Wind Squirrel | Nuts about Wind. A blog about sailing around the world | Page 4

From New Zealand to Tonga
We left NZ on May 1st 2013 on a voyage of Pacific Island discovery. On a quest to live simply, consume less - in touch with the environment. To learn about new cultures and the underwater world.
So far life is pretty good
We've been kiting in Fiji and Tonga, swimming with manta rays, sharks, and amazing coral reefs, appreciated the beauty of nature every day, whilst living with a fairly small footprint onboard Confederate.
Sunrises and sunsets
Many have been watched and as we plan to head north through Tuvalu, Kiribati and Micronesia we plan on a lot more of these incredible moments. Feel free to join us along the way, as crew or through the blog.
Confederate
Confederate is our 32 foot Cavalier boat. Our home. Our vehicle. Our much pride n joy. This is a picture of her anchored in Minerva reef - an amazing spot in the middle of the ocean between New Zealand and Tonga.

Natural Endowments of the Marshall Islands

6 February, 2014 Author: admin
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We’ve been back in the outer islands for about two weeks now and despite the fact we’re far from any supermarket or shop it still feels like we’re accumulating vast food supplies. Since returning to Aur we’ve been given pumpkin, copious amounts of coconuts (I guess it’s not like there’s a shortage), breadfruit, pandanas (pictured), banana, banana cooked in coconut, banana chips. We’ve caught fish in the lagoon and been given fish by friends. We just went for a kitesurf and somehow managed to come back with two fish for dinner, forced on us by some friendly locals. The nature of the people is eternally giving.

When first arriving in these atoll extremities one might wonder, as we did, why were they settled? What brought people to these islands and why did they stay? With limited space for agriculture it seemed like life would be a constant battle for survival. And I’m sure at times it was. However when you look closer the natural endowments of these small atolls are immense. Outer islands are stockpiles for coconut crabs and lobster. Coconut juice is perhaps in greater supply than water. Coconut meat is used for cooking, eating and making oil. The pandanas is a huge fruit that runs wild on all atolls. Sucking on a pandanas seed is like a great big natural lollipop. The pandanas also plays a crucial role in weaving, and provides materials for canoes. Breadfruit is cooked in a variety of ways, and was traditionally preserved and used in times of scarcity. Not to mention.. fish, fish and more fish.

Recently imported products have supplemented this island diet. Perhaps people are less susceptible to shortages and natural events. They also get to enjoy a greater variety of products, namely rice, spam, and various other tins. But the fact is that the Marshalls have been settled for thousands of years, and for thousands of years people survived on these natural endowments. It is hard to imagine such a simple diet, but it obviously worked as people are still here.
Even today most people in these islands take very little part in a cash economy. They lean on their natural endowments. Men spend a few hours a day fishing to feed their families. Everyone owns land and on it coconuts, breadfruit, pandanas, pumpkin and a few other crops grow. No one pays rent. Food is free.
Playing with nuclear fire. Madness.

31 January, 2014 Author: admin
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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

23 January, 2014 Author: admin
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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….

17 January, 2014 Author: admin
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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

16 January, 2014 Author: admin
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Main street Majuro

Confederate with marshall islands flag (purchased not home made)

Cute kids in Majuro

Confederate moored next to other boats at Enemonit

Enemonit, just one hour from the campital

Gotta have a couple selfie every now and then

Robin and second fave gal (hopefully)

James Bond – Island extraordinaire

Christmas Eve on Confed

Boat lights for Chrissy – super nice

Our small tree

Robins pressie. Haha

Christmas day fishing on the way to Aur atoll

James and his son wise.

The church on Aur

The minister with American dollar bill necklace

The brightly dressed congregation

The dancing beings

The leader with whistle

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

At the feast

Celebration room and feast

Some of James’ family, wife Annako and kids

James and his youngest

My christmas present from Anako, hand wove earrings

Robin with some of the kids from Tobal school

Having a cool time learning Marshalese with the kids

Jame’s family aboard Confederate

Ahhhh our old dingy.. Sigh

One very sick lil girl and two happy parents

Bad ass

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

Loving the lagoon sailing

New years sunrise

New years day after sleeping under the stars

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

Wow

Kite repairs aboard Confed

Life
Dingy mishap

12 January, 2014 Author: admin
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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

Robin with a slightly better system for getting the gear ashore

Yeah we’re still in the Marshalls
Kitesurfing in the Marshalls

11 January, 2014 Author: admin
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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 1^st and 2^nd. 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.
Christmas day Aur atoll

29 December, 2013 Author: admin
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Arriving in Aur on the 24th of December we didn’t expect to be able to organize much for Christmas day. But thanks to the lovely people on Aur island we were quickly made honorary members of their community just in time for the celebrations to begin.

Aur atoll is around 80 miles north of the capital of Majuro, and feels like a different world. With only 300 people living on the atoll everyone knows everyone, and Christmas is not an individual family celebration but a huge gathering. Apparently dance practices began in early November and every night the Marshallese diligently practice their routine.

The 25th Dec festivities started around 11am with a church service. The juxtaposition of the American/Marshall islands influence was shown by the decorations in the church. Woven mats and hand-made miniature outrigger canoes lined the front wall, whilst hanging from the ceiling were American $1 and $10 notes. The minister even wore a necklace made from American notes – we’re unsure if this was just for Christmas but was an interesting touch all the same. After the church service chairs were moved to the side of the room, and the anticipation seemed to grow. It seemed that the dancing was about to start.

