• Playing with nuclear fire. Madness.

    I’ve just finished an amazing read about an extremely inspriational Marshalese lady who worked on raising awareness for nuclear testing at Bikini atoll, as well as associated and unassociated health problems for the people of the Marshall Islands. Darlene Keju was one of those saints who spent her life working for a cause. Sadly her life ended early due to cancer and the book is written by her husband Giff Johnson forming a unique tribute to her work.

    Here are some excerpts/facts I’ve pulled from the book “Don’t Ever Whisper” -

    * The most destructive nuclear test (of the 67 nuclear tests detonated in the Marshall Islands) was named “Bravo”. It was 1000 times the strength of the bombs that struck Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Due to strong winds on the day of the testing radioactive fallout showered nearby inhabited islands causing birth deformities and numerous health issues. It is now suggested that wind speeds were being monitored, and there was an awareness of the possible danger for surrounding atolls – regardless of this knowledge, the testing went ahead.

    * “The weapons tested in the Marshall Islands from 1946 to 1958 was the equivalent of a Hiroshima-sized bomb going off every day for 12 years.”

    * Marshalese living in Bikini atoll were told that the testing was “for the good of mankind” and that they needed to leave their island. Some 50 years later they still haven’t been able to move back because of unsafe radiation levels, even though their ancestors inhabited Bikini for thousands of years prior.

    * Talking of the American governance of the Marshall Islands, Darlene Keju commented in a speech made in Canada – “Because in our islands, it’s very funny when the United States tells us they are there to protect us, we turn around and ask them – “Protect us from whom?” – We have no enemies. In fact you might be interested to know that the Marshalese do not have a word for “enemy””.

    Their only fault, it seems, is their ‘strategic’ location in the Pacific ocean.

    * Note – it should be acknowledged that America now provides a huge amount of aid to the Marshall Islands, and is slowly trying to undo the atrocities that were committed during the nuclear testing. They also pay huge sums of money to continue a military base and missile testing on Kwajalein atoll. However in the above instances I am merely pulling information from “Don’t ever whisper”.

    * The words ‘Tuak Bwe Elmajnono’ adorned Darlene’s gravestone. Her “message to us, clear in life as it was in death”.. Face your challenges, or literally translated from Marshalese to English – ‘Don’t be afraid to make your way through strong ocean currents to get to the next island’.

    Note – With the sloppy seas and challenging sailing around the Marshalls Robin and I can attest to the above literal translation of facing your challenges.

  • Moonlight and music

    Life is slowly returning to its normal flow after our dingy mishap. We now have a second hand dingy with a great set of oars and are kinda enjoying rowing around – well maybe I’m enjoying it more than Robin who is paddling most of the time. Fellow Kiwis off Siguera refered to me as “Lady Muck” the other day. Oops.

    We are now on a mooring in Enamonit, only an hour from the capital from Majuro, but in reality a world away. The development in the Marshalls really is confined to a narrow strip of amenities in both Majuro, and, we hear, Ebeye. Outside of this nature remains king.  While the pull of the internet of the internet and shops seem to draw yachties into Majuro it is hard to shake the smiles from those who have “escaped” to Enamonit. Bodies fly into the crystal calear water almost before the boat is anchored, returning to the ocean that we all hold so dear. As a wise person once said, I’m not sure who, “the cure for everything is salt water”. It’s amazing how taking a few moments to appreciate nature can make stresses melt away. Nature always reminds us of our place.

    Anyway getting on the title of the blog – we had an amazing evening last night with Jody and Bruce from Cava, and Larence and Mark off Radiance. I think Radiance must have the single largest array of instruments that we’ve ever seen on a boat. In the cockpit of Cava out came a guitar, a ukele, a few harmonicas, a fiddle and a concertina. I didn’t even know what this instrument was until last night but the sound was incredible. Huge respect for Larence and Mark. By far the star of the show for me was the fiddle. With the moonlight dazzling off the water, and the strings resonating, the moment was indescribable.

    I guess music is sometimes like trying to ask someone to explain love. It can move you in a way that words could never speak justice. And it’s at times like these when you know you are exactly where you need to be. Right here, right now.

  • Some food for thought for 2014….

    I read Charles Eisensteins’ book ‘Sacred Economics’ a couple of years ago, and at the time I remember thinking that I’d never read anything that resonated more.  Recently I watched this video, based on the concepts in the book, and I wanted to share it on the blog – just to show that this trip isn’t just about kite surfing and sailing, but it’s about more than that.  It’s a trip of discovery, a trip to connect with nature, a trip to hang out with dolphins and the ocean every day, a trip to explore remote communities, a trip to learn more about traditional ways of life, a trip to remember the past and think of how we can use that past for our future.  I guess for me I’m purposely avoiding the ‘real world’ – you know – the one where you sit at a desk all day, inside a box, and feel satisfied creating paper mounds and looking at screens. I’m sorry if this offends, I don’t mean to discourage those who are doing amazing work every day, I just mean to say that that journey is not for me, not right now anyway. When working as an engineer, as I was, you learn a lot about progress – you build stuff, you help society, and one might say it’s a noble profession, and of course it is.  But at this time I don’t want to be a part of it. At this time, more than ever, I think that we have to remind ourselves that when you make something in one place, you must take things from another place.  So it is very important that we don’t target growth for growths sake, that we are selective in our development, careful with what we take, and careful with what we create.

