December 31, 2015 – January 10, 2016
Aranuka is a small atoll near Abemama where very few boats go due to how shallow the pass is. This is the first atoll we’ve ever entered where we didn’t have any prior information from another cruiser. It was well worth the effort, because the people of the island are amazing.
Logbook – December 31, 2015 (Abemama to Aranuka)
Passage Log Highlights
- 0636 Engines on
- 0819 Engines off, genniker
- 1255 SB engine on
- 1330 P engine on
- 1420 Arrive pass, launch dinghy
- 1543 Engines off, anchor outside
Daily Notes
- Passage to Aranuka. Decided to wait until morning for high tide to go through the pass
- B – spearfish from the boat. T – lobstering 😦
- T/B – Naked NYE dance
Logbook – January 1, 2016 (Aranuka)
Passage Log Highlights
- 0822 Engines on
- 0939 Engines off near village
Daily Notes
- Pass – 10 min before high tide (+ 4.5′) Not too much current, seemed to still be going in. Shallowest 8.5′ to surface. Anchored near village.
- Visited by Martin (member of Parliament) & Bet
- Day on shore – Feast and talent show w/ Protestant church. Traditional dancing + funky hip hop w/ Catholic church. We all got “freaked”! Except Alex – sick – stayed on boat)
Email to Family and Friends Dated January 1, 2016
Subject: Exodus – Happy New Year!
Today we did something we have never done… we entered a lagoon without ANY prior cruiser intel… no tracks, no waypoints, no depth/current information… nothing. We didn’t even have nautical charts.. this place, the island of Aranuka, must not have been important during WWII because unlike Tarawa and Abemama it’s completely uncharted. All we had was a somewhat cloudy satellite image and the fact the someone once heard from someone in Majuro that you could get a boat in here.
We arrived outside the pass yesterday afternoon at low slack tide and after Tim and Alex scouted the pass in the dinghy we decided to anchor outside the lagoon for the night and wait for the morning high tide. There was huge, long period swell coming at us from the south, so it was a somewhat uncomfortable night out there. Tim tried to make up for it by looking for lobster, but no luck. He only saw one, and it got away. Coming in the pass this morning, and all the way across the lagoon for that matter, we navigated totally by eyeball. Tim was at the helm, I was on the top deck, and Alex and Brenden were each on one of the bows and everyone’s job was to look for shallow coral heads. This was harder than you might think because 1) there was about 15 kts of wind on the nose and the small wind chop made it hard to see into the water, and 2) we were basically going over a sea of coral heads at 10-15 ft deep and we were trying to spot any tiny pinnacles that might stick up shallower than our draft, which is 4 feet. Tim says it was a piece of cake, but I found it quite stressful… no surprise given our personalities.
It was all worth it though, because we had a great day on shore attending not one, but two New Year’s Day celebrations. Since there are two churches in town there were two celebrations. Hopefully we can navigate the church rivalry politics as well as we navigated into the lagoon…
The celebrations were fun with an interesting mixture of traditional dancing and funky hip hop, but this time we got to get in on the action. Let’s just say the women in Aranuka seemed to really love Tim’s dance moves… you’ll just have to wait for the video if we ever get internet again.
Love and miss you all,
-D.
Logbook – January 2, 2016 (Aranuka)
Daily Notes
- Lazy Saturday
Logbook – January 4, 2016 (Aranuka)
Daily Notes
- No church
Logbook – January 4, 2016 (Aranuka)
Daily Notes
- D/T to shore. No internet. Onions & pumpkin. Met Leekee.
- T/Boys – kite surf in the afternoon
Logbook – January 5, 2016 (Aranuka)
Daily Notes
- T/A to shore to play foozeball
- After dinner, T/A/B more foozeball
Logbook – January 6, 2016 (Aranuka)
Daily Notes
- T – fishing w/ man from shore in outrigger sailboat
- Turtle for lunch
- Dinner on Exodus w/ Martin + friends + daughters
Logbook – January 7, 2016 (Aranuka)
Daily Notes
- 25-35 kt + rain most of the night. Max = 35.4 kt.
