Aliza’s cruise from Ventura, California to Haifa, Israel

These are the e-mail updates sent by Steve Rhom to about 500 people who were following our sail.

Ventura CA to Hawaii Well, I’ve been in Ventura a little over a week. The whole crew was here by last Tues. We have spent most of the time familiarizing ourselves with the boat, cleaning her up, inspecting, fixing what doesn’t work or appears near failure, and practically passing out by 9:00 p.m.

The crew consists of: the captain, builder and owner Moshe; the skipper, Efraim; and the crew, Zachary, Tabitha, Haim, Nogga (Efraim’s daughter and Moshe’s granddaughter) and me (Steve Rohm). Age ranges are from 75 down to 18 years old. Nogga is an art major and is deeply into photography and video editing. She will be combining everyone’s tapes into one big “saga” narrated, set to music, and transferred to compact disc. Everyone seems very compatible, but then we haven’t been locked on the boat for any length of time yet. Compatibility will be better measured after we get to Hawaii.

The boat is pretty amazing in its seaworthiness. It is a 60,000 lb. ketch built like a freighter. It is not a “spit and polished” yacht like you see in the magazines but is more like a well-appointed working boat. The emphasis is on safety, comfort and enjoyment, in that order. All systems on the boat are oversized and have a minimum of one back up system. Example: 2 radars, two eight man life rafts (even though there are only seven crew), three GPS’s, double hull in case of collision with something, etc., etc.

Last night, Tuesday, 11/26, we spent 5 1/2 hours at Costco getting provisions for the voyage. Not much meat as we intend to eat a lot of fresh fish. Ventura has been very kind, weather-wise. It has been in the mid 70’s to the low 90’s for the last week. Apparently this is 10 to 20 degrees above normal. Now the Santa Ana winds are kicking up bringing dry desert air in the day and at night it reverses, we get cold ocean air in the evening. The Santa Ana’s can get very strong with gusts of 60, 70 and even 80 knots at times.

We have had the boat out once testing systems. We will take it out once more before we leave. We will probably sail around Catalina Island and return to Ventura this afternoon (11/27). We may or may not anchor out at Catalina tonight-depends-gotta stay flexible.

As it now stands we will leave for Hawaii on Friday, 11/29. We will spend a couple of months there island hopping, then head for either the Palmyra atoll or the Solomon Islands. Many of these decisions will depend on prevailing winds, political/social conditions in the area and things like that. Palmyra and the Solomon are both under U.S. control so the decision will mostly be environmental and which one we choose when we leave Hawaii. After this, we currently intend to head for Darwin, Australia and will probably island hop on the way. Which islands of course will depend upon which destination we choose after Hawaii.

The boat has email capability but the satellite phone costs $2.00 per minute and is used only for emergencies, so I will not be in contact again until Hawaii. If we happen to get a slip that has regular telephone service, I will be able to email from the boat. Otherwise, I will have to wait until I can get to a library or one of those email coffee shops.

In the meantime, if you would like to know more about the boat there is a web site: 7knots.com, password: Aliza2002. Let me know if you have any trouble with it. (Aliza must have the capital “A”). By the way Aliza is pronounced “Aleeza”, Hebrew pronunciation. In case you weren’t aware, Moshe is an Israeli national and we will be flying an Israeli flag. Aliza was Moshe’s deceased wife.

Well, so far, so good. I’m starting to feel the excitement now. I’ve kind of been looking over my shoulder the last couple of months wondering what was going to happen to sabotage the trip. But it looks like all systems are “go”.

The crossing was mostly very mild. We left Ventura about 6 p.m. on 11/30 and arrived in Hilo, Hawaii on 12/14 at about 10 a.m. We had approximately 7 days of good sailing weather (winds 15 – 30 knots) and 7 days of motor sailing.

The first few days were so calm, the ocean at times, looked like glass. I think “el ninio” was causing us some wind issues. Instead of the fabled “Hawaiian High” pressure zone, we had a low pressure zone. Instead of the winds from the north – northwest we had winds from south – southeast, oh well, either way wind is wind. The standing joke was if we (crew of 7) ate enough of Costco’s four bean salad we could make our own wind. We had a few hours of stormy weather on a couple of occasions, but nothing more than enough to get your adrenalin going and provide a little excitement to an otherwise routine crossing. The swells, even on relatively calm days can be somewhat annoying after a while. I think I have realized a new Murphy’s Law: When rolling and pitching on a boat, your butt will automatically seek the most uncomfortable object in the cabin to break your fall. Also, even though the bunks have lee rails, it is a little difficult to sleep when your body is doing 270 degree rolls on your bunk, but that was only a couple of the nights. Otherwise, I slept very well.

On the way we were treated to many beautiful sunrises and sunsets (depending upon which watches you happened to be standing), dolphins played in front of the boat, and we ate our fill of Mahi Mahi (called Dorado in the Atlantic). Mahi Mahi is a very beautiful fish. When in the water and just after bringing it out, it is an iridescent blue and lime color really spectacular. However, it loses it’s color rapidly once out of the water. I am learning to fillet and should be able to do a pretty good job by the time I get back. We stopped the boat in mid-ocean for a swim. The water is a wonderful, clear, deep blue color. It is pretty amazing to look down at your feet, be able to see them as clearly as if you were standing on the deck of the boat, and realize that all that blue down below goes on for 20 thousand feet or so.

Everyone is a pretty good cook. Haim (from Israel) adds a middle eastern touch to his dishes, Efraim (born and raised in Israel) and his daughter Nogga do a blend of middle eastern/American cooking, Tabitha and Zachary brought their New England recipes with them and I was able to pick up some pretty good tips on cooking fish from a book I bought in Ventura.

So far we have been to the islands of Hawaii, Maui and Oahu. Tabitha and Zachary decided to leave in Maui and Haim will be leaving January 5 to return to Israel. He is not sure whether or not he will continue. I will be alone for a few weeks here in Honolulu because Efraim took Nogga back to N.J. and Moshe took his girlfriend Beverly (she joined us in Hilo) back to N.Y. and Efraim and Moshe are tending to some legal business as well.

On the Island of Hawaii, I have been to the top of Mauna Loa and seen the observatories; I have seen the Volcano National Park and visited the rain forest and the lava tube. The lava tube was very exciting; the lava runs horizontally underground for sometimes miles before it finds a place to go vertical. This is a defunct tube and is partially lit for about 200 feet.

But there is a quarter mile more that is not lit and you have to proceed if you wish “at your own risk”. It is so dark you cannot see the nose on your face, so of course flashlights are required. It is crumbling in places so you have to be careful where you step, but what a thrill it is to be underground virtually in the bowels of the earth. We also visited the lava flow on the other side of the Island of Hawaii and I have to say that is one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. You have to walk a couple of miles over cold lava (the last half mile you are not supposed to go into but a lot of people do) to get a good view of the lava pouring into the sea. We went at night which is a little more challenging on the uneven lava, flashlights are recommended but there was a full moon, so once my night vision adjusted, it was much better without the flashlight. The lava keeps glowing for a very long time under water and for about 30 – 50 feet out into the sea so you know it’s gotta be pretty hot. I was really transfixed by it. It was almost a spiritual experience, like I was watching Mother Earth give birth – very moving.

Hilo is a very quaint town kind of like Anacortes only not so many vacancies in the downtown. Also, housing prices are more realistic. The island has a higher percentage of actual Hawaiians also. So far I think they are some of the kindest, sweetest people I have ever met. I’m sure there are some nasties, I just haven’t met any yet. I was thinking I may live in Hilo for a while when I get done sailing. The island of Hawaii has so much to see and I have only scratched the surface. Well, I guess I’ll have to see what transpires between now and then.

We left Hilo at about 9 p.m. on 12/19 and arrived at Molokini (an extinct volcano which barely rises above the sea) at about 10 a.m. 12/20. We snorkeled in the volcano crater and it was wonderful. Like snorkeling in an exotic fish tank. It is a protected area so the fish are very curious and not at all afraid to come up and look at you (and I thought I would be the one looking at the strange creatures!) we probably all look alike to them.

We left Molokini at about noon and arrived in Lahaina, Maui at about 2 p.m. Maui is very nice. Lahaina has a banyan tree in it’s city center that covers an entire city block! Haim and I have become touring buddies and visited the sights in Maui. We went up on Haleakula (sp?) volcano (Haleakula is “house of the sun”). We drove the road to Hana (a town on the other side of the island). It is EXTREMELY winding. There are over 600 sharp curves and switchbacks and over 70 one lane bridges, but what spectacular scenery. On the way we visited a place called the “Garden of Eden” where they have all kinds of exotic plants and birds. We stopped at a state arboretum (sp?) and walked through the forests. We stopped at a black sand beach in another park and had our photo taken standing next to a “blow hole” in the lava. Of course, just as the picture was snapped, water shot out of the hole and we were drenched. So we wore our swimsuits for shorts the rest of the trip. We went through Hana (very small town) and went to Haleakula National Park where there are seven pools fed successively by waterfalls one into the other. It is said that if you swim in all seven you will have long life and prosperity. The problem is, it is not easy to get to the pools. You have to walk two miles over thick and tangled roots and rocks on a path that is sometimes at a 45 degree angle and cross through a large bamboo forest. Because of the long drive Haim and I didn’t get to the park until about 4 p.m. We walked about 1 3/4 miles and decided that we had better turn back because of the lack of light and the path even in daylight is not that clear. But since we had come all that way we decided that we would treat ourselves to a quick dip. Also, since we haven’t seen anyone else in 45 minutes to an hour, we decided that we would keep our remaining clothes dry and “skinny dip” in about 3 – 4 feet of water. It was quite refreshing and some little varmint that looks kind of like a cray fish kept nipping at my leg as if to say – “get out of my house”. Anyway, as we stood up and dried and were preparing to leave (fortunately I was behind a very large rock) a couple came around the corner and caught Haim in the “altogether” – he grabbed his towel with an “oh shit” and smiled and apologized, put his towel down to put on his shorts and another couple coming the other way caught him, another “geeeeez”, grab the towel, smile and apologize, thank her for the arrival warning, start to dress again and guess what ANOTHER couple shows up, this time the under the breath expletives are getting a little more pointed, never-the-less, smile, apologize and FINALLY get a chance to put your shorts on. Murphy had to be hiding in the woods. Murphy and I were laughing a lot (remember, I had the rock so all anyone could see was my head and shoulders).

