1999-2004: South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand

Pancho: One hears very mixed reports about W. Samoa...our consuls in Apia have traditionally found the place difficult but the next island over (Savaii) more interesting....when and if you give French P. a second run, Rurutu and Rapa are especially interesting (Rapa, far to the south, is the sister island to Easter...hence the Polynesian names Rapa Iti and Rapa Nui, little and big rapa, a la Tahiti Iti and Tahiti Nui. The two rapas are quite far apart and have a temperate, rather than subtropical, climate. Should you go further east, New Hebrides and the daunting Solomons are worth a trip -- the former used to be in the no-questions-asked off-shore banking business so one saw natives with bones in their noses and platinum penis sheathes. more later. all best Pancho

Hey Pancho,

A real quickie here - since I last wrote we have (finally, reluctantly) left French Polynesia - last stop Maupelia, the best of the lot - nailed an amazing week in Palmerston Atoll in the Cook Islands (all 60 island inhabitants are descendants of William Marsters and the three Polynesian sisters he married), then pigged out in American Samoa, kicked back in Western Samoa (one of our favorites - will probably return next year), and currently are about to run into the strangest of the strange, Nivafo'ou, or "Tin Can Island", one of the least-visited islands in this part of the world.

Hope to be in Fiji in another week, and will hang there for the next 4-5 months, during the hurricane season (wish us luck).  Have a great time in California and Hawaii! Stay in touch, buddy.

Sam

Yacht Rhapsodie 

Lat S 15 13, Long W 175 08

Dear Pancho:

Your last email was a joy. Who else but Pancho would be able to pull off the names of two of the Australs - I had to look them up myself in my South Pacific Handbook (David Stanley - the ONLY guide for this part of the world) to figure out what you were talking about. Thanks for these recommendations: if we were to return to French Polynesia, our top two choices would be the Marquesas and the Tuamotus - we have now, thanks to your recommendations, added the Australs to our short list. Unfortunately, getting that far east ain't so easy (the tradewinds are in your face the whole way), and the prices stink in that part of the world, but you never know...

You say you had mixed reports about Western Samoa. Let me add my two cents. This is my third trip to W. Samoa (thirty years ago, as a PCV on vacation; then 15 years ago, on my honeymoon; and finally a week ago). The first trip I spent almost entirely on Savaii, hiking around the island, staying in villages. I met a few PCV's from the first group sent there, and they were a sorry lot: they had been taught the wrong language for three months (formal Samoan as opposed to the everyday language used by everyone) and spent all their time grousing. On my second visit, Caren and I stopped over briefly in Apia, and had a couple of not-so-nice encounters with Samoan teenagers in Apia: we did like Aggie Grey's, however. This last trip we spent about two weeks in W. Samoa, anchored off Apia and doing lots of day trips around Upolu. We also spent a weekend on the tiny island of Manono, between Savaii and Upolu. Our verdict: the best yet, by far. The scenery is gorgeous, the tourist stuff pretty good, the prices incredibly low, but most of all, thenicest, friendliest people I have ever come across in all my travels, no exaggeration. And Apia is as good a capital city as you will find in these parts. So, mixed reports from your buddies be damned, this is definitely a five star country. We will definitely return to Western Samoa next year, mainly to do Savaii, but also to renew contacts with the many friends we met on Upolu and Manono. Thumbs up.

As I write this long-winded email, we are en route between Welangilala and Duff Reef, two of the most northerly of the Lau Islands of Eastern Fiji. We aren't supposed to be visiting these islands before officially checking in at Savu Savu, but hey, what's a guy to do? Caren and I made love on the beaches of Welangilala (my favorite island name in the world) ten years ago, from which island union daughter Rachael was conceived. We couldn't pass it by without another visit now, could we? And snorkeling around its crystal waters confirmed to us that Fiji has by far the best undersea life of the South Pacific. Visibility this morning was about 150 feet, the corals were obscenely colored, the fish too numerous to count, etc., etc. And they tell us that Duff Reef is even better! Plus it is a major turtle destination, which is the main reason we will anchor there.