    There are two key points from the video that I’d like to extract…

    1)   The current economic system relies on growth.  We know this from any news report, remaining stagnant is not an option, we must grow to develop, the good graphs go up not down, GDP must rise, we must rise. No wonder we’re all so busy.  But if I’m not mistaken endless growth in a world of finite resources is not only impossible, but furthermore it doesn’t necessarily make us happy either? Studies have shown that once basic needs are met only small gains in happiness result from further consumption.

    So how can we go forwards and at the same time preserve our natural environment? As talked about in the video every time we make a product we are merely taking something from nature and turning it into a commodity to sell.  Of course there are so many useful life changing products that help people every day, we cannot discount this, but we need to transition to an economic system that doesn’t rely on growth to sustain itself. One that will allow us to reuse, and recycle, without it being a threat to the economy. An economic system that will allow us to use less, buy less, replace things less, and buy things that last a lifetime. As Charles Eisenstein suggests a monetary system is just an agreement between people, and we need to change this agreement to work with the environment not against it.

    2)   You can’t just create community in a monetized world, you need to have interdependence to have a community.  There are still many people in this world that live in a community, in places like the Philippines, in the Marshall islands where we are now – so we can look to these examples if we want to rediscover our communities.  But is this really that important? Well it depends on whether you value sharing, laughter, and collaboration – to give and be given to.  Yes we have this within our families and friends, but we can also neglect those from a wider group. As our world becomes more digitized we spend less time interacting with others, less time popping over to see neighbours, and even family, less time on informal chat.  If we want a bigger support network and more humanity then I believe community is important – it is what builds spirit and ensures a sense of connection and greater good.

    And if you liked all of the above then this one of Robin and my favourites…

    Ok that’s enough philosophy for now…

  • A whole lot of pics of the Marshall Islands while we have internet

    Main street Majuro

    Main street Majuro

    Confederate with marshall islands flag (purchased not home made)

    Confederate with marshall islands flag (purchased not home made)

    Cute kids in Majuro

    Cute kids in Majuro

    Confederate moored next to other boats at Enemonit

    Confederate moored next to other boats at Enemonit

    Enemonit, just one hour from the campital

    Enemonit, just one hour from the campital

    Gotta have a couple selfie every now and then

    Gotta have a couple selfie every now and then

    Robin and second fave gal (hopefully)

    Robin and second fave gal (hopefully)

    James Bond - Island extraordinaire

    James Bond – Island extraordinaire

    Christmas Eve on Confed

    Christmas Eve on Confed

    Boat lights for Chrissy - super nice

    Boat lights for Chrissy – super nice

    Our small tree

    Our small tree

    Robins pressie. Haha

    Robins pressie. Haha

    Christmas day fishing on the way to Aur atoll

    Christmas day fishing on the way to Aur atoll

    James and his son wise.

    James and his son wise.

    The church on Aur

    The church on Aur

    The minister with American dollar bill necklace

    The minister with American dollar bill necklace

    The brightly dressed congregation

    The brightly dressed congregation

    The dancing beings

    The dancing beings

    The leader with whistle

    The leader with whistle

    Hmm should I be worried - the lady that insisted on dancing with Robin

    Hmm should I be worried – the lady that insisted on dancing with Robin

    At the feast

    At the feast

    Celebration room and feast

    Celebration room and feast

    Some of James' family, wife Annako and kids

    Some of James’ family, wife Annako and kids

    James and his youngest

    James and his youngest

    My christmas present from Anako, hand wove earrings

    My christmas present from Anako, hand wove earrings

    Robin with some of the kids from Tobal school

    Robin with some of the kids from Tobal school

    Having a cool time learning Marshalese with the kids

    Having a cool time learning Marshalese with the kids

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    Jame's family aboard Confederate

    Jame’s family aboard Confederate

    Ahhhh our old dingy.. Sigh

    Ahhhh our old dingy.. Sigh

    One very sick lil girl and two happy parents

    One very sick lil girl and two happy parents

    Bad ass

    Bad ass

    Our new dingy.. Sigh. but still we're here!

    Our new dingy.. Sigh. but still we’re here!