The next day, 12/23 we went to a city park (can’t remember the name) but there was a beautiful valley with a clear cold river and a large needle shaped rock. Anyway this was the scene of one of the decisive battles between Kamehameha I and the rival king of Maui. Kamehameha I is the king who united all of the islands. He was from Hawaii but was born in Maui. When he was born his mother spirited him away to the mountains because the king of Maui had heard that a king would be born in this village that would rule over all the islands so the king had all the male children put to death (sound familiar?). When Kamehameha I was 17 years old he nearly 7′ tall and weighed 370 lbs. He began his unification efforts and in the valley park I was describing above, while the women and children stood on the hillsides and watched, one of the bloodiest battles of the wars was fought. Thousands died and the bodies were so deep that it dammed the river. It is so beautiful and tranquil there that it is hard to imagine today.

We left Maui on 12/24 and arrived in Ala Wei harbor in Waikiki, Oahu on 12/24 at about 4 p.m. I was able to make it to the late service at Honolulu Lutheran Church and what a great service they had. It was pretty traditional and the music was a mixture of classical, done by the choir and soloists and traditional, done by the rest of us frogs.

Oahu is beautiful as well. I have pretty much stopped photographing sunrises and sunsets. They all seem spectacular and how many can you ask people to suffer through when you’re showing your home videos?

Haim and I have visited Waiamea (I know I’m butchering the spelling on a lot of these words, but please bear with me – phonetically they are pretty close). Waiamea is on the north shore. This is where the big waves and the surfers are. We went back a couple of times – the waves were 20 – 30 feet high – the public beaches were closed. Just outside the public beaches were the surfing areas so there were surfers taking advantage of the big surf. The day after Haim and I were there, there were warnings to the residents to prepare to evacuate the shorline because waves of 50 feet were expected. On our first trip to Waiamea, Haim and I drove around the island. We stopped at a lookout called Nuuanu Pali. This is where Kamehameha I fought the last battle against his Maui Rival and forced him and about 400 of his followers over a 1200 foot prespice. Kamehameha I sounds like a pretty harsh guy but he is greatly revered by Hawaiians because as fierce as he was in battle (a missionary eye witness to one fight said that he saw Kamehameha handle six spears thrown at him simultaneously – he caught three in one hand, dodged one and deflected/broke two with his own spear), he was even kinder, and more just and compassionate in peace.

We visited two craters on Oahu: Diamondhead and Punchbowl. Both were created by single blasts at about the same time 500,000 to 700,000 years ago.

We wanted to film Diamondhead at dawn so we went at about 6:15 a.m. expecting to drive right up there. Wrong! You have to climb to the top. Although it is only 760 feet, it is very vertical in many places and takes about an hour to get to the top. I filmed the sunrise from inside the crater, not the top, because I wasn’t there in time. Rationalizing, if I filmed it from the top, you wouldn’t know I was in a crater anyway since it rises over the sea. I got some pretty nice shots of Honolulu and Waikiki from the top anyway.

I didn’t know this before we visited Punchbowl, but it is a Veterans Cemetary. People who died in WWII and Korea are buried there. There is a huge memorial inside the crater with the graves, to all the men who died and were never found to bring home. Huge sandstone colored rectangular memorial stones with their names engraved on them. Another pretty moving experience. At the top of the stairs there is a huge statue representing freedom and behind the statue are maps and descriptions of the strategy and response of the enemy of all the major battles, Correigedor, the Solomon Islands, Midway, Okinawa, etc., etc.

We have visited the Arizona memorial, it’s a more moving experience than I expected. The museum has photos and letters and artifacts from the sailors who died and are entombed there and it is more personal than I thought it would be. Many of the survivors of the Arizona, after their death, have their ashes placed in the hulk by divers so they can be with their shipmates. I think there must be some feelings of guilt for having lived through it.

The last three days Haim was here, we kind of hung out around the beaches and decided to check out the local Elks Lodge in Honolulu for dinner. The beaches are as beautiful and full of bikinis as I had hoped they would be. It would be fun to be 30 years younger. To anyone who is waiting until they can “afford it” or until the time is right – stop waiting, as the Nike ad says – “just do it”.

The Elks Lodge is pretty amazing. This must be the most beautiful lodge in the world. It is like a country club decorated with furniture in ivory colored bamboo with medium blue cushions, blue and ivory carpeting and koa wood bars. It is right on the beach, so if you wish you can have the waves crashing at your feet while you enjoy a ridiculously low priced dinner with a bottle of wine and listen to a three piece band playing 40’s swing or 50’s lite rock. Besides being very reasonable the food is also very excellent and the staff treat you like you are an old friend. Sunday before Haim left they had a buffet dinner. This is one of the highest priced dinners they have – $17.00. All you can eat, five different salads, two kinds of pasta with six different sauces, e.g.: clam alfredo, seafood marinara, meatballs in marinara sauce, etc., a huge bowl of fresh fruit, three desserts: tira misu, fresh apple pie and hot brownies plus whatever you want to drink (not alcohol, that’s separate).

Well that about brings me up to date. I’m alone on the boat now for another week. Haim was a good traveling buddy but he had prearranged to go back to see his girlfriend and family in Jerusalem. He was kind of sorry to be leaving because we were having such a good time. Mosha will be coming back on Jan. 16th. I may go back to the big island for a few days. I didn’t even get to the other side. The big island is twice the size of all the other islands combined and seems to have more to see. Hawaii to Palmyra
Right now we are about 2200 miles away from Honolulu with about 300 left to go to our next stop. I’m not real sure where I left off last time so, if some things seem a little repetitive, please bear with me.

I think my last update was right about when Haim left to go back to Israel, around January 5th.

The following week or so, I started learning how to use the bus system in Honolulu. It really isn’t all that bad. The Honolulu system, called simply “The Bus” has won several national awards for it’s effectiveness. There always seems to be one available and the longest I think I had to wait was maybe 20 minutes and that was only once. They usually showed up after around five minutes, if that. Another upside to using the bus is that you don’t have to find parking – it isn’t easy in Honolulu and the meters are monitored 24 hours in many places. Anyway that’s what got me to the library where I could use the computer for an hour for free each day. The only hitch is you have to join the library which costs $10.00. However, it is a state library so your card is good on any island and lasts one year. Beats $6.00 an hour at the internet cafe.

I’m not sure how well I covered the Bishop Museum which I visited when Haim was still here. This may be tedious to some but I kind of like historical stuff so I will go over it again. If you want to “know” about Hawaii this is a must stop. It chronicles Hawaiian history extremely well and has artifacts that you can’t see anywhere else. It shows the lineage of all the kings from Kamehameha the Great through Queen Lili’uokalani. Pretty amazing how short lived they were. Most of them died in their late 40’s or early 50’s. They weren’t very resistant to diseases we imported. The museum describes in detail the different cultures that were imported: Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese (did you know that the ukelele is a Portuguese instrument?) and their contributions to the Hawaii we know today. Also, the museum puts on shows on a schedule. One of the shows is a demonstration of Hula. I kind of got hooked on Hula. Particularly as it was done at the museum. The quality of the dance was distinct from that which you see at a luau or along the beachfront hotels. Both women (Wahini) and men (Kane – pronounced Kah-neh) learn it as a kind of rite of passage into adulthood I think. The really great ones were very admired. True, it can be sensual, but it is also like a beautiful, primitive ballet – pretty when it is done well, amazing when it is done well and correctly.

Hawaii was virtually stolen from the Hawaiians in the last part of the 1800s. Briefly, the large American sugar interests simply walked into the palace with some hired thugs and put Queen Lili’uokalani under house arrest. American warships which were in the harbor, sent marines ashore to “protect American lives” and that was that. The queen appealed to the president of the U.S. (I think it was Grover Cleveland) who agreed with her that her country had been seized illegally, ordered it restored to the Republic of Hawaii (she was an elected monarch) and the Americans ignored him. But they did set the queen free. Cleveland wouldn’t send troops to fight Americans for the Hawaiians so it simply stayed under the control of American business interests (talk about ROBBER barons!) until it was made a territory of the U.S. in 1906, then the 50th state in 1953. There is a movement to restore Hawaiian independence. Not that it will happen. But while I was here, there was a parade and a campout atIolani Palace by several dozen Hawaiians who want the Republic restored . I have mixed feelings about restoration. True, it was a grave injustice to take it in the first place however, I think that if it hadn’t been an American territory, Imperial Japan most likely would have occupied it in the 1930’s when they started occupying China, Manchuria, Korea, and much of the Eastern Pacific Rim, and most likely would have ravaged Hawaii as they did all the other countries they occupied. And now, what’s the point? There aren’t that many native Hawaiians left and 99.9% of the residents of Hawaii (including most native Hawaiians) think restoration is a joke. They’re Americans! Anyway, Iolani Palace is right next door to the state library so I saw the Hawaiian occupation of the palace grounds for about a week.

During the week before Moshe got back, I met a couple of ladies from Dallas. Sisters, in the familial sense, (as opposed to nuns) Joy and Pat. Joy has a condo right in front of Ala Wai Marina where the boat was docked. We joined up with a friend of theirs named Lila and the four of us went to La Mariana Yacht Club. What a trip! This place is one of the oldest restaurant/lounges in Honolulu. It was started in 1948 by Annette. She’s now 88 years old, cute as a button and still runs the place! (Lila took our picture together – I’m quite proud of it). Annette has a really fascinating story about, all the legal shenanigans, take over attempts by some Japanese businessmen in the 1980’s and wearing out three husbands in getting and keeping the place going.