Now for business. Our wonderful crew and almost family member, Mike Agnew, needs some advice and/or official action in clearing his good name with the United States Department of Immigration. Here's the story. About a year and a half ago he returned from the US to visit his family in Scotland before joining us on the Big Trip. When he returned to San Francisco, immigration noted that he had overstayed his 3 month's visa - Mike had incorrectly thought he had a six months' visa. So back he went to England, where he remained until we picked him up in Ensenada. He is still persona non grata in the US. What he desires is to clear his good name, proof of which would presumably consist of a 10 year multiple-entry visa to the US. What do you advise he do? He will be with us in Fiji for the next 6 months — should he work through the Embassy in Fiji? Your advice is awaited with eager anticipation.

Next business item: you mentioned you know one or more high muckey-mucks in Fiji. If you honestly think it would be of value for us to contact one or more of your politicos, please let us know what steps we should take. Warning: we will definitely take them.

That's all for business. Hey, just returned from a swim off Duff Reef. Definitely a five star spot. Duff Reef has a sandy cay about 100 by 50 yards, with one palm tree in the center, and crisscrossed with turtle tracks not unlike Rommel's tank tracks in north Africa. Caren swam to the reef and encountered a half dozen big females just itching to swim ashore and lay eggs. We will return this evening late with flashlights to see the action.  Woo woo. Life ain't so bad these days...

Stay in touch buddy.

Sam

Yacht Rhapsodie

Duff Reef

Fiji 

Latitude S 16 degrees 50 minutes. Longitude W 178 degrees 58 minutes.

Hello Big John,

Business, business -- so glad you are there to help with the mundane details of vehicle registration. How did Captain Cook manage, I wonder, with no email and no representative to manage his home affairs?

Let's see. The boat registration. It sounds like we should just forego registration, since the boat is not in California waters anymore, and by foregoing registration, we save a little money. All other things being equal, that would be my recommendation. But maybe there is some hidden penalty? For example, I return with said boat in a couple of years: would reregistering the boat cause me extra expense and/or hassle? One wonders. So my final answer is: let the registration lapse, but with a phone call tothe surely very efficient office to ask if there is some hidden penalty/hassle for following this course of action. If you could make that phone call, then let the registration lapse, I would be very grateful, big guy.

Second item of business: Christmas money. We here on Rhapsodie think that Christmas money is a very good thing, and we thank your heartily in advance for it. We also think it would be put to best use by having it in our bank account. So, please send the check to Nicki, who can sign for us and deposit it into our bank. Thank you, thank you.

Final item of business: our Portola Valley mail. It turns out that on December 1 or thereabouts the post office will stop forwarding mail addressed to us at 12 Valley Oak - they have been forwarding all our mail to Nicki, but they put a six months' limit on this service, and the six months are about to end. What I would ask you (or mom) to do is: first try to get the post office to extend this forwarding service for another six months -- or for longer, if they are willing. If they won't do that, ask them if they could hold the mail and mom could pick it up herself, perhaps every two weeks or so, and forward it herself to Nicki, first throwing out the junk mail. Wedon't think there is much real mail still headed in our direction, so the volume will probably be quite small, but we do know of some medical insurance claims that still haven't come through. I know this is a pain for mom, but I can't think of another way to handle the mail. Please let me know if you come up with a solution.

That's all the biz for now. I will send this email right now, then start another one telling of our not-so-recent activities on this side of the equator, and send it to you and all the other family members. In the meantime, my love to you both, and thanks for helping out on the biz front. We couldn't sail without you...

From: CEKEDWARDS©aol.com

  Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 19:25:47 EST

  Subject: Hello from Rhapsodie in Musket Cove, Fiji (Part One)

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Dear family and friends of Rhapsodie:

This is part one of a two-part email. Both parts have been sent  simultaneously.

