1999-2004: South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand

Sam, 

I'll write a longer one later but want to get this to you before we jet off to Lisbon this night, thence to Madeira and the Azores. I don't have any rock-solid contact points at embassy these days but do know Alice Moore, the Consul General, who would be the American Citizens Services overall contact point for emergency assistance etc. Don Coleman in the Political Section is a close friend and could be helpful if one were browsing the night spots — somehow that doesn't mesh with your probable wishes. I know the Ambassador Richard (Dick) Hecklinger and the DCM, Made Huhtala but not exceptionally well.

Embassy phone number is 662-2054000.

All the best....wow, southern Lau, that is one of the quality remote ones by all (not very many) accounts.

 Pancho

Dear Big John:

Ooops - the date of the very first journal entry was off by one year. Go figure.

Sitting at the terminal again, with a difference: for the first time since we began this trip, I am alone on the boat. Caren is in New Zealand, Mike is inScotland, Dana and Rachael are staying overnight at Debbie and Dean's house near Lautoka. I am alone on Rhapsodie. So I've gone and invited the other yachties hear at Vuda Marina to join me at 7:30 PM this evening aboard Rhapsodie for a free showing of "Shakespeare in Love". The tape's box says it won a bunch of Academy Awards, plus I am extremely movie-deprived, so I'm sure I'll enjoy it a bunch.

Patty and Rob, aboard Calypte, are a musical sailing couple; they both sing, plus he plays the guitar and she plays the flute. If she comes tonight, I'm going to suggest we get together and play some duets; it's time to grease up the old Haynes!

Dana joined the weekly sailing class at Vuda Marina today, much to my surprise (he's been resisting it for weeks). He was in a little Optimus sailboat with Joe, the middle son of Jeff, the manager of Vuda Marina. Joe is about 6 years old, and small for his age. Joe was at the helm, Dana handled the mainsheet. It was wonderful to watch. They had not a clue what they were doing, but they had a ball.

Dana is funny with sports. For example, he doesn't know how to ride a bike, and is adamantly opposed to learning how. He's good on rollerblades, though, so what the hell? Also, he's a natural in the water, and, in particular, he is an absolute snuba master.

Snuba? you ask. Ah, one of the top ten Rhapsodie toy purchases. Our snuba setup consists of a little gas engine that drives an air compressor, which pushes air into hoses. The engine and the compressor float in a tire; the hoses, of which there are two, end with regulators just like ordinary scuba gear. You put one of the two regulators in your mouth, you breathe the air being pumped down from the surface by the compressor, and you float on down to thirty feet or so, and stay there, checking the scene out, for at least an hour. When the engine runs out of gas, you swim back to the surface. Snuba is in some ways better than scuba, in some ways worse. But overall, for kids especially, it is the safest, easiest way to spend time under water.

You should see Dana (and Rachael) snuba. Mike Agnew, who is a Divemaster (qualified to teach scuba diving), and who took Dana on his first snuba dive, said Dana was one of the best students he had ever worked with: cool, smooth, panic-free, and probably more knowledgeable about what he's looking at then 90% of all scuba divers. We have books aboard on fish, plants, reef life,corals, etc., and Dana has devoured them. The guy is an underwater natural.

Mike told me that before Dana did his first snuba dive, Mike explained what to do in case the supply of air ran out (i.e., when the motor runs out of gas): just start to ascend slowly, no faster than the bubbles you exhale; as you ascend, the pressure on your lungs becomes less, the air in your lungs expands, and you must let it out by continuously and gently exhaling.  Hey, easier said than done. The normal reaction to your air suddenly running out at 30 feet below the surface is to hold your breath and swim as rapidly as possible to the surface. Result: you burst your lungs.  So anyway, Dana and Mike are bubbling around at 30 feet when, indeed, the snuba gear runs out of gas. Mike motions with an up thumb for Dana to begin ascending. Dana ascends with Mike, slow and cool, rising with the bubbles he continually blows out of his mouth. Then, oops, he runs out of air to blow out of his mouth. He looks at Mike, mouth pursed, eyes bugged. Mike signals for him to continue to the surface, which he does, still slow and cool, matching his bubbles, but now, of course, out of air. He makes it to the surface, smiles, and asks how soon they could go down again. He's a fish, John.

Sam

Dear John:

For the first time since we left California some ten months ago, I am alone aboard Rhapsodie: Caren is still in New Zealand, Mike in Scotland, the kids with the Jennings. So Rhapsodie hosted a film night. Fellow yachties (Dale and Tex from Camelot V, Patty and Rob from Calypte, among others) arrived at  7:30. Rob brought a kava bowl and some pounded kava, so we started the evening with a proper kava ceremony, passing the coconut shells around, clapping once before each person drank, thrice after each person finished. Dale brought some grilled coconut morsels, and I provided peanuts and Shakespeare In Love. I thought the film a little too clever and somewhat confusing, but I find it hard to fault Shakespeare, so, overall, I'd rate the evening a success.

