True Blue V left Nanumea before the first week was up, so we had several days with Nanumea to ourselves before some of the Northbound Fleet started trickling in.
First to arrive was Skua and then EOS II the next day. So, we had all the kid boats in the fleet together at Nanumea. Did I mention there’s a kid on board Skua also? A boy named Ulysses who was about 4 or 5 years old (I can’t remember exactly)
We had EOS II over for coffee and the SSB net one morning, and I served them some cinnamon bread a bit on the undercooked side, but they are good sports about pretty much anything really. This was the first time the girls had been over to Exodus, and to Lahnee’s dismay I let them play with Playdough. She was convinced they would make a horrible mess, but I’m not sure what she was going on about, they are perfect angels!
Kiani and Ahia (Tim calls them my mini-shes)
Over the next few days four more boats arrived. So, before we knew it we were seven boats in the lagoon, the most Nanumea has ever had at one time.
Before our week was up I went to Alefaio, the police officer, and asked if we could extend our stay because there was no wind and I asked if we could wait for wind. He told me he would check and that I should come talk to him the next day.
The next day he said that customs in Funafuti said that I should call them. He said I could call from the telecom office by purchasing a phone card. So, I went to the telecom office, but no one was there, so I waited and waited. Apparently, Jerry was taking a long lunch. Eventually Alefaio noticed me waiting, and without saying anything he just called himself and then he came to tell me what they said. Apparently, customs in Funafuti told him two things 1) it was up to him whether we are allowed to stay (good!) and 2) Nanumea should charge us a fee (bad!). So, Alefaio went to talk to the town council and came back and told me it would be $20/day for us to stay.
It turns out that I had already made friends with the Government Secretary (an office appointed by the Executive government branch in Funafuti), so I appealed the fee to her. I told her that some sort of fee would be reasonable, just that $20/day was kind of high.
I don’t know what went on in the subsequent town council meetings, but she eventually came back to me and said they had decided to not charge any fee. They want yachts to visit Nanumea, and they understood it was unfair to charge us so much money when we were just waiting for weather. In the meantime, I had paid two days of fees, but that was OK, because from that point on we could stay as long as we liked with no fee.
I was reminded that it was Thanksgiving from an email from one of my American cruising sisters, and I was totally at a loss of what to cook. We obviously didn’t have access to any turkeys, and although I really wanted to bring a leg of lamb from New Zealand, in the end I decided it was pretty inefficient use of freezer space. So, I was thinking of just doing something typically American, like cheeseburgers, when I got a VHF radio call from True Blue V, and they asked if we felt like a potluck because they were thinking of roasting a chicken. I asked Craig if this was just a coincidence or if he knew what U.S. holiday it was, and it turns out it was just a total coincidence.
So, with their roast chicken as the center piece, we ended up having a fantastic Thanksgiving feast. I made dinner rolls, mashed potatoes, green beans w/ almonds, meat balls w/ marinara sauce (since I had thawed ground beef for the cheeseburgers), and Aunt JJ’s corn casserole. Of course, I had to improvise a bit for the corn casserole since we didn’t exactly have “sour cream” or “one box of jiffy corn bread mix” but it turned out great anyway. It was the first thing I made and when Alex came out of his room he said, “it smells like Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house.”
A squall with gale force winds and pouring rain blew through right before our feast was supposed to begging, but it ended just in time for True Blue V to come over. Dinner looked so good all laid out on the table, we all dug in before I even thought to snap any photos.
After our motorbike tour of the island while we were milling about the wharf, the village chief came up to Tim and asked to speak to him. Tim was worried at first, wondering if we had done something wrong, I mean why would the chief want to talk to him? But it turns out that the chief simply asked Tim if he could help him. He said the fan on his computer isn’t working, and would Tim maybe be able to fix it. So, Tim went with the chief to his house to get the computer and he spent quite a bit of time engrossed in the project. It turned out that it wasn’t just the fan, but some of the keys didn’t work either. What pressure to fix something for the chief! Of course, Tim accepted the challenge, and although the solution wasn’t pretty, it worked, and the chief got back a usable computer.
Fixing the Chief’s computer
So, the chief told us we could stay as long as we wanted in Nanumea. Too bad he’s not an official part of the Tuvaluan government.
Word got around about Tim fixing the computer and he was bombarded with requests, and he fixed some things for the reverend and various town council officials.
This story starts with a need to get internet. Somehow, I failed to transfer enough money from savings to checking, and while we were in Funafuti, Tim received an email that our account was overdrawn. Crap. We have overdraft protection, so checks weren’t bouncing, but our account is such that we still get charged a fee by our bank, so I wanted to take care of this sooner rather than later.
