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PASSAGE-MAKING JOURNAL – Solomon Islands to Kiribati/Gilbert Islands (10-days)
Having switched out the big Genoa sail and hoisted the Yankee, we are now ready to point close to the winds, providing we get some, and hopefully sail much of our way to Tarawa. It’ll be a battle with light winds, usually on the nose and some potentially hefty currents against us. Let’s hope we don’t run out of diesel!?!?
11/17/2011
We are really at sea now making our way from the Solomons to the Gilberts. Believe it or not, we shot through Kologlio Passage at 7kts! Great that we had gotten a paper chart from Jim and Tori on sv Eleyna- it made a real difference for the constant visual navigation since both of our electronic charts were a good 1-2 miles off – we had to just eye up the islands, reefs, etc and plot our course among them. A bit spooky since the boat was going fast and there wasn’t much we could do to stop it if we had to!?!? Seems we had about a 3 kn current behind us for most of the way, only encountered a little against us as we left the pass over the incoming swell. Now we’re navigating with good distance between us and a sudden ridge/pinnacle and some fish platforms/buoys that are ahead, but after about 40 miles, we should be clear of such obstacles. We’re currently managing about 4-6 kn of speed by sail, so that is great!
11/18/2011
We’re on route right now from Choiseul in the Solomons to Tarawa in the Gilberts. We’re making progress with some occasional gust and lots of wind shifts. John did most of the night shift due to the fickle conditions are needs for constant sail management. Hopefully I can now manage the early hours and give him several hours rest. Seas are pretty flat, so when the winds come, the going is smooth.We’re about 200 miles into the 1200 mile trip. We had some decent winds for the first 125 miles, but now the winds are nearly 0, the seas calm but rocking and we’re having to motor. Although this passage is notorious for a lack of wind and strong opposing currents.
11/20/2011
We’re slowly moving along, pretty much all alone out here since in the past 24 hours we’ve only seen one ship. The night was glassy calm so we had to motor, but it made for good speed on the correct course. We both enjoyed the clear parts of the night. There was no moon during my watch so the stars were brilliant. John started his watch with the rise of a crescent moon that looked quite dramatic and haunting as it rose through the dark and menacing clouds on the horizon. John and I split the night watch last night: me from 7pm-1:30am and John from 1:30am-7:30am, so we both had a good sleep. For the first time last night I took my computer into the cockpit and watched a movie which really helped the 6 hours pass more quickly. Only managed one movie though since I’d watch 10 mins then pause it and look out. I had one cargo ship on my watch, so that too kept me busy for about 45 mins. Tried a bit of sailing this morning, but the winds are just not cooperating, so we’re back to motor-sailing. Now we are both up managing the boat through the various rain/wind squalls and reading our books. All is well on board.
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Lots of squalls today as we travel through the Convergence Zone – rain, lightening, thunder, but nothing too bad. When winds come they tend to be on the nose, but we’re trying to at least motor-sail as much as possible. Nonetheless it’s a lot of motoring and diesel to keep making progress. Hopefully we won’t run out!?!? We’re conserving water too by not using the fresh water toilet, only the master salt water one…only showering every other day and reusing wash water. We’re trying to save all of our diesel for running the engine rather than the generator. The watermaker only works on the generator – same with the air-conditioning, but the batteries get charged off the main engine and we can run the refrigerator off that power too.
(written by Capt John)
We are continuing to motor our 1100 miles to Tarawa against a one knot current , 10 knot winds and a 2 meter swell. Speed averages 4.5knt over the ground though the boat is doing 5.8kts through the water. If you think that’s good, then try walking that slow! Kristy and I read a book a day and sleep alternately for six hours through the night. No Happy Hours for four days now. Rained cats and dogs last night and dark as a tomb despite a half moon somewhere above it all. We are experiencing the ITCZ where the weather is all vertical and not horizontal so there is plenty of thunder and lightening to keep us amused – light a giant Son et Lumiere. Giant bolts on the horizon but no strikes close to the boat. If I could get it to hit my coffee mug in the AM it would save using the microwave. One of our three diesel tanks will draw its last drop some time today and we will be down to two which means we will probably make it even if we have to motor the whole way which seems likely. We are paying for our change of plans since this is a route no-one in their right mind uses but it puts us in line for a sail back to the US from the Marshall Islands where all the American boats will be over Christmas.
We are 100 miles from half way and will cross into the third parallel this afternoon. Kristy has some sticky substance in mind to paint me (tar and feather) when we get to the 0.0 parallel but I don’t think its chocolate. Everything is humming along in our bilges with our wonderful VM diesel going like a sewing machine. Bilges are dry as dust and we have not had to run the generator at all because we are using the rear marine toilet – salt water flushing so I am again in need of that pumping song Jodie was going to send to us!
11/21/2011 At SEA
We had a very dark, squally, rainy, lightening filled night with occasionally very strong winds, however we motored through the night because the winds kept shifting from port to starboard, about midnight they even swung behind us for about an hour! Being absolutely pitch black (the moon didn’t even come through last night,) safety was an issue since we really had little warning of sudden changes and with each tack we would have been sea-sawing our way up the course. Every time we try to catch the wind and sail we just end up going straight north or south and basically making very little progress for lots of time. I did the first watch: 7:00pm-1:00am and John did 1:00-7:00am. This seems to be working well because both of us are able to get 5-6 hours of uninterrupted sleep – makes the days much more pleasant. Today is glassy calm again with a rolling swell, but our speed is up pretty well despite a 1kt current against us.
11/22/2011
We’re continuing to motor along. We’ve had some really strong head winds – up to 25kts last night – but every time we try to turn off and sail we end up tacking back and forth like 5-10 miles north then south and only gaining about 2 nm of progress! It’s really frustrating. Now we just have to hope that our diesel makes it all the way to Betio in Tarawa – we’ll absolutely need the engine to get into the pass. Otherwise, all is well on board. We’re just splitting the night – I do 7:30-1:30 and your John does 1:30-7:30am. During the day we just casually switch – I tend to prefer being out in the cockpit when I’m awake.
