Estrellita, IP38-138 in the Marshall Islands
Saturday - January 10, 2009•Views: 5605••
In the past 60 days we have traveled over 2000 miles and visited 5 different countries. We have crossed the International Dateline twice, the equator once and suffered our first major equipment failure at sea. Here are the photos…
Samoa (formerly Western Samoa) was a wonderful stop. We met a taxi driver who gave us a tour of the island beginning with a stop at his own home to show us the “Samoan Way”. His home consisted of a main dwelling where the family of EIGHT did the usual things… hang out, sleep, and watch a little TV. The difference was that this home had no walls though they could drop plastic side curtains if the rain was blowing too hard.
They had several outbuildings including a hut for cooking, a wash station and out house. They had running water, but cooked over a fire pit on the ground.
In American Samoa we went to a real American style Football Game!! Vikings won 13 to 6 AND to add insult to injury, the Viking cheerleaders had better tattoos! Also in AS we went to the Samoan Tattoo Festival and craft exhibit where we met Miss Fiji who was having a new tattoo put on her leg. Check the photo.
In American Samoa our friends Steve and Janet on Bliss got married. The men all wore traditional Samoan Lava-lavas. Looks like a dress, but most Samoan men wear shorts under them.
In Tarawa Kiribati we toured one of the major beachheads from the US Marine advance on Japan.
In Route to Kwajalein, Marshall Islands se suffered our first major equipment failure when our forestay broke 100 miles out. We motor sailed the last 100 miles with a double reefed main and staysail with an extra halyard tied to the bow.
Kwajalein is the home of a US Army administered missile testing facility. Though it is an Army facility it is mostly staffed with civilian technicians employed by Lockheed, Boeing and other aeronautical companies. So it is rigid and tightly organized like any military base but most of the residents walk around in shorts and aloha shirts. And because all of the residents necessarily live “on base” the whole place takes on a sort of persona reminiscent of “The Village” from the old “Prisoner” TV series. Except we haven’t seen the big balloons yet.
The scuba is spectacular here. 30 WWII wrecks in 50 to 150 feet of water, and fish we never saw in the Atlantic/Caribbean… Lion fish, and the 3 banded clown fish (Nemo). We have been on 2 wrecks already and have another coming up on Saturday. We have been told that there are bi-planes in the cargo hold. Can’t wait.
Check the wedding video on Youtube…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUGRRWNV4Bo
Samoa (formerly Western Samoa) was a wonderful stop. We met a taxi driver who gave us a tour of the island beginning with a stop at his own home to show us the “Samoan Way”. His home consisted of a main dwelling where the family of EIGHT did the usual things… hang out, sleep, and watch a little TV. The difference was that this home had no walls though they could drop plastic side curtains if the rain was blowing too hard.
They had several outbuildings including a hut for cooking, a wash station and out house. They had running water, but cooked over a fire pit on the ground.
In American Samoa we went to a real American style Football Game!! Vikings won 13 to 6 AND to add insult to injury, the Viking cheerleaders had better tattoos! Also in AS we went to the Samoan Tattoo Festival and craft exhibit where we met Miss Fiji who was having a new tattoo put on her leg. Check the photo.
In American Samoa our friends Steve and Janet on Bliss got married. The men all wore traditional Samoan Lava-lavas. Looks like a dress, but most Samoan men wear shorts under them.
In Tarawa Kiribati we toured one of the major beachheads from the US Marine advance on Japan.
In Route to Kwajalein, Marshall Islands se suffered our first major equipment failure when our forestay broke 100 miles out. We motor sailed the last 100 miles with a double reefed main and staysail with an extra halyard tied to the bow.
Kwajalein is the home of a US Army administered missile testing facility. Though it is an Army facility it is mostly staffed with civilian technicians employed by Lockheed, Boeing and other aeronautical companies. So it is rigid and tightly organized like any military base but most of the residents walk around in shorts and aloha shirts. And because all of the residents necessarily live “on base” the whole place takes on a sort of persona reminiscent of “The Village” from the old “Prisoner” TV series. Except we haven’t seen the big balloons yet.
The scuba is spectacular here. 30 WWII wrecks in 50 to 150 feet of water, and fish we never saw in the Atlantic/Caribbean… Lion fish, and the 3 banded clown fish (Nemo). We have been on 2 wrecks already and have another coming up on Saturday. We have been told that there are bi-planes in the cargo hold. Can’t wait.
Check the wedding video on Youtube…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUGRRWNV4Bo
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