We had heard that you could get internet at Nanumea, but there’s no wifi so you have to physically plug your computer into the network. The problem is that I have a relatively new computer, and its relatively low profile, so there is no network cable input. I mean, everyone uses wifi these days, right? So, Tim had the idea to take a router in with us, and maybe we could connect the router to the network and then I could connect my computer to the router via wi-fi. Brilliant. Except we couldn’t get it to work. Jerry, the internet guy, didn’t know how to configure the router so that it could talk to the network. Tim kept asking him to show him how he configures a computer, but they were talking past each other. So, Jerry said I could just use his computer to do my stuff. Brilliant again. Except all the new, and I’m sure totally necessary, website security protocols make you jump through hoops whenever you try to log in from a new computer. Keeping in mind that the internet was painfully slow, I mean each page would take about 2 minutes to load, I had to go through a chain of self verifications to get to my bank accounts. First the bank needed to send a verification email to my yahoo account. Then when I tried to log on to yahoo I found out that yahoo also has this sort of verification required when you use a new computer, and yahoo gave me a choice of receiving a text message to the US phone I haven’t used in years or receiving an email to Tim’s gmail account. Thank god for gmail, which stopped the madness. Of course, gmail also had the verification hoops, and at first it looked like our only choice was to get a text to Tim’s old US phone that he hasn’t used in years, but then we noticed there was the option to simply type in what that phone number was. Now, we had to dig deep into our memory storage to recall what Tim’s phone number used to be. It took us about 5 minutes, but then… success. So, then I had to follow the verification trail back, and remember it takes a couple minutes for reach web page to load. In the end, it took me over an hour to make a transfer from my savings to my checking.
But there’s always a silver lining. All of the time we spent in that little office gave Tim a chance to talk with Jerry, and he invited him out to the boat for a beer that evening. So, after hanging out on Exodus for awhile and enjoying a beer with Tim, Jerry volunteered to arrange a motorbike tour of the WWII relics for us and True Blue V.
Motorbike tour
Helmets? Yeah, right.
No, the guy driving the motorbike pickup truck is not Jerry, but a friend of Jerry’s, and it turns out he’s not even from Nanumea and didn’t know where any of the WWII relics were. He drove us around to the other side of the island and then stopped at the end of a road and told us we could look around. A little bit confused, we asked him if the wrecks were nearby, and he said he had no idea and maybe we could ask someone. There happened to be an old man nearby, so we asked him and got some vague directions and headed that way, but soon enough we were lost again with no idea which way to go. Then we came across a young couple on a motorbike eating pandanas fruit, and they agreed to show us the wrecks. They turned out to know exactly where they were going, and they showed us two plane wrecks and some mobile artillery. It turned out to be a fun day, and once upon a time I would have been frustrated by how it unfolded, but not anymore. I just relaxed and enjoyed the ride.
The kids of Nanumea were not shy at all, and pretty soon Alex and Brenden had quite the posse. The first night we were anchored, a group of them clustered on shore and started yelling, “Hi!!!” out to us. So, Alex and Brenden got the paddle boards down and headed over to see them. Brenden quickly made a friend and got a tour of the village while Alex got a lot of attention from the smaller kids who all wanted to touch his blonde hair.
It was summer holiday in Tuvalu, so kids had a lot of freedom to play. Pretty soon we had daily visitors and it was tough to get them to wait until the Alex and Brenden were done with *their* schoolwork.
The boys paddle to shore to say hi
Brenden gets a ride in the outrigger canoe
Hangin out on Exodus
Learning to drive the dinghy
Hangin out on shore (taking a break after playing some basketball)
The first night we arrived at Nanumea, there was loud music playing and lots of activity at the dock. We had no idea what was going on, but as the music kept going into the night and then all night into the morning, we figured these Nanumeans must really know how to party. The only time the music stopped was briefly in the evening and again in the morning for the church bells to ring.
We finally made our way to shore at about 10am the next morning, and we found people dressed somewhat ceremonially and they had decorated the wharf area very intricately with woven palm fronds. There was even a woven welcome sign saying “Talofa” which is hello in Tuvaluan. So, after joking with the people that we appreciate the elaborate welcome party they prepared for us, we learned there was a tourist boat coming within the hour. After walking around we met more and more people and we learned that they had prepared a huge feast for the tourists, and of course we were welcome to join them. After getting over the shock that there was actually going to be a cruise ship here, in Nanamea, which is possibly the most remote place we’ve come in our entire journey. We learned that the last time they had tourists here, other than the few cruisers each year, of course, was back in 2010. So, this is a rare event. You could feel the excitement among the people of the village, and we decided to make the most of it. We went back to the boat and dressed up and then went back and enjoyed the party. One local lady I met commented to me that, “it seemed like you really understand our customs.” She was referring to the way we were dressed in contrast to a lady from the cruise ship who showed up in bikini bottoms (they were going snorkeling after all). Someone had to give her a sulu to wear, because they said she couldn’t go in the meeting hall like that.
Coconuts for the tourists
Who needs a straw?
After enjoying coconuts at the wharf, we all made our way to the meeting hall, which was also nicely decorated with palm fronds. They gave a presentation of speeches, dancing, singing, and the feast was very well done, and we piled our plates high. The finale was a traditional song/dance called Fatale. Everyone sits close in loose circles around each other. There are drums and men and women singing and they start out quiet and slow and it gradually builds and gets faster, and it was quite captivating, quite moving. I loved it and I was so glad for the cruise ship at that point, because we probably wouldn’t have seen that otherwise. But at the end it was almost embarrassing how few of the tourists were still there. They only had a few hours on the island, so they were all wandering around or snorkeling or whatever. Very few of them seem interested at all in the people. Anyway, we were very glad to be included, and now we are very glad to have the island and the village to ourselves.