11/23/2011
I am typing this at an angle because we are sailing!! Motor-sailing mind you, but the sails are up and filled with wind as we are heeled over in 20-25kn winds – still pretty close on the nose, but at least we’re able to pinch out a sail-able angel and throttle back to save some diesel. The boat speed is about 6kn but our speed over the ground is only 4.5 due to the current and seas. It’s pretty bouncy!
11/24/2011
A little tough typing right now as we are heeled way over sailing hard on the wind. Making progress at last, without the engine, but we are also sort of giving up hope at making it to Tarawa and are now looking at perhaps doing the additional 300 miles up to Majuro. The problem is that we are headed by strong northeast winds (just where we need to go) and having a bugger of a time getting a point of sail, even tacking back and forth to give us the direction we need. Added to that are currents of 1-2+ knots also against us. While working on the sails we had to turn and go the opposite direction and without even having the sails working, the boat was going 6kts!?!? Sort of explains our dilemma. Anyway, we are on a course of about 10 degrees headed north and are nearly to the Equator!
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This has been quite a trip so far with first no winds and now too much wind and from the wrong direction. Although the boat carries a lot of diesel, with the strong headwinds and opposing currents, we were burning far too much diesel to make just a little progress, so we’ve now headed off more to the north so we can sail, with thoughts that if we cannot eventually make more progress to the east, then we’ll just continue on up to Majuro. This particular passage has a reputation for being really difficult because of the west flowing currents and usually light winds, so the strong opposing winds that we’re getting are just adding to the challenge. At least we are now out of the ITCZ (convergence zone) which previously brought us so many lightening, thunder and rain squalls. In fact most of today was pretty cloudless. For tonight we are hard on the wind, heeled over and enjoying some good speed. Not very conducive to the roast chicken dinner that I was planning for our “Thanksgiving” -cooking and eating at this angle is pretty unpleasant – so we’ve decided to postpone our special meal until we either get calmer seas (not in the forecast) or make it safely to the next anchorage. We’ll be really ready for some celebrating when we finally arrive at port!
We are both doing well and with our schedule of splitting the nights, we are getting a good 5-6 hrs block of sleep during the night, with a couple of catnaps during the day, which is working out pretty well.
We’re nearly at the Equator – a time when boats traditionally hold a sort of Titan ceremony – we’ll come up with some sort of goofy fun in the morning since we’ll likely cross the 0:00:00 mark during the night.
–THANKSGIVING at sea
We passed the equator last night at about 4am – I went off watch at 1:30am, so was none the wiser. Kind of an anticlimactic moment – I woke up about a 45 mins before we were going to cross, but just could not rally myself to stay up and not get back to sleep. Since we are at a pretty extreme angle with 20-25kt winds and 2 meter seas….there will be no skinny dipping! Actually John is napping now, so maybe we’ll have some kind of late goofy celebration later. I’m afraid we don’t make the “Jodie factor scale” on this one!?!?
Happy Thanksgiving from the North Pacific! Yup, we crossed the equator at about 4am and are no longer in the South Pacific:) Not sure where we are going right now as we are on a course due north when we need to be about 200 miles east of here to make Tarawa!?!? Hard on the wind, we are at least sailing at a good clip.
Thinking of everyone who is enjoying feast of turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes and pies – yum!!!! No such delights for us today – we’re on a pretty severe angle making everything difficult, so cooking is not a safe option. I think I’ll thaw out the chicken curry I made a while back and we’ll enjoy that warmed in the microwave. Could be worse:) All is well on board- tired and looking forward to making landfall – but that’s unlikely to happen for at least 4-5 more days.
11/25/2011
Winds change and so we are now back to motor-sailing on a northeast course with hopes of squeezing our way to Betio, the capital port of Tarawa. There is no moon tonight, literally 0 in the moon phase, but the sky is still alight with massive numbers of stars made more brilliant by the lack of any ambient city lights or moonlight. Most of the clouds have disappeared, so the stars stretch from horizon to horizon. It’s really quite lovely to look out over the ink black waters, our boat powering along and creating feathers of shining phosphorescence, the starlit sky above – we are all alone. Only thing that would make it nicer would be to be only powered by sail and listening to the hissing of the passing waters rather than the engine:) Nice to see the familiar constellations of the northern sky. We have the Plough ahead of us low in the sky – a sure sign of home in Alaska. We crossed the equator about 4:45am this morning and nearly tacked back to recross it again this evening but didn’t quite, so our passages are now firmly in the northern hemisphere.
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SE winds are fantastic!! Yes, we started to get a shift in the winds from northeast to east and finally to southeast last night and this morning I awoke to John cranking the boat along hard on the wind at 7.8kn directly on course for Tarawa! Moods on Raynad are definitely more optimistic this morning:) We now have about 120 miles to go and are hoping that we can hold on to this wind angle and speeds between 5-7kn for another 20 hours.
11/26/2011 – Wind shifted again – totally headed!
We’re trying our best to power our way to Tarawa before tomorrow night – and tonight we’re realizing that the days are getting shorter on us – it’s only 6:00pm and already it’s pitch black out. We have only 87nm to go until we reach the entrance to the harbor, but when we’re only able to get 3.5-4.5kn of speed, it’s touch and go. The sails are down since the winds are totally on our nose, the engine is revved to 2000rpms, the 1-1.5kn current is against us and we’re rocking and rolling and getting tossed about in a cross swell. We’ll keep a watch schedule as before, but I’d be surprised if either of us gets much sleep in this washing machine. Neither of us fancy another night out, hove-to, waiting for daylight so it’d be super if the seas would calm a bit and the winds lessen so we can make good speed. We can’t wait to have a shower and a cold GT!!
