My watch (sans Joel and Brailey) while baggywrinkling (Sarah`s photo)
The first few days were taken up with intros and orientation, slightly boring the 5th time around but necessary nonetheless. The requisite ‘cold drink breaks’ were scheduled in between intros to keep people alive in the heat (50 C).New Years Eve was spent together as a boat, and involved various games (including a hilarious game of silent football, after which Jordan had to dance on the dock to Play that Funky Music), snacks, songs, and noisemakers. Very fun. We must have put on quite the show for the tugboat beside us. We ended up staying in Madang for longer than expected, due to various boat errands complicated by the frustratingly slow pace of PNG business. There was a lot of Trivial Pursuit played, more market exploring, and many music sessions. I played my fiddle on the dock one night which was a lot of fun. Everyone was busy on the boat, and the violin’s pretty loud, so I took off to the corner of the shipping dock and set up camp in the open eating area normally used by the dock crew. It had great sound, and there was something beautifully picturesque about having these slow classical violin pieces drifting out of the ramshackle concrete building and out over the dock and bay. I met a few crew members from neighboring boats who came by to see where the sound was coming from, and passing pangas would slow down, turn their motors off and sit listening for a while before starting up again and going on their way. A neat night.We finally left the harbour on the 3rd (I think) after what seemed like forever. Our leaving was slowed by the fact that the customs officer was lost. Lost. A customs officer. Its unbelievable really, how does one lose a customs officer? The explanation we got was "we think he may have had too much to drink at New Years...we don’t know where he is." Classic.
The passage to Micronesia (Chuuk Lagoon) went smoothly, so nice to be sailing again finally. Some very funny watch interrogations, a couple visiting birds camped out on the deck for a day or two, and Kara and I had a good iPod dance party. Chase and Scott had some very exciting fish chases as well. I think the total number of lures lost was 5, all within four days to big Marlin.
Chase taking his turn to reel
One especially good one involved 4 people taking turns reeling, a charge at the boat, and almost a minute of jumps – all along the starboard side, around the bow, and down the port side. In the end, as it was nearing the stern (after having made it entirely around the boat), the line got snagged on the bobstays and snapped. Dang.We also crossed the equator on this passage, so we are officially out of the South Pacific. This time we had the entire crew to help us initiate people (them having already undergone humiliation on leg 2,) plus Chase and Chris. It was disgusting but hilarious. Characters were as follows: King Neptune-Jose, Amphitrite-Karen, Naughtylus (concubine...)-Antony, Judge Barnacle-Jordan, Scuttle-Chase, Hatch-Chris, Flotsom-me, Jetsom-Bec, Urchin-Arwen, Nudibranch-Noah, Moray-Jacob, Limpet-Simon, Sea Squirt-Katie...that’s all I remember. Costume inventiveness was at an all time high, with Jose dying himself green using food colouring and sunscreen, tinfoil pirate earrings, and makeshift kimonos.
King Neptune (Sarahs photo)
Flotsom, Scuttle, Jetsom
Naughtylus (Sarahs photo)
Initiations included a peanut butter licking race (on either side of the plexiglass dropboard), hotsauce test, slopping, egg-in-tube blow (kudos to Tiana, who got a mouthful of egg...twice), and a noodle nose push along the nasty slopped deck. Drew of course got special treatment: hung by his feet and dipped head first into slop. Disgusting. The deck was revolting afterwards, covered in slop and miscellaneous initiation nastiness (including hair...Sara Ross and Sean agreed to have their heads shaved.)
Deck chaos (Becs photo)
We arrived at the entrance to Chuuk during the night, so a lot of the circuitous passage into the lagoon was done by radar (since a few of the lights we were supposed to be navigating by weren’t even turned on...). Pop showed me some basic radar, so I had fun taking bearings and giving ranges off the various islands. Good nighttime sail handling coming in...brought back some good Leg 1 memories.
Chuuk Lagoon is a diving Mecca, though the area has little else. With an entire Japanese fleet of 65 sunk inside the reef, most of the hotels are there solely for divers. We were at the shipping dock (shocker...) and, as usual, dock security was at a confidence-inspiring high. The guard house was a rusted out container, with holes cut in the sides for windows and doors, and a barrel with an old ‘Corrosive’ label on it to store drinking water. The island itself was beautiful, reminded me a bit of French Polynesia with lush hills framing in the town. Most of us hiked up the famed ‘One Tree Hill’, climbed said one tree (great view all the way down to the boat and the bay around the corner), and got supremely muddy on the way down.