Sorry that we accidentally sent our standard warning on the dangers of long emails, and failed to send the letter. So here's our quarterly report from the crew of Rhapsodie. The last big email covering our adventure came to most of you from Moorea, in the Society Islands. This email brings you up to the present. Our apologies in advance if some of you have already heard some of this stuff -- we have written over 500 emails since this trip began, so a certain amount of overlap is inevitable.

The best part of our trip to the Society Islands was the arrival of Sue Kelman, Caren's sister -- our first visitor! Sue joined us for a terrific week in Moorea and Huahine, as neighbor to the West. Moorea is one of the most beautiful islands we have ever seen, with dramatic cliffs rising up from Cooks Bay (where we anchored) to knife-edged peaks soaked with vegetation Huahine, though less dramatic, was in many ways more fun: very few yachts, good friends on other yachts, friendly locals, and, best of all, plenty of gorgeous hotels to visit and have Sue treat us to meals at (until her visit,we had one meal ashore in four months of travel)

We met a wonderful surfing family from Hawaii, with great kids. Erik their young boy of 12, is a professional surfer (really) and boat kid, so he become the leader of the pack. It was the first time we saw Rachael let someone else be the boss, and the fact that Erik was a real cutie didn't hurt I'm sure.

We spent two weeks in Bora Bora, also a jewel in the Pacific. We finally met  up with our friends from Blue Banana (We met Sam in Monterey 20 years ago sailing Mercuries!), They left CA 2 years ago and have mastered the art of fine living. It was great to play with them, and we hope to see them in the Pacific again next year.

For the next leg of our journey, we have included an email that Dana mailed  to his grandparents:

We are on our way to American Samoa, the only American Island in the South Pacific. We are at Latitude south 17 degrees 03 minutes, Longitude west 165 degrees 15 minutes. We left Palmerston Atoll in the Cook Islands two days ago. and we have 2 and half days to go before we get there

After Tahiti we went to Moorea, an island next to Tahiti, It was a very nice island and we saw lots of rays and whales. One day we had 50 knot winds when we were anchored off the reef in Moorea. We next went to Huahine, also a very beautiful French Island where we made some very good friends from Hawaii. We next went to Raiatea for shopping, and then went to Tahaa for the night The next morning we went to Bora Bora where we stayed for almost two weeks.

Bora Bora has a very high mountain on it, and lots of rays and sharks After that we were heading to Maupiti, but the pass had such big waves that we decided not to go there. Instead we went to Maupelia, a small atoll with a narrow pass with lots of current. One night on the beach we were looking for big sea turtles laying their eggs, and we found one that was 350 pounds and about 4 ft long. The next morning we dug up 100 sea turtle eggs from the turtle we had seen the night before We took the eggs backto the village with the chief to protect them from the wild dogs We also went hunting for coconut crabs and ate them for dinner! Coconut crabsweigh about 5 pounds, 2 feet long, and are bright blue and purple! Pretty unusual looking.

After Maupelia we went to the Cook Islands, to Aitutaia for the afternoon. It was a roily anchorage and we did not stay. Instead we went to Palmerston Atoll. The people there are really nice, and its a verybeautiful island full of Parrot fish and whales. There are only 50 people living there, and they are all part of the same family. I slept in the village for a few nights and played with the local kids who only speak English. Its great to have kids to play with that don't speak French!

We had a really hard time saying good-bye to Palmerston, and the people gave us lots of presents. My sister wants to go back and live there now. Then we left for American Samoa, and we are still on the way. It's been beautiful sailing the whole way, and we have only our spinnaker up. The wind is 13 knots, and we are going 5 knots, which is good for a boat in light winds with only one sail up.

The most unusual foods I've eaten are: pod, the furry stuff inside a coconut which has already starting to grow into a tree, and it's texture is spongy. Taro is a root that tastes plain and disgusting. The best foods were pain au chocolate (like chocolate croissants) and the Ono fish that we caught in the middle of the ocean. We also had great pineapple picked right from the bush, and fresh coconuts are one of my favorites. The food I miss most from the USA is good ice cream and fruits like oranges, apples, pistachios and almonds.