Ready for the feast – with True Blue V
Traditional dancing
The Fatale
After the tourist boat came and left, things seemed to quiet down a bit, and the people of the village got to enjoy all of their leftovers from the feast. We walked around a bit more and made a visit to the church in order to climb the steeple and check out the views. They were spectacular views, but the windows were dirty and it was hot as hell up there!
A view from the church steeple
Exodus in the lagoonThe first night we arrived at Nanumea, there was loud music playing and lots of activity at the dock. We had no idea what was going on, but as the music kept going into the night and then all night into the morning, we figured these Nanumeans must really know how to party. The only time the music stopped was briefly in the evening and again in the morning for the church bells to ring.
We finally made our way to shore at about 10am the next morning, and we found people dressed somewhat ceremonially and they had decorated the wharf area very intricately with woven palm fronds. There was even a woven welcome sign saying “Talofa” which is hello in Tuvaluan. So, after joking with the people that we appreciate the elaborate welcome party they prepared for us, we learned there was a tourist boat coming within the hour. After walking around we met more and more people and we learned that they had prepared a huge feast for the tourists, and of course we were welcome to join them. After getting over the shock that there was actually going to be a cruise ship here, in Nanamea, which is possibly the most remote place we’ve come in our entire journey. We learned that the last time they had tourists here, other than the few cruisers each year, of course, was back in 2010. So, this is a rare event. You could feel the excitement among the people of the village, and we decided to make the most of it. We went back to the boat and dressed up and then went back and enjoyed the party. One local lady I met commented to me that, “it seemed like you really understand our customs.” She was referring to the way we were dressed in contrast to a lady from the cruise ship who showed up in bikini bottoms (they were going snorkeling after all). Someone had to give her a sulu to wear, because they said she couldn’t go in the meeting hall like that.
Coconuts for the tourists
Who needs a straw?
After enjoying coconuts at the wharf, we all made our way to the meeting hall, which was also nicely decorated with palm fronds. They gave a presentation of speeches, dancing, singing, and the feast was very well done, and we piled our plates high. The finale was a traditional song/dance called Fatale. Everyone sits close in loose circles around each other. There are drums and men and women singing and they start out quiet and slow and it gradually builds and gets faster, and it was quite captivating, quite moving. I loved it and I was so glad for the cruise ship at that point, because we probably wouldn’t have seen that otherwise. But at the end it was almost embarrassing how few of the tourists were still there. They only had a few hours on the island, so they were all wandering around or snorkeling or whatever. Very few of them seem interested at all in the people. Anyway, we were very glad to be included, and now we are very glad to have the island and the village to ourselves.
Ready for the feast – with True Blue V
Traditional dancing
The Fatale
After the tourist boat came and left, things seemed to quiet down a bit, and the people of the village got to enjoy all of their leftovers from the feast. We walked around a bit more and made a visit to the church in order to climb the steeple and check out the views. They were spectacular views, but the windows were dirty and it was hot as hell up there!
Nanumea has a narrow, shallow, man-made pass, therefore the current in the pass can get quite high. It’s on the south side of the lagoon, and our navionics charts were pretty far off for Nanumea. The pass entrance is approximately: 05 40.380 N, 176 06.368 E.
We arrived at about 10:30 and found True Blue V standing off, waiting for a more favorable tide conditions. So, we dropped the dinghy and Tim and Craig went to recon the pass at close range. They found about 3 kts of current flowing in. It was so much current that the hand held depth sounder wouldn’t work. We did not want to enter with so much current, so we decided to wait until later in the afternoon, closer to high slack tide. And what did we do floating around with time to kill? We made pizza of course! I had dough and sauce in the freezer, and since it’s hot as hell, these things thawed out in about 15 minutes.
We went in when we estimated it to be about high slack tide, and there was negligible current in the pass and the minimum depth we saw was 13 ft near high tide (on the lagoon side of the pass).
Both sides of the pass are lined with lighted markers (port to port when returning to port), so lining up for a straight approach was easily accomplished.
The tricky thing about this pass was that we had a ground swell coming in from approximately south causing waves to break on the left side of the pass entrance (as you are facing the entrance). True Blue V went in first, so Leann had passed on the info that the swell will push you to port. We tried to time it between swells, but we ended up doing a bit of surfing into the entrance, but Tim was ready for the swell to push us off center to the port side and he counter steered perfectly.
From my perspective, our ride, was, well, exhilarating? I watched the video I took as we went through and as we surfed a wave into the pass you can hear me say, “we’re gonna end up on that reef right there,” and then, “Oh my god, I’m so scared!” Meanwhile, at the helm, Tim’s yelling, “woo hoo! Surfin!”
However, while we were there, two other boats hit the reef in the pass. One was on entry just a few days after us with similar conditions and only by a stroke of luck did they not lose their boat. The other was while exiting the pass with the swell coming from the other side so that while exiting they got pushed to port.
