), met us about half way through our tour on the back of a flat bed truck ready to drive us around and complete the tour. He showed us the bungalows that have been built for tourists, the brand new airport complete with over 4000 ft of runway (big enough to land a small jetliner), as well as the place where American doctors and scientists used to stay while the tests were going on in Bikini. After spending a couple of nights here, we asked Fred if it was alright if we went north to explore a few more islands and wait out some high winds that were in the forecast. After getting his ok, we headed off.

So we've spent the last few days exploring a little island north in the atoll, mainly looking for glass Japanese fishing floats and giant clams. We've had good luck on the clams, not so good luck on the fishing balls. We've found bits and pieces of them, and even some evidence of some very large balls that washed ashore at some point...but none of them seem to be able to withstand the huge rocks and reefs they hit on the way to the beach. Surprisingly, light bulbs and wine bottles, don't seem to be phased by the sharp pointy rocks. Speaking of things washing up...there is more crap on this beach than I could ever imagine. Some of it is kind of neat...buoys, floats, pretty bottles...but most of it is just sad. Plastic bottles, flip flops (do you have any idea how many people are out there walking around with just one shoe?), toys, light bulbs, tvs, fishing nets, soccer balls, dolphin bones (Nancy, I totally thought of you...Andy wouldn't let Jake keep the skull), lobster traps, life rings...I could go on and on... In the end, we probably averaged 3 miles a day just looking for floats and rummaging through trash. I thought of my friend Terry with all the pretty seashells...Nancy with all the bones...and Kelly with all the "treasures," her and her husband have always been good salvagers.

We'll stay here another day or so, then head back to the main island. They actually have internet there that they said we were more than welcome to use so I may be able to post some pictures within the week.

My final thought this afternoon as I was contemplating what shape the clouds were making...My degree sure did help us get here...after all, I had a decent job and the knowledge of what planning and saving was necessary...but now that we're here, I sure do wish I took that basket weaving elective...I tried with the palm trees today and couldn't make anything useful at all.

We'll stick around here a few more days and depending on what news we get or don't get about the job in Kwajalein, we'll decide whether or not to head to Bikini. In the meantime, Andy's in the water taking pictures, as usual, and Jake and I are finishing up the first grade.

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Back on the hook

We finally had to say goodbye and leave Kwajalein. We didn't go far. We're back up in Bigee enjoying ourselves as we get back into the swing of things (literally, the swinging of the hook). We've snorkeled, gone scuba diving, expored the beach and just hung out under the boat. I was having trouble thinking of something interesting to write (since I know you guys probably get tired of hearing about the blue water and cute fish) when we got a call on the radio this morning. Our friends on s/v Before were trying to get a hold of us to relay a message. Remember our computers in Tarawa? They have finally been returned to another sailboat that's down there right now, heading our way. Seriously, they not only found our stuff, but it is actually on it's way to the Marshall Islands. The even better news is that they found everyone else's stuff as well. We were the only ones who put in a police report so sorting through the stuff may be a bit difficult, but we know they found our friend's snorkeling equipment, along with Andy's favorite mask that we assumed was long gone. So all is right in our world today.

I'm tempted to go on a little about how we already replaced the computers so in reality we don't need them, but that's not true. We never have figured out how to reload our charts, so those are still needed. All of our pictures from Tahiti to Tarawa that I thought were lost (along with the photo albums I made for them), will be recovered. I will get back a little bit of writing I had been working on, and as Jake pointed out, all of our high scores on our video games will be saved (very important). AND...I will get back the numerous email addresses and phone numbers that I had moved to the computer in order to get rid of my paper address book.

It will still be a few weeks before we can coordinate getting everything back, but it has given me a renewed trust that most people in the world are good and have good intentions.

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The Boob Tube

I realize it’s been awhile since I posted a blog and there are two reasons for that… 1) I’m trying not to write too much about Kwajalein since it’s such a small place and somehow there are quite a few people here reading the blog.  I don’t want to offend, irritate or embarrass anyone without intending to,  2) After three weeks here, we finally discovered that we can get the 8 Armed Forces Network (AFN) channels here on our boat.  That’s right…we have TV.

