December 25, 2007

Ted’s Majuro Christmas
I've gotten pretty slack about writing emails since we arrived in Majuro. I started writing a description of the culture and economy we've seen on the nearby islands, and what seems to have produced the present status, but it's complex, and taking longer than I'd expected. Combine that with an unexpectedly intense whirl of social activity, and a little episode with some obscure but virulent Pacific pathogen, and the keyboard hasn't produced the usual volume. Now another impediment looms; I've located paying work to help refill the sagging coffers, so I'll be doing 40 hours a week on a major refit of a local power boat. Hopefully I'll feel good enough after work to get a bit of writing done, as well as keeping up with maintenance on Sequester. In any case, here's a few observations on this outpost of the American economy in the middle of the ocean.
We had made tenuous plans about 8 years ago to some day spend a storm season here rather than going toward the poles to avoid the cyclone zones. When things didn't pan out in Fiji, it was the most logical option, as the trip back to NZ is usually rough. We were especially glad we didn't go south this year.....there were very few boats that made it without hitting at least a couple of days foul weather. The surprise for us was that after we'd decided to come north, and mentioned it on the radio net, we found far more boats than we'd expected also heading this way. A number of them are just making a short stop, then moving on toward Thailand, the Philippines, or Indonesia, but quite a few are here for several months. Over the last 10 years Majuro has quietly grown in popularity as a safe haven. The town itself isn't much of a destination in terms of a vacation spot, but supplies and services are available, the harbor is generally pretty safe, and it's handy to the less developed atolls of the Marshalls, as well as being central enough to be a reasonable stop on the way to quite a few other destinations. Local entrepreneurs and some of the visiting cruising sailors are making small changes to make it increasingly pleasant and convenient, and if the Marshall Islands government can resist trying to place an exorbitant fee on visiting boats, it will probably become a popular destination and will profit greatly from the resultant economic activity.
We've described how some of the longer term liveaboard sailors met us as we arrived to get us on a mooring and orient us to the town. We've now passed that favor on to a couple of arriving vessels, and the mooring field now has around 30 boats present. That has made for quite an active holiday season.
The Australian Navy maintains a presence here, mainly to help police international fishing agreements. Three families are quartered in a very nice compound leased by the Australian government, and they have insinuated themselves into just about every level of life here. They work and socialize with the embassy staffs of all the countries who keep a representative here, as well as many Marshallese they work or trade with, and two of the men have joined the yacht club, taking on roles in organizing and running the monthly fun races among the cruising boats. They threw a really tremendous Christmas party at the compound last week, an all ages, widely attended pot luck/barbecue affair that lasted from late afternoon until 3 in the morning. We were worn out and gone by midnight, but the diehards stayed to eat and dance. Karen had managed to ferret out 3 different babies to borrow for a few minutes, and spent half the party talking to mothers and adoptive parents who had come here to get babies. The birth rate here is far too high for this country to support, and it has become a favored prospect for American couples wishing to adopt. I got to know a couple of fascinating fellow sailors, and spent an hour with a young man who had passed through here with his family when he was a young teenager growing up on a boat. The family has now settled in Maine, but he hated the cold, and came back here to enroll at the College of the Marshall Islands, pursuing a degree in marine science. In spite of the near continuous rain that kept us dodging among the shelters on the compound, it was an excellent night.
Last night was the yacht club party, for all the cruisers and extending invitations to most of the attendees of the Australian party. We had a good turnout, filling up the big thatched maneaba at the Reimer Hotel. Dave, the fiddler from the yacht Irish Melody got a few of us together for two rehearsals last week, so we could do a recognizable rendition of a dozen Christmas songs. Lots of people sang along, and we kept it short enough that we didn't offend too many music lovers. The food was plentiful and varied, and again we got to extend our familiarity with our neighbors in the mooring field.
The physical place here has some similarities to Tarawa and Funafuti, in that the development of the cities has drawn far too many out islanders to gather on a very limited piece of land. The town and "suburbs" are stretched out for miles along an atoll island chain that's only a few hundred meters wide from ocean to lagoon. The anchorage area at Funafuti was better in terms of depth and holding ground, but there were very limited resources beyond basic survival supplies. The harbor at Tarawa was poorly oriented relative to the prevailing wind, and may well have been the worst we ever encountered for comfort, though at least the anchor holding was good. Possibilities for buying both food and hardware or boat gear were moderately good there, but stores and services were spread out over miles along the central road, and the taxi drivers were the most frantic, brutal and un-economic I've seen anywhere. Here, although it's a couple of miles from the moorings to the best shopping area, the trip can be done by dinghy, or in a reasonably priced taxi with a nice, relaxed driver who moves gently with the 25 MPH traffic flow. Most things can actually be bought within a couple hundred meters of the dinghy landing near the moorings, so the trip to the bigger stores can be infrequent. The people are reasonably friendly, though generally pretty shy and quiet. Even those working in the tourist trade, running dive operations, sport fishing boats and hotels tend not to be very talkative unless you engage them. Another difference between both the previous atoll nations and Majuro is that the water here is far clearer in the anchorage. In Funafuti, and even more so in Tarawa, alteration of the reef (dredged entrances and causeways between islands) cause tidal turbulence around dead coral, putting vast amounts of very fine silt in the water. The lagoons are a lovely aqua green color, but visibility through the water is nearly non-existent. Somehow all of us on the boats feel generally happier when we can see through the water.
The weather has been far below perfect since we arrived, with stiff winds and very frequent rain squalls. But the local knowlege contends that this is unusual, and it will clear up as soon as the Inter-Tropical Convergance Zone shifts a bit further south, to dump some rain on Kiribati. They sure need it, and we no longer do, so any time now will be fine. But rain or no, the place holds promise as a temporary stop. We should get some things done, learn a few lessons, teach a few, and then have a fine position from which to leave for the next destination. Meanwhile, we'll be planning some exploratory sailing when we can get some time off from work. Here's hoping you all had an excellent Christmas, and wishing you the best of new years. Ted