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The winds were dying a few hours ago, or so we thought, but they came back with a vengeance and now we are ploughing our way directly into 25-30 kn winds and still have 1-3 kn currents against us as well. About 9pm the winds started increasing and coming around a bit to the southeast so we put up the main and pulled out the staysail and motorsailed at 5kn for a couple of hours, but the past four hours have been crazy with the wind swinging back to the east and increasing to 30kn, regularly 25! Not fun at all, we’re taking short shifts of 2 hrs each to manage the night. We only have the main up, but will likely bring it down when it gets light again (it’s tough to keep it from flogging.) It’s still absolutely pitch black outside, so all you can see is the spray flying back from the bow and some of the white phosphorescence of the swirling ocean around us. It’s super rough – Raynad is such a strong boat and with 100 hp is still powering through it she takes it all on the nose and keeps going. We still owe Neptune, but it’s toooooooo scary to get outside the cockpit and we haven’t opened any gin yet. So much for what was supposed to be a windless trip!?!? I really, really can’t wait to arrive and drop anchor! Let’s just hope we can make enough headway to get in before dark (63 miles to go but we’re only progressing at about 3.1) – I really do not fancy another night out here.
11/27/2011
We have 10 miles to go until we enter the lagoon of Tarawa – it’s been a LONG and tedious journey! We waited until daylight to take down the mainsail because it was SO pitch black and the seas were so large and violent, it would have been too dangerous to take it down. So, we kept just enough wind in it to try and keep it from flogging even though that was not the exact course we wanted and then as soon as there was enough light, we took it down (safely) and altered our course to what we needed which is directly into the east wind. It actually built up to 35 knots and some huge mountain of sea water going for awhile – not fun. –We’re still bumping and splashing along although the winds have calmed to 20kn and the seas are a bit better as we get closer to the island.
We MADE IT!!!!!!!!! Yes, we are anchored in the bay with a strong fetch coming across the lagoon, but it feels like heaven for us. Cold GTs being sipped with the sunset behind us.
It was a arduous trip with the last 73 miles taking us about 20 hours. It’s amazing really that this boat was able to take such a beating and especially that we were able to motor against the 35 knot winds and over the monstrous seas. We are both agreed though that this is a journey we will NOT repeat. Would be fun to go the opposite direction though, which is what is commonly done. We’re just relieved to be here and have several weeks ahead with no need for long passage-making:) We are a happy boat and ready for a good long sleep:)
11/28/2011
TARAWA- Gilbert Islands
We’ve just finished with the first round of immigration and quarantine officers and are waiting to hear from the customs officials. We’re anchored out in the bay near the capital city Betio and John has been ferrying the officers back and forth to the boat in our little inflatable dingy with a 20 knot wind blowing and kicking up quite a swell. They all arrive a bit wet and I’m sure will be even wetter after their return journey since that trip is into the waves! They’re all very nice and seemed more interested in drinking our coffee and eating our cookies than inquiring about things on board. The quarantine officer was a woman called Theresa who wants to maintain an email correspondence with me to practice her English. I gave her one of my novels called Plain Truth (by Jodi Pouliet) to read.
Last night, it was absolutely wonderful to have a shower and climb into a bed with fresh sheets – made even more so by the fact that the climate here cools a bit in the evening and with the winds blowing, for the first time in a long time we slept without profusely sweating! Slept a full 12-hours (7:30pm-7:30am.) The Solomon Islands were not only extremely hot and humid, but there was very little wind at night and it became almost unbearable. Really the only reason that we were able to sleep was that we’d bought a 12v fan in Luggenville that is a real powerhouse for turning out a breeze and since John wired it to plug into a 12v-lighter socket in our master suite, we can keep it running all night without draining our batteries.
A boat called Celcius – Claude and Jacqueline a French speaking couple from Canada, are already here, so we’re going to move the boat after all of the clearance is finished and meet up with them for dinner. We first met them while at the dock in Noumea, New Caledonia. Funny what a small world it is among cruisers. Our plans are to remain in the Gilbert Islands until after the holidays.
11/29/2011 – John wrote:
Seems like there is a hurricane in the N PAcific that was causing 2000 miles of weather disturbance and we got our share. Where we are right now has not had a hurricane for 100 years (which is why we are here right now) but it doesn’t stop you being affected by those that pass by.
Tarawa and the Republic of Kiribati (the other surrounding atolls) made headlines in 1942 as the first sight of the American assault on the Japanese invasion of the S Pacific but that glory has faded and been replaced by a more urgent drama. Today it is the center of the global warming debate. The ocean is rising and these people live 2 meters above high tide in long long strips of sand that ring the lagoons. You would think the risk to them is the wind, waves and storms but it is actually the salt. They grow their crops in holes dug in the ground to get close to fresh water table underneath – rainwater trapped in the hard coral. And the dig shallow wells to get the same water to drink. The problem is that with the sea level rising, their ground water is becoming salinated so that nothing will grow and it is undrinkable so everyone moves towards the same higher ground where the water is still pure. Not surprisingly, the highest ground is where the capital is and this amplifies the problem of urbanization where people relocate in the hope of employment, giving up traditional ways of life. So the population density of this little bump on the flat horizon of the central pacific is now higher than that of Singapore. You could easily sail right past this place and never know it was there. One long long road goes around maybe a third of the atoll joining the little sandy islets into a community but the road is ridiculously exposed with 5 miles of nothing but sand maybe 500 yards wide and lots of little bridges to let the ocean pass underneath.
Despite this the people are wonderful and cheerily live off a weekly freighter from Australia that brings them food, drums of diesel and the occasional luxury item. Its like a big famine relief camp – like Turkana in NW Kenya where it was a Hercules C130 from the States that kept them alive. All the remote islands live off cargo ships that fill the stores with things to keep the community alive. These ships are like rabbits. They appear on a high tide, unload containers without any dockside assistance, and leave on the next high tide – often doing all this in the dark in locations where we would not dare navigate at night because of the hazardous coral reefs and the total absence of any Navigation Aids. They seem to do it all at breakneck speed and must have some of the best masters at the helm. Lesser Masters add their vessels to the incredible collection of ships strewn all over the reefs, driven off their anchor by high winds, abandoned, cannibalized and then left to rust into grotesque shapes in various stages of decay, from purposeful vessels that still have a proud defiance of their predicament, then with their ribs sticking out and their decks fallen in , then their masts stick up through tangled metal balls and finally then engine block is all that is left and never seems to rust away becoming a new reef marker that is added to the navigation charts with the same black little sunken ship symbol. We hope Raynad knows better than to add us to that select group.