On Friday nights, the place fills with people many of whom (including Joy) have been going there for over 30 years and about half the place gets up and sings (individually) about 2-3 times a night , then there is free lance hula dancing. This particular Friday, there was a wedding party in the back and several of the people who are particularly good at singing went back and serenaded the couple (and of course gave them a little bit of a hard time). Then at the end of the night everyone formed a big circle and sang patriotic and Hawaiian (if you can) songs while holding hands. This is a real “feel good place” to go if you ever get to or get back to Honolulu.

Joy, Pat, Lila and I went to Ward’s Attic the next Sunday. This is an out of the way non-touristy place, a house actually, that has had the attic remodeled to accommodate contemporary jazz jam sessions. Musicians are invited to play and there is usually a different group each week. People from the audience get up and sing. This is NOT a karaoke kind of thing – these people have talent! Anyway, another off the “beaten path” experience I owe to Lila, Joy and Pat.

The following week when Moshe got back, we took him to La Mariana’s as well. That Friday there was a birthday party for a young guy (turning 30). There must have been 30 young people with him to celebrate. They had rented limos to take them around to all the night spots they wanted to visit and this was one of the first. The guys were mostly members of some kind of sporting team, I didn’t get what kind. But they were all about 6’3″ to 6’8″ tall (and it wasn’t a basketball team). These guys were big! Also, they and the young ladies that were with them were all gorgeous! I think every generation gets bigger, stronger and better looking as well as smarter. They were also jovial, very polite and well mannered, joined in the singing and contributed to another great night at La Mariana’s.

Moshe and I stopped into the Waikiki Yacht Club one Sunday night and I weasled a night’s pass out of the club manager Peter (a really nice guy – didn’t take much weaseling). Anyway for about 10 bucks a piece we had a really nice meal and a couple of drinks. And while there had the good fortune to meet the Corporate Interior Designer for the Outrigger and Hana Hotel and Resort Chain, Pat Moore. Pat fixed us up with guest passes for “the duration”. Pat turned out to be a great friend and joined us for dinners, dancing and boat rides.

The following Wednesday, probably about January 29th, Lila took me for a ride on a trimaran (my first). It was a regular Wednesday night outing that is a function of the sailing club she belongs to. There were about 20 (?) people on board. It was a beautiful sail in Waikiki bay and we had a great buffet (thanks to Lila and the others who brought food) and brought our own wine (the boat had a regular crew so drinking and sailing wasn’t an issue). After our sail, Lila had to go to work (she is a real estate agent) so I went over to one of the local night spots and enjoyed some great jazz saxophone.

I went to temple for the Sabbath with Moshe one Saturday before Beverly arrived. The service was conducted in Hebrew but printed in both Hebrew and English so it wasn’t hard to follow. After the service, we had a great lunch catered by the ladies of the temple and got to sit around a talk quite a bit. We went to a pool side buffet that evening (after sundown) at one of the members condominiums. The next day I called my son Adam, and during the course of our conversation I told him about going to Sabbath with Moshe and how it had lasted 2 and ½ hours (service alone, not including lunch) and I used to get fidgety when my Christian service went 15 minutes past the hour! Moshe overheard my comment and interjected see, “it’s not easy to be a Jew!” Over the course of the following week we were “adopted” by about six Jewish people. It seemed like they couldn’t do enough for us. Neroli, Rachel and Ofer, Nate and Sandy and Joyce.

We toured the island and I got a chance to see some things that Haim and I had missed on the first trip around. For example, Haim and I went to Minoa Falls but missed the nearby Lyon Arboretum. Rachel and Neroli took Moshe, Beverly and me there and we got to pick and eat from a guava tree. We went back up to “Punchbowl” (the National Cemetery for Pacific Theatre soldiers) and went to the top of the crater where we had a spectacular view of a huge section of Oahu, including Honolulu and Waikiki. We also went back around the island and stopped at the experimental pineapple display (most varieties of pineapple are not edible!). We stopped for lunch at a Quonset hut that Haim and I had driven by (you have to know it’s there to find it). The food there of course was fabulous. We went to a Macadamia nut farm and sampled all the different “flavor enhance” nuts (by the time we were done we didn’t want to buy any). We went past a mountain that is named “Crouching Lion” because when viewed from a certain angle, it looks just like a crouching mountain lion. Neroli says: if you can see a lion you’re a better man than I am Since Neroli is a very attractive woman, you don’t know how desperate I was to see that lion! Thank God, I spotted him right off (talk about incentive!).

We went back up to Pali Nuuanu (I mentioned this famous battle site in a previous email) because Beverly and Moshe had not yet seen it. Well by the time we got there rain was coming down in sheets. Rachel and I braved the rain (foolishly) and went out to the look out site where you can normally see for miles. You couldn’t see 10 feet! Oh well, it was kind of a fun foolish thing to do.

Beverly, Moshe and I toured Iolani Palace one afternoon. It was built by King David Kalakaua (first elected monarch of the Republic of Hawaii) to restore nationalism and pride to native Hawaiians. Their numbers had dwindled from approximately 500,000 in the time of Captain Cooke to about 60,000 by the mid 1800’s. It served first as the royal palace, then as the headquarters for the occupational business interests, then as the capitol of the territory of Hawaii, then as the state capitol until 1969 when the new state capitol was finished. It is undergoing a privately funded restoration, so it is taking quite a while to complete but it is a beautiful building. Many of the furnishings were auctioned off, thrown out or otherwise disposed of when the sugar kings occupied the building. Photos from the preoccupation have helped recover some of the items that weren’t forever lost or destroyed. One interesting story is about a couple from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma who were taking the tour just a few years ago and noticed a very unusual knic-knac kind of table in one of the photos. They mentioned to the docent who was showing them around that they had a table very similar to the one in the photograph made over 100 years before. They were asked to look at certain markings under the bottom shelf of the table, and sure enough it was the same one as that in the photo. Not that there was much doubt. It was made of Koa wood (indigenous to Hawaii) and was one of a kind. Anyway, the couple donated it to the state of Hawaii. Kinda neat, huh?

(O.K., had to stop for a few minutes to help Efraim put the spinnaker up, we are in the “doldrums”, only about 7 – 8 knots of apparent wind. Last night (2/28) it got down to less than 2 knots sometimes readings were 0.0! So we were running the “iron jenny” – engine, until just now.)

Across the street from Iolani Palace is Aliiolani Hale, the State Supreme Court building. Out in front of the building is a large bronze statue of Kamehameha the Great atop a marble platform. The statue has gold leaf covering the robe, loin cloth, sandals and helmet worn by Kamehameha. Much of the lower floor is open to tourists and there is a display of the pre-Hawaiian justice system which was pretty harsh. It included the death sentence for stepping on the shadow of royalty (supposedly you usurped some of their power by doing this). Some of the royalty refrained from going outside the palace grounds during the day so as not to put people in danger of this. The way the death sentences were carried out was somewhat brutal as well. Big guys held you down or held you against a tree, while another big guy strangled you with a piece of leather. Lots ridiculous rules imposed at the whim of monarchs and high priests previous to Kamehameha I (the Great) much of which was imbedded in superstitions. The justice system was very hard to correct simply because the old Hawaiians were so superstitious. Anyway there are a lot of statistics and information regarding old Hawaii and their social behavior and the consequences. Apparently the old Hawaiians were quite promiscuous. Especially the women. Probably because they were forced into marriages they didn’t necessarily want.

Efraim and Rafi (short for Rafael) arrived in Honolulu on January 29th. We had a crew again.

While we were at Ala Wai Marina, we met a couple John and Cipi Hill (Cipi is the nickname for Ziporah). John and Cipi have a boat “Twilight” a 55 foot Italian sloop a few slips down from us. They also went out of their way to be kind to us. They took me on a sightseeing tour to show me some of the local Waikiki stuff, took me out to a Hilton Hotel (I think) where they have live porpoise swimming around in a pool and you can get in and swim with them (for about $100.00). I took them to the Elks one night before Beverly and Moshe got here. After the whole crew was here Efraim helped John with his refrigeration system one day and we all went out to dinner at a place in Waikiki where you grill your own steak, hamburger, pork chop, etc. John and Cipi had Moshe, Efraim, Rafi and me over for snacks and a movie at their house the evening before we left.

We met Joseph and his three children who just moved here from California and bought a 50 foot sloop to live on. They were just few slips down from us. I felt sorry for three little kids with out a mom, so I took them a dozen of the oatmeal cookies I had just baked. (Yes, I made them from scratch.)

Pat Moore and I hung out together for several days before I had to leave. She gave me a tour of one of the Outrigger Hotel/Resorts she was redecorating and we had drinks and hoeur douerves (sp?) at Dukes one of the famous night spots in Waikiki. Pat got tickets for all of us to a show that takes place at the Outrigger. The show is put on by a group known as the “Society of Seven”. These guys are non-stop energy and talent for about 2-3 hours. The parent group, which started at the Outrigger and is also the “Society of Seven” now appears in Las Vegas as a regular production – I forget which hotel/casino but it is a worthwhile event if you happen to be going to Las Vegas. The show is musically based, name an instrument – they play it, name a song – they can sing it just like the original. The music is everything from swing to rock & roll. Of course there is a lot of comedy interlaced throughout the show and one of the productions is to get three guys up on stage and make them do a mock strip tease (ala Chippendale’s). Guess who one of those three guys was? WRONG, not me. FRANCO HARRIS! Famous football hall of fame running back/wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1980’s. Anyway they had on these foam rubber muscle body suits under their costumes and when they stripped off the costumes revealing the body suit, women from the audience would run up and stuff dollar bills in the suits. It was pretty funny and everyone was a great sport. I’m glad we were able to do this before Beverly had to leave on January 29th, because everyone had such a good time.

On February 1st and 2nd , we took all our new friends out for a sail (those that could make it).

We expected to leave Honolulu on February 4th , but for medical reasons (Moshe developed an infection of some kind – we had to stay until February 13th ). I didn’t know whether to feel bad for Moshe or to thank him. Stuck in Hawaii with great new friends, darn the luck! I’m pretty sure I wound up thanking him.

