The BIG NEW adventure

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

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.

Saturday, 15 June 2013

SA Visitors

The third week of May saw Kerry and Jenni arrive from Adelaide. Ants spent time showing them the sites of Majuro and environs. They arrived at the same time as some new AVI volunteers started so it was quite a social whirl of evenings out and day trips. Their first few days included the “AVI” dinner to welcome the new arrivals. The Tuesday yachties night out at Marshall Island Club (all you can eat pizza for eight dollars) a film night at Wallaby downs. A day sail/snorkel to Eneko Island. A bike tour around Rita and Delap, the shanty town suburbs of Majuro. At the weekend Ants arranged a “Australian” sail on Breakfree for Wally (AVI) leaving and our visitors to Enamonet Island so 10 people on a lovely day trip.

The following week, much to the amusement and curiosity of the locals, we put Break Free up on Mieco Beach to have its two yearly bottom clean and paint, many hands make light work.

On the beach in front of WAM canoe house

Putting our visitors to work

Jenni fishing at Airik on Maloelap Atoll

At the end of that week Break Free and crew sailed ninety miles north to Maloelap Atoll. We had a great time exploring Airik, Toroa, Piggiatto and Tjan Islands. Lovely people, interesting wildlife, lots of Japanese relics and good wreck diving.

Then we sailed south to Aur Atoll visiting Bigen and Aur Aur Islands. The same as at Christmas Bigens water was crystal clear (for divers info 30m visibility)

Even though there is a drought emergency in the northern Atolls, Aur Aur had great looking gardens and with the great fishing they are living pretty well. After ten days we were back in Majuro.

Playtime at Airik

Kitchen fire starting to burn

Ready to dry Pandanus

Cooking a typical breakfast

Collecting some greens for the pigs

Going fishing

It sounds like Anti Crabs (actually Handicrafts)

Areson and Kerry after antenna repair

Jane and Jenni on Airik

A fish lunch at a Copra camp om Kemar Island

A young Taroan at Maloelap Atoll

Old Japanese gun emplacement

Peeling breadfruit with a modified cowrie shell

Lovely bronze trunnion mount on WW11 Japanese gun

A resident of Piggeyato Island

Foreshore crabs at Chien (Tjan) Island

Tjan net fisherman

Rowing out to wreck on Taroa Is Maloelap Atoll

Cable winch

Intrepid diver

Great banana grove on Aur Aur Island Aur Atoll

Mooring bollard 70 years underwater

Ants, Kerry and Jenni spent the last few days taxiing to Laura, walking and bike riding around downtown Majuro and the obligatory evenings of “wining and dining” for all.

Ants is taking no responsibility what so ever for getting K & J to the Airport after their flight to Guam had closed nor the fact they had old bullets (just projectiles) in their hand luggage. It is only a US federal offence to carry ammunition on an American plane (they were travelling on United Airlines) and the jail sentence shouldn't be too onerous. Ants has promised to visit them in jail!!!

On a lighter note Jane is right back into it as WAM's new trainees start on Monday....it has been hectic, to say the least, getting things sorted in a week after 3 months of waiting for government funding to be approved and then released.

'til next post, cheers J & A

Sunday, 19 May 2013

A Little Side trip for Ants

We became friends with Dick and Gail off a motor yacht Ice Dancer II. Yes friends with people off a power boat!

Ice Dancer II in Majuro

Gail had to fly home to Alaska with some health issues and Dick needed a hand to get Ice Dancer back to Hawaii. So Ants jumped on board to motor 2000 nms upwind.

The immaculate LARGE engine room

A bit about the boat. She is a Nordhavn 56' of about 60 tonnes and a million dollar plus luxury long distance boat with 80000 miles under her keel. She has a John Deere 350 HP main engine with a 36 inch 4 blade prop and a 90 HP wing engine with folding prop which also has hydraulics for bow and stern thrusters and winches. A couple of big generator sets fit easily in the cavernous engine room. 8000 litres of fuel capacity gives a range of 2500nms at 8 knots.

Dick looking after the John Deere

Dick and Gail have been all over the Pacific and Cape Horn and Australia (Port Davey in Tasmania was a favourite).

In better weather enjoying a fish dinner

The trip from Majuro was upwind in 18 to 20 knots for the first 2 days and I struggled a bit with the motion (most unusual for me). I still managed my watches plus a couple of small repairs deep in a bilge and up the radar mast. Then the wind went light and we had 9 days of easy motoring to Hawaii.

The Blue Marlin we released unharmed

A Brown Boobie

We had a good catch of a 100 something pound Short Bill Spear Fish (great eating) and a catch and release 40 something pound Blue Marlin.

Sunrise in North Pacific

A very easy trip saw us arrive pre dawn at the Ko Olina marina and after a little hassle with immigration (my electronic visa waiver didn't work on a private yacht ;they did waive eventually the $585 penalty) I enjoyed 3 days in Hawaii before flying home to the Marshalls.

An interesting side trip but I am a yachtie at heart. I think it will take the European canals to convince me to be a power boat man!