Funny thing is there is not a solar panel in sight in the townships , nor is there a wind generator. They have the perfect climate for simple infrastructure of their own but they just buy more diesel and keep running those generators. We make a lot of our own ships power that way but they have no need so long as there is aid money to solve their problems.
At last it is a little cooler here. The Solomon Islands was just unbearably hot and windless so that you woke up drenched in sweat and gasping for a cool breath. Now that we are one degree of latitude above the equator and it shows, we sleep cool under one thin cotton sheet and have dropped our daily consumption of cold water from 6 to 4 liters a day. The joke is that if we go much further north we may have to start peeing again !
Just to show you the daily things that happen, Kris left with a friend to explore while I worked on the boat. She took a radio and I was to pick her up in the dinghy when she called my boat radio but I got so wrapped up in what I was doing and forgot to switch the radio on. Result, Kris and friend waited 40 minutes, shouting and waving on the dock before Kris swam – fully clothed and with her shoes on – to the friends boat who then summoned me to my reckoning with two very angry women, one of whom was very very soggy. The friend had bought a frozen chicken which must surely have been melted by the time I got my act together. What a space cadet ! I say it will make a good Happy Hour story but Kris doesn’t yet see the humor in it.
We will stay here over Christmas and head off early January for Majuro in the Marshall Islands, north about 350 miles. Its an American Protectorate so they have all the goodies there and flight connections to the US instead of Australia like everywhere else down here. I will fly back to continue my US Residency status. I should really become a citizen (dual UK/US) and be done with this.
We are both well and seem to half enjoy this madness. We are still the junior cruisers and have only met ONE couple who have been cruising for a shorter time than us (two years), most of them have been out for a decade and have been all over the world.
Kris wrote about the same story:
We’re anchored over at Bairiki which is a town along the narrow island of Tarawa just northeast of Betio. The winds are continuing to blow so the anchorage is very much like those that we had at Ouvea – about 4 meters of sand – a good holding but also a bit bumpy. Yesterday I went into town with Jacqueline and took the walkie talkie so that John just dropped us off at the dock and he was supposed to pick us up when I called. BUT, he didn’t have the radio on!?!? So, Jacqueline and I were on the dock trying to call him, waving, shouting, making fools of ourselves much to the amusement of the local guys hanging out there – but although he was repeatedly walking back and forth along the deck of our boat, he never looked over and saw us. SO, I ended up swimming out in all of my clothes to Celcius since they were anchored closer to shore and then Claude called John on the VHF. Today we’re going to take the bus over to Bikinibeu with them. It’s a bit more of a touristy place, is where the parliament building is and a couple of decent restaurants where we’ll probably eat lunch.
12/01/2011
Bairiki, Tarawa, Gilbert Islands
We’ve been tramping around Betio and Bairiki today – lots of dust – lots of “China shops” – lots of heat….but we did manage to sort out our internet problems a bit – although it still won’t work on the boat where we are anchored. Also researched getting diesel for the boat since we burned nearly all of it getting here and need to refuel. It’s still really windy – about 15-20kts across the lagoon. The boat is holding well in the sand. At least here we are not getting any thunder or lightening. A little rain which the island desperately needs, but no drama. It’s just really splashy getting to and from shore in the dingy. We had lunch with Claude and Jacqueline at one of the local restaurants – super cheap which was nice:)
Fueling in Betio – was CRAZY! We had to purchase it in advance and although they delivered it to the dock by fuel truck – the truck was nearly rusted through! In fact before they started transferring the diesel, they asked us for a bucket which they placed under the truck to catch the leaks – when they’d emptied what was in the truck, they gave us the buckets with the rest of the diesel! Needless to say, John took extra time to try and filter the diesel as it was being added to our tanks.
12/09/2011- on route to Abemama
We lifted anchor in Betio at about 1:30pm and are on our way to Abemama. Started out looking like a great sail, we’re still sailing, but once again the winds have decided to come around and head us, so we’re tacking back and forth trying to make our course. Lovely evening, should be a great sunset (dry happy hour though) and it’s nearly a full moon, so the night should be more visible. It’s an overnight passage with hopes of arriving in good daylight for navigating into and around the atoll.
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After a full night of tacking back and forth trying to catch the winds and make progress toward our destination, we are once again powered up with the engine, first motorsailing, now just motoring. It’s a deja vu of our last trip as we pound directly into the 2+m seas that are acting a bit like a washing machine with winds that reached 32 knots last night and have settled on 20-25 this morning. You’d think that with that much wind, we could easily sail, but with the 2 knot current and sea-state, we cannot make good progress. Now we’re just hoping that we can manage to make enough speed to arrive at Abemama in time to enter the pass and navigate to the anchorage before it’s too dark! Neither of us fancies another night at sea. And to think that when we set off yesterday with 15kt winds, sun, rather calms seas and easily making speeds of 6+knots and we actually had about an hour where we thought we might arrive here too early this morning!?!??! The entire passage is only about 90 miles and should have been a simple overnight voyage. We have about 40 miles to go until the entrance and then another 10 once we’re in the lagoon before we get to the recommended anchorage. The boat is struggling to even get a stead 3-4kts of speed. Sun is shining though and John just gave me a wonderful cup of fresh brewed coffee – he’s a true magician with producing my morning coffee in even the bumpiest seas:) Surely it has nothing to do with my cranky attitude when I have to forgo my coffee!!? Once again we are thankful for a good, strong boat and powerful engine.