Satellite image of Nanumea showing the very narrow passApproaching the pass — TBV is like a beacon of safety to guide us to the other side
We ended up making a rather abrupt decision to depart Funafuti. There was a low-pressure system coming that would pass to the south of Funafuti, and although the forecast changed from day to day, it was looking like Funafuti was going to see somewhere between 30-50 kts. The worst part about the forecast is that the winds would come from the W or NW, which would make the anchorage at Fongafale totally untenable. There were potential places to anchor on the other side of the lagoon, but without first-hand knowledge of the anchorages we decided perhaps it would be better to just leave. We decided to head all the way up to the atoll of Nanumea, which had two things going for it with respect to this low pressure system: 1) it was north, and the further north you could get, the less severe the winds would be, and 2) it is a very small lagoon, so we would have decent protection even from W or NW winds.
A quick VHF call with True Blue V revealed that we were on the same page, and we both quickly cleared out on a Friday and were out the northern pass of Funafuti by dusk.
Unfortunately, heading directly to Nanumea meant we would have to skip over Nukufetau, but weather was, is, and always will be, the boss of us while we are out here living on a sailboat.
However, while the weather forecast was telling us to get the hell out of Funafuti, it wasn’t willing to give us good passage weather to get anywhere, and we knew we would have to motor a fair bit to get to Nanumea. And we did end up motoring. A lot. At one point during a long daytime calm spell we stopped the boat and the boys got in and cleaned the hulls in order to improve our speed through the water and therefore improve our MPG. We actually calculated a 31% improvement. Not bad!
But that didn’t mean it was an easy passage, because intermittently there was sailing wind, and then were lots of squalls with crazy wind directions, and then there were periods where we were becalmed. Furl the genoa… unfurl the genoa…port tack… starboard tack… Even though it wasn’t horrible or uncomfortable sailing, it was pretty trying. Long gone are the days when we can just set the sails and forget about them.
Our last day was particularly frustrating in that the wind picked up strong directly from the direction we wanted to go. This was totally unforecast, and if it had persisted much longer than it did, we would have had a hard time getting to Nanumea. I was tacking back and forth, hoping it was just a squall and that it would end soon, and at one point my velocity vector in the direction of Nanumea was actually negative. After several hours, we found out it was just a squall, and we were able to point to our target. However, that night there was a serious lightening show to the SW; it was so bright it would light up the cockpit. True Blue V was north of us, and they worried that we were caught in it, but it was still very much to the south of us. It was that low pressure moving in from the west. It was a beautiful show that kept me fully awake during my last night watch of the passage.
(The low-pressure system that created the lightening for us on passage did eventually give us some wind too. We were safely tucked away in the lagoon at Nanumea and didn’t see much more than 25 kts and most of that was gusty rather than sustained. The rest of the boats in the Northbound Fleet that stayed in Funafuti saw as much as 50 kts. They all found places to anchor on the west side of the lagoon, and they all came through with just a little bit of drama, but we were happy with our decision to head to Nanumea. Ultimately, that low pressure turned into Cyclone Tuni, the first named cyclone of the season.)
The atoll of Nanumea is the northern most island in Tuvalu. We got permission from customs and immigration in Funafuti to make a stop at Nanumea after clearing out enroute to Kiribati. They originally gave us permission for only 1 day but in the end we stayed for about 2 weeks. This was definitely one of our highlights of our entire trip north.
Email to Family and Friends dated November 20, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Underway again
We made a somewhat abrupt decision to leave Funafuti today, and we are headed to the island of Nanumea, which is the northern most island in Tuvalu. Yes, we did get approval from customs and immigration to go there, but that is a story in and of itself. We may have approval to stay one day or one week. We decided to stop asking questions and just get out of here with approval letter in hand. It’s not good sailing conditions, in fact it’s going to be a slow motor sail, but we want to get a little further north now before a low pressure that’s supposed to come next week and blanket Tuvalu in strong NW winds. It’s like old times, since we are underway with True Blue V not too far away. We are just missing that other Island Packet… Love and miss you all, -D.
Logbook – November 21, 2015 (Funafuti to Nanumea)
Passage Log Highlights
0235 SB engine on + genniker
0845 SB engine, no sails
1217 P engine on / SB off
P engine off to clean hull
1435 P engine on
Daily Notes
Stop the boat – Alex & Tim clean hull – 31% improvement
Fresh tuna on passage
Email to Family and Friends dated November 21, 2015
Subject: Exodus – becalmed
When I said this would be a slow motor-sail I was only half right. It’s actually just a slow motor. We were able to sail most of the night last night, but about 3am the wind died, and we’ve been becalmed ever since. We even stopped the boat today and Tim and Alex cleaned the hulls and props in order to improve our MPG, and they’ve calculated a 31% improvement. Not bad! The really good news is yesterday evening they boys caught 2 yellow-fin tunas, so we are just sitting down to a dinner of seared tuna, rice, and stir-fried vegetables. Love and miss you all, -D.
