November 21, 2007

Paradise
This is it. This is paradise! This is what you think of when you picture the south seas islands. We are anchored at Abaiang, in a very sheltered lagoon, with miles of beautiful green-blue water. The atoll is about 17 miles long by 7 miles wide. We are the only yacht here.
We hired a motor bike yesterday and drove around a bit. There are many small villages scattered along the long, skinny motu. The road is dirt and occasionally you pass another bike, but generally you are alone. The villages are groups of thatched huts, with separate cooking and sleeping huts. And they all have a maneaba, the central meeting hut. As it is always warm here, the huts are open-sided, and the thatched roof comes down low, so you just have to duck to get under it. There is good air flow and protection from the rain.
The people are very friendly. They are more polynesian in appearance than the Fijians. The women have long, straight hair and finer features. The Fijian women had short, kinky hair and coarser features. They still tend to be a little large, but I think that is because they have given birth to over half a dozen children by the time they are 30! The children love to wave and smile at us as we drive past. We feel very safe and welcome here.Yesterday we looked up an ex-Californian by the name of John. He settled here many years ago and has been building some power catamarans. We saw one of his boats in Tarawa and were interested in meeting him. He is a very nice guy, and also has his own trimaran that he built many years ago and is now doing some repairs to. He'll be re-launching one of the power cats this week. We will be moving down in front of his place today so that we can be closer to the action. Today is Thanksgiving and I have a pumpkin and some cranberry sauce, so we'll share our dinner with John. Karen