December 8, 2007

Exploring Majuro
Today Ted and I got our first good look at the island. Yesterday we were so tired that we only walked 200 yards to the restaurant before returning home to crash on the boat. Today we went exploring. We walked pretty much the length of the main drag, about a couple miles, and looked around at all the shops. We had a good lunch at the Marshall Islands Resort; great big tuna steaks with rice and vegetables, at US prices! We then checked out the ACE Hardware; WOW! –we haven’t seen this much stuff since we were back in the States. It is going to be pretty easy to get anything we need. That, plus we’re on the US Postal service now, so mailing is cheap and easy from the continent.
A lot of Americans stick around here for a year or two, as there are no restrictions as to how long we can stay. The Marshall Islands are self-governing, with a free association with the US. That means the US supplies military defense; hence, the large military base at Kwajalein atoll about 220 miles northwest of here. Access to the atoll is limited – you have to have a sponsor to go there. And if you are working at the base you are not allowed to live on your boat – not good for us at all, so we’ll give it a miss. There are plenty of out-islands to visit where we can visit the locals and learn more about the Marshallese culture. The weather is still crappy. We still haven’t seen the sun. We are in the area of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which forms, then subsides, and is always changing. This is what spawns the cyclones that devastate the western Pacific. The locals tell us that it is usually sunny here, with light breezes from the east, but all we’ve seen is strong, gusty easterlies up to 30 knots and waves of torrential rain. We even had thunder a little while ago. We are SO happy to be on a safe, secure mooring, close to the shore. We only have to dinghy about 150 yards to be ashore. Fortunately it wasn’t actively raining for our walk; actually, it was nice to have a breeze and some clouds to keep us cool. But everything on the boat is soggy, so we’ll be happy to see the sun whenever it chooses to appear! Karen