It is hard to describe the style of dancing, however basically the theme for all the groups was there was one leader with a whistle acting as a conductor, and two lines of people that started outside the church and moved in and out chanting in Marshallese and moving to the beat. It was unlike anything we had seen before. Each group performed about 5 songs -
sweat pouring off the enthusiastic dancers, and the laughter of onlookers echoing against the church walls. The best had to be the two Sunday school groups with some adorable under 5 year olds not quite managing to keep the beat, but all the same having a grand ole time. A scene from the dancing is shown below with female onlookers in their brightly coloured mumus (traditional dress).

At the end of each dance the group put out a basket for donations, and in return the crowd received a lolly scramble and food handouts from the dance group (we accepted a couple of packets of noodles but didn’t dare fight the kids for their prized lollies – it was vicious! The lady who was distributing the noodles decided to grab Robin for a dance and proceeded to get very friendly, pursing her lips and lining him up for a smooch – photo to come once we have good internet. All of a sudden her husband had pulled me up and we were learning how they roll in the Marshalls.

After this slightly traumatic dancing experience we were ushered into a room outside the church that housed our Christmas day banquet feast. A huge flax woven basket filled with turkey, ham, pork, sausages, breadfruit, rice, taro, bananas, and various other goods was placed in front of us. To drink was a soft drink and a coconut (the outer islands of the marshalls are alcohol free). Some of the ladies who seem to know how to have a good time were picking up sausages, putting them in their mouths, and then approaching their male counterparts dangling the sausage in front of them. It didn’t seem to necessarily be their husbands, and we found this quite entertaining for what we thought was a conservative culture? Below is a photo of the banquet room and the group that performed through lunch.

We thought we might head back to the boat for a few hours of food coma but our host family had other ideas. We were told to wait for the next dance group that would be starting in 10 minutes. In true island time an hour and a half later we were still waiting, by then having been adopted by a group of 20 kids endeavoring to teach us Marshallese. Getting the correct pronunciation was not easy with three young girls screaming the words in your ear. All the same a great bunch of kids.

After we watched another round of dancing it was about 5pm and we wanted to get back to Confederate before dark, so we snuck out of the church while the third lolly scramble of the day was underway and all the kids were viciously preoccupied.

While no one ever wants to be away from home for Christmas we really feel lucky to have been adopted by this community. It was a really unique and vivid experience. ! We were even given hand woven earrings and a dolphin wall hanging – photos to come in another blog. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!! Another update tomorrow on our post Chrissy day kite surf. Yeeeaaahhh.
Arrival in Aur Atoll

24 December, 2013 Author: admin
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We finally tore ourselves away from the Majuro supermarkets and civilisation last night and are now anchored in Aur atoll, around 80nm north of Majuro. Yeeeaaa ha. It was a boisterous night on the water with 20 knot winds and very confused bouncy seas. I think that we were ceremoniously introduced to what is know as the “Marshall islands washing machine”. Anyway it all feels worth it when you pull into the lagoon and everything goes calm and beautiful.

About an hour after our arrival James, the local medical practitioner, was on the VHF telling us we are very welcome here, and please join them for their Christmas feast tomorrow. We just met James ashore and it turns out that the Christmas feast is on an island in the south of the atoll (about 1.5 hours from where we are now). So he will join us on Confederate tomorrow morning and we’ll head down to the island where his family is waiting. Apparently there are around 300 people living on the atoll who will all celebrate on the one island. Even though we’re sad to miss the family christmas celebrations in New Zealand this sounds like a good compromise. AND Robin has just put the turkey and potatoes in the oven for our chrissy eve extravaganza..

Wishing everyone a very very happy day tomorrow. We would love to be there, but alas the Marshall islands are not the easiest place to fly in and out of. We will be thinking of you all and sending much love as we enjoy the festivities here. Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas! What a year it has been.

Oh yeah and just a couple of pics.. Confed anchored in Aur, and James presenting us with a welcome basket of coconuts. Delightful.
Wreck snorkeling Marshall Islands

23 December, 2013 Author: admin
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After 5 days around Majuro sorting out a few things, and dropping off our crew (yeaah ha, has been a long two months, enough said) we headed straight out to some of the smaller islands of the main atoll. We snorkeled at Enemonit and Eneko, two very nice anchorages on the northern side of the lagoon. Enemonit had some really cool submerged wrecks and Eneko had some incredible coral and fish life. Nice to see another healthy reef, and so close to the capital of Majuro. As a bonus the very friendly marshall islands yacht club have free moorings at both spots.

We also had a lovely catch up with a boat Ca Va who had spent time with mutual friends in Tonga. What a nice couple! Robin is positive we will have a homebrew kit someday on Confederate after sampling Jody and Bruce’s dark beer… Hmm I wonder where we’ll put it.

Anyways we’re about to check weather and if all is good to go we’re making an overnight passage to Aur atoll. We’re really looking forward to getting out into the remote areas of the Marshalls. Looks like we might be able to do some kiting at Aur island, crossing fingers as it’s been way too long!

For now here’s a few shots of us snorkeling on a submerged plane and helicopter in Enemonit.