A view from the top (you can see the dock)
The one tree...
We also found an old Japanses Foxhole from the war at the top; a tiny little bunker in the bush/underground...pitch dark inside. A group of us ventured in for a look at the cramped little space, peered out the gun slit, and took a photo or two. Unbelievable to think of fighting out of somewhere like that.
Inside the foxhole
We quickly discovered a neat little place called TrukStop, that not only served all our internet and Skype needs (though the lame connection was frustrating beyond belief...), but also gave us an awesome deal on diving (2 dives for $65). Almost everyone with a diving ticket went on at least one dive. Famous for having the world’s best wreck diving, I wasn’t disappointed. I went on two dives with Jord, Joel, Rach, Sean, Chase, Sara, Scott, and Sarah. Two big supply boats, each over 300 ft long. Definitely the most involved wreck dives Id ever done; they took us three or four levels deep into the ships, through little hatch openings, and along corridors.
One of Joels shots from the dives
Saw everything from huge torpedoes and dishes, to instruction boxes and bicycles. On the second dive we swam through the torpedo holes in the hull. Very neat, the holes were at least 30-40 ft wide - all the way from the hull out through the deck. Certainly sketchy (all of us but Jord and Joel were beginners, with less than 20 dives), but amazing wrecks. The dive boat was definitely a highlight as well…fantastically fast and bumpy ride.
Dive boat extrordinaire
Other note-worthy happenings on Chuuk include Bec doing my laundry (as I was preoccupied with Skype difficulties...) in one of the nastiest Laundromats of all time with lovely lavender-vanilla detergent, consuming a pint of ice cream each with Joel and Bec, the most thorough bunk cleaning of my offshore life (music provided by Sarah), and some great hitchhiking.
The lovely laundry
The next passage (to Guam) was marked by some amazing sailing. Its so good to get a taste of the long sailing periods of long passages again; sailing night after night, finding how fast you adjust to the motion and the heel of the boat, and just sitting and taking in how beautiful the boat, and the ocean all around her really is. Im very pleased to announce that we have finally switched to starboard tack sailing! That means, that I can now sleep in my bunk without flying out, and without the need to entangle myself in my lee cloth. Hooray! It’s a big deal. It also means that all my worldly possessions no longer come rocketing down from my shelves onto my head while I sleep. Again, hooray! This passage also included the first night in over five months that I was able to sleep in my bunk comfortably all night, and not wake up sweating. That is truly remarkable, it was THAT cold (around 25 C at night.)During this passage we also crossed the Mariana Trench at close to its deepest: 30 400ft. Amazing feeling to be over something so deep that Everest could be fit inside. Did the Forgiveness Rock exercise (but didn’t have rocks...so used rivets) with the interesting knowledge that it would take almost 3 hrs for what we threw over the side to hit the bottom.There were some great nightwatches underway with Sarah, good musical dishes (the person being interrogated in our watch gets to make the dishes playlist), and some thoroughly entertaining laugh sessions on deck.
We arrived in Guam (at another shipping dock...Im sensing some sort of pattern here...), and were overwhelmed by culture shock. Fully Americanized, it had everything from massive resorts to 6 types of M&Ms. I hadn’t expected the change to be so sudden, or so intense. In Micronesia and PNG there were dirt roads, ramshackle shops that never had what you were looking for (but somehow it never really mattered, that was half the fun), very down to earth and real people, inquisitive kids everywhere, and impromptu games of soccer of volleyball wherever you looked. We went from that, to full blown American culture; dance clubs, resorts, malls, stores selling anything you could ever want, huge houses, highways...it was unbelievable. There was a good period of time where I was totally overwhelmed and would often just stand there in stores confused...not really sure what to do. There also came a good deal of disgust over the intense excess of first world society, and the superficiality that seems to breed out of having our every possible need catered to. In short, I wasn’t a fan. (I did, however, hypocritically love the fast internet...) The dock was a good ways out of town, so it necessitated hitching (always welcomed...often in pickups), and the entertaining ‘tanker honking’ game was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Hitching with the whole family
Hitching was really easy, and people were super friendly - as evidenced by the fact that a couple pulled over to pick my entire family up. This couple later came back with ‘snacks’ for the boat (7 12-packs of pop, tetrapacks of juice, chips, water...), a birthday gift for mom, and a boat supply of doughnuts…
It was an interesting place, for as soon as you moved out of the city, the island was sparsely populated, and beautifully untouched. Sarah, Bec, Joel, Kara, Ilya and I rented a car for the day and bombed around the southern half of the island, having a blast, and listening to music via iTrip. Many adventures ensued. We accidentally wound up in the lineup for a naval base (...that was embarassing getting out of that one...), hiked a hill that was surely not meant to be hiked, found Tarzan Falls, and saw a movie. The hike was incredible. We had stopped on the side of the road at a little viewpoint, and on the other side of the road was a large hill that, surely, must have an awesome view (...this was my reasoning at least). I decided to go up. I was thoroughly mocked. After a bit of bushwacking, some sliding in mud, and one or two bee stings, we found that it was indeed possible to get to the top, and Bec, Sarah, Joel and I headed up. Amazing view. The whole south half of the island is volcanic near the beach, and there are big dramatic hills all around (what I imagine New Zealand to look like...thank you LOTR) - really beautiful. You could see all the way down to the beach on one side, and up into the hills on the other.