Logbook – November 22, 2015 (Funafuti to Nanumea)
Passage Log Highlights
0347 No sails
0806 Unfurled genoa steered 10 deg port backed off engine
0817 Squall – furled genoa
0900 SB engine on
1105 both engines off, Main (1 reef) + genoa
Tack to port tack
1341 P engine on + Main
1431 Switch engines, Main + genoa
1521 Switch engines (SB off, P on) – tack to P tack
1534 P engine off
1620 Main (1 reef) + genoa
2130 P engine on
Daily Notes
Nothing in the book
Email to Family and Friends dated November 22, 2015
Subject: Exodus – What a difference a day makes
Yesterday, we were becalmed. Today, we’ve had a pretty steady, not forecast, 15-20 kts of wind. It started out this morning from the NW, right from the direction of our destination, so we spent a frustrating several hours tacking and making very little headway. But mid-afternoon it shifted to the west and we’ve been able to sail a course almost at our target. It’s been pretty uncomfortable, but we are looking forward to getting there tomorrow. Everything else is fine, except that Brenden has an ear infection. I think he had gotten pretty lax about flushing out his ears after diving, so maybe he’ll be a little more diligent now. The amoxicillin from Mexico doesn’t seem to be working, so we may switch to a different anti-biotic tomorrow. It’s not expired yet, but since it hasn’t exactly been stored at the correct temperature the entire time it may be a little suspect. Love and miss you all, -D.
Logbook – November 23, 2015 (Funafuti to Nanumea)
Passage Log Highlights
0150 P engine off / SB engine on
0805 Motorsail – SB + genoa
1048 P engine on
1128 Engines off – recon pass
1411 P engine on
1420 SB engine on
1458 Engines off Nanumea
Daily Notes
Surfed into the pass entrance, negligible current, min depth 13 ft (we think)
Safe arrival drinks & rummy cube (thanks Navire!)
Locals partying w/ loud music all night
Funafuti to NanumeaApproaching the islandTim and Craig (True Blue V) are in the dinghy scouting the depth and current in the pasThe very narrow pass at NanumeaStaring down the pass. True Blue V is our beacon of safety on the other side. This is the narrowest, shallowest pass we’ve ever transited.
Transiting the pass, “We’re gonna end up on that reef right there…”Safe and sound on the other sideAnchored in the Nanumea lagoon after a harrowing pass entranceAs soon as we dropped anchor Alex and Brenden paddled to shore to say hi to the kidsThe church at NanumeaOur first night in the anchorage there was a lot of activity at the wharf with loud music playing all night. We thought we found the party island, but then we learned that they were pulling an all-nighter to prepare for a tourist boat that was arriving the next day.
Email to Family and Friends dated November 23, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Arrived at Nanumea
We arrived outside the pass at about 10:30 this morning and found True Blue V standing off waiting for a more favorable tide, because this pass is very narrow and very shallow. So, we dropped the dinghy and Tim and Craig went to recon the pass at close range. They found about 3 knots of current flowing in, so much current that the hand held depth sounder wouldn’t work. So, we decided to wait until later in the afternoon closer to high slack tide. So, what did we do floating around with time to kill? We made pizza of course! I had dough and sauce in the freezer, and since it’s SO hot these things thawed in about 15 minutes. So, I mentioned the pass was narrow (only about 2 Exodus boat widths) and shallow (reported to be about 6 ft deep at low tide), but did I mention the big, long period swells coming right at the pass entrance? These are not the kind of swells caused by the local weather, these are the ones caused by a far off storm, rolling in and creating surf along the reef, and unfortunately, also at the pass entrance. True Blue V went through first, so they gave us the intel that you get pushed to port by the swell near the entrance, and they weren’t kidding. Our ride, was, well, exhilarating? I watched the video I took as we went through and as we surfed a wave into the pass you can hear me say, “we’re gonna end up on that reef right there,” and then, “Oh my god, I’m so scared!” Meanwhile, at the helm, Tim’s yelling, “woo hoo! Surfin!” The lagoon is very small and it seems like a really nice place; I hope they let us stay a week or two. After we anchored, there were a bunch of kids clustered on shore, so Alex and Brenden went to say hi. Brenden got a tour of the town while Alex let all the small kids touch his blonde hair. The only downside so far is the flies. Why is it the nicest places have some sort of bug issue? Tim is working on screens for our salon doors as I type this. Love and miss you all, -D.
Making friends our first visit to shore. Craig must be telling fish tales.(photo by True Blue V)Bringing the folks from the tourist boat to shore. This was a very big deal for the island. The last tourist boat that was here was in 2011.Coconuts for everyone!I didn’t know it when I took this photo, but this canoe ended up spending a fair amount of time tied to the back of Exodus during our stay.I do love the drinking coconuts! (photo by True Blue V)(photo by True Blue V)The community hall, all decked out for the feast and show for the tourist boat.
This a traditional song/dance called Fatale. It was extremely captivating.