As it turned out Moshe’s need to doctor for a while was kind of a blessing in disguise (Moshe would probably phrase that differently). While we were waiting for him to get better I went up the mast one day in the bosun’s chair to put sail protectors on the main mast spreaders. That went fine even though it was a little windy and rainy. But when I started to continue up to the top to repair our anchor light the hydraulic winch quit. This was no danger to me, Moshe simply let me down manually. But it was the start of a couple of problems that if Moshe had not been ill, we would not have discovered until we were at sea. The oil retaining seal for our hydraulic dinghy lift virtually exploded one day while we were trying to figure out why it wasn’t working properly. Guess who was standing in the direct line of fire? I was soaked head to toe in hydraulic oil. If I had gone swimming, the Coast Guard would have shown up to throw an oil boom around me. After Efraim got the hydraulic hose for the winch repaired, Rafi went up the mast to fix the anchor light and it proved unfixable. Efraim had to find a new one and install it. A couple of other things went haywire but Efraim covers those in his update as well so I’ll just leave it at that.

I needed to get a prescription for Malaria and some anti-infection medication (in case of a cut or something in the jungle – whatever , I got Cipro which is also good for Anthrax). Anyway, I called my doctor in Anacortes, and she was at a conference. So I called Joyce (she and her husband are doctors) and bingo, I had the two prescriptions filled that day. This was important because I thought I was leaving the next day. We thought we were leaving tomorrow for about 9 days – Moshe’s infection kept doing the yo-yo thing.

One very sad note. Nate had led the service I attended at Temple Emmanuel. Over the following two weeks he and his wife Sandy drove us around, took us to dinner a couple of times and generally put themselves at our disposal. Nate was nursing throat cancer the whole time and died the day we left Honolulu, February 13th. We decided we would stay for the funeral, but his body was sent back to Israel. He was a wonderful man and I know he will be sorely missed.

On one of my trips to the library in Honolulu I had sent an e-mail to Matt and Elizabeth , the caretakers of the Palmyra atoll. Efraim had mentioned that we could take a few things down there if they had a need so I asked them if they needed anything. So a lady named Sue from the Port of Honolulu (this is where they coordinate all their supply needs) delivered 2 large (150 lb.) propane tanks and seven boxes of mail to the boat. We lashed the tanks in front of the main mast and stowed seven boxes of mail down below.

It took us a week to get to Palmyra. We had great wind all the way. For a preview of what the island looks like (before I get back and bore you into submission – this is my plan for world conquest- with hours of home video) just close your eyes and try to remember scenes from “Gilligan’s Island”. Unspoiled, white sand beaches, aqua colored lagoons and 6 inhabitants. Matt and Elizabeth are the island managers, Mike and Chrissie are full time employees and there are two volunteers, George and Bill. Well they hadn’t had mail in almost 3 months and were running low on propane and weren’t expecting a resupply until the end of March or the first part of April. So we were a welcome sight. They got their Christmas cards on February 20th. They welcomed us with banana nut muffins the size of half a loaf of bread and that night had us over for dinner (Matt and Elizabeth were both chefs in Lake Tahoe before they became “adventurers”). We brought fresh Mahi-Mahi, they had planned spaghetti but switched when we told them we had fish. What a great spread they laid out, it was beautiful, grilled vegetables and Mahi-Mahi in a wonderful sauce. Fresh salad, rolls and wine and coffee. And for desert a most amazing presentation of blue-berries, strawberries, banana cream pudding, cake and whipped cream in a seven (or more) layer arrangement in a clear glass turine that was worth a minute of video tape.

Had to take another “time-out” here. Rain shower at sea has a whole new meaning. When it rains – you shower. Not that we are hard up for water, we can make six gallons an hour and there is no shortage, but it’s fun to shower in the rain and after a week+ at sea you look for different things to do and why let all that fresh water go to waste?

The next day we went ashore and tried out a new self guided walking tour of Cooper Island (the largest in the atoll and the one everyone lives on). It has an “abandoned” airfield (abandoned by the Navy who built it in WWII) which people (read donors) coming to the island still use some defunct businesses, a couple of wrecked boats that have washed ashore and the regular flora and fauna of a south pacific island (video tape to follow). We finished the walking tour about noon and Matt, Elizabeth, Mike and Chrissie took us to one of the other islands where we did a “nature walk” kind of thing looking for coconut crabs. These crabs can get up to 3 feet across measuring from claw tip to claw tip. They come in red, orange and blue (nobody can figure out why the different colors). We found several ranging in size from about one foot across to about 2 ½ feet. Apparently they are good to eat but are protected on the atoll. They are treated more like pets – but very carefully – one snap from even a small one can produce a “finger-ectomy”. Can you imagine a claw powerful enough to crack a coconut? After this we went snorkeling in the reefs just outside the atoll. This was some of the best snorkeling I’ve ever done. The reefs are pretty amazing with multi-colored corals, deep holes and caves and spectacular varieties of fish and mollusks. After about an hour Chrissie told me that this was the first time she had been there when no sharks showed up. (Harmless black tip sharks – unless of course you’r bleeding somewhere). Anyway, she no sooner said that, we went down and of course two six-footers show up – 20 feet away. Not wanting to push the “harmless” theory, we quietly moved around a big piece of coral swam away. A little later, Mike spotted a really large Moray Eel and we got to inspect him(?) for a while. Morays kind of spook me ever since I saw the movie “The Deep” with Nick Nolte and Jacquelyn Bisset. Good movie if you get a chance to rent it. Moshe and some others saw a giant green turtle but I missed that one. After the snorkel, Moshe and Efraim took the islanders on a tour of Aliza while Rafi and I stayed on shore and relished the solid ground for a while because when they returned, we shook hands, hugged the girls and left Palmyra – about 6:30 p.m. Hawaiian time February 21st.

In an earlier update, I made mention of the native Hawaiians as being really naturally sweet and kind people and they are. But not one of the people mentioned above is a blood Hawaiian, yet they too are some of the kindest people I’ve met. I think what my daughter Julianne said about people assuming the personality of the place they reside in is correct. There is a real “Aloha Spirit” among the people of Hawaii that seems to be embraced by everyone – you gotta love this place and all it’s people.

The winds have been mostly very favorable up until about 2 days ago when we hit the doldrums. It is now March 3rd soon to be March 4th because we will cross the international date line in about 10 minutes. We crossed the equator on February 26th at 0 degrees 00 min. N latitude (of course) and 172 degrees 10 minutes W longitude. By the way, I know that at least ten of you have world maps or globes so, as requested, here are some waypoints for you to plot my journey.

11/30 – Left Ventura, CA These first few waypoints on the

same day were to get around and through the islands

11/30 – 33 degrees 41 min N

 119 degrees 37 min W

11/30 – 33 degrees 27 min N

 120 degrees 20 min W

12/01 – 29 degrees 12 min N Heading south to pick up wind.

 124 degrees 41 min W

12/07 – 26 degrees 42 min N

 134 degrees 0.0 min W

12/11 – 23 degrees 19 min N

 144 degrees 05 min W

12/14 – Hilo, Hawaii, HI

12/18 – 20 degrees 0.0 min N

 155 degrees 09 min W

12/19 – 20 degrees 33 min N This is where we snorkeled at Molokini

 156 degrees 36 min W

12/19 – La Haina, Maui, HI

12/23 – 20 degrees 58 min N

 156 degrees 57 min W

12/24 – 21 degrees 13 min N

 157 degrees 49 min W

12/24 – Ala Wai Harbor, Honolulu, HI

02/13 – left Honolulu

02/20 – Arrived Palmyra – this is a straight shot from Honolulu. You should find Palmyra at about:

 05 degrees 52 min N

 162 degrees 11 min W

02/21 – Left Palmyra went straight to:

 03 degrees 37 min N

 168 degrees 33 min W

02/26 – 0.0 degrees 0.0 min Crossed Equator

 172 degrees 10 min W

03/03 – 03/04 07 degrees 28 min N

 0.0 degrees 0.0 min Crossed International Date Line

There are a lot more waypoints than this, but for the most part they all fall on the connecting lines anyway, so for your plotting purposes they would be redundant. Also, I have rounded some numbers to make your plotting easier so don’t be alarmed if it appears we nicked a land mass somewhere – we missed’em all.

There is one more waypoint that I will give you although we won’t see it until tomorrow 3/05. It is just outside our next stop, Funafuti Atoll. The coordinates are 08 degrees 29 min S and 179 degrees 03 min E. This waypoint is just to the north of the atoll and we will sail around the West side of the atoll to the entrance, go inside the lagoon and anchor. Then, hopefully, we will find an internet cafe or something similar to send this.

Palmyra to PNG
Having spent a couple of months in Hawaii (Palmyra is kind of an extension of Hawaii) it was kind of a sweet/sour feeling about leaving. I was glad to finally be under way again, but I left a lot of new friends and neat people behind (again).

The sailing was pretty good enroute to Funafuti. We were between 4 and 7+ knots most of the way. Again we had to run the engine about half the time, maybe a little less.

We arrived in the Republic of Tuvalu, Funafuti Atoll, Island of Funafuti, City of Fongafale (Capitol of Tuvalu) at about 2:00 p.m. Hawaiian time plus 24 hours. Here are the coordinates for entry for those who may be interested:

Because you are using very small scale maps, all of these may be unnecessary. You can just draw a line to the Funafuti atoll from the last reference point I gave you in the previous update and that will probably serve your purpose just fine.

03/05/2003

08 degrees 25 min. S

179 degrees 03 min E

03/05/2003

08 degrees 30 min S

179 degrees 00 min E

03/05/2003

08 degrees 33 min S

179 degrees 02 min E

From here there are about four or five waypoints to zig zag into the lagoon dodging coral reefs. It is about ten miles across the lagoon to our anchorage at Fongafale on the eastern side of the atoll.

Efraim and Moshe went to the customs and immigration office for clearance to come ashore and brought back five customs and immigration officers. We think they just wanted a ride in our dinghy which is a very nice “Boston Whaler” style runabout with a fifty HP engine, and a tour of Aliza. We entertained our welcoming committee with a glass of ice water, filled out the necessary paperwork and gave them a tour. The thing that seemed to impress them the most was our head (toilet and shower facilities) we have three on the boat and our refrigerator, which is extremely large for a boat. After the tour, Efraim took them back to their office.

