We had a nice day. Made dinner and ate with Denny and Forrest on
Jubilant and Jim om Fandango.
Turkeys here are $45 for a 12 lb'er so we opted for 2 roasting
chickens. I made dressing too. Trinda made green beans and of course
the required lemon-marenge and pecan pies. We also had chocolate chip
cookies left from the day before.
We sat around and told stories all afternoon. Was nice.
A few days ago we rented a taxi and toured the island. $80 for all day
for the 5 of us in a small van. It is a little larger island so it did
take all day, maybe 50 miles of driving. We stopped at "Rosa's
Cantina" for lunch. No Mexican food. I don't know where they got the
name. The special was grilled yellow-fin tuna. Trinda and Forrest had
a hamburger and fries. We tried to drive up the mountain in the
afternoon, but the little van wasn't up to it. It was already hot and
half way up it died and wouldn't start again, so we coasted back down
to the flat. He radioed for another taxi that came and brought us
back.
Pohnpei (pronounced pon a pay) is quite a nice place. The anchorage is
well protected and quiet. It does have some problems for us. The hills
rise steeply from the bay, meaning we have to hike up about 200 feet
of steep road to reach a place we can get a taxi. The other problem
is, because it is a volcano island with a reef, the run-off from the
rains create mangrove swamps around the edge of the water. This means
mosquitoes and cloudy water. Swimming is ok, you just can't see any
distance in the water. The snorkeling is not that good either for the
same reasons.
Our auto-pilot did not do well on the way to Kosrae or here. I ordered
a replacement just before leaving Majuro. It came without a manual and
the connectors are different, with a different number of wires. In
Kosrae I downloaded the manual and it seems I have to replace the
remote control also. I ordered it here so we are here for at least a
week.
Denny is getting itchy feet and may move on without us. It is still
nearly 2000 miles to the Philippines and his crew only gets 4 months
off. He is also worried that the next place may be nicer and he'll
want to spend more time there (from each place he's at!).
