The Yachties Pub Quiz and lobsters

Winning the pub quiz with Dave and Pam and eating lobster 

just a couple of bonuses living in The Marshalls

Nige (behind) handing over the Pub Quiz "dosh"

Yum , Lobster for dinner

The last month has flown by and looking at the photos “Boats” seem to be the theme.

Corrugated aluminum and a soft drink can make great boats

and the little can wins!

WAM, the canoe program, started with a new group of 25 students so that means Jane has been very busy Monday to Friday. Advertising, interviewing and selecting the students, and then starting all happened in 10 days.

This is not the true “Marshallese way”, but a regime imposed by the funding body, the National Training Council, and Jane survived.

A US ship the USS Pearl Harbour came to Majuro as part of “Pacific Partnership '13” an annual Goodwill mission with hundreds of American Navy/Army/Marines and a few Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians, Koreans, plus plus who were involved in building, health checks, veterinary clinic, sport, and many other things.

The Utility craft USS Pearl Harbour

Our landing craft arriving at the transom

Lots of vehicles on board

A Maloelap man

Marshallese are happy with the US connection

Our involvement included

*attending the Independence Day cocktail party on the ship

*WAM trainees with Jane were involved with a US Navy/Marine “Boat Safety” morning in Delap park where we helped promoting WAM and selling teeshirts

*the two of us helped the US Ambassador and the PP13 Commodore onto canoes for a race

*the Wellness Kitchen (Ant's garden) organised a cookoff between Navy and local restaurants

*Jane took WAM trainees on a tour of the USS Pearl Harbour

*Ants did a volunteer recorder role at a disaster response workshop (the Northern Marshall atolls are in serious drought with millions being spent but OK in Majuro)

*We were invited to a lovely semi formal dinner for 35 people at the house of the US Ambassador.
*Over the visit we met and took sailing on BreakFree a very nice guy, Lt Bruce Hansen, who was the  community liasion officer

Friendly sailors but big guns

On a health topic. Testing for Diabetes at the Navy/Wellness Centre booth at a health fair with 196 people showed 47 were over 300 (90 is good) and about 20 would have been hospitalised immediately in Australia. 40% to 60% of the population are diabetic because of a diet of white rice, white flour, white sugar, soft drinks and chicken. Not that Australia is a lot better as we heard on Radio Australia recently.

One of the big Tuna purse seiners

A family on a Sunday sojourn

Seiners and freezer ships, all part of raping the world oceans

Typical crowded boat and they paddle, never row

We have been sailing down the lagoon most weekends and this weekend will go to RongRong which although only 22 nms down the lagoon has been visited by no yacht we know of. There is a fair amount of coral outcropping down that end of the lagoon but should be no real drama

A WAM trainee

Next month Kimberley (Ant's daughter) is coming for a two and a half week visit which should be really good. Looking forward to it.