October 28, 2007

Settling into Funafuti
For the first day here, the wind held pretty much as it was when we sailed in....more east than north, and light. The anchorage area is just west of the long, narrow atoll island, so it was perfectly flat on the water, with a nice breeze cooling us and steadying the boats. We got cleared in, bought a couple of things at a shop, and started a relaxed cleanup. We got a great nights rest Friday. We heard on the radio Saturday morning that Waitea (another NZ boat), Trevor and Jan on board, was approaching, coming in from Samoa. I've talked to Trevor on the radio for the last year, so we were looking forward to seeing them. Walter and Gisella invited us all for snacks and drinks on Atlantis for Saturday evening.
Karen and I did some scouting for fresh fruit and vegetables in the morning (no luck) then went for a short, cooling swim and snorkel over a nearby coral patch. Around noon we saw Waitea setting anchor behind us, and went out for a short hello. The afternoon disappeared in some relaxed reading. We all gathered on Atlantis at five, talked about places we'd been and what the general plans were for the coming year. Last cyclone season Walter and Gisella spent 5 months at Canton Island in the Kiribati group. It's an isolated atoll, population 32 souls, with a supply ship every few months. Interesting dynamics there! We all hoped for a rain shower that night, for laundry water.
We got the shower, a roaring downpour for an hour that half filled the dinghies, and allowed me to fill all the storage jugs from the rain catching system. As it rained the wind went to the north, and there it has stayed. It changes the nature of the anchorage some to have it blow from the north. There's a long fetch of lagoon from that direction, so the surface has a chop on it, and the boats all have a lumpy little dancing motion. It's a bit harder to do things with everything a moving target, so we incline toward more reading, putting off the chores. Still, in the afternoon I did an adjustment of the wind generator vane (definite improvement!)and strengthened the autopilot mount. That little socket takes quite a beating when it's rough. I think now it's finally good enough. Trev and Jan stopped by to rest, rowing their inflatable dinghy (inflatables all are terrible rowboats) because their outboard has gone temperamental. We invited them to come by and visit and let me have a look at the carburetor, since I have good tools and cleaners.
It took us 3 trips to the bakery to get the bread. She kept putting off baking because it was so hot. But finally she baked, and I got a loaf. We also found a shop keeper who got us a few papayas and some bananas. Trev and Jan came by, and while we cleaned up the fuel system they told us they'd found out where the gardening is done. They were commercial tomato growers themselves for a few years, so we're going to try to get a tour of the little farm. We're all sort of interested in the economy of the place. A population of 4000 on an island only a couple hundred yards wide and a few miles long, located a thousand miles from the back of nowhere..... Transport is almost all by 125cc motorbikes, a mix of Suzuki (Japanese) Daelim (Taiwanese, I think) and Zhongshin (mainland China). Almost all of the old two stroke models that prevailed on the islands 6 years ago are now gone. Rising fuel costs and pollution, and lower production costs for machine parts have made nearly silent four strokes the choice of the market. The younger citizens are inclined to have earphones in, or be dancing in the yard to music that could be anything from hip-hop to rock to polynesian covers of country-western hits. There are videos for sale in the shops, but the surprisingly well stocked library is busy in the afternoons, after school. Lots to investigate. Ted