12/10/2011 ABEMAMA
We arrived safely and dropped anchor just as the sun was setting–GT’s in hand we saluted our arrival at Abemama:) Such an unexpectedly rough trip – there were no forecasts giving the strength of the winds, nor the direction of the winds that we encountered. We sailed (and motored some) 148 miles for what should have been an 85 mile trip! Now we’re here and so, so happy to relax and enjoy the peacefulness. The passage through the reef was a bit nail-biting with depths continuing at only 1-3 meters under our keel for nearly 2 miles! It’s wide, very shallow and long, just like the perimeter beaches inside the lagoon. We are anchored over 1 miles from shore, yet still only in 3-4 meters of water. Tomorrow we’ll go ashore and meet the police, some chiefs and community people and investigate a few snorkeling spots. We’ve heard nothing but positive comments about the people and the island. Abemama is another long, long strip of attached islands, barely above sea level, surrounding a mostly shallow lagoon (the pass into the lagoon shallowed out at only 1.5 meters under our keel – a bit too much excitement with 25kt winds still blasting our bow.)
12/11/2011
Abemama is a really pleasant change from the other places we’ve been. It’s a huge lagoon, in fact after we made the rather shallow entry (lowest depth was only 1.5m under our keel!) we still had to travel nearly 10 miles to the other side to anchor. The water is a lovely turquoise, the air fresh, it’s very lovely. There is a really long strip of island with a wide reef and long strip of white sand. It’s super peaceful here, very quiet and safe. Last night was the first night since our incident of getting boarded by pirates at 1am in Tulaghi Harbor, Solomons, that we have left windows/hatches open to let in fresh night breezes. It was wonderful to sleep with cooler, fresh air! We went ashore later this afternoon and walked along the dirt road which apparently goes from one end to the other. Our first encounters were of course a group of kids playing next to the church. 
John immediately went into his “kid” mode – putting his hat and sunglasses on them, doing a “magic trick” with his thumbs, a clapping game, and then swinging them around like airplanes until all were dizzy, including him:) We were passed by lots of small motor bikes – it’s the perfect place to have a regular pedal bike or moped/motorcycle. We also met one of the headmasters from the Catholic secondary school, so learned a bit about the village. Tomorrow we’ll go the other way on the road toward the government buildings so we can “check-in” with the local authorities.
I’m also keen to find out if there are some Peace Corps volunteers here. The school is out on holiday, so we can’t visit that,but we looked around the empty classrooms. Pretty basic and stripped down. I think that we’ll be here until next weekend, or whenever the winds look good for sailing up to Butaritari. We were not able to secure permission to visit Butaritari on our way to the Marshalls, so we’ll make a circle journey up to Butaritari for the holidays and then return to check out at Betio, Tarawa after Christmas.
12/13/2011
We’re still anchored in the lovely lagoon of Abemama. Had a few squally winds blast through last night, always made to sound worse because of the flapping from our ShadeTree. We’ve modified it to be up without the tent poles, so it’s much quieter and more secure in the winds, but it still makes a real flap in strong winds. Funny that both John and I had nightmares about our coming voyage between Majuro andthe USA!?!? Probably partially as a result of our having watched the movie “Amelia” last night. She was headed to Howard Island when she disappeared and it’s just next door to us(in relative Pacific Ocean terms.) We had a fun shore trip yesterday afternoon.
The shallow sandy reef comes out for about 200 meters so we can only make it in when the tides are up. We walked about 1-2 miles up the beach and then cut in to the road and walked another 1-2 before turning around and heading back with a road/beach combination walk. All along the way, batches of kids came screaming out to say hello. At one point, John went to the beach while I continued along the road and he came upon a group of kids swimming which he had fun teasing and taking pictures of. I came upon a group of teens playing volleyball and was invited to join, which I did for awhile. Always nice to have some real interactions. 
For the most part, the people just say a friendly hello and walk on. Conversations are a bit difficult to initiate. We’re enjoying the chance to really stretch our legs out and get some good walking in. This would be a great island for some long distance runs – if only I were still in condition for a run!?!
John discovered a second expansion valve for our refrigeration system so he fitted that yesterday. This freezer has been an ongoing, big project for him. Seems to be working so far, although he still has to nurse it along and hence has yet another project idea already brewing and gaining momentum this morning. That’s one thing about a boat…there is NO shortage of potential, or even urgent, projects for the mechanic/electrician/plumber…it’s a bit of heaven for John. Good thing he’s such a motivated, clever and capable guy.
12/16/2011
We’re still at Abemama. Yesterday was refrigeration day….the refrigeration system isn’t wanting to work properly so John was working on it all day, he’s been putting in lots and lots and lots of time over the past couple of weeks trying to keep it going. In the meantime, we’re trying to eat our good meats just in case it stops working. I’d really miss not having the refrigeration to keep things cold…it would definitely dull down our eating options to dried and canned foods. We didn’t go to shore yesterday either. We have to go at higher tides and yesterday that was either really early or really late and with the refrigeration work, I just ended up sitting in the cockpit reading all day- read an entire Tom Clancy novel!
It’s so odd to be out here in the Pacific and so far away from what “Christmas” at home would be. I’m trying to keep upbeat, but sometimes I get a bit mopey wishing that I were there rather than here. Nice to read that others back home are finding joy in hearing the carols and are busy with lots of lunches, potlucks, church functions and other festivities. If we were in Majuro, there would be a Christmas party, but out here we are all alone. We haven’t seen any other boats since we left Tarawa. There are surprisingly few local canoes or skiffs here considering that this is a small and isolated atoll surrounded by lagoon and ocean. Because we must anchor out so far from the shore, about a mile, we don’t get any visitors. Nice that it’s safe and quiet with a constant breeze, no bugs, so the night’s are much cooler. We’ve had some pretty strong winds at times, but no super swells like those that we had in Betio. Since we must time our shore excursions with the tides, we’re going to go over this morning and spend 2-3 hours walking around. It’d be fun if we could somehow hitch a ride, or borrow some bikes, to go all the way north to the airport area. That’s one part of the island that might be very interesting where we haven’t been yet. It’s about 5 miles north of us. With the winds, we’re reluctant to move the big boat because we can’t see obstacles through the water and it’s a bit far to go in the skiff. 
We’re thinking of leaving tomorrow morning, or Sunday, and making our way to Butaritari. It’s considered the “garden island” of this group because they get more rainfall, so we should at least be able to have some bananas! I bought some lovely imported mandarins in Betio which we’ve really enjoyed, plus some carrots, kiwis, apples, pears and potatoes. I’ve been portioning them out over the week.