Next, Efraim took Rafi and me ashore to see about a Laundromat and an internet cafe. We selected a landing for the dinghy on a pile of concrete slabs that had been apparently dumped into the lagoon to act as a breakwater. I got out of the boat and was holding the dinghy for Rafi, who has a bad knee. He had trouble getting over the side, stepped on some moss and went up to his waist in sea water. That in itself is’t so bad, but he was carrying his camera and his computer. The camera got soaked but the computer, fortunately, only got the back damp. The computer is o.k.; the jury is still out on the camera. He took the film out rinsed the camera in fresh water and has been drying it since.

Well we walked around Fongafale and finally found the “laundromat”. It is also a used motorcycle repair and sales shop and living quarters for the owners. We would have had to leave our laundry, the government had shut off their water ration and they had huge piles of laundry waiting to be done. They suggested that we try the hotel. The hotel was willing to do the laundry – $4.00 for one towel (about $2.75 U.S.) so we pulled out all the towels. Never-the-less, Rafi’s laundry wound up costing him about $60.00 ($41.65) and mine was $29.00 ($20.00) for about the same bulk. I think this was because Rafi gave the lady at the desk so much grief about the cost when we dropped it off, we picked it up the next day.

After we dropped the laundry off, Rafi and I had a couple of beers at the hotel and met a few Aussies who work there in some kind of Tuvalu/Australian cooperative function. Then we walked around and asked around for the internet café  It turned out to be a pretty nondescript kind of place. It was square building with no signage and no windows, light green in color with a white door on one end. When we went in there were two old computers at a table just inside the door. To the left, there is an office/work area with several newer computers and the staff. The staff is basically one guy, who by the way was very good with computers, and a couple of friends who kind of hang out there. Anyway this is where I did all my email stuff that day and the next. The second day we were at the internet cafe everyone left for lunch and told us to lock up when we left and pay the next time we saw them. While we were there, a young girl (maybe 17) came in and sat down to talk to us. She was very charming and sweet and very curious about us and asked a lot of questions. She thought Rafi and I were too old to crew on a boat because it seemed like such hard work. We explained that it wasn’t like the stevedore labor she saw down at the docks, it was largely pleasure and no, we weren’t paid crew, we shared expenses for the trip with the owners. She asked “how much?” and we told her $700.00 per month. She said, “Oh! You must be millionaires!” We kind of chuckled and explained that in the countries we come from that was not a lot of money for room and board for a month. After a while, she must have had her curiosity satisfied, and she wished us a good trip as she got up and left.

Fongafale is a two road town. The island it is on, Funafuti, is about 5 miles long and the roads run back and forth along the island. Transportation is mostly motorcycle, motor scooter, small cars and vans and at least two taxis. In some spots you can see across the island. At its widest point, I don’t think it is more than one mile wide and this is basically a hump where the airport is –  “Funafuti International”. It has one takeoff and landing strip and one plane a week comes in and goes out. The homes that I saw are concrete block with glassless windows and large overhangs or porches where the windows are or jalousie style windows where there were no overhangs. There was one restaurant besides the hotel, a “mom and pop” kind of placed attached to a dwelling. The businesses in Fongafale are constructed pretty much like the houses, concrete block with pretty meager furnishings and supplies. Every house and business has at least one large cistern in which rain water collects. I believe this is the major source of fresh water for the island. The government apparently can supply some to businesses, but as I mentioned, this is rationed.

As you may have gathered, there wasn’t a lot to do on Funafuti. The two days we were there we ate at the local restaurant, and were back to the boat by 6:00 p.m.

All the people we met in Fongafale seemed very nice, maybe somewhat shy in general but very willing to accommodate when they could. I think we were viewed as wealthy westerners and maybe they just felt a little uncomfortable, kind of like I might feel at a too fancy dinner when I don’t know what that weird little fork is for.

Well, it finally came time to “pay the piper”. And as Rafi says, he charges pretty high interest. The third day, we awoke to heavy winds and thrashing seas. Our anchor was caught in coral and Efraim decided to see if the storm would pass so he started the engine so he could maneuver the boat to try to keep the pressure from the anchor chain off the bow of the boat. We took turns standing on the bow so we could direct his steering and movement with hand signals as to where the anchor chain was deployed. It didn’t do much good and after about three hours the chain had torn the front chain roller off the deck and the deck steel under a secondary roller guide was ripped open so he had to try to maneuver the boat to dislodge the anchor so we could try to get it aboard. He succeeded in dislodging the anchor and Moshe, Rafi and I got the anchor up and lashed it to the side of the boat. All the while we were riding the anchor, Efraim kept calling the customs office trying to get clearance to leave port while hoping the storm would subside long enough to launch the dinghy without crushing it against the side of the boat or the davit/launching platform so he and I could go over and get the necessary clearance papers signed. Eventually, the customs office sent a launch out to get Efraim, took him ashore and returned him to the boat and that is when we dislodged the anchor and took off.

We left the anchorage at about 3 p.m., March 7th, and headed across the lagoon (about 10 miles) at about 4 knots. The wind was on our bow and the waves though not that large in the lagoon were pretty violent. When we hit the open sea is when they got large and violent.

Our radar indicated constant squall lines, one right after another. It seemed like the longest “dry” spell was maybe an hour and this went on for the next five days or so. For about five and a half days we proceeded toward the Solomon Islands at anywhere from 1.5 to 4 knots with very strong, 25, 30 and sometimes 40 knot winds in our face. The seas were directly on our bow, very heavy and waves were constantly washing over the deck. Unaccustomed to such abuse, we put the hatches on “vent” thinking that we could at least get some limited air down below, big mistake. The first night I got about 10 gallons of seawater poured on me through the hatch above my bunk. Besides me a lot of my stuff, CDs, photos, toiletries, things I’ve been collecting, etc. got soaked. To top things off, from that point on every hatch and dorade on the boat seemed to leak so the next five days were pretty wet and miserable with constant salt water baths every time you went topside and wet beds and settees down below. In addition, since we couldn’t open the hatches, even on “vent” it was very hot and steamy inside the boat. This of course makes for a lot of perspiration and could make for some interesting odors if it weren’t for the fact that the constant rain allows you to rinse frequently (just make sure you hang on). Of course swim suits were the “uniform of the day” for this part of the trip. Yes, we have a shower on the boat but because of its location in the very bow of the boat, taking a shower in 10 to 20 foot seas would be like inserting yourself into a big Maytag washer, throwing a toilet bowl in and hitting the “heavy load” cycle.

Damages: The last quarter of our bimini cover over the cockpit is shredded and there are intermittent tears in the rest of it. The clew ring on our mizzen sail blew out, the roller furling on the head stay lost a few parts (although it seems to be working o.k.), the main roller furling was damaged with the mainsail about 7/8 deployed, and then one of the staysail sheets snapped.

The hardest thing to deal with is keeping a positive attitude. You know that sooner or later the sun will shine again, the seas will calm down and your bed will be dry. So, in this case it was later.

One night while I was on watch during all this b.s., and the waves were churning and rushing by the boat, (we were actually doing about 2 knots over ground, but because of the heavy seas on our bow it seems faster, speed through the water would be about 8 knots), I saw phosphorus glowing in the churn. It was like thousands of fireflies in the water. It reminded me of when I was a kid and would go outside on a warm summer night and catch fireflies (we called them lightening bugs). It made me think (not much else to do on watch) why don’t I see them anymore? Did we put out too much pesticide for our gardens and grass and kill them all? Did too many generations of kids catch them and rip their backsides off for that glowing “ring” or put them in jars with a little grass in the bottom and holes punched in the lid and leave them there to die? Or maybe I just don’t see them because I’ve lost that childhood wonder and I’m not looking. Anyway, when I get back home to Iowa or Minnesota or Washington, I decided I’m going to see them again. I’m pretty sure they’re not gone so I’m going to look. And I think I’ll get a jar and punch some holes in the lid and catch a few. This time I’ll be a little more humane. I won’t tear them in half and I will let them out of the jar when I go inside so maybe I can catch them again another night, maybe with my grand kids (when I get some).

When the wind settled down to about 18 / 20 knots, I hoisted Efraim up the staysail furler in the boatswain. (pronounced bosun’s) chair so he could change the sheet. (By the way, on a sailboat a “sheet” is a line or rope that you pull on to deploy a sail). And now that the weather has calmed considerably, Moshe and Efraim were able to get the main sail fully deployed so at least we can take it down when necessary. And like Efraim says, it’s nice to be able to look down on the waves for a change.

It took us about four more days after the constant storms to get reasonably dry inside the boat. Sea water is very caustic on many “shore side” items so I had to wash most of the stuff I could salvage in fresh water. Damages to my personal effects are minimal.

Because of the setback caused by the weather, we are skipping the Solomon Islands. Efraim and Moshe have to be in Israel for a legal matter, and so we are on a schedule because they have plane tickets to fly out of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. So, we are heading straight there. We have been at sea for 9 days and have about 7 to go. It is Saturday, March 16th, about 5 p.m. We left the last island in the Solomon chain to our port side about 1 hour ago.

The sun has shone and it has been beautiful all day today. All the hatches are open and everything is airing out and drying out and life is good. I made pancakes for breakfast and Efraim and I did laundry off and on all day. Efraim has a small washing machine that holds about 2- 3 pounds of laundry (dry) and works quite well although it takes a while because you have to haul water to it by hand and the loads are so small.

I think I’ll quit writing for today and finish this up another day.

O.K., it is now Wednesday, March 19, (Tuesday the 18th where you are) and the last three days have been pretty uneventful. The sunshine has been intermingled with rain and today it has rained most of the day, but during a break we were treated to another porpoise show by about 10 – 12 six footers. Winds have been very variable sometimes swinging 90 degrees and back in a matter of minutes. We pass under a cloud and the wind will be 15 to 18 knots and come out from under the cloud and it will be 4 knots. Several of the days out here we have had to put up with the “doldrum”.

It is March 22nd for us on Aliza (and half of the rest of the world). Arrival in Port Moresby is this afternoon. We had a couple of interesting events during the last few days.