    I miss you a lot.

    Love, 

    Dana

American Samoa? All the guide books told us to expect the worst. We quote from one:

"Pago Pago is a scenically beautiful and well protected harbor. which unfortunately has been virtually destroyed by the local fish cannery, which fills the water with effluent and the air with revolting odours. Until there is a marked improvement in yachting facilities, Pago Pago is best regarded as a convenient reprovisioning stop and nothing more."

This guide book, and all the others we have on board, forgot to mention that the rest of the island of Tutuila (of which Pago Pago is the principal harbor), as well as the other islands that constitute American Samoa, are gorgeous and unspoiled. It also forgot to mention that the American Samoans are among the nicest people you could hope to meet We met a bunch of them, and had a ball. One family, Cecilia and Richard Ras, whom we met by chance at a school fair, took our children for Halloween trick-or-treating, invited us to their weekly family get-together for a terrific meal and a chance to attend their church (the choir was made up entirely of their family members), and Cecilia literally drove us to the end of the road around Tutuila, where we enjoyed watching some humpback whales cavorting in the surf. She also connected us with another family member in Western Samoa. The guide books (as usual) are wrong: look beneath the surface, and you find a wonderful society as yet unspoiled by tourism (as is a good part of the Society Islands).

But even American Samoa couldn't compete with Western Samoa. Just west of her namesake, Western Samoa is undoubtedly the world's friendliest country.   Here's what Rupert Brooke thought of Western Samoa:

 "You lie on a mat in a cool Samoan hut, and look out on the white sand under the high palms, and a gentle sea, and the black line of the reef a mile out, and moonlight over everything ... And then among it all are the loveliest people in the world, moving and dancing and mysteriously, utterly content. It is sheer beauty, so pure that it's difficult to breathe in."

We had no trouble breathing in Western Samoa. For example: Sam said hello to an employee of the Aggie Grey hotel, and bingo! We are all invited to his parents' home in the country, where they host us to a traditional Samoan meal of foods cooked underground with hot rocks. In a similar example we were invited by a wonderful young woman to stay with her family on the island of Manono, just off the West side of Upolu, the main island. Manono is about two kilometers in diameter, with four villages spread around its perimeter.It has no cars. no dogs, and a way of life that is traditional even for Western Samoa. One night all the kids (including Rachael and Dana) got dolled up for an evening of singing and dancing, and we partied late. We all went to church wearing borrowed clothes (long-sleeved shirts, actual trousers, etc.), and our friends from another boat even got nailed by the "prayer police" (her nickname) who are around to make sure everyone stops andprays at a particular time each day, and that no one does any work on Sunday. Hey, Western Samoa is very, very different from the United States. and itmade all of us sit up and take notice. So far, it is our favorite country, and we are already planning to visit it again next year.

Our next stop was the most northern Tongan Island of Nivafo'ou, considered in many ways one of the remotest islands in the world. It is equidistant from Nuku'alofa (Tonga), Savaii (Western Samoa) and Taveuni (Fiji). A supply ship comes by maybe once a month. The island has had only three boats visit this year, and no boats last year. Very remote. Nivafo'ou is an active volcano,with very rugged terrain and beautiful crater lakes in the interior. There is no good anchorage and Sam swam to shore since it was too rough to even get the dinghy in. He met a local who told him of the only landing on the Island, and we moved Rhapsodie and anchored off the landing. We went in with the dinghy to a very rough beach where the locals were there waiting to help pull the boat up before the next wave hit. We got a tour of the island on a cart attached to the back of a tractor all decorated with flowers in honor of our visit.  Everyone on the island waved as we passed, it felt like we were in a parade. We swam in warm crater lakes, and had the tractor meet us on to ther side of one lake so we could swim across. Great exercise.

