Author: cruisingrunner

Taking a break from “real life”

We had met Dr. Michael on s/v Mariposa back when we spent Christmas in the atoll of Abemama in Kiribati. He is a dentist and does free dental work for people on pretty much every island he visits. They set up a clinic for the children of Enejalar, and Alex and Brenden were recruited to ferry the kids from the sandbar to the boat via dinghy. But then Brenden had the good fortune to be recruited as a dental assistant, and he even learned how to pull teeth! There was a scary incident, though, when one of the boys went into some sort of seizure, and Brenden recounted that the doctor raised the boy’s legs in order to let more blood flow to his brain and momentarily the boy came out of it. It was speculated that the boy might have had an allergic reaction to the gloves that the doctor wore. It certainly makes you wonder if it’s worth it for Dr. Michael to take risks like that for dental care, because if something serious were to happen it’s not like someone can just be rushed to the hospital. On the other hand, tooth pain when it gets bad enough can be debilitating, so he’s doing a real service and overall the risk is relatively low. But if something were to happen to one of those children it would be a tragedy and the fact the “risk was low” would be small consolation. I lean towards supporting the work he does, and I’m grateful for all involved that the boy ended up being fine that day. Brenden mostly enjoyed his day as the dental assistant, and both Dr. Michael and his companion commented about how mature, curious, and helpful Brenden is. I’m sure that day will be a memory he holds with him for a long time.

One day when the sun was out, Alex noticed that the solar charger was reading very low output amps. Given that we rely mostly on solar power for charging our batteries, this would be a huge deal if something were wrong with our panels and or the charging system. Luckily, Tim trouble shooted pretty quickly and the culprit ended up being a connector at the panels that had corroded due to exposure. It was exposed more than it should have been because way back in Mexico we had place a bulky ferrite in the vicinity in hopes of lessening the noise from the solar charging in our SSB radio. Tim quickly replaced the connector, and it turned out that we started seeing much higher solar production. We wonder if the connector had slowly degraded and had been negatively impacting performance for some time.

The weather forecast said we were in for some stronger trades, so we joined three other boats (Pojean, Mariposa, and Anahata) up in the northernmost part of the atoll for some better protection. We anchored off the islet called Enijabro, and you can see the geography on the satellite image below:

The northern tip of Ailuk

There is a small village on the nearby islet called Enejalar, and Tim and the boys also had some fun with the kids from that village skim boarding on the nearby sand bars. The northern most islet in the image above is the one where the guys harvest copra, so for a couple of days we gave the boys the option of doing school or going and helping with the copra, and Alex chose copra both times. Tim went lobstering twice with some men from the village and they were successful both times!

Since we had a group of boats together we decided to do something crazy and have our own pig roast. James from Pojean arranged to purchase a pig from some folks from the village on Enejelar, and we all pitched in. Part of the deal was that they would slaughter it for us, but that we would roast it ourselves. James was pretty much in a huff when he picked up the slaughtered pig since they had taken the ears, and apparently the ears are somewhat of a delicacy. Anyway, there is a homestead on Enijabro, and Tim talked to the guys there to get their permission for us to roast the pig, and it didn’t take long for them to volunteer to help. It’s a good thing too, because they knew what they were doing, and we clearly did not. We took our instant read meat thermometer ashore, and I’m sure they must have been mocking us in Marshallese about that!

Tim gets a lesson on how to roast a pig

A cruisers’ pig roast feast

The morning after the pig roast, we went along with the other cruisers to the village in order to share some of the leftovers. I have to admit that I felt awkward and embarrassed at times, because I felt like we were acting like white saviors, arrogantly assuming these people needed our food handouts. And even if they did, it seemed like it could be handled in a more discrete way, in a way that allows a bit of dignity to be preserved. However, that all passed and the morning ended with some music: Jim belting out When the Saints Go Marching In and some of the locals singing the Ailuk Anthem, and we all relaxed together and enjoyed each other’s company. I spoke with a woman who has grown children and was very interested in our life on the boat, especially give the ages of the boys. These are my favorite moments on the islands, when I have a conversation with a woman and we are just two moms who can relate to each other.

Learning how to eat Pandanas Fruit at Enejalar

At our location anchored at Ajirikku, every day we’d watch the outriggers head north in the morning and then south again in the evening, as the men of the village went to work each day harvesting copra. Not satisfied being simply a spectator, one day Tim decided he wanted to go to work with them. So, he had one of the boys dinghy him out to randomly intercept one of the outriggers as they were going by, and he flagged them down and asked if they would take him. Of course they agreed, and just like that he was gone for the day, helping them and learning about the copra operation.

It basically entails gathering coconuts on the ground, putting them in piles, then chopping them open and cutting the meat out and putting it in bags. Then they take the bags back to Ailuk where they dry the coconut meat and when the government ship ever comes then they export it for 25 cents per pound. Harvesting copra is something we’ve seen almost everywhere in the pacific, and from what I’ve read the world market for coconut oil doesn’t really support all the copra so usually it is heavily government subsidized. The men appreciated Tim’s participation. They told him he was different than the other yachties because he came to help them. I think this is a somewhat unfair assessment of the situation, because cruisers are always helping to fix things like generators and watermakers, but I suppose these sorts of efforts are more visible to the upper echelon of a village, while Tim helping with the copra was right in there with all the working men. One afternoon while Tim was out spearfishing some of the men stopped by the boat and I traded them some rice, DVD movies, and a flashlight for some more handicrafts, and they gave Brenden a ride on the canoe. One of the men told me that, “Tim is a very good man. He’s very kind.” I said, “Who?” No, not really, I said, “I think so too.”

