November 18, 2007

Formalities
One of our friends asked us how we decide which islands to stop at. When you look at your map you will see we bypass many interesting-looking islands as we sail north. As far as making our decisions as to where to stop, it is usually mandated that for each country you MUST check in at a port of call before you visit any other island. In Tuvalu, that was Funafuti. That means you bypass all these great out-islands, and you would then have to backtrack (beating upwind) to visit. Either that or go north to visit another island and then backtrack to check out. Some of the yachts wanted to check out with permission to make a stop at one of the northern islands and were denied. So, we spent our time in Funafuti.
The same applies up here in the Gilbert group of Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas). The officials take a very dim view of stopping anywhere before Tarawa. As we are visitors to their country we feel obligated to follow their rules. Many of the boats are sailing back to Abemama, 70 miles to the southeast (upwind), with a VERY STRONG westerly setting current. We had so much trouble getting here that we decided not to do that, although that was our original plan. We've discovered that the officials will give you a 3 day stay in 2 of the islands heading north after you check out. So we will take advantage of that.
In the Marshall Islands the port of call is Majuro, so that is where we will go. We plan to spend the season there, so will have time to sail to some of the out-islands. We are out of the cyclone zone now; although this is where they usually develop, then move off to the west to become cyclones. When we were in Tuvalu we heard about the cyclone in 1972, which caused major damage. They will get one about every 70 years. They can also get some severe westerlies (it usually blows from the east). We are 750 miles north of Tuvalu now, and the Marshalls are another 350 miles north of here. It is windier here than we would like. It often blows in the 20's for a couple of days and the anchorages can be very rolly. The wind tends to blow from the northeast in the winter and the southeast in the summer. We are in the northern hemisphere now, so we're heading into winter again. Unbelievably, it is COOLER up here near the equator than in Fiji or Tuvalu. One of the other boats said the water temperature is 3 degrees cooler, and you can really feel it in the air temperature. It is actually comfortable at night now! (I'm a menopausal woman now and have really been suffering from the heat.)We are now in Abaiang and the anchorage is MUCH more settled. We are the only boat here and look forward to going ashore today to explore the island. More later. Karen