Inside the Catholic Church.Views from the steeple of the church
Email to Family and Friends dated November 25, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Tourists
The first night we arrived here at Nanumea, there was loud music playing and lots of activity at the dock. We had no idea what was going on, but as the music kept going into the night and then all night into the morning, we figured these Nanumeans must really know how to party. The only time the music stopped was briefly in the evening and again in the morning for the church bells to ring. We finally made our way to shore at about 10am the next morning, and we found people dressed somewhat ceremonial and they had decorated the wharf area very intricately with woven palm fronds. Even a woven welcome sign saying “Talofa” which is hello in Tuvaluan. So, after joking with the people that we appreciate the elaborate welcome we learned there was a tourist boat coming within the hour. After walking around we met more and more people and we learned that they had prepared a huge feast for the tourists, and of course we were welcome to join them. After getting over the shock that there was actually going to be a cruise ship here, in Nanamea, which is possibly the most remote place we’ve come in our entire journey. We learned that the last time they had tourists here, other than the few cruisers that come here, of course, was back in 2010. So, this is a rare event. And we decided to make the most of it. So, we went back to the boat and dressed up and then went back and enjoyed the party. One local lady I met commented to me that, “it seemed like we really understand their customs.” She was referring to the way we were dressed in contrast to a lady from the cruise ship who showed up in bikini bottoms (they were going snorkeling after all). Someone had to give her a sulu to wear, because they said she couldn’t go in the meeting hall like that. Anyway, they gave a presentation of speeches, dancing, singing, and the feast was very well done, and we piled our plates high. The finale was a traditional song/dance called fatale. Everyone sits close in loose circles around each other. There are drums and men and women singing and they start out quiet and slow and it gradually builds and gets faster, and it was quite captivating, quite moving. I loved it and I was so glad for the cruise ship at that point, because we probably wouldn’t have seen that otherwise. But at the end it was almost embarrassing how few of the tourists were still there. They only had a few hours on the island, so they were all wandering around or snorkeling or whatever. Very few of them seem interested at all in the people. Anyway, we were very glad to be included, and now we are very glad to have the island and the village to ourselves. Love and miss you all, -D.
We went on a motorbike tour around the island to see some WWII relics(photo by True Blue V)Who knew I was so chatty? (photo by True Blue V)Tim is fixing the Chief’s computer
Email to Family and Friends dated November 26, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Being on the other side of the dateline, we celebrated yesterday, in true cruiser style, of course. I was reminded that it was Thanksgiving this week from an email from one of my American cruising sisters (thanks Sarah!) and was a little at a loss about what to cook. We obviously don’t have access to any turkeys, and although I really wanted to bring a leg of lamb from New Zealand, in the end I decided it was pretty inefficient use of freezer space. So, I’m thinking I have to do something American so I settled on cheeseburgers, which I knew the boys would be happy with. But then in the morning I get a VHF call from True Blue V wanting to know if they want to potluck because they are thinking about roasting a chicken. I asked Craig if he knew what holiday it was in the U.S. (they are Australian) and after I said that he realized maybe it was close to our Thanksgiving. I told him, “yes, thanksgiving is today,” and that he was a godsend, so with their roast chicken as the center piece, we had a fantastic Thanksgiving feast. I made dinner rolls, mashed potatoes, green beans w/ almonds, meat balls w/ marinara sauce (since I had thawed ground beef for the cheese burgers), and Aunt JJ’s corn casserole. Of course, I had to improvise a bit for the corn casserole since we don’t exactly have “sour cream” or “one box of jiffy corn bread mix” but it turned out great anyway. It was the first thing I made and when Alex came out of his room he said, “it smells like Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house.” We had a great day before the feast too, which included a tour around the island to see some WWII relics (airplanes and tanks) and also a gale with pouring rain which ended just in time for True Blue V to come over for the feast. Life is good on Exodus. Love and miss you all, -D.
Logbook – November 27, 2015 (Nanumea)
Daily Notes
Windy/stormy weather, boys played
Email to Family and Friends dated November 27, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Fix it Tim
Yesterday after our tour of the island the village chief came up to Tim at the wharf and asked to speak to him. Tim was worried at first, wondering if we had done something wrong. But then the chief simply asked Tim if he could help him. He said the fan on his computer isn’t working, and would Tim maybe be able to fix it. So, Tim went with the chief to his house to get the computer and he’s been very engrossed in the project ever since. It turns out it’s not just the fan, but some of the keys don’t work either. What pressure to fix something for the chief! So, according the the chief we can stay as long as we want in Nanumea. Too bad he’s not an official part of the Tuvaluan government. Winds have been strong today, but much better than what we are hearing from Funafuti. We are very glad for our decision to come further north, even though we had to motor so much. Love and miss you all, -D.
Logbook – November 28, 2015 (Nanumea)
Daily Notes
T/D visit chief, Tim mostly fixed his computer
Visited Sipele (Secretary)
Police officer gone fishing
Boys played on shore
Logbook – November 29, 2015 (Nanumea)
Daily Notes
Church
Relaxing day on boat
Tim gave my old hard drive to Jerry
Logbook – November 30, 2015 (Nanumea)
Daily Notes
Alex – sore throat
T solo spearfishing
Skua here
Email to Family and Friends dated November 30, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Allowed to stay in Nanumea
We have received permission to stay in Nanumea for one more week, so now we just have to hope for a good weather window during that time. In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy the island, and we’ve been joined by another boat we met in Funafuti who have a 4-year-old son. Tim doesn’t really have a spearfishing buddy right now, but there’s a young Australian couple with young kids that should be arriving here tomorrow, and the dad went out once with Tim in Funafuti. That time when Tim didn’t come back from spearfishing when he agreed to, so the boys and I raised anchor and headed back to town without him. True story. He caught up to us in the dinghy, and he still seems bitter about it. 🙂 The south pacific cyclone season is heating up with the first named storm which was NE of Tonga this morning. That’s the low pressure that gave us strong wind last week and was basically the reason we left Funafuti when we did, to get further north. There’s another low that has formed north of Tahiti, and in a day or two has the potential to develop into another tropical cyclone. We are in a good spot now and can breathe a bit easier as we continue north. Of course, the squalls just never seem to end. Love and miss you all, -D.