12/16/2011
After spending all day yesterday on the boat, I was determined that we would get out early today while the tide was up and go ashore, if for no other reason than to get some exercise! Knowing the tide would soon be on it’s way out, we tied the dingy to a post in the water and then motored on into shore allowing the dingy to drift out after we were on the beach. Setting a brisk pace, we walked up to the road and toward the north waving, smiling and saying Mauri (hello) to everyone we passed. About 30 mins into the walk, we came to a shop and so I inquired as to whether or not there was a way for us to “borrow” a couple of pedal bikes or a motorcycle. To our great, unexpected good fortune, one of the customers took this task to heart and after disappearing for about 15 mins, came back and said that we could borrow the motorbike of his carpenter. Turns out this man is building a catholic church next to his house- he’s not a priest – he’s the “sponsor” and has been working on this project for about 20 years – it’s expected to be usable by next year when they have the roof finished. It’s pretty amazing, the church is primarily built of concrete blocks rising about 2 stories high with a steep roof that they’re now working on made from solid beams. We took off on the bike, John driving, me straddled on the rear rack – putting along (the bike has done 58,000km+ the speedometer cable has been disconnected so it’d probably done more than that!) and had lots of fun exploring further north along the dirt road for probably about 6-8 miles. Surprisingly, we actually took a wrong turn and ended up on a narrowing goat track, but were eventually corrected and lead on other goat tracks to where the airstrip is. A crowd of people were excitedly waiting for the plane to arrive, their baggage an assortment of small duffel bags and daypacks and lots of plastic containers full of dried fish, whole pumpkin/squash and other food stuffs. Clearly for the holiday season they were focused on taking island food to their families and friends on the crowded island of Tarawa. Refueling the bike was yet another adventure which entailed help navigating more goat tracks to a lovely newish compound (Canadian project) where a local women siphoned gasoline from a large drum into a 2 liter tin coffee pot and a small 1 liter pot then poured it through a funnel into the gas tank. A group of teens were busy helping with a community construction project by pulling on a long rope to try and topple over a large coconut tree while the leader was digging a hole around the base. Looked like they might be putting in a basketball court or something next to their community house/ “maneaba”. When we returned the bike and made a surprise donation to their church fund, we were invited to sit on the cool, shaded concrete floor of the open air maeaba and have a cup of coffee. They gave us an unusually smoky, sweet brew of watery coffee and milk. Everyone was keen that we should return this evening for their Karaoke night, 8-10 pm Christmas carols and then regular music until the wee hours. Would be fun, but we had to decline because it’s dark then and we have enough of a challenge getting to and from our boat in the daylight!
All the more emphasized when we returned to our dingy which was totally in the muddy muck and which we had to drag out for about a mile over the sucking goo before we got into a bit of water to pole our way and then finally motor to our boat. 
I have before and after pictures just to show how significant the tidal changes are here.
The winds blowing past our boat out in the lagoon are howling at 20-25kts which the wind generator loves and is happily spinning away making loads of power along with the solar panel since it’s a clear sunny day. We feel replete having enjoyed a great day ashore, meeting people and once again finding unexpected and thoughtful generosity which really opened the island for us and enriched our experience.
ABEMAMA to BUTARITARI- Gilbert Islands
12/16/2011 Night passage to Butaritari- we’ve left Abemama and are now on our way to Butaritari. 15-18 kt winds, 7-8kts boat speed!
12/17/2011 We’re making good time on our passage north to Butaritari from Abemama. Had a few brisk squalls last night, but mostly the winds have been 15-20kts out of the east and we’ve been averaging about 7.5nt speed.
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We dropped anchor at 11am after a 24hr40min sail with ave speeds of 7.4knts and a max speed of 10.4!! A few snarly squalls so had a reef in the main all night, but still made speeds of 7-9kts! Glad to be here. Up with the ShadeTree – out with the GTs:)
12/18/2011 BUTARTARI
So the competition continues! I might add that the 10.4 kn speed was on MY watch!! Although by that time, we were both working the cockpit since the wind shifts and squalls that produced that speed were keeping us concerned and on alert demanding duel energies, so John would likely argue that it was his watch!! Nonetheless we both had several moments in the 9-9.5 range, the boat was really cruising and leaving a fish tail behind it. We’d like to think our superb seamanship was the key, but I think it’s most likely that the 9-10 speed was achieved with the help of a 1-2kt current in our favor this time. Amazing the difference between this trip up from Abemama compared to the trip down to Abemema from Tarawa, or the trip into Tarawa – the currents and the winds were against us on those. We needed a good sail, it’s been too long since we were actually able to sail for all of a passage.
We’re off this morning to go ashore and check out the island. We were so exhausted yesterday that after straightening up the boat, having a shower and 1-2 GTs – and the weather switching to wind and rain – neither of us could keep our eyes open and we ended up napping 3-4hrs. We had several power boats/skiffs/canoes come speeding past, all too close, to just “check us out” I think. It still feels safer here, so we’re back to leaving a couple of hatches open and the slider into the cockpit to get nighttime ventilation.
12/20/2011
Butaritari is the “green” island of Kiribati and is a fresh change from the dry dustiness of both Tarawa and Abemama. They’re known for their bananas which are transported to all of the other islands, so we of course had to buy a big bunch right away. Odd story though in that our bananas were purchased from the Chief of Police!
The STORY: We were so exhausted on arrival Sunday, we just cleaned up and started happy hour and were asleep by 3pm, so had planned to go ashore on Monday morning. Well about 8:30am, Monday the police boat arrived and they came aboard to inspect our paperwork.