Views from the top (East, North, and South)
The very steep walk down was a gong show. Bec and I discovered that if you jumped and slid, the passage was immensely more exciting (largely due to the large hidden holes that one would fall in, and the annoyingly sharp grass.) We may have sang loudly as well.Tarzan falls were fun as well. Tucked back in the bush at the end of a "medium difficulty trail" (as the sign says...it was a dirt road), they were these great cascading falls.
Tarzan Falls (Sarahs photo)
There were spots where you could lie down on the rocks and get a massage of sorts from the water. We even got in a bit of bouldering near the end. Very fun. Combined with more coast exploring, good music, and some good quotes, it was a great day.
Our water massage, and small amount of bouldering (Sarahs photos)
Jacob was taking his dive course and wanted someone to come with him for the ocean dives part, so Bec and I each took a day. I was the first day so I got to hang out and watch them practice their skills...Jacob definitely had it all down pat. Our final dive took us out to an underwater viewing station for tourists. I had fun dancing in front of the underwater windows for all the Japanese tourists and their many cell phone cameras.
Oh yes, and we went dancing! All my dancing experience thus far had been at little S Pacific beach bars, so I was definitely out of place at this fancy Guam dance club where everyone was all fancied up and dancing with some skill. I didn’t bring ID (didn’t know I needed it), and Sarah gave me some important pointers. I was definitely not into it at first (it was all fancy...it had everything, even the creepy guys watching...), but after everyone was out there I joined in. It was a blast. At first there were only a few locals dancing, but our group moved out and ended up taking up most of the floor. It was very entertaining to see the floor go from a few people, all dressed up in silver and black, dancing very intently...to us boaties, in big block primary colours, dancing like fools but having a blast. There must have been at least 15 of us, and Sarah and I pulled out everything embarassing; sprinkler, lawnmower, the tav, swing, the handjive, the elske, shopping cart...it was hysterical. Anyways, we had a lot of fun. Stay tuned for our dancing adventures to come in China.
The Anderson and Farrens family on the slide at the Hyatt...(Warning: Please only one child down the slide at a time)
Other highpoints of Guam included infiltrating the high-end resorts and using their pools (I also got a veery appreciated shower at the Farrens, thank you so very much), being shot out of a volcano in a small metal ball (‘the slingshot’) to 200ft in one second, and trying slacklining on the dock for the first time (Im determined, despite my very apparent great lack of skill, to get good at this).
Oh yes, I also befriended the tuna fishermen on the dock behind us. It was the day we were supposed to leave, and while on the phone I could see them unloading these massive tuna (800lbs, sometimes 10 or 12 at a time) with a crane on the nearby dock. That area of the dock was restricted, so I camped out on the tug boat beside us to watch.