One morning, probably about 2 a.m., I was awakened by what felt like some unusual maneuvering of the boat. Moshe was on watch and when I got up, Efraim was also up and at the radar. Apparently, a New Guinea fishing boat, maybe 30 feet long, had been on a collision course with us. They had no running lights on, they either had no radar and no radio or weren’t using them and apparently had no lookout posted. They had their deck working lights on so we could see them but without running lights, at night it is difficult to tell which way they were going. Anyway, they seemed to be on minimal power, just letting their boat “do its thing” while they got their tackle ready. It never got less than a half mile from us thanks to Efraim’s maneuvering, but you should see our course line on the computer. Oh well, they missed.

Thursday March 20th, we had a different experience. We got to sail through a forest! Or should I say a former forest. We spotted about a dozen fully grown trees floating in the water and all the attendant flotsam, branches, stumps, etc. There must have been a heck of a storm somewhere. On my watch that evening, there was a full moon and it was quite beautiful out (actually it was between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. March 21st). Anyway, because of the moon I could see quite clearly all around. About 100 yards ahead of the boat and a little to starboard (right), I could see these great spines sticking up out of the water. Of course it was the broken roots of another tree, but I can imagine a sailor 500 years ago, not having the scientific information so readily available today, seeing a great sea monster approaching his ship. Anyway the monster passed us at about 6-10 yards from the boat.

Well, it is noon. Arrival will be about 4 -5 p.m. Port Moresby time, so I will close with the coordinates from Funafuti to Port Moresby. By the way, for the interested, one minute on a nautical chart equals one mile, 60 minutes (or miles) equals one degree, ten degrees then equals 600 miles, and so on.

From Funafuti:

03/15/2003     Passed the Gilbert Islands

162 degrees 36 min E

11 degrees 02 min S

03/16/2003   Santa Cruz Islands (Part of Solomon’s)

159 degrees 53 min E

11 degrees 23 min S

03/19/2003   Southeastern tip of Papua New Guinea

154 degrees 00 min E

11 degrees 49 min S

03/21/2003

148 degrees 00 min E

10 degrees 23 min S

03/22/2003

147 degrees 18 min E

10 degrees 00 min S

03/22/2003    Arrive Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

147 degrees 11 min

09 degrees 29 min S

We have traveled 4,500 miles since Honolulu.

 

PNG to Darwin Australia
G’day Mates,

Well, I just finished the last update for PNG yesterday and I’m trying to keep my promise to not wait so long before I begin the next one.

It is now Saturday, May 17, and we are motoring across the Arafura Sea, just north of Cape Wessel, Arnhem Land, Australia.

We left RPYC, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on Saturday, May 10th, at about 5 p.m. It was a beautiful clear day with a nice breeze and a temperature of about 80 degrees. But despite perfect weather conditions, once again it was a difficult departure. There are so many people, who have been so warm and friendly, kind and generous that you would have to be pretty callous not to feel a twinge of pain at leaving them and sailing off to another destination.

Tonny, Neil and Gary helped us cast off our lines, Rolf, Bob and Chris Browne formed the nucleus of our bon voyage group that stood on the balcony of the RPYC and waved us off.

The sailing was really good that first evening. We had 20 – 25 knot winds and were able to do about 7 – 8 knots in Aliza for about 4 -5 hours. Then the bottom fell out. The winds died to about 6 – 7 kts. apparent (at best) and we have been under spinnaker or engine since. Under spinnaker we can generally get 3 – 5 knots, when we run the engine we do about 6.5 – 7 knots.

It took us a couple of days to get to Thursday Island, Australia from Port Moresby. We arrived about 11:00 a.m. Customs and immigration came out about 2:00 p.m. to clear us. They threw away all of our cheese (we had about 10 lbs. left from Costco in the U.S.) all of our fresh garlic, onions and potatoes. We had used up most of our other fresh stuff so we really didn’t lose much.

Efraim and I went to the internet cafe and answered any emails that were waiting for a response. We then went to the grocery and replaced some of the fresh produce which we have to use before we get to Darwin or it too, will be confiscated. Thursday Island, even though part of Australia, is treated like a separate country regarding import of fruits, vegetables and dairy products.

We were one night on anchor at Thursday Island and left the next afternoon at 2:00 p.m.

Before leaving, we had to go ashore one more time and clear customs for departure. We spent about an hour at customs, these guys were pretty nice and we took some pictures and talked about places to stop and Efraim offered them a copy of some charting software that they were pretty impressed with. They brought a launch out to Aliza to pick it up just before we left. After we left customs, we went to purchase an Australian courtesy flag, then Efraim went back over to the internet cafe and Moshe and I went to buy some more potatoes and stopped and had a beer at the local hotel.

The crossing of the Coral Sea has been pretty uneventful. One evening while I was on watch, a fishing trawler appeared on our radar and since it’s relative bearing didn’t change over the next half hour I knew we were on a collision course. I awakened Efraim and we tried to raise them on the VHF. There was no response so when they were about a mile away Efraim shined the million candle power light on our sail and they made an abrupt turn to port. We then discovered that our starboard running light was out. They hadn’t been able to see us until they saw our sail illuminated.

Last night, May 16th, we saw a wreck about a couple of miles away. We are in about 50 fathoms of water (300 feet) and there is one spot where a reef sticks up out of the ocean. Apparently this cargo ship found it and now lies a rotting hulk in the middle of the ocean.

Waypoints for the chart keepers:

05/10/2003             09 degrees 27 min. South

145 degrees 10 min. East

05/11/2003             09 degrees 20 min. South

144 degrees 07 min. East

09 degrees 32 min. South

143 degrees 42 min. East

05/12/2003             09 degrees 41 min. South

143 degrees 20 min. East

10 degrees 09 min. South

143 degrees 06 min. East

05/13/2003             10 degrees 19 min. South

142 degrees 49 min. East

10 degrees 35 min. South,

142 degrees 13 min. East

Thursday Island, just north of Cape York, Queensland, Australia

05/14/2003            10 degrees 33 min. South

141 degrees 52 min. East

Passing Booby Island. (Hey, Efraim! Those aren’t coconut trees – they’re tassels!)

05/17/2003             10 degrees 49 min. South

137 degrees 00 min. East

Passing Cape Wessel

05/18/2003             10 degrees 48 min. South

133.degrees 00 min. East

05/19/2003             10 degrees 48 min. South

132 degrees 00 min. East

05/19/2003             11 degrees 50 min. South

131 degrees 33 min. East

05/20/2003         12 degrees 05 min South

131 degrees 11 min East

05/20/2003         12 degrees 04 min South

130 degrees 56 min East

05/20/2003 Arrive Darwin

This is less than half the actual waypoints. If it seems like a lot, it probably is for your purposes so just don’t use them all. On the charts you are using you won’t see all the obstructions that have to be negotiated. And once again, if it looks like we’ve gone through something, no worries mate, we didn’t hit any bumps.

Darwin Australia

We left Darwin at about 8p.m., June fourth, after two weeks ashore. This update will be a little more difficult to write because, for a few days, I must live with two of the fingers on my right hand taped together. This, the result of a last minute act of self-inflicted stupidity, which most of us like to refer to as accidents so as not to add humiliation to the pain. But, more on that later.

My last update left off just before we were to arrive in Darwin. The morning after I finished writing we spotted what appeared to be about a twelve foot long sea crocodile swimming about fifty meters from the boat, going the opposite direction. That evening we anchored in Howard Channel, within Clarence Strait, South of Melville Island, Northeast of Darwin Harbor for about 4 hours. This was to enable the tide to do its thing and fill Darwin Harbor with enough water for “Aliza” to navigate. This time of year, Darwin Harbor can have five meter tides, leaving places in the harbor, at low tide, impassable for a boat like “Aliza” which has a two meter, 10 centimeter (seven foot) draft.

We arrived in Darwin Harbor at about 10 a.m., Tuesday, May 20th. We were barred from entry into any marinas by the fisheries department. It seems that all foreign registered vessels must be hauled out and inspected for Zebra mussels. So we spent the night on anchor in quarantine, outside a boat yard called “Sadgrove’s Quay”.

That evening, I ran into Gino, a French guy we met at the R.P.Y.C in Port Moresby, at the Dinah Beach Sailing Club (next to Sadgrove’s). Gino has been single handling his 25 foot catamaran from France for the last 13 years, without vhf or radar. The only electronic equipment he has are auto pilot and a hand held g.p.s. The four of us went out for fish and chips that night and to dinner at a Japanese restaurant the next evening. We lost track of Gino after that and he left Darwin the following Tuesday or Wednesday.

The next day we were hauled out at Sadgrove’s Quay for the official inspection (no mussels) and while out had the bottom pressure washed.

Once back in the water, we headed for “Tipperary Waters”, a marina about 300 meters (1,000 feet) from Sadgrove’s, where we slipped the boat for the duration of our stay. An interesting thing about marinas in Darwin: they all have “locks” like you find in the Panama or Suez Canals. That is because the tide changes are so dramatic in Darwin Harbor that a boat with more than a 2 foot draft could become stuck in the mud this time of year. So, a lock provides for a “permanent high tide” inside the marina. Naturally, once inside, you must wait for high tide in order to leave again.

The first couple of days in Darwin were pretty busy. We spent a lot of time locating sail makers, canvass workers and engine parts distributors either to have repairs done or to obtain parts for self repair. We also stopped by the tourist bureau and made arrangements for sightseeing in the Northern Territory.

Thursday evening, May 22nd, the three of us went to the Mindil Beach Markets on the northeast side of Darwin. Every Thursday and Sunday, craftsmen and food vendors set up shop at Mindil Beach to display and sell their wares. Eating opportunities abound.

Supposedly over 30 countries are represented and every kind of South East Asian delicacy you can think of is here, from India to the Philippines. The only problem was selection, but I managed to handle it. I got my first taste of CROCODILE! It doesn’t taste like chicken. As a matter of fact, it is really tough and didn’t have a lot of flavor. I guess the next time I try it I’ll have to go to a fancy restaurant and spend a lot of money so I can tell everyone how wonderful it is, we’ll see.