We had been told by customs and immigration in Tarawa that as long as we had valid visas and had checked in with them (not checked out) we were okay to travel to ANY of the islands of Kiribati. Well this police chief was determined that we must produce a letter of authorization to visit Butaritari, which we could not. So, we had to go ashore to the police station and buy a $10 phone card so that he could call Tarawa on our behalf, the result of which was his telling us that we had to leave and go back to Tarawa and get this piece of paper!?!? I was NOT a happy camper:( We settled on our walking about for the lunch hour and returning to try and sort it out at 1:30 with my calling Immigration in Tarawa. When we returned, he had suddenly changed his tone and said that he must make all calls on our behalf,so now, after a $30Aus purchase of his bananas, plus $10 transport fee….we will meet him at 4pm today and he will let us know the outcome, but of course he’ll also come aboard for a beer!?!? Odd, perplexing and frustrating. Since the winds have turned to the south, we couldn’t sail back to Tarawa now even if we wanted to, so we are truly hoping that we can stay until about Dec 26th. 
The people on the island are really friendly and we had several lovely interactions with people as we walked around yesterday, plus it’s pretty here, more attractive than either Abemama or Tarawa…..
…..Well the Kiribati saga continues….John left in the pouring rain to meet the officer, only to find the office shut, so he went to his house and his wife said that he was planning to visit our yacht. So, John went to the Kava Bar and did not find the officer, but met the Mayor, who already knew about us and REALLY wanted us to stay! John came back to the boat, soaking wet and who should come zooming up in another boat, but the police officer! He came with “some very bad news…you have to leave”….but he still wanted to come aboard and have beer! Our conversations developed where I said that I’d researched it a bit and that regulations had changed and we were legal to visit the outer islands as long as we had checked in and not checked out yet….so tomorrow we meet again at 8:30am to call immigrations – argh!! Nonetheless, the police chief and his boat driver had 2 beers each, crackers and cheese, AND the PC took a “beer for the road” when he left. It’s all leaving a rather sour taste with me – made more so by the steep banana/delivery fee purchase yesterday followed by the beers aboard today! We were invited to come to the kava bar tonight and karaoke, but neither of us feel up to it….and the story continues……. 12/21/2011 -Off we flew this morning across the waves, 25kt winds in our face, but we were to meet the police chief at 8:30am. After about 45 mins of searching, he was found by the Telecom lady and we bought another $10 phone card so he could call Immigration in Tarawa. Lots of chatter in Kiribass, shaking of his head…..and then alas he hung up the phone and gave us the thumbs up! We were fine, it was ok, of course we would have to go back to Tarawa to check-out (which was always our intent) and yes, it was ok because we had not checked out and we were not going to Majuro (all of which we’d said and reinforced repeatedly) and we were “legal” because we had visas and had not checked out, this was a new regulation. So…with no more than a smile and a handshake (not you numb-skill that’s what we’ve always been trying to say…etc…etc….) we blessedly went on our way to take a walk and try to explore the island now in the happy knowledge that we were not to be evicted.
GOOD TIMES: We met and walked with four Mormon Mission kids to the airport since they were taking the flight to Betio (one is a great kid from Kotzebue that we’d met 3 days ago and made friends with…really fun kid “Taylor” who’s parents were both teachers in Kotzebue and his dad was the XC coach – small world!) I chatted with a couple of local guys and we scored a terrific motorcycle to tour the island in for the day!!!
The rest of the day was a total blast..this is truly the best motorcycle on the island and the guy just had John take him back into town and said we could use it all day…
so we went east about 12kil to a causeway between the little islands and it was really beautiful, great rural villages, a real island experience.
After a cold Coke break at the local kava bar (owned by the mayor) we went west to the other end and left our tobacco (as required) at the local shrine. It has turned out to be a super day! Our motorcycle friend is coming for happy hour on the boat tomorrow night.
We also spoke with the local priest and have the Christmas schedule of events for Dec 24,25,26.
Everything is looking much happier, it really is a lovely island with super friendly people.
12/22/2011
So, we have met with Super Mario!! Hah- not the game, but a handsome young Italian with a 52’boat called Super Mario who is anchored across the lagoon from us:) He and his current sailing companion, a young woman called Ola from Poland, zoomed up this morning in their “superyacht-like” dingy to say hello. 
We’d been following news of this boat a bit for the past couple of weeks and thought they’d gone to Majuro, but they had boat problems and ended up here in Butaritari instead having to explain to the same policeman why they are here even though they’d checked out of Tarawa…..anyway, all is well for them too and I had a lively discussion with both of them this evening in the cockpit while your John had a lively conversation with Paul and Kofo – the men who loaned us the motorcycle – inside the salon. Sad that we ended up separated like that but there were just too many accents and too much going on….fun all the same. We’re going to lift anchor and motor across the 6-8miles to join Paulo on Super Mari on the other side for a night or two and then come back to make sure that we get the Christmas celebrations here in town. He has a pretty fancy boat, excessively big for a “single-hander” complete with all the toys: kite surfing, surf board, windsurfer, dive gear, compressor….and a super-dingy! I’m going to find out why the boat is called Super Mario:)
12/23/2011
It’s Christmas Eve, Dec 24th, here and I’m of course missing my family and wishing that we were together. Hopefully the kids will have a cozy time there together and exchange a few gifts with each other, enjoy good food and wine and Taz, the chocolate lab:) We moved Raynad across the lagoon yesterday morning to join Super Mario – an Italian boat. Fantastically fun and lively couple, but the weather turned absolutely miserable just as we were arriving and only got worse. Fortunately, they came out in their dingy and helped us navigate the coral heads through the rain squalls. We arrived soaking wet and just ended up hunkering down with books and tea – then John tore up the boat with a washing machine project – just getting things back together in time for us to go over and have happy hour on the other boat – complete with Italian prosciutto. They then they came to our boat for a dinner of chicken curry. A super fun and lively evening, our new friends are bring joy into the holiday. We’re going to try and go back across to town today (about 12 miles) but the weather is still cranky this morning, so we’ll hope it settles a bit by the afternoon. The Catholic Church has several activities going on that we want to join.
12/24/2011
Despite waking to winds and rain again, we had a rather incredible day here with Paolo and Ola. He is a crazy, fun Italian with a super dingy (like those on some of the big yachts), so he picked us up this morning and took us through the reefs and around all of the bommies at break-neck speed for about 4 miles- some amazing and rather crazy driving- we DID actually hit two coral heads, but fortunately no damage! Once there, we waded ashore about another mile since the tide was out! Onshore is a family that they had befriended who we spent the day with …. lots of fun and such lovely generous people. 