Logbook – December 1, 2015 (Nanumea)
Daily Notes
Day of hunting for diesel & dealing with formalities
Sipele and her daughter came to Exodus, taught me to weave a basket
Let me introduce you to Kiani and Ahia, my two favorite cruising girls under 5A WWII era wreck on the reef
My friend Sipele showed me how to weave a basket
Email to Family and Friends dated December 1, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Basket Weaving
We are living the simple village life now, and the highlight of my day was basket weaving. The good news is that they have now told us we can stay as long as we like here in Nanumea, but the bad news is they are now slapping a $20/day anchorage fee on us. Even as the queue for Tim to fix things is getting longer. It seems the local police officer has been speaking with customs back in Funafuti and is getting some advisement from them. Needless to say, at that rate we will leave as soon as we can, as soon as there is wind again. All of the people are very nice and generous… like the lady today who gave Tim 2 loaves of bread and wouldn’t let him pay her, and the lady who came out to the boat and spent two hours with me teaching me how to weave a basket. Yes, it took me that long, please don’t mock. And today she is going to let me use her father in law’s washing machine, since she assures me, they have plenty of water. And she said her father-in-law loves to speak English, so he won’t mind at all. Brenden’s ear infection has been healed a few days, but now Alex is suffering a sore throat and achy body hasn’t been feeling well enough to play. We are now three boats in here in Nanumea, and three more are on their way from Funafuti, so it should be a real party for Tim’s birthday in a couple of days. Love and miss you all, -D.
Logbook – December 2, 2015 (Nanumea)
Daily Notes
D – laundry at Sipele’s
Boys dinghy surf
Sundowners @ EOS II
Logbook – December 3, 2015 (Nanumea)
Daily Notes
Batt voltage reading – already solar charging
EOSII over for coffee and the net
T spearfish with Barry & Bob (s/v Mia) – serious dinghy envy! Don’t get back until just before dark.
I had some help while doing the morning SSB net
Logbook – December 4, 2015 (Nanumea)
Daily Notes
Happy birthday to Tim – to shore… D – no anchorage fee!
T – fix the reverend’s computer
Sipele’s family gives us tuna
Sports day – volleyball and soccer
EOS II over for wine & brownies – Tim’s sparkle box!
Secondary school fundraiser
Sports tournament day. Girls volleyball on one side…… Boys’ and soccer on the otherAlex playing Shaq with his minions
Happy Birthday to Tim!Tim is one lucky guy… he got a Sparkle Box for his birthday!
Videos from the talent show
Videos from the talent show
Videos from the talent show
Videos from the talent show
Email to Family and Friends dated December 4, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Boat on the reef
I’ve already written about the pass here at Nanumea, how it’s very narrow and very shallow, and with swell at the entrance you end up surfing in. Though I’m not sure I mentioned that the surf pushes you to the left, so you have to compensate with the rudder or, in the case of a catamaran, the port engine, in order to stay centered down the channel. True Blue V went in the pass first, so they gave us the tip, and yesterday when there were three boats staged outside to enter, Tim gave them the same tip. “Stay right,” he told them, “you’ll get pushed to the left”. Well, one of the boats, the third one to come in, didn’t listen. They didn’t stay right.
Tim had gone with the dinghy to scout the pass and check current and depth information, and water was close to slack when the first two boats came in. However, the third boat must have been a bit further out because it was another hour or so before they entered, so in addition to not staying right, they had a fair amount of current working against them. I had taken the dinghy to quickly go ashore and then go say hi to the two new boats who were already anchored in the lagoon. One of them is a 50 ft catamaran with a huge dinghy with a 60 Hp engine (Tim has serious dinghy envy). That’s where I was when Tim raced over with another guy in his dinghy saying, “We need the dinghy! A boat’s gone aground outside!” So, I jump in the other guy’s dinghy and he and Tim race off toward the pass in ours. Meanwhile, the guys on the big cat start dropping their dinghy so they are not too far behind. I head over to our friends on Navire to find out what’s going on and we hear Tim on the radio yelling, “go to shore and get help!” So, I take Navire’s handheld radio and rush to shore, and on the way I can hear the woman on the grounded vessel yelling, “Mayday! Mayday!”
As I’m approaching the wharf I see that men are already running about, yelling at each other, jumping into one of the fishing boats. Clearly, someone had been monitoring VHF in the village. I saw the police officer, so just to be sure I asked him if they were going to help, and he said, yes. Soon, two fishing boats from the village are rushing out towards the pass also. So, I just went back to Exodus to wait.
The scene that Tim described when he got back was gut wrenching. The boat was pinned against the reef on the left side, and it was heeled way over so that the keel was on the reef and the mast was tilted over at 45 deg, out over the pass. They were getting pushed further and further up onto the reef with every wave, and they were really working their engine, revving the crap out of it in reverse as the prop was lifting out of the water. Tim says black smoke was just billowing out. The guy Tim took with him in our dinghy turned out to be more of a liability than a help in that as Tim is trying to think of things to do, any possible solution, this guy is just repeating, “they’ve lost the boat, it’s gone, they’re lost…” Some people, admittedly myself included, are not particularly good at crisis management. Tim, on the other hand, shines in these conditions. He was calling for them to toss him lines, but he wasn’t really sure what he’d be able to do with the 20hp dinghy. Even with the big 60 hp dinghy and boats coming from shore, he wasn’t sure what they’d be able to do. It was a big, heavy, full keel sailboat, and he was doubtful that they’d be able to pull it off.