There is a lot of “trinket” tourist type stuff at Mindil Beach, but there is also a lot of beautiful hand crafted art. There are things like crocodile accessories (expensive), oil and acrylic paintings, jewelry made from indigenous gem stones and my favorite, hand made aboriginal didgeridoos. I must admit, from the time I spotted my first wallaby, I couldn’t get the song “Tie Me Kangaroo Down” out of my head and now here was another verse “play me didgeridoo sport, play me didgeridoo”. I decided I had to have one of these but I didn’t know how to select one. This was going to take some research.

At about 7:00 a.m., Saturday, May 24th, Moshe, Efraim and I left for Kakadoo National Park in the Northern Territory. (Doesn’t that sound wild and exotic?) It’s pretty amazing, when you get ten miles outside of Darwin, there is nothing but bush country. Australia has about 19 million people total. That is less than Mexico City, in a continent roughly the size of the continental U.S. So there is a lot of empty space. On the way we spotted wallabies and monitor lizards along side of, as well as crossing the road.

We arrived in the city of Jabiru on the eastern side of the park in the afternoon and went directly to the Aurora Lodge and Caravan Park which is where we had made our reservations through the tourist bureau. We had booked an 8 x 12 four bed room for the three of us. However, unlike the lyrics to “King of the Road”, this place had a beautiful swimming pool with a water fall and a jacuzzi, an outdoor lounge/bar and restaurant. This restaurant is where I would sample my first taste of kangaroo.

While checking in, we got directions regarding where to go and what to see and booked a dawn cruise for the following morning on the South Alligator River. Incidentally, there are no indigenous alligators in Australia. An early European explorer mistook the crocodile for an alligator and named several rivers: North, South, East and West “Alligator” The names stuck.

Kakadoo National Park is wild and exotic and early the next morning we were off to the South Alligator River. The cruise was about four hours long, starting at 5:30 a.m. Of course we saw crocodiles, heron, lots of waterfowl and plants, and tree snakes. The highlight, were the crocodiles but I have to admit that when the guide pointed out a kookaburra I had a flashback to when my kids came home from school in the fourth grade with the “Kookaburra Song”. For those who require enlightening:

Kookaburra has no work;

He has no work to do.

He sits up in a tree to lurk,

To catch a snake or two.

And when he bites that snake in two,

He laughs right out with glee

Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah

Nyee nyee nyee nyee nyee.

 

There now, don’t you feel much better?

That afternoon we went to Ubirr. Ubirr is renowned for its Aboriginal rock art and spectacular sunsets. Rock art is mouth sprayed hand stencils. They depict fish, birds and animals; hunters carrying spears, the creation beings: Namarrgon the Lightening Man and Ngalyod the Rainbow Serpent. In these paintings fish, birds and animals are represented x-ray style, showing internal organs and bone structures. This art and the caves and artifacts extracted from them indicate that Aboriginal peoples have been around for 50,000 years! Good thing for them we (the white man) “discovered” Australia 250 years ago or they wouldn’t know where they were!

Later that afternoon, we went to Oenpelli, an Aboriginal city in Arnhem Land. Arnhem Land is across the border from the Northern Territory and is an immense tract of land (which surrounds the Northern Territory) and has been returned to the Aborigines. You must have a permit to enter Oenpelli which we purchased at the ranger station in Jabiru.

In Oenpelli you can go only to the state operated Aboriginal outlet store, watch the natives work and purchase their art. Then you have to leave, thank you very much. While there, Moshe made friends with a couple of the natives, Efraim took their photos and promised to send them a copy. I videoed a couple of kids in the outlet store who got a big kick out of watching themselves on the video camera screen when I played it back for them. So they had to do it again.

That evening we had dinner at the Jabiru Sports and Social Club. T-bone steak (again).

I have to admit, this was much better than the Weewak Hotel version. The sport everyone appeared to be engaged in was watching Australian Rules football on the T.V. and playing the “pokies” in the back room.

The next day we went to Norlangie Rock. Here we saw a lot more Aboriginal pre-historic art and did some more hiking. Norlangie Rock is a big rock out cropping with a lot of paintings on it and a 20,000 year old shelter.

Later in the afternoon, we went swimming in the pool at the lodge and that evening I had kangaroo and barramundi (fish) at the lodge restaurant. According to Neroli, our new crew member, kangaroo was considered only fit for dog food five years ago. However, due to a heavy marketing campaign it can now be ordered in all the finest restaurants. I like kangaroo, it is a sweet meat that looks like beef and I would say tastes a little like a cross between beef and pork. However, since eating it, I have the urge to scratch behind my ear with my foot. Barramundi is a delicious white fish, very popular in the South Pacific. Back in Darwin, we had it in fish and chips several nights at a little shop just down the road from the Marina.

The next day we left Jabiru and headed back to Darwin. On the way we stopped at the Adelaide River to take a cruise on the River Queen and watch the jumping crocodiles.

This is a two hour cruise and along the way we get to watch the guides feed chicken to crocs that can leap their entire body length out of the water. Some of these guys are 6 – 7 meters long! (I say guys because the females only get to about 4 meters).

The guides tell some pretty awful stories about crocodile attacks. The last fatality was in October of last year when a 23 year old German girl on holiday was taken by a crocodile the day before she was scheduled to leave on her return flight home. This girl had just survived the terrorist attack in Bali, and was back in Australia swimming in a “safe” area (according to her guide) with about ten other people when the crocodile swam right past her girl friend and took her. They found her a couple of days later. The crocodile was still swimming around with her, she was relatively unmarked from the croc, and the cause of death was drowning.

Sea crocodiles are considered a perfect predator. They can travel 150 miles out to sea and 150 miles up river in fresh water. They are very patient and will stalk their quarry for days if necessary looking for patterns of behavior. Campers are warned to never fetch water from the same spot at the same time, twice. A twelve foot croc can flatten itself out in a foot of murky water and stay submerged, virtually invisible, for two hours, and then explode with lightening quickness to snatch a bird in mid-air flying eight feet overhead. They can stay submerged for hours and go for five months without eating. They inhabit territory from India to Papua New Guinea. When they take their quarry they will drag it under water and do a “death roll”. The death roll serves two purposes. It drowns its victim and the violence of it disconnects all the joints, making the tearing apart for eating easier. Spooky stuff, huh? The reason the young German lady was relatively unmarked, they speculate, is because the croc that took her (he was killed) was fairly emaciated indicating that he hadn’t eaten in a long time. Therefore his strength and stamina were diminished. He had five crocodiles following him and he didn’t want to share and couldn’t fight them off without letting go. O.K. enough of the grisly stuff.

After the Adelaide River Cruise, we headed back to the boat.

The next day, we went to Litchfield National Park. Litchfield Park is known for its spectacular waterfalls and huge termite mound formations. We visited the magnetic termite mounds. I can’t remember why they are “magnetic” although the soil is black so perhaps that is it, the soil has some kind of magnetic ferrous content, anyway we just seemed to be drawn to them (sorry, I can’t help myself). We then drove to the other side of the park and saw Wangi Falls. This is a beautiful waterfall which cascades about 100 meters into a crystal clear pool. Unfortunately, I came unprepared. I didn’t have my swimming suit. Moshe however, couldn’t resist. He jumped in with his clothes on. Meantime, I took a hike along a nature trail around the pool and up behind the falls. Even though this is the dry season the rock on the plateau above the falls is very porous. So, all during the wet season this rock fills with water and it is enough to keep the falls going throughout the dry season. After Wangi Falls we stopped by Tolmer Falls which are about three times the height of Wangi. There is no swimming in the pool at the bottom, (it’s pretty much inaccessible) but the canyon surrounding the falls and pool is home to a rare species of bat called the Ghost Bat. I didn’t see one (nyee, nyee, nyee, nyee, nyee). Seriously, they are white bats and they are nocturnal so we didn’t get a chance to see them.

Returning from Litchfield National Park we stopped at a crocodile farm. Here they raise crocs and “harvest” them when they are about 6 feet long for their meat and skins. We watched them feed crocs whole chickens (these crocs were 12 – 15 feet long) and then took a tour of the farm. They have crocs they use for breeding and some that are too mean to be left alone with a female (they eat them). Lots of them are missing body parts from fighting with other crocodiles. Despite having limbs chewed off and then swimming around in murky, slimy water, crocs never get an infection. It seems that they have a natural defense against infections. Seems like an opportunity to me. I wonder if anyone has thought of a serum for diseases like AIDS based on crocodile body fluid products?

They also have some American alligators that were imported just to show the difference between the species. The alligators are much smaller, about 9 feet max., and have a pointed snout. The alligators are also more social. That is, they hang around together and they don’t stalk humans. Crocodiles are very territorial. You go into a crocs territory; he eats you, whatever you are. O.K. I think we all got the message on crocs. You don’t tug on superman’s cape; you don’t spit into the wind; you don’t pull the mask off the “lone ranger” and you don’t mess around with crocs (my thanks to Jim Croce).

When we got back to the Marina, we went over to Dinah Beach Sailing Club (this is where we made most of our phone calls from). Guess who we found? Gary and Neil who we had met in PNG. Remember Julie, the 80 year old lady from my home town area? Neil and Gary are her crew.

Julie has decided that she has had her fill and made arrangements to fly back home and have the boat shipped back to the states. She’s a pretty cool gal and I really admire her pluck and stamina and even more so for recognizing her limitations and taking the appropriate action. By the way, Julie is a tiny little woman with a handshake like a blacksmith. The point of that being, she isn’t leaving because she is frail and she has to leave, she’s leaving as the result of intelligent choice. I’m going to look her up when I get home.

Anyway, Neil and Gary had the boat out of the water for a week doing clean up, fix up, paint up stuff. They will now deliver the boat to Brisbane for shipment back to the states.

So, for the next week Neil, Gary and I did our best to rid Darwin of “demon rum”, and beer for that matter. It was a Quixote-esque battle, noble in spirit, well fought, but doomed to failure. If you believe that last part, I have 10,000 square miles of ocean I would like to sell to you. Just think you could rename it, for example: The Sea of Stephen (insert your own name).