- 0700 new max = 43 kt
- Dinner @ Keekee’s house with her husband.
- Lobster!
- Election night – watched the vote counting
- Martin didn’t win
Logbook – January 8, 2016 (Aranuka)
Daily Notes
- T – shore to get gas and see Martin
- T/B spearfish – fed dogtooth to the sharks
Email to Family and Friends Dated January 8, 2016
Subject: Exodus – Election
We seem to be stuck in Aranuka since the wind only seems to blow from the N to the NW. And since Tarawa is in the direction of NNW, that makes it very hard to sail back. Our visas expire next Thursday, so if the forecast doesn’t miraculously change soon, we will just have to motor-bash back, but we are very disappointed about that. I emailed immigration yesterday and to my complete astonishment they actually emailed back, but like a typical beaureaucratic message it was vague without giving any explicit permission. It just said that our message was noted and please report to immigration as soon as we are back.
On a bright note, we are really enjoying Aranuka. Two nights ago, we had a family out to dinner on Exodus and last night we had dinner on shore. I actually think the dinner they served us was actually better… it included lobster and chicken. It is a very rare thing that we are the only boat at a village, and I’m embarrassed to say that they are treating us a little like celebrities.
Last night was also the final round of the parliamentary elections so we stayed around for the counting of the votes, and in a very close finish the incumbent was beaten and now the island has a new MP. We were invited to a party at the new MP’s house last night, but we were tired, and the wind was still blowing pretty strong, so we wanted to get back to Exodus. It was a very wet dinghy ride upwind.
We had strong winds for about 24 hours, a steady 30 kts with some short periods of 40+. However, it’s nice and calm as I set and type this morning– there’s the kettle, time for coffee!
Love and miss you all,
-D.
Logbook – January 9, 2016 (Aranuka)
Daily Notes
- T/A took kids from village dinghy surfing
- Baseball on shore
- Period party!
Logbook – January 10, 2016 (Aranuka to Tarawa)
- Went to shore to say good bye
Email to Family and Friends Dated January 10, 2016
Subject: Exodus – Period Party
We are still sitting happily at anchor in Aranuka. We may leave tomorrow or we may just let our visas expire and wait for better weather. Last night we were invited to a huge party/feast in honor of one of the young girls “becoming a woman.” Apparently, the tradition is that when a girl gets her first period, she only eats dried coconut for three days and then at the end of the three days they have a big feast for her to eat. The man we talked to about it said that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but probably the moms feel sorry for the girls not getting to eat anything but coconut and sneak them rice from time to time. We weren’t sure if a gift was appropriate or not, so Tim asked someone before the party, and he said a gift of money is generally appropriate. We considered that input but opted to go with the gifts of nail polish, lipstick, and body spray that we have.
We feasted, danced, and Tim even gave a speech to the new young woman. The funniest part of the night was the huge group of kids hovering around us. We jokingly call the group of kids that hover around us wherever we go “Alex’s posse” and last night was about the biggest posse we’ve seen. They actually broke down the fence they were gathered by and leaning on, and once there was no fence they sat close in with us in our little corner. They don’t speak much English but there was lots of repetitive high fiving, fist bumping, and of course they absolutely loved having their pictures taken.
At the end of the party the hostess presented as a gift to us one of the woven mats, and I couldn’t contain my gratitude/excitement because I’ve always really been wanting one. I told the boys when we get home, we aren’t going to have furniture, just a big hand-woven mat in the living room, but Tim has vetoed that. I think he misses the big comfy couch. The hostess also gave us two huge pumpkins, and Tim never tired of the joke “Oh my gourd, what are you going to do with those?!” The pumpkins were almost as exciting as the mats given, we have absolutely no fresh food on board. Oh, and when you think pumpkin, don’t think big round thick skinned pumpkin that you carve at halloween, think something more like a giant zuchinni. You can even eat the skin.
I’m pretty sure this is all about as exciting as it gets out here!
Love and miss you all,
-D.
Gresham Family Exodus 