Nivafo'ou is also called 'Tin Can Island" since it is too rough for supply boats to anchor, so the supply boats, and passing cruise ships, throw the mail into the water in tin cans for the locals to pick up. They used to swim out to the cans, but there was a fatal shark attack, so now they use their outriggers and hope for quiet seas.

We have on board Rhapsodie every National Geographic issue on CDs. There was an article on Tin Can Island from the 1920s that we printed, pictures and all, on our little Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 340 (love it, love it) and gave to our hosts. They got all excited by some of the pictures, and claimed to be able to identify some of the people in the pictures. The article explained how Nivafo'ou has been nailed fairly regularly by volcanic explosions and lava flows which have wiped out several towns, including the capital.

We left Nivafo'ou for Fiji late in the afternoon of the day we arrived (we were not about to risk a night at anchor off that island!) A few days later, we were anchored at Welangilala, the easternmost of the Fiji Islands, entirely uninhabited, and absolutely gorgeous. Caren and Sam had actually been to Welangilala ten years earlier, during a charter vacation in Fiji, and were delighted to return to what we consider one of the most beautiful atolls we have ever seen. Just palm trees, glaring white coral beaches, ridiculously over-blue lagoon, the works. The trees were full of nesting seabirds, and there were plenty of shells for the kids.

Next to Welangilala is Duff Reef, merely a mound of sand about 200 yards in diameter and maybe ten feet above sea level, with exactly one palm tree in the center. The sands of Duff Reef look like a major tank battle has just taken place: there are heavy treadlike tracks leading out of the water, through one or more craters that look like they were formed by hand grenades and then back out to the water You see, Duff Reef is a very popular piece of real estate amongst the turtle population. Early one evening we saw a big female turtle looking for the right spot to lay her eggs. That afternoon Caren and Mike, while swimming off the reef, saw five big turtles -- one even came right up to Caren. And the kids spotted the best: a pair of mating turtles, just off our port side. Talk about noisy! They were splashing and gasping for at least then next five hours. We were all very impressed.

From Duff Reef it is a short haul to Savu Savu, our first official stop in Fiji. But it is an important haul, because during this passage we crossed the 180 degree meridian. Our time went back an hour but, more interestingly, our day went back as well! It had been Sunday when we approached the 180 meridian; it was Saturday after we crossed it. And that is why Fiji is such a big deal this year: it will be the first country in the world to enter the next millennium. Surprisingly, there is very little hype here. There is one potential problem. however. An important chief from Taveuni, an island right on the 180 meridian, died a few weeks ago, and, according to custom, during the mourning period (which extends into January of 2000) no one may sing, or dance, or fish, or swim, or party. This is a crushing blow to the tourist industry, where many hotels and dive shops were counting on their biggest year ever. The lesser chiefs are huddling as we speak, trying to figure out how to keep the tourist dollars flowing without showing disrespect for their dead chief.

Savu is another Fiji spot Caren and Sam visited ten years ago. At that  time, it was a tiny town in a lovely bay, with a handful of shops and restaurants, a 'yacht club" consisting of a single room about 20 feet square, and one other boat in the harbor. A lot has happened to Savu Savu in ten years, especially since it became an official port of entry two years ago. It is now full of shops, banks, restaurants, and other yachts; it has a very active yacht club with all kinds of facilities such as email, laundry, electricity, water, you name it. And it is priced like everything else in Fiji: ridiculously cheap. Several fancy hotels have appeared, including one owned by Jacques Cousteau's son (this area has some of the best diving in the world), and land, especially beach-front property, has suddenly become a very hot commodity. Still, Savu Savu is so far away from the rest of the world, and its summers are so wet and humid, we doubt that it will become too spoiled by overdevelopment.

We anchored in Savu Savu bay for over a week, going crazy over the Indian curries (mutton or chicken curry, rice, dal, roti, all for less than adollar), the pineapples, the ice cream. Yum. We met some nice fellow cruisers in adjacent yachts, as well as some local folk. We didn't have a chance to go diving, the rain was so bad, but even with the bad weather, we agreed that Savu Savu, and the area to the north and east, was where we would like to spend a lot of time, once the boat is in shape.

