Friday, November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving in Pohnpei

Happy Thanksgiving!
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!).

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Arrive Pohnpei

4:30 PM we pulled up to the dock for check-in. $36.24 overtime fees
because customs didn't come till after 5!
Tired. No significant breakage this trip!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Getting ready to leave Kosrae

We are getting ready to leave already. It is beautiful here but we
seem to have itchy feet!
I am supposed to be getting fuel today. We plan to checkout from
customs today also. Already did from immigration.

We took a taxi tour of the island. it is maybe 6 miles by 8 miles with
one road along the coast that doesn't quite make it all the way
around. Two resorts, mostly for divers and government officials it
seems. I have some photos, but the Internet is more expensive than
Majuro was before the high speed cable, so later.

It is 300 miles to Pohnpei so may be 3 days.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Kosrae Arrival

We're here. A little sail damage, a little dodger damage, lots of
diesel used, tired... but safely anchored. More later.

Oh and I been spelling it wrong before. Oops!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Checked out of Majuro

It seems almost strange to be checked out of Majuro and the Marshall Islands after being here almost two years. We came the week before Christmas dinner in 2008. We had Thanksgiving in Kiribati and then sailed to Majuro.

We cleared out of the Ports Authority, Immigration and Customs this morning . Then a few groceries and a goodbye to Merine, who gave us a big box of fresh peanut-butter cookies, then back to the boat. It rained the whole time we were in town. The internet died here just liken every time it rains a little! Arg! So this is coming by radio and there were no goodbye phone calls.

We are at Enamonet tonight. Made 6 whole miles so far, only 499 to go! I cleaned on the bottom of the boat while Trinda fried chicken legs and made a potato salad for munching along the way.

If the wind is right, we'll leave tomorrow morning, otherwise it Sat morning. No superstitions, BUT no sailor starts a passage on a Friday!