October 16, 2008

Time to Go
Thursday, the 16th has arrived, and conditions are quite acceptable for an overnight passage to Wotje Atoll. We made our last trip ashore at about 9:00 this morning, and found to our distress that the domino effect had wrought misfortune in the village. Yesterday morning the ship from Majuro came back in to pick up passengers who came up for the funeral, and to load some more copra. while they were loading, a 6 year old girl from one of the visiting families drowned while playing in the lagoon. It was arranged that the ship would make an overnight run to Utrik Atoll to return the bereaved family, then come back to Ailuk to finish loading. Tempo's wife, Jepe was a relative of the girls family, and went along with them , then returned on the ship. With Jepe gone for the night, Tempo ate some fish given to him by another family, and by midnight had to send his daughter for the health worker, as he had food poisoning. When we went to say goodby, we found him bedridden, with an IV drip in his arm, improving a bit, but still unable to stand up. A sad way to see him for our farewell.
Convinced that his sister and the neighbors would be sure Tempo was OK, we made a pass through the village to let people know this was their last chance to send packages to Wotje with us. We assumed most had sent them to their students on the copra ship, but we were wrong. We returned to Sequester with 4 boxes to deliver to the high school in Wotje, and then a few minutes later Linda came by in her dinghy to drop off 4 more who'd missed us before we left the beach. Sometimes the language barrier plus island time can cause problems, but we were glad Linda was there to make a second pass.
Right on schedule we picked up the anchor at 11:00, and headed for the pass, with a light but favorable NE breeze. Because of the time difference between here and the USA, the last presidential election debate was on Armed Forces Radio at 1:00 this afternoon. We were just clear of the pass by then, and tuned in for a listen as we headed south. The sea is relatively smooth, with just a long, regular swell running, and we're easily holding our course for now. Should be just east of Wotje by dawn tomorrow, and with a little luck, be in the anchorage tomorrow night. More soon. Ted