Getting the boat in shape requires us to work down a list of at least fifty items, and the Marina at Vuda Point is the place for that. Vuda Point Marina is on the western side of Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island, between the cities of Nadi and Lautoka. It is relatively hurricane-secure, well-run, andhas access to a swimming pool and beach within walking distance of the boat. Best of all, each kid found a good friend, their first since Palmerston Island weeks and weeks ago. Ah, Vuda Point - it is good to be here. (Here, where we have learned to contend with the flying cockroaches that land on your boat, and mucho mosquitos. Our first project upon arrival was the completion of our screening, and now we are working on a rain awning so we can open the hatches in the rain).

Caren wasted no time checking out the Lautoka River as a possible "hurricane hole" for Rhapsodie. You see, Fiji is right in the middle of wherehurricanes brew and blow in the South Pacific. When one comes by, you need a hole to hide in. The good news is that Fiji has lots of hurricane holes.  Caren found several great ones up the Lautoka River, amongst the mangrove trees.

We are writing this email from Musket Cove, a beautiful harbor of Malolo Lailai Island, which is just off the West coast of Viti Levu. We sailed over to Musket Cove yesterday from Vuda Point Marina, where we have been moored for the past week, trying to get through our endless list of boat chores, repairs, and upgrades. We plan to stay in Fiji for the hurricane season (November - April), then probably head north and east for more Pacific Islands. Right now it feels good just to know that we will be in the same country for the next six months at least.

After six months we are finally finding our balance living aboard. There are major shifts required in how we live and interact to make this lifestyle work. It's been a lesson in self sufficiency, self starting, and creativity. When you can't count on basic things being available, you need to be very flexible.

For example our water maker broke in Western Samoa, and there were no facilities for taking water aboard in our tanks. There wasn't even a decent dock to bring our dingy to (this presented a major entrepreneurial opportunity for three Norwegian girls who arrived on another yacht and fell in love with three Samoan hunks. The girls are now staying the season in Samoa to put in a dock and get some facilities for yachties, like a cafe that serves quiche and cappuccinos...)

We were lucky for a while with some hard rains (we are able to collect rain from our hard dodger), but we began a major water austerity program when we left for Fiji. All dish washing was in salt water except for the last rinse, showers were restricted to every other day, with a twist: wee recycled the water caught in the tub for the next bather. The second bather then lather up in the used water, and rinses in fresh. This worked real well (at least for the first few bathers). When we arrived at our first landfall in Fiji, Welangilala (an uninhabited island) we stayed a few days with lots of diving, and did just fine. It's amazing how far you can stretch a resource when you're motivated. It was well worth it to have our own private paradise for a few days We have now installed a new watermaker that we purchased in the States for just this occasion, and it has been raining like mad ever since.

In terms of little pleasures, we located a Costco type store near our marina, and found some bagels and cream cheese! You never know what hidden joys from far away will cross your path. We have been celebrating and enjoying the bagels as if they were rare treasures. On this trip we have found reason to celebrate even the smallest events.

Which brings us to Hanukkah. We have just completed the eight day holiday, lighting the menorah, eating latkes and giving presents. Dana's big gift was a bike, and Rachael scored a small opal ring. We forgot our Hanukkah candles (there's no Bob and Bob's in Fiji) and used birthday candles instead. We're moving our sights on to the New Year. Fiji is on the dateline so we will be in the first country in the world to see the new millennium. That should look great on our resumes. We haven't decided if we want to be right on the dateline out at sea or just partying nearby.

Caren's back has been pretty good, and only gave her a bit of trouble recently. But as fate would have it, we met an American physical therapist (who is also a meditation teacher) and he is working with her. There are no physical therapists in the Fiji medical system. It seems that she let her exercises slip a bit, didn't do enough walking (it's hard to hike on decks), and lost some muscle tone in the lower back. So she'll travel to the only decent gym in the country (in the capital of Suva) for a week of intensive therapy. Sam and Caren have been meditating again, and it has been a welcome part of the day.