Now this may not sound like a big deal, and maybe it’s not to most people, but remember…we haven’t had TV in almost two years.  Sure we get to watch movies, but they’re all pre 2009 and there is no access to news, commercials, or the latest prime time (outside of the occasional info we get on the internet).  So, I haven’t had time to write…I’ve only got a few days left to get all my TV in. 

What have we been watching??  Well, we’re fairly up to date on the Republican Primaries, I saw the latest episode of Desperate Housewives (I have missed A LOT), Jake has discovered the Power Rangers, and Andy has been re-inspired by the Iron Chef.  We’ve seen a few post 2009 movies, gotten up to date on the news, and discovered that Fear Factor has gotten totally out of control (cow hearts in a vat of blood?).  We watched House last night and tonight we get to see the latest episode of Bones. 

I totally forgot how much time we used to spend watching TV.  I’m shocked that I wasn’t 300 lbs before we gave it all up.  Prior to our stop here, we would either watch a nice family movie after dinner or we would play UNO or Go Fish.  Monopoly was a family favorite or we might just sit outside while Jake played on the bow and watch the sunset.  And we would RARELY watch a movie in the middle of the day.

We did take time off of the tv to watch Cpt. Ron pull his
boat into the dry dock area for some repairs.

Now don’t get me wrong…we’re not a totally electronic free family (since replacing our computers and possibly getting the old ones back, we have the potential of having 5 computers and 2 iPads on board).  Jake loves his video games and Andy and I love our movies.  But when it’s harder to get the latest and greatest, you find yourself thinking of other things to do – like swimming, coloring, cooking, reading a book, etc.  I think that’s probably a good thing.  

But I’m not giving in just yet…we have three more days here and I am determined to see everything that might remotely interest me…

There’s a commercial that American Idol starts next week…I wonder if our antennae will reach from Bigee?

Other things we’ll miss when leaving Kwaj…

Frozen pizza, Edamame, Burger King, Subway, Baskin Robins, fresh strawberries (I know – everything revolves around food for us), bike riding, speaking English all the time, cleanliness…but most of all, the great people we’ve met and our sponsors who have become good friends that we’ll keep in touch with for a very long time (and maybe share an anchorage one day soon).

Looking Back...2011

I’m not an extremely nostalgic person but since it’s the beginning of a new year and all, I thought I would take some time and reflect on our last year.  We’ve done so much and packed so many things into it.  At times it seems like the year just flew by and at other times it seems like we’ve been out here for five years already.

This past year we visited 8 countries, 9 islands and 9 atolls.  We tried to at least learn to say Hello in Spanish, French, Tahitian, Samoan, Kirabati and Marshallese.  We managed to eek out a few extra sentences in Spanish and French.  We became intimate with black tip sharks, lemon sharks, giant mantas and tiny clown fish.  We only caught about 6 fish, but we let at least 10 get away – and we even gave some of them our rigs, being the generous people we are.

Lack of great record keeping and my laziness forces me to estimate our milage to date.  A conservative guess is that we’ve sailed/motored about 7000 miles since we left Mexico.  Our longest passage was obviously from Mexico to the Marquesas, taking 21 ½ days.   Our best passage was from the Marquesas to the Tuamotos where we caught a nice big Tuna and had a great, fast downwind run (or was it to Tuvalu where we had wonderful spinnaker weather?).  Our worst passage is a toss up between Suwarrow/American Samoa and Majuro/Kwajalein, but I’m going to hand it to the latter with 12 foot seas, 40 knot gusts and a bad stomach bug.

Our illnesses have been minimal, but the two that stick in my mind for me is the stomach flu in Mexico, moving our departure date for the puddle jump and the dengue in Majuro – not because it was so bad but because it was strange and something I would never get at home.  Andy and Jake have come out fairly well in as much as they got milder cases of things and/or stayed pretty healthy the whole time.  Not sure what that says about me…

We’ve met too many people to count and said goodbye to just about all of them as well.  We’re keeping in touch with many and hope to meet back up one day.  We only made one visit home before we left and I managed to sneak out on a solo visit from American Samoa.  We had two guests before we left Mexico, but none to date out here, a world away (or two days, depending on how dramatic you want to be).