I had finished reading Lincoln, by Gore Vidal, the day before. It took an effort to get going (like trying to start a recalcitrant outboard motor), but once I was in, I was hooked: one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time. The conversations, usually very brief, between Lincoln and his cronies, especially, Seward, are to be treasured. What a wonderful book.

It has rained all day (most unusual), keeping the temperature to a very cool  80 degrees (on sunny days, it is often over 100). I invited Kuji, a Japanese  solo sailor from Shiba, aboard this afternoon, and we discussed life, sailing, and turtles (he was particularly taken with Speedy the Turtle) for a few hours. Kuji's sailboat is about as big as our dinghy, yet he has sailed all over the South Pacific, single-handed, and shows no signs of interrupting his crazy lifestyle. He recommends Vanuatu and certain of the Solomon Islands, and I took notes accordingly. The skipper and skipper's wife of Nomotus came by for a briefing on the Yasawas Islands (we on Rhapsodie are considered the local experts on the Yasawas), and, finally, Captain Tim of Neal came aboard with his son Adam (Dana's best friend at the marina) and wife Jan, for a discussion of the pros and cons of having computers aboard sailing vessels. Jan had flown in from Pago Pago, American Samoa, the previous evening, While her husband and child malinger in Vuda Marina, she has managed to insert herself into the job assignment of Chief Physiotherapist for the Samoan Olympic team -- if all goes according to plan, she will accompany said Olympic team to Sydney next year for the Olympics, offering back rubs and shoulder therapy to the Samoan weight lifters and hammer throwers. Husband Tim and son Adam are still trying to figure out how they fit into the picture.

Caren is still in New Zealand, and my sources tell me she is about to extend her absence by flying to Thailand and checking into a temple for a few weeks of meditation. Good for her -- she deserves the break from family, friends, and work.

Mike, on the other, hand, can't wait to get back to Rhapsodie - I think Scotland is wearing him down. If he gets here before Caren, and time permits, the four of us (Mike, Sam, Rachael, Dana) may just take off on our own for a little Fun in the Sun!

The boat is being a boat. The starboard air conditioner blew up yesterday, so I had Shaneel remove the electronics -- here's hoping he can fix the problem. I'm running the water maker for the first time in several weeks so that the membranes don't go bad. There's water in both port and starboard bilges, as there has been for months, but we still haven't figured out where it comes from. The biggest problem right now (and really not that big a problem) is that we cannot run both the fridge/freezer (or "reefer" in nautical terms) simultaneously with the port air conditioning: the filter for the salt water coolant is not big enough to handle both systems. I've ordered a larger filter from Port Supply (wholesale West Marine), thanks to Rob on Carmelite, who has a contractor's license, and when it arrives, we hope we will solve the problem.

Nicki (Caren's mom) sent us an article from the San Diego Union-Tribune announcing that Tuvalu (a country consisting of a couple of coral atolls, with a total area of about ten square miles, ranking second to Vatican City as the world's smallest nation in population and the fourth smallest in area after Vatican City, Monaco, and Nauru), is about to join the United Nations. I particularly liked the article's final paragraph: 'Tuvalu is believed to earn more than $1 million annually from a 'sex chat' telephone service that pays for permission to use Tuvalu's country telephone code." We will be visiting Tuvalu later this year...

Speaking of breaking news: The Fiji Times of March 8, 2000, has an article describing the burgeoning business of growing coral in nurseries for export to the "lucrative marine aquarium industry". I love this country.

Enough for today. 

I love you, John 

Sam

Dear Big John:

Ah, yes.. March, not May. Thank you, thank you.

Slow days this week. It is either very hot, or very rainy. The starboard air conditioner went on the blink three days ago, and since it is the electronics that have given way, my hopes for getting it repaired are slight. At least the AC continues to work in the master cabin. Both children continue to sleep with me while their mother is gone - I wonder if it will last should the port AC give out as well.

Henry was here the past two days, and the final woodwork is almost completed: grills for the AC inlets and outlets, repainting of the salon struts, wooden hatch frames. The work here costs about a fifth of the labor costs in the States, so we're getting done stuff we would never have contemplated back home.

Mike returns in about 4 days, laden with yet more boat parts. This time, all the parts to give the trusty generator a complete overhaul. The problem will be getting the generator out of the boat so they can work on it in their workshop. The second problem is keeping everything cold while the generator is unavailable to charge the batteries upon which our fridge/freezer depend. Ah, boats.

Caren has indeed moved on to Thailand. She is checking into a temple north of Bangkok for a few weeks, and returns to Vuda Marina on April 3-4. We all miss her, and hope that her adventure is successful.

Rhapsodie hosted another movie night two nights ago: James and the Giant Peach. The kids and I of course loved it, but I can't vouch for the adults.

Yesterday the kids had the choice of schoolwork versus cleaning the utility room. They chose the latter. Today they get to stow everything, and get another choice: schoolwork versus cleaning the starboard bilge. We may not be doing much book learning aboard Rhapsodie these days, but we sure are getting a nice, clean boat.

Enough for now, love

Sam