They saw me watching and taking photos, waved, I waved, we both tried to say something that wasn’t understood, I tried like a dork to act out ‘marlin spike’ to see if I could buy one off them, and in general we just laughed at each other. They were very friendly though, and after a few minutes they tossed me a heaving line (they were only 30 ft away) and motioned for me to tie it on where I was. They then proceeded to pass me two 30lb yellowfin. I, looking like an idiot, act out how grateful I am, then waddle back to the boat carrying these two fish (slapping into my ankles and spilling ooze everywhere...) to Chase and Scott who kindly start cutting them up. In the meantime, another fish has been passed to Raven, who took up my watching post. We don’t have any tshirts or mugs to give them, so I lamely walk back with posters...posters. Anyways, I had them over through the fence, and ask again about marlin spikes. Im understood, and they tell me to go back to the tug. Im then passed a little parcel of spikes. Amazing. I, again, act out ‘thank you’ like a retard over and over, and ask whether I can pay them for them? Are they a gift? Do they want anything? Nothing, they’re a gift. Then a crew member sticks his head out of the hatch and yells "chocolate!" So Raven lends me $20 and I go to the corner store nearby and load up on as much chocolate as I can find (a surprising quantity actually...), pass it over the fence, and they were all smiles. In the end they passed a fourth fish to us (50lbs), so we ended up with over 100 lbs of tuna.
The very seaworthy Takemaru
A big thank you to Chase and Scott who cut it all up (Chase taught me how to fillet so I did a bit of the last one...) and made it all into delicious nuggets and fish cakes.
It took us eight days to reach Okinawa from Guam. Again, great sailing. We set the main, I didn’t get sick (this is amazing by the way), and we had great weather for the most part. Beautiful rolling swells, sunny days, and amazing amounts of stars at night. One of my favourite things on offshore is laying on the deckhouse on a clear night looking at the huge number of stars that you really only see on offshore. Nights were super cold (a frigid 22 C!), so we were in socks/shoes/pants/sweaters/toques and jackets. Offshore club got started up on this passage, with the exciting goal of planning the next offshore…a circumnavigation. Pop sat down with everyone and explained all the books and charts we would need to look at, different routes, some more info on this present offshore, and in general all the work that goes into planning a trip like this. Very exciting. So we’ve been reading up on different world routes, weather and wind patterns, world storm seasons...very interesting.
A nice sunset shot of Okinawa by Bec
I started my visit to insanely cold Japan (we still think 15 C is freezing) with a bang...I hit a truck with the stern heaving line. Just great. Its been a lot of fun though; completely different from anywhere else Ive ever been.
Part of the extensive underground market system
Im at a total loss. I cant understand anything, I cant talk to anyone, I cant read any instructions or signs, I cant even sound things out because everything’s written in characters.
Bewilderment in the marketplace
Everyone is interestingly fashionable - Ive seen some of the thinnest girls and most elaborately coifed guys of my life, and in general we all feel like grubs walking around in our flip flops and boat clothes.Our time here has been spent exploring the city of Naha.
There’s an extensive market network which has been very fun to poke through, countless beautiful ceramic places, very fun restaurants, and about a million vending machines (selling everything from coke and hot coffee to beer and cigarettes.)
This one even had commercials running on a screen... (Becs photo)
We found some cute old ladies who sell various fried things (I say ‘things’ cause I really don’t know what all of them are) out of tiny alley...they now know me. Ive done a lot of pointing and acting out, and have ended up with a lot of surprising food that I didn’t know I ordered (including, but not limited to pigs heart, a purple sweet potato, veggie patties, pigs ear, and a deep fried green bean. Joel accidentally ended up with a lump of dough.)
The deep-fry stand. Much visited.
Bec and I got our hair cut (very funny watching us try to communicate) which was great. My first real haircut...I was amazed by the head massage-like wash I got! We also did laundry (a treat!), I had a very fun dinner with my watch, and went out for dinner with Jord and my family (where I ate squid in ink...revolting.) We found the food market (inside the network of markets...), and saw everything from dressed up pig heads to skinned pufferfish.
Pig heads...thats fairly obvious I would hope. I of course posed with these, displaying the peace sign...
Octopus, skinned puffers, and various seafood for sale
We also went to the traditional public bath. Its just that...a bath that is public. Its an offshore trainee’s dream really; all this fresh water open for your consumption as long as you want. So I spent three hours (this is completely in the nude by the way...) in a room full of very cute, pot-bellied, (nude), old Japanese ladies, getting more thoroughly clean than I’ve ever been in my life. There’s a sauna; a steam room at 89 C; a salt scrub room, that made me more smooth than I’ve ever been (I used this three times...each time having my back scrubbed for me by a little old lady...I then scrubbed theirs); and various individual pools including an electric pool, little jet pools that give you back massages, a hot pool, and a cold pool). Everyone washes thoroughly before even entering any of the rooms/pools, and everything is super clean. There is definitely a minute or two of awkwardness...the whole being-nude-in-public thing, but you get over it. Certainly one of the most different, and supremely enjoyable cultural adventures thus far.