The kids have been thriving in spite of Rachael's motion sensitivity, She seems to have adjusted to gentle motion, and is even doing her schoolwork now that we are underway on route back to the Mahna. We are more comfortable with home schooling now, and it is especially nice to have three teachers. We have gotten a little creative with the curriculum, and assign special topics and field trips. For example we visited the Bahai Temple in Western Samoa as a field trip, and the kids wrote an essay instead of school that day. (Bahai is a brand-new religion, about a hundred years old, with a prophet that preached that all religions pray to the same G-d. It's temples have entrances for the 9 major religions on the world, and read from all the scriptures. Naturally the founder, Bahai'ulla from Iran, was persecuted his whole life, spent 40 years in prison, and his followers are still being executed in Iran today.)

Since our time with other children is very spotty, the children have become quite adept at socializing with adults. They help entertain and converse with the best of them now. They are very open to playing with any children they meet, and they play with children of the opposite gender nicely. Rachael was spotted playing with three 8 year old boys last week, and that would never happen in Portola Valley! (I think she was in charge...) Best of all, the children have truly become each other's best friend. They fight only about 10% of the time now (usually over chores, the list of which is greatly expanded from the cushy life we had in CA).

That's about it from the control deck of Rhapsodie. We are underway, on a heading of 42 degrees, under cloudy skies. We are 4.74 nautical miles from the Marina, and Dana is working on his 80th lesson test. Rachael and her very quiet friend Amber are sitting at the bows looking for obstructions. All is well. We miss our friends and family, and cherish the communications we receive (even if we take forever to reply). If you want to send us any written mail (we call it snail mail) our address for a while is:

 Sam (or Caren or Rachael or Dana) Edwards 

Yacht Rhapsodie

Yacht in Transit

Vuda Point Marina

Lautoka, Fiji

Much Love and have a Happy 2001 

From the Crew of Rhapsodie

Dear Sam, Thank you (and Caren) for the great two-part (we enjoyed reading all three of the two parts) letter of a few days ago and your Christmas letter of today. We get a great deal of pleasure from your letters and show some parts of them off to visitors and friends. Other parts we treasure for ourselves. We have your various locations marked on our map as you report them and read about the places you visit in our South Pacific Handbook. Great stuff. At times I have to remind myself that I have not actually been in all those places, except in spirit and imagination.

We are back home after a few days in the Palm Springs area, to which we drove in our new Infiniti i30, our Christmas present to each other. The Chrysler station wagon, a good and faithful servant, has gone where old cars go. The dealer promised that he would place it with a deserving family that would treat it well. Palm Springs (actually, we never were in Palm Springs, just near there, in a place called La Quinta) was pleasant. We might go back there some day. And then again we might not.

For now, we are enjoying small pleasures. A fine Almodovar movie ("All About My Mother'), dinner at it Fomaio, preparing for classes that begin in January, finishing up an article, reading proofs on the next book, which the publisher promises to publish on my birthday, seeing friends, going to holiday parties and hanging out at 2427 Sharon Oaks Drive. We still have not adopted a dog because the Japan trip in May-June is too much time to be away from a newly acquired pet. When we return from Japan it will be adopt-a-doggy time.

We are well and busy. Of course we miss you, but we have the impression that your adventure is genuinely rewarding for you and the family and that, despite the inevitable problems, you are enjoying the life. Your mother and I love you very much and think and talk often of you. We'll raise a glass to you on our New Year's Eve, knowing that where you are it will already be old news. How interesting all this is.

So have a great 2000, and we can all look forward to the third millenium, which, as you know, is still a year away.

Hugs, John and Mom

p.s., We assume that Nicki has deposited your Christmas/Hanukkah check. You may have spent it already. If not, enjoy it when you do.