We’ve made significant contributions to Coca-Cola, Heiniken, Corona, Mount Gay, Jiffy (peanut butter), Anchor (canned butter), and Hunts, Aunt Jemima and too many others to count.  When we go home, I can only imagine what kind of horders we’re going to be.  In the absence of fresh veggies and meat, our hording enabled me to make some very creative, yet tasty meals – a necessity to keep crew morale up on those long stretches without stores.

In the past year, Jake has learned to read, write, add and subtract and can tell time if you give him a half hour to figure it out.  He knows more about sharks and underwater creatures than the average adult at home.  His favorite subject is History where he’s learned about early civilization, Egyptians and the Ancient Greeks and Romans.  He, too, learned how to say hello in all of those languages and got to practice as he made new friends in each port.  He’s no genius, but I would say the home schooling thing is working out just fine, both academically and socially.  He’s learned how to ride a bike, paddle a surf board, play kickball (sort of…the last time he played he ran straight from third place to the dugout), hit a baseball (never mind it gave him a black eye.  He made contact, right?) and kick a soccer ball.  He may get his terminology mixed up a bit (“Mommy, can we go kick my basketball?”), but he’s had proper introduction to several sports considering we live on a boat in the middle of the pacific ocean (my brother and father are taking their antacids right now, but I promise, it will be ok – if it’s any consolation, he loves watching football on TV).

Now we sit here contemplating our next move and what 2012 holds for us… to quote a song I can’t think of the artist for…”Do [we] stay or do [we] go now?”   

Happy Holidays from Kwajalein!

Santa found us in this big ocean.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.  We hope you all were able to spend time with your loved ones and enjoy some time off.  Once again I failed to get Christmas cards out so my apologies...between being unemployed and living in the tropics, I just couldn't find the time. :)

We’ve continued on our social marathon here in Kwajalein with holiday parties, cocktail hours and we even fit in a few boating trips.  The first was on the ferry here to Ebeye, a neighboring Marshalese Island.  This is where most of the local workers on Kwajalein live.  They take the ferry daily back and forth from Ebeye to Kwajalein.  We took the ferry with our sponsors on Christmas day to see the town and listen to some of the church singing.  It was a nice day getting out and about.  Ebeye is crowded, but appears to be a bit cleaner than Majuro and the people also seemed a bit friendlier.  Of course my opinion might be skewed given the high praise I have for Majuro (wink, wink)…

The ferry ride to Ebeye.

Yesterday we took our friends out on the boat to another island, Bigee (pronounced Bee-gee).  It was so beautiful - crystal clear, blue water with white sandy beaches – we decided it would be a great place to hang out for a week or two.  Ron and Christina brought their paddle boards a long with them for us to try.  I’ve been wanting one and it was nice to get to try one out first.  Although I think I might have been more successful if I didn’t wait until there was a small squall coming.  For a while there I thought Andy was going to have to get in the dinghy and come get me.  The kids played under the boat all day either swimming back and forth from the bow to stern or just making up games on the paddle boards.

The sailing was great as well.  We made a consistent 8 knots going out to Bigee which pleased Captain Ron to no end.

Captain Ron

The kids...a bit tired.

Playing under the boat.

Ron on the paddle board.

Not a bad place to be, huh?

We’re still enjoying ourselves and are even considering trying to find work here for a year or so (some of you will be picking yourself up off the floor right now).  We’ve had a lot of unexpected expenses since Tarawa and it would be nice to replenish the cruising kitty a bit while resting in a little slice of the US out here in the middle of the pacific.  But nothing is guaranteed here so we’re not getting our hopes up too high…it’s a win win either way – if we get jobs, we stay.  If we don’t get jobs, we leave and go to Tonga next year and keep on cruising.  There’s no bad option there.

In the meantime, we’re just soaking up the sun and enjoying this friendly, relaxing atmosphere.

