Most of the Northbound fleet was planning to head to Abiang, the atoll just to the north of Tarawa, for Christmas. However, after reading about our various options, we decided we would go our own way and head south to Abemama instead. We wanted to get just a little more off the beaten path and we wanted something a little more low key for Christmas. Abemama looked like it had a lot of options for anchoring near villages and passes that could be easily accessed for spearfishing. Once again, a quick conversation with True Blue V revealed that we were on the same page, and they actually departed for Abemama a couple days before us. Even though we were consciously deciding not to follow the pack, it was nice to know we wouldn’t be alone on Christmas.
Abemama is about 90 miles SE of Tarawa, so we made an overnight passage out of it. We were able to sail most of the way, but it certainly wasn’t the kind of sailing where you can just set the sails and forget about them. There were numerous squalls and wind shifts. In fact, I think we sailed at almost every point of sail during that short passage. We had an easy entry through the western pass and hung a left in order to anchor next to True Blue V near the village of Tabiang.
Almost immediately after dropping anchor we were visited by a young man in an outrigger canoe. His name was Tanro, and we invited him aboard and showed him around Exodus, and he invited us to come see the village, so the next morning we went to shore with True Blue V. We met some nice people and sat and drank coconuts with a man called Karakaua who spent time on a commercial fishing vessel as a young man, so his English was impeccable and he had an interest in travel and asked questions about own experiences. Tanro gave us a tour of the village including a peak at the airfield and the ocean side of the island. Of course, Tim wanted to scout the potential for lobsters. We tried to find the local police officer in Tabiang in order to check in with him rather than wait until we visited the main village, but we never did find him. I remember that Tim asked Tanro if the police are busy and what sort of things people get in trouble with the police for, and he said, “oh you know, when you don’t have your pig tied up.”
Tanro and Tim (and a large pig) – Photo by True Blue V
One of the things immediately apparent about this village, compared with most others we had visited, is that the structures were much more traditionally constructed. There was very little concrete and corrugated metal, the exception being the churches and the large fales, that serve as town halls. It’s easy to have a first impression that they must be much poorer, but I suppose that depends on your definition of wealth. If you think about it, this island is pretty much on the equator. It’s hot and humid and they are not at risk for cyclone, so really the structures are exactly what they need, and they are made from materials readily available on the island. Self-sufficient certainly doesn’t mean poor.
Traditional thatched roofs in the village of Tabiang
Another observation was that for the most part, with the exception of the man who spent time on the commercial fishing boat, the English of the people of the village was far less developed than say, Nanumea, an outer island of Tuvalu.
After a couple of days the wind died down a bit and we moved the three boats, Exodus, True Blue V, and EOS II (they arrived the day after us), down to anchor off the small island of Bike. It wasn’t the flattest of all places to anchor, especially at high tide, but it gave Tim and Slade easy access to the south pass for spearfishing, and they came back with a dogtooth tuna. Lahnee, the girls, and I went ashore in the mighty EOS dinghy and walked along the beach. We met a small, extended family who were living there, but they didn’t speak any English, so we weren’t able to get their story. One of the women had a very young baby, probably not more than a couple weeks old. They gave us coconuts to drink, and later Lahnee returned to give her some nappies (that’s Australian for diapers.)
While we were anchored at Bike, True Blue V dropped a bomb on us that they were changing their plans and leaving Abemama and heading back to Tarawa to clear out before Christmas and then head to Majuro. Since they arrived in Tarawa before us they had less time left on their visas and they were getting concerned about getting back in time and also about government holidays between Christmas and New Years. It all happened so fast that it felt like I was standing there with my mouth hanging open as they pulled out of the anchorage. It was disappointing not to be with them on Christmas, but so goes the life of a cruiser… so many things can impact your decision making. So, it was just us and The Mighty EOS II for Christmas, but more about that later.
When we finally got around to going to the main village, we were visited by the local policeman, so we finally officially checked into Abemama. We invited him on board and showed him our letters from customs and immigration that documented our permission to be there. We were granted permission for only a 10 day stay, but with some heavy weather expected we asked him if we would be able to stay longer, and he said no problem. (In the end we didn’t test this since the weather cleared and we left before our 10 days were up.) When the weather came it was strong winds from the north, so we spent our final days in Abemama back up in the northern part of the atoll.
Gresham Family Exodus 