They killed two chickens to feed us, plus fish, squash, about 35 small crabs, taro, and about 20 drinking coconuts. Really special and we so wished that our kids, Scott and Jodie could have been there too.
The trip back to our boats was equally thrilling, but this time because of the 25kt winds and waves and our boat extra loaded with two big bunches of bananas, coconuts and more, there wasn’t enough room on the boat – I had to sit behind Paolo and hold tight to keep from sliding off the back! We’ve decided to just stay here for Christmas Eve and hopefully have clear weather for snorkeling in the morning before we make our way back to the main town.
11/25/2011 John wrote:
Yesterday we had a traditional Christmas Dinner with a village family ashore. Only 100 people and kids in this village at the very tip of the Atoll. They killed two chickens for us and harvested a dozen crabs off the beach boiled the whole seething mass and served unadulterated. Then steamed some tarro root and fried some breadfruit slices to make potato chips – Kiribati style. Drinks were of coconut milk in the nut and a glass of tree sap collected in a bottle from a wound created in the tree flower bud and collected drop by drop over weeks like maple syrup. Funny thing was that 7- 10 year old kids could not be restrained from fighting over who was to behead the chickens by holding their heads and swinging them around the kids head like a Hoola-Hoop and the kill the crabs by snapping off their claws and legs combined while the crabs actively resisted their attempts by climbing legless out of the boiling water (well, maybe one leg left). My sister Kay will be amused that I was immediately concerned about the classroom management implications of this behavior.
I slunk away and made friends with the pigs much to the amusement of the gathering who don’t see pigs as pets, but I got along really well with them and I think they appreciated the Taz Lover in me. Mealtime was a happy collection of toothless smiles from our hosts and much gesticulating from us since language was something that we didn’t have in common. A good time was had by all but especially the house flies that seemed to have an annual convention scheduled at the same place and at the same time as our meal. We hosted millions of them who silently participated in our scrumpous repas and then left without a word of thanks.
11/26/2011
Today was filled with wonderful local dancing at the Catholic Community House. Villagers from all over the island came to compete – dancing started at 9am and was still going strong when we left at 3:30pm! 
The men all sat around a large square box drum, the women behind them and they broke into very strong, multi-harmony song as the dancers came out, first small groups of women in traditional grass skirts, headdress and other decor, then men, then mixed, then young men, boy, girls….. we must have seen at least 30 different performances. This illustrated more than anything the strong sense of community here. Yesterday was the choir competition, which I’m sorry that we missed. 
Dec 26, 2011 Just leaving Butaritari for Tarawa ( 03-04.65N / 172-46.98E)
Dec 27, 2011 Good sailing with a sunset ( 02-28.24N / 172-42.60E) We’re sailing along, a few squalls earlier, so reef in main and used staysail until about 30 mins ago, now back to Yankee. It’s very dark, no moon, but occasionally some nice patches of stars. These night trips are always exhausting for us old folks. We’ll likely drop anchor around 7am with a full day ahead of us, but will be difficult not to go straight to sleep. 
John wrote:
Arriving at night is never planned, it is the result of going faster or slower than your planned average so it just comes upon you as the winds, tides and seas change. I have to wake up Kris in an hour and we will decide if we will take down the sails and motor through the gap in the reef, cross the lagoon and anchor in the dark, or ‘heave to’ by crossing the sails into the wind and waiting for the dawn. You would think that decision is obvious but by dawn the rising sun will be right in our eyes and we will be unable to see the shallows and the ‘occasional stick’ that marks the hazards. Additionally, a record tide will be ebbing against us so the longer we wait for sunrise the more difficult it will be to motor against the sometimes eight knot outgoing tide coming through the pass as these huge lagoons empty. I am inclined to motor in now and pick our way the two miles within the lagoon through sandbanks, coral heads, anchor bouys and ships using the ambient starlight. These villages do not glow at night like the US cities because there is little power and the lights are all extinguished at night. Helpful will be our GPS which gives us our latitude and longitude. We record that every sixteen seconds wherever we go and so when we return somewhere, we can call up our track on the navigation computer and follow it in the dark. It works well for clear waterways but does not account for anchored ships swinging at anchor etc so you can still hit some very large hard objects doing this.
12/28/2011 ARRIVED safely back in Betio, Tarawa
We got our visas extended until Jan 1st for free! Nice “Christmas” gift from immigration:) Also met Teritia, my Betio friend from the Ministry of Health and we’re going to have lunch tomorrow with her and her 4yr old daughter. Also met the couple from the other sailboat, Tom and Julie, whom we’d been chatting on the SSB radio with. He works in Majuro with wind power – trying to promote conversion to that rather than diesel in the islands. We’ll get together with them for happy hour tomorrow…so busy day ahead.
12/29/2011
Our boat friends, Tom and Julie, made it over last night they were just late and we had a great evening together. I’d made up some BBQ with all of the remaining beef – tenderloin, scotch filet, NY steaks, schnitzel…and it turned out really, really delicious!! They enjoyed it a lot too so we ate the entire pot! They are really interesting people with a business in solar/wind power systems that they’re trying to install on the islands together with water-makers. Sadly, they get alot of local opposition to their efforts from the fuel oil/diesel companies – no surprise but very frustrating.
12/31/2011 New Year’s Eve – AT SEA!!
We’re on our way to Majuro having left Betio, Tarawa at about 11:30am. Very light winds, full sails and only making 4-4.5kts speed. Will be a long but easy trip at this rate. No guarantees on that though. The forecast is for light winds, but the Marshall Islands have a real reputation for busters. Really enjoyed talking with everyone. We should have internet again in Majuro, so hopefully more Skype! We’ll be bringing in the New Year at sea, so will try to do something wild and festive:)
Happy New Year!! ( 01-30.38N/ 172-52.30E)
COURSE: 340T – SPEED: 3.7, Floating along full sail almost no wind