Kwajalein

Well we’re here and we hit the ground running.  It’s the holidays so there are more things to do than time to do them.  Given that we’ve been pretty lazy for the past two years, Andy and I are trying to keep up.  Jake has actually been playing so much that he slept until 10:00 the other day – a first in his short 6 year life (he’s normally a 6:30 kind of person).

We’ve gone to several parties, met tons of people, taken a tour of the island, gone on a lighted boat parade and Jake has gone on his first sleep over.

Jake, Miles and Jacob showing their silly faces.

This is a funny little place.  We’re thoroughly enjoying our selves but there are some things worth mentioning to help you get a picture for it here.  There are very few cars/trucks.  They’re all government vehicles.  The people here travel on bikes and the occasional golf cart.  There are all sorts of bikes too – “Island bikes” – meaning the handlebars might wiggle, the chain might slip, but no worries, because it gets you from point A to point B.  There are all kinds of trailers for these bikes too.  As a matter of fact, I happen to be carrying Prince Jake around on a trailer fit with a lawn chair tied down by a bungee.  The grocery store here even gets in on the action….since trailers can only carry so much, they deliver!

It’s nice because you can just sort of let your kids do what they want without worrying about someone snatching them up or them getting hit by a car.  It’s kind of refreshing knowing there’s still a place around that’s safe.

Everyone is really friendly and it’s such a small community that everyone knows everyone.  That could be good or bad, I suppose, but so far for us, it’s nice.

They have pretty much everything you need here – swimming pools, movie theaters, sports, water sports, beaches, even a food court complete with Burger King and Subway (Something I bet Andy they had…

I’ve never been to a military base that didn’t have at least one Subway).

Some of our favorite things have been the turtle pond and a little beach spot that our sponsors showed us with a rope swing.  Jake spent a few hours there the other day swinging and jumping off into the water.

MY favorite thing so far has been watching Jake learn to ride his bike!  He’s been on the boat since he was 3 ½ and cruising isn’t always conducive to learning the basics that most kids do.  So, we bought him a bike in Majuro and when we got here, we found a nice grassy spot for falling over.  Surprisingly, he caught on right away and he’s almost ready for the big time.  He just needs to learn to get started on his own and be a little more aware of his surroundings…but he’s doing great!

We’re off in a few minutes to pick Jake up from his sleep over.  I called and found out that our kid fits in fine even if he is a little different….his stuff smells like boat, he puts his toilet paper in the trash can and he politely asked Christina if she could turn off the air condition. 

Sailing is overrated.

Before I begin to describe our passage from Majuro to Kwajalein, I'll take the time to reassure everyone - my mother - that we weren't in any danger what so ever. With that said and out of the way...

We saw 12 foot seas, squalls with 40 knot winds, and at one point we had a hull speed of 12 knots. Some catamaran crews dig 12 knots. I do not. The 12 foot seas I'm talking about were "confused" and coming mainly on our beam. For a catamaran, this is the most uncomfortable position. We hit the waves twice, once for each hull, which likes to make this figure 8 or washing machine type movement. I prepared for this though...I knew it was going to be rough. I abstained from any alcohol or caffeine several days before we left. I got a good night sleep and I took my seasick pill. What I didn't count on is this stupid stomach bug. Not being one to gross you out or give too much information, I'll spare you with the details, but trust me when I say this was not your regular seasickness. I don't want to be the one to bring a nasty Majuro bug (and yes, that's exactly what it is) to our new friends, so I started on a nice, friendly round of antibiotics. I'm doing better now, but things still aren't quite right.

The good news of the passage came to Jake when he found out I was too sick to do school and he was free to watch his Looney Toon marathon. I totally forgot how violent those things are...but my goodness they make him laugh.

So, a big thank you goes out to my understanding husband. He too, had a tiny bit of the bug, but managed to keep the big portion of it at bay. He made lunches, dinners and even let me take extra naps...all without even the slightest bit of irritation. Thanks, babe.

We pulled in nice and early yesterday morning and our sponsors met us on the dock. We had a fun filled day of which I'll write another post about, but the important thing is that we made it! We're thrilled so far...more to come.

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