The copra operation

After five days at the village at Ailuk island we moved further north up the atoll to a collection of small, uninhabited islets, and we anchored closest to the one called Ajirikku. The satellite image below shows the location of Ajirikku in the northern tip of the atoll.

Location of Ajirikku within the Ailuk Atoll

We ended up spending five days anchored here all by ourselves. I know that some people might have the impression that the cruising lifestyle is one of relative seclusion, but I have to say that it is a rare occurrence that we find ourselves anchored in a location without a village and without any other cruising neighbors. I have already written about the beauty of Ailuk, but it was really this location that in my mind solidified Ailuk as one of the most beautiful locations of our entire voyage. The islets are small and they run mostly lengthwise from ocean to lagoon and there are narrow, shallow passes between them where the water flows in and out with the tides. We spent our days exploring the little islands and the water passages and sand bars at different tide conditions and we relaxed and enjoyed having this little paradise all to ourselves.

One day, Alex drove Tim a couple miles over to the pass and he was in and out of the water quickly with, ho hum, another dogtooth tuna. We gave most of it to one of the outriggers sailing past, but we enjoyed a fresh tuna dinner ourselves as well. He said it was ridiculous how many tuna there were, he had trouble deciding which one to shoot! Upon hearing about it, Brenden was disappointed he didn’t go! But he stayed to accompany me on a bombie snorkle near the boat, although visibility wasn’t nearly as nice as other bombie snorkles such as in Raroia in The Tuamotus.

Parking the dinghy on a sandbar in order to explore the islets

Brenden enjoys some time off the boat running down the beach

Dogtooth Tuna anyone?

Closeup of our secluded spot

The village at Ailuk had a water desalinator, but it wasn’t working, so Tim and James (from s/v Pojean) tried their best to fix it. This is pretty common. Cruisers are known to be good at fixing things (they have to be in order to be self-sufficient), so if there’s something (or 15 somethings) in a village that needs fixing it won’t take long before the cruisers are on it. There were solar panels on the roof of the school and a battery and charge controller in a small access closet on the side. Meanwhile the boys and I watched the children throw rocks at birds in the trees. I think they were amped up on all the candy that Pojean gave them.

Anyway, Tim systematically troubleshooted the watermaker issue, and unfortunately isolated it to the battery charge controller. This isn’t something he could take apart and fix, the solution is basically that they would need a new one. It’s too bad, but this kind of thing happens a lot. Someone with good intentions donates something to a village but doesn’t maintain it and doesn’t teach the people of the village to maintain it, and it’s useful lifespan ends up only being a few months. No one was too distraught about it. They will depend on rainwater, just like they always do.

Getting to the bottom of the watermaker issue at the village on Ailuk

We have made a habit of attending church services when we are visiting the more remote island villages. It’s a way to connect more with the people and gives a pretext for us to join them in the village which is slightly less awkward than just going ashore and walking around. Up to this point the award for the longest church service was Fijian Father’s Day on the island of Yadua with a close runner up being Easter Service on Fatu Hiva in The Marquesas. However, on this day on Ailuk, the Assembly of God church climbed into the top spot with a whopping two hour service on a day that wasn’t Father’s Day or Easter or anything like that. It was just any regular Sunday. But the thing is, it also took over the top spot as the most original service we had been to.

Let me explain.

First of all, the men don’t wear sulus or lava lavas. They wore everything from full business suits to pants and t-shirts. So, Alex and Brenden were quite happy to not have to don their sulus that we had bought back in Fiji and that they have had to wear on many occasions. Also, no one took their shoes off outside the church. They just went ahead and wore their shoes inside the church! We hadn’t seen this anywhere in any Pacific Island. Shoes are always removed when entering someones home or a church. We actually asked a couple people, just to make sure we were understanding things correctly.

The church service itself didn’t follow a typical service in any way. Most church services we had been to followed an expected flow, much like church services back home. Singing, sermon, collection plate, a little more singing, the end. No, this one was all over the place. Singing, speaking, singing, speaking, more singing, more speaking. This pattern kept giving us false hope that it was almost over, especially when we started reaching the hour mark.

But the best part was the sound system and the dancing. They had microphones and an amplifier, and they had someone playing on an electronic keyboard. When they would break out into singing it was lively and loud and everyone danced and had fun, including me! I’m pretty sure Pumpkin (the pastor) did the moonwalk in his rust-colored suit and glasses. It was surreal.

The couple from the sailboat called Pojean invited us to shore with them to play music for the kids. Yes, Alex made his public debut, and he was grateful to James who gave him some pointers and some new picks. Alex had dropped his last pick overboard, so he had been making due with one that he made himself out of a piece of plastic (that’s what you do when you live on a boat… improvise). The sing-along was fun, but the highlight had to be when we all joined hands in a big circle and did the hokey pokey! (Sorry, no photos of that.)

Alex’s debut