Given my current situation of extreme poorness, Okinawa has also given me ample time and opportunity to practice and perfect my many hobo tendencies. A few examples: I made enough money for lunch by pressing the coin-return buttons in a road-side arcade; we routinely visit the local Starbucks to use their free internet and bathroom, but never buy anything; the department store has provided not only delux toilets (more on these later), but also free massages in the trial chairs, and an odd horse thing that we rode for a while...some new-fangled Asian workout machine apparently; and 100yen sushi rolls ($1) have become a staple of my diet. Despite out best efforts though, I think everyone has found that spending has exceeded expectations here.
Delux toilets. They really need to be experienced. Ill give a quick summary, for they are truly wondrous inventions. The seat is heated (and not in the nasty way that head seats are ‘pre-warmed’ either), and there is a console of buttons beside the toilet.
The wondrous machine
Since I obviously couldn’t understand any of them I did the obvious thing, I pressed every one. Surprising. Apparently Bec had done the same thing, for I heard her reaction seconds later from the neighboring stall. Through trial and error (really, it was all error...) we figured out that the buttons with pictures dictated spray range, and the others determined velocity. Very funny. There was also a button on the wall to create large flush noises whenever the user deemed it necessary to mask a particularly embarrassing fart noise...hysterical.
Sushi has become a staple of my diet within the past couple weeks, regardless of my past dislike for rawness. We found a sushi-train restaurant nearby and have been frequent diners - to the great entertainment of the servers who are on the receiving end of all our trying to act out different sushi.
My favourites from this little conveyor belt system of dining have been without doubt the octopus, and kappamaki (cucumber rolls). Probably the first time I’ve ever, after dining, been tempted to buy a tray of octopus and eat it raw.
For the past week we’ve been waiting for a break in the weather so we can make a break for Shanghai. It’s been blowing gales all around us for a week…so here we stay. Right outside the breakwater there has been 35ft seas, and a freighter north of here got caught in an extension of these storms and lost 41 of its shipping containers overboard. A cruise ship that docked beside us for a day said its the roughest they’re seen in 10 years; waves were breaking over the 5th story...that’s even with our yard. Most people have been sticking around the boat, which has been a lot of fun. Lots of card games, listening to music, and general hang out time. There have been some fun mug-ups, and in general very little venturing off the boat except to visit Brailey in the hospital, use internet, or stock up on stash.
The infamous Monorail; a view from the walk to the hospital
Since the wind is constantly blowing us away from the dock (at any given time we’re 10-15ft away), tarzan-style swinging via the outhaul is now a normal part of our everyday routine to get off the boat. (I have a photo of this, but its still on my camera. Ill post it later)
An interesting side effect of us being stuck here so long is that our holding tanks have filled up. You laugh, but we have to live with the effects of this. I came back from town one afternoon to an especially rank focsle (no big shocker, it usually reeks of something)...I ignored it. After a while though it got to be too much and I proceeded to go on a Febreeze rampage throughout the area, thoroughly soaking everything in my path. It did nothing. I noticed that the head door was closed...so I opened it. (Note to self: Never ever do this again)
The Fecal Fill-up
Apparently, due to peoples’ faulty pumping practices (and the critical height our holding tanks had evidently reached), the head had backed up, filling the head floor with seven inches of brown/black water. Seven inches!
After much theatrics, I donned the necessary headlamp and sarong mask and headed in (haha...headed in...I crack myself up) to bail. Bec joined me in the crap caper, standing behind me and giving the area a thorough spraying of Febreeze every few minutes. It was so deep that the bailer could get submerged. We of course were laughing hysterically, and came up with various fitting names for our dung duo: Poop Patrol, Bathroom Banditas, Anus Andersons, Butt Busters, Crap Bandits, Head Honchos...the list goes on. In the end it took over half an hour to get the head back to normal...a very funny, but supremely disgusting adventure.
Well, despite my best efforts, this update is huge. If you’ve made it this far, good job, Ill try to make it smaller next time. Maybe. Anyways, thanks for checking in, and a big thank you to everyone who has sent emails – its always exciting to hear from home, I love getting them.
A night of Naha exploration