    Loving the lagoon sailing

    Loving the lagoon sailing

    New years sunrise

    New years sunrise

    New years day after sleeping under the stars

    New years day after sleeping under the stars

    Another Christmas present, hand woven from Annakos daughter

    Another Christmas present, hand woven from Annakos daughter

    A really amazing read about Darlene Keju involved in fighting against nuclear testing and health care in the marshalls

    A really amazing read about Darlene Keju involved in fighting against nuclear testing and health care in the marshalls

    Wow

    Wow

    Kite repairs aboard Confed

    Kite repairs aboard Confed

    Life

    Life

  • Dingy mishap

    Ok so about the dingy. Depressing as it is, we have to share the story. A few nights ago we were having dinner on another boat. Robin had picked up James Bond our go-to local friend and brought him to meet Kathy and Dave, from the boat Lightspeed as they had just arrived in Aur.  After dropping James back to shore Robin returned to Lightspeed tying the dingy to the back of their boat as one always does when visiting others.  We had a great night with Kathy and Dave who have been cruising for a while and had some great stories to share.  At the end of the night we were saying our goodbyes, climbing up through the cockpit to the stern of the catarmaran, when all of a sudden I said to Robin “where are we?” – what I meant was ‘where is the dingy?’  Immediately I looked over to the other hull thinking that Robin had tied up to the other side, but alas our dingy had decided to go on a voyage without us.  Dave and Robin quickly got in their dingy, Kathy handing them flashlights and a VHF radio, and they rushed off into the dark to try to find our lost friend.  When I say our lost friend, I really mean it like that. When you’re on a boat your dingy is your way off the boat to shore. Without this crucial part of the team it makes getting ashore a teensy bit tricky.

    Sadly Dave and Robin returned around 20 minutes later without our friend, calculations showing that the dingy would have been outside the reef on the other side of the lagoon by the time they went looking. Dave dropped a very dejected Robin and myself home.  Robin was mortified with what had happened and was blaming his seamanship etc etc, but as I and many others have reassured him probably every sailor has some sort of ugly dingy story to relate, no reflection of his abilities.  We’ve tied up our dingy literally hundreds of times this year, and over a hundred times we’ve come back to our dingy, unfortunately this time it was not the case.

    Next morning (after a sleepless night for Robin) we got straight on the SSB radio and talked to people in Majuro who came up with some options of second hand dingys, and new dingys we can order from the states. Since it is New Year we decided not to go back to Majuro straight away but will head back there in a few days to try to sort it out.  It sounds like there are a few options for us, but it may mean a slight change to our upcoming itinerary.  It is just a wait and see game at the moment. Robin is feeling better now. Also he saved our kite board from imminent disaster last night. We were sleeping out in the cockpit again and a gust of wind knocked the board that was sitting on the forward deck off the side of the boat into the water. Within a few seconds Robin had woken up, put his hand over the side of the boat and retrieved the board that was floating past.

    And here’s some of the positives..

    • We have a paddle board and we’re still managing to get to shore without the dingy AND go kite surfing – Robin first paddles the gear in, then his fiancé. Haha. Good fun.
    • We’re in the marshall islands and it is super easy to order gear from the US.
    • We’re in the marshall islands fullstop! It really is amazing here – so much culture, history, beauty – so if misplacing our dingy means we will have to stay here a bit longer then we will do so very gladly.
    Paddling the kite gear ashore

    Paddling the kite gear ashore

    Robin with a slightly better system for getting the gear ashore

    Robin with a slightly better system for getting the gear ashore

    Yeah we're still in the Marshalls

    Yeah we’re still in the Marshalls

  • Kitesurfing in the Marshalls

    Happy New Year to everyone! We’re still sending these reports in from our Satellite phone, as civilization is a world/a day’s sail away.  It was a pretty quiet night here – a bottle of wine and a night under the stars, sleeping out in the cockpit of Confederate. We watched the sun set on 2013, as well as see it show it’s face again for the first time in 2014 (through the coconut trees).  The decision was made to stay on Aur atoll which meant no raging parties but the opportunity to bring in the new year with a couple of amazing kite surfing sessions on the 1st and 2nd.  An epic way to start 2 0 1 4.

    It’s been a while since we’ve felt the trade winds rush across our faces – After leaving Fiji in October we headed north to Tuvalu and Kiribati, both too close to the equator to get consistent breezes. However we’re now at 8 degrees north and at this time of the year the Nor easterly trade winds are really going for it – setting the scene for a kite surfing paradise.  Not to mention, we’re in one of the atoll capitals of the world. The Republic of the Marshall Islands is made up of 29 atolls containing 1225 islands.

    For those interested in the geology an atoll forms when an underwater volcano shoots land to the oceans surface and a coral reef starts to develop closely around the volcano. Gradually (over millions of years) the volcanic island sinks back to the ocean leaving behind a lagoon of water surrounded by a barrier coral reef with low lying islands along the fringe.  This lagoon becomes a great spot for boats to anchor, tucked in behind the islands. When I say boats, I’m talking about us and the other 9 boats that have come to Aur in the last year  – we discussed this tally with some of our local friends.  Actually, because this is one of the closest atolls to the capital of Majuro it probably gets the most boat traffic. However of course this is a far cry from Fiji, where you might see 10 boats per night in a Yasawa islands anchorage.

    Our coordinates are 8 deg 09.4 N 171 deg 10.0 E – just in case you’re one of the 10 boats heading in this direction in 2014 and happen to have kiting gear on board.  We’re anchored super close to where we set up the kite, primarily because our dingy went walkabouts the other night and we’re now using a paddle board to get ashore (an elaboration to come in the next blog :-)) Mid tide is best – enjoy! We hope this is the first of many kite surforages (kite surf anchorages) in the Marshall islands. Whoop.

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