But then luck intervened. A really big wave came in and instead of hammering them against the reef it lifted them up, turned them around, and dropped them down into a little channel in the reef. Then as that big wave receded they were sucked out, and just like that they were clear. It’s hard for me to visualize this, that there was a wave big enough to do that and that there was a channel in the reef big enough for a sailboat, and that they were dropped down precisely into that channel. They really couldn’t be any luckier.
So, now they are back outside the lagoon and still need to get in. They are thankfully not taking on water, so the main concern at this point was the engine, since they ran it pretty hot. Tim suggested they let it cool down for a few minutes, and then rev it up so that they are going 5 knots and drive around like that for five minutes and if it doesn’t overheat, then they can be reasonably sure they can get into the pass without issue. Here’s where Tim and guy he brought with him had a disagreement. The other guy wanted to tow them in, and Tim told him why that would be a bad idea. The channel’s too narrow, and when you tow a boat it often fishtails, and there’s not room for that. But the other guy kept insisting, insisting. Tim tried to explain that trying to tow the boat with dinghys would be more risky (if a tow line broke or was dropped it would certainly wrap the prop of the sailboat which would be certain doom in the narrow pass) and that if the sailboat could go 5 kts without the engine overheating, it would have no trouble getting thru the pass (so long as they “stay right!). I would love to know how this got resolved, who, if anyone adjudicated it, or if anyone else even knew about it. In the end the vessel came through under their own power, and there was much elation throughout the anchorage as their bow came around the corner and they came into full view to all of us.
As I re-watch the video of Exodus coming in the pass, and I hear myself say, “oh my god, we’re going to end up on that reef right there!” I realize that I really didn’t mean it. You never think something like that can really happen to you, even when you think it you don’t really think it. But clearly it can happen, and apparently the surf the day we came in was even much bigger than yesterday. So, it’s a testament to what a great job Leanne (True Blue V) and Tim did that day driving our boats in. Especially Leanne, who went in first without anybody before her to tell her to “stay right.”
We are now eight boats in the anchorage without a weather window in sight. The town council met yesterday to discuss the anchorage fees, so if they tell me today that they are still going to charge us $20/day, we will likely just leave and get whatever weather we get. We aren’t in a hurry to get to Tarawa, so if winds are light we’ll just go slow.
Love and miss you all, -D.
Logbook – December 5, 2015 (Nanumea)
Daily Notes
Dinghy surf – Lahnee (EOS II) stands up 1st time
Happy hours on Exodus
Oh yeah, cuttin outside the wake! My first time dinghy surfing.
Email to Family and Friends dated December 5, 2015
Subject: Exodus – Happy Birthday Tim
I was so caught up with writing about the boat running aground yesterday that I forgot to mention it was Tim’s birthday! Here’s how he spent it…
Scouting the pass conditions for yet another boat arriving here at Nanumea
Visiting some friends on shore – they gave us fresh tuna for his birthday
Fixing the Reverend’s computer, printer, and overhead projector
Playing with some of the local kids on Exodus. When they found out it was Tim’s birthday they came back with coconuts and bananas, and Tim taught them to drive the dinghy.
Eating brownies that Alex and Brenden made for him
Helping one of the guys from another boat go around town looking for a belt for his alternator.
Fixing another local guy’s computer and cell phone
Fairie Princess Sparkle party on Exodus. One of the other boats has two adorable little girls, 4 and 2 years old, and with some help from their mom the decorated a big plastic breakfast cracker container and turned it into “Tim’s Sparkle Box.” They figured since Tim only has sons, he could use a little girliness. The 4 year old sang him happy birthday, and I’m pretty sure it was the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard.
Dinner on Exodus – seared ahi tuna steaks, what else!?
Attending a fundraiser for the local secondary school, bringing along his Sparkle Box full of popcorn to share with the kids. They made us wear wreaths on our heads in honor of Tim’s birthday, and it was a lot of fun. It was a talent show and there was singing and a lot of traditional dancing infused with hip hop. As we were walking back Tim and I mused about how kids are the same everywhere. With the exception of the language and the polynesian dancing, this could have been a show at home. Kids laughing, showing off, running around, joking with each other, and generally have a fun time.
Pretty nice 39th birthday, eh?
One thing Tim missed out on yesterday was watching the sports tournaments. In the afternoon the girls were playing volleyball and the boys soccer. I sat and watched the volleyball with some of the local women while Alex played with the kids. (Alex is better, but now Brenden is sick, so sadly he missed out yesterday).
The town council decided we didn’t have to continue to pay a daily anchorage fee, since there is no wind, and they understand that we are just waiting for wind. That’s good news, but the bad news is the forecast is infuriating in that it changes hour to hour. In the end we will likely just leave when we’re ready and get what we get. The two boats who have already arrived in Kiribati said they even stopped downloading grib files on passage since they were never accurate. Sigh. Have I mentioned I miss the trade winds?
Gresham Family Exodus 