Also, this last week before we left, Moshe, Efraim and I did some didgeridoo research. We went to an Aboriginal Art Store and talked to the people about how to play and select a proper instrument. It seems that you play one by flapping your lips, much as a baby does when they first learn to make noises with their mouth. It’s a little more subtle than that but that is the general idea. So in my search for just the right “didg” I’m walking around the sidewalks of Darwin making “motorboat” sounds and probably looking like someone to avoid. I did try to be discreet but well, you know, you get carried away with these things.

Also, for your edification, people don’t make didgeridoos. Termites make them. People just decorate, and play them. Legend has it that an ancient Aboriginal was gathering firewood and also termites to eat and noticed that there were termites in this hollowed out log he picked up. So when he blew on one end of the log, both termites and sound came out the other end. He liked the sound and noticed that his buddies were “getting’ down” to the music. So he nursed it, rehearsed it and gave out the news that the Northland, gave birth to the “didg” Sorry Hoagy.

I eventually decided that the best bargains were at the Mindil Beach Fair. So that Thursday evening, I was back at the fair with Moshe and Efraim. While they were off doing their thing I was walking around trying to figure out how to select an instrument.

Certainly for me, the sound quality was the most important thing in the selection. After trying several and listening to others try, I decided there are three levels of ability:

didgerido’t, didgerimaybe, and didgeridoo. I’m a didgeridon’t. Suddenly I heard the sweet, mournful tones of a didgeridoo as I was walking down one of the aisles. So I found my way over to the booth it was coming from and saw this guy finishing up his play and then he bought the instrument. It happened to be one that I had fancied earlier but in my indecision had passed up. However, there was another at this same booth that I had also taken a liking to because of its unique shape. Without telling him which one it was, I complimented him on his play and asked if he would be kind enough to help me select a proper instrument. He was happy to. He played several, including the one that I liked and came back to it to play it again. He said he really liked the tone and the character of the wood and asked how I liked it. I told him that I had pre-selected it along with the one he purchased and was pleased with his confirmation. That’s the one I got.

June 1st, Neroli Rosen, the Aloha Airlines pilot joined us for the last leg of the trip to Israel. You will remember Neroli from the Hawaii updates I sent a few months ago.

So now we have a crew of four again.

June 3rd, we locked out of Tipperary Waters at the 5:00 p.m. high tide and dropped anchor in the channel outside Sadgrove’s Quay. We still had a few errands to run so we decided we would spend the night on the hook and leave June 4th.

Moshe was to run Neroli and I ashore in the dinghy to run the errands while he and Efraim did some last minute checks on the boat, then they would join us later and check the internet, etc. Well this is where I got careless. We had the dinghy tied to the back of the boat and we also had a cable with a lock attached to one of the stanchions on the rail around the gunwale of the dinghy. The cable was hanging down and submerged and I didn’t see it until we started pulling away. When I called out to Moshe to stop, the stop lurched me forward, I grabbed the rail to keep from being pitched overboard and the cable simultaneously slid up the stanchion, lassoed my finger and the motion of the boat pulled it tight crushing my finger against the stanchion. No broken bones, but the ring finger on my right hand at the first knuckle from the top split open about 2/3 of the way around. It required five stitches. I spent most of the day at the emergency room waiting my turn. I was injured at about 9:00 a.m., Gary still had a rental car and took me to the hospital. He and Neroli did some errands while I waited. I got my stitches at about 1:30 p.m. We did some more errands after that, met Moshe and Efraim back at the boat at about 7:00 p.m. and left Darwin. It’s a nice town. I like it.

After leaving Darwin Harbor, we sailed nearly a straight line at about 12 degrees 30 minutes South to Ashmore Reef. Ashmore Reef is a protected area. Visitors are allowed to anchor and swim, snorkel, and scuba dive, but there is only about 500 yards of beach you are allowed to walk on and you can not go inland. So our stay was short. We didn’t spend the night. We were there for about 6 – 8 hours, walked the beach, snorkeled and visited an Australian Customs boat, “Storm Bay” which was moored near us.

The snorkeling was pretty awesome. We swam with white sting rays, sea snakes, saw some gorgeous blue star fish, saw sunken fishing boats and lots of colored fish that I can’t name.

The Coast Watch boat was kind of standard. Big boat, big engines, eight person crew and all the amenities necessary to support the crew. What can I say about a big metal boat? It was nice.

We are now approaching Christmas Island and are about a ½ hour from dropping anchor.

I want to get this out so I will sign off now. You won’t hear from me again until we get to the Seychelles, which will be about 3 weeks from now.

Hope you are all well and happy and find my drivel somewhat entertaining.

Thanks for being my audience.

Later,

Steve

Ashmore Reef and Christmas Island I’m in the middle of the Indian Ocean between Christmas Island and the last 24 hours of our approach to Cocos Island. I checked the charts and need to make a correction on the position I gave you for Ashmore Reef in the last update. It is about 12 degrees 15 minutes South and 123 degrees 00 minutes east. Depending on the scale of your chart, this may make no difference whatsoever.

Enroute to Christmas we came across several fishing boats and sighted a couple of cargo ships. We had only one interesting experience with a fishing boat. We were sailing along at about 5 knots under spinnaker when we encountered a fishing boat (about 50 footer) on our port side. He was traveling in the opposite direction that we were. As he came abeam of our forward port quarter, he changed his course in an apparent attempt to intercept us. Without prior radio contact, this made us a little uncomfortable. So, we started the engine, changed course 20 degrees to starboard, collapsed the spinnaker and increased our speed to 9 knots. Since he was dragging a fishing net, he was unable to give chase and resumed his prior course.

We anchored at Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island June 14th, at 1630 local time. We were at 10 degrees 25 minutes south, 105 degrees 40 minutes east. Christmas Island was discovered on Christmas Day in the year 1643. It is shaped kind of like a profile of my dog, Shakespeare. Only the island has a stubby tail.

We were greeted by Gino (remember the French guy?). He came out to meet us in his dinghy. After dinner that evening (T-bone steak at the “Golden Bosun”), we met up with Gino who came back to the boat with us for some refreshment. The next day we rented a car, ran some errands and afterwards Gino and Efraim went spear fishing while I was in town. We had surgeon fish and grouper for dinner, then went down to the “Golden Bosun” bar & grille for some after dinner refreshment.

The next day we did some touring of the island.

About 63% of Christmas Island is National Park. CI, like Cocos Island is an outpost of Australia. And by the way, Cocos Island is also known as Keeling Island. Our charts show Cocos (or both) but yours may show Keeling.

We drove around the island visiting: Lily Beach, where Neroli and I collected some shells; some Buddhist Temple ruins; blowholes, where the ocean rushes in under some rock and forces air and water vapor out of a hole in the rock with a big “whoosh”; and finally the National Park, where we visited the “Dales” (waterfalls).

The trip to the Dales was a little more than we had bargained for. Moshe was the smart one of the group and waited in the car. Neroli, Efraim and I had to hike for about 2 miles up and down hill (mostly down at about a 20% grade) on a road intended for 4 wheel drive vehicles. It was “paved” with loose gravel which ranged in size from walnuts to coconuts and provided plenty of opportunity to slip and fall. Which we all did. Once at the bottom we got to climb about a ¼ mile back up, in another direction, to the only operating water fall (dry season). However, the park service provided stairs for this climb. Once at the water fall, sweating like horses, we decided to cool off in the falls.

I have to say this was very refreshing; however, I would give a second thought to a return trip. Especially when considering that the return trip was mostly uphill over the same terrain. The rain forest was pretty and we saw lots of crabs, but as I mentioned to Neroli, you have to be so careful of where you put your feet that I feel like I miss a lot of the view.

There is a large casino on CI, however, because of poor management it was closed down about 5 years ago. The property is now being reopened by a group called the Southeast Asia Pacific Group however; the primary business will not be the casino but the first private satellite launching facility in the world. The location is perfect. They have sunshine and mild breezes almost 24/7/365 and never get cyclones. You are guaranteed a launch window and they will launch 9 times per year. They plan to be ready by 2006 and are already fully booked. Most launchings will be for telecommunications satellites. It is an Australian company, with Korean financing and will be using Russian technology. This might be an interesting IPO to watch (or participate in) as it is not yet public. They plan to employ about 400 people when fully operational. All this information came from the property manager who caught us trespassing. Pretty nice guy.

While on the casino grounds and before our apprehension, Neroli climbed a coconut tree (with a boost from Moshe and me) and literally “wrestled” a coconut to the ground. Fall, pin, and match to Neroli! That thing was stubborn.

The most populous bird is the Frigate. This is a large swallow tailed sea bird with an angular wing, black in color with a white belly. The males also have a large bright red bladder at their throat which they inflate when they are trying to hustle chicks. They are magnificent flyers. They will fly high above feeding Terns; wait until they have a catch, then dive bomb the Tern forcing it to drop its catch. The Frigate will then swoop down and retrieve the catch before it hits the water.

While at the (former) casino, the Frigates were swirling around the (former) jacuzzi. They would swoop down in non-stop single file, grab a beak full of water (rain water) from the jacuzzi, and rejoin the flock hovering above the pool, waiting for their next turn.

From the tourist information brochure for Christmas Island as to why the island is unique. The remarks in parentheses are mine:

– Millions of red land crabs that migrate once a year to breed, marching from the rain forested slopes, down to the ocean and back to the forest.

– Robber Crabs are known as Coconut Crabs in other places, that can grow to the size of footballs, and range in color from brick red to sky blue. (If you recall from the Palmyra update, Coconut Crabs there were up to a meter from claw to claw).

– The gorgeous Golden Bosun, the most elegant tropical bird in the world (I think the Bird of Paradise from Papua New Guinea would give it a run), endemic to the island. (This is a pretty spectacular bird. It is white with a golden head and a black “bandit” style mask, angular wings and a large black V on its back and black along the leading edge of the tip of each wing. The tail is white like the body and appears to be one long feather, 1 ½ times the length of the body of the bird.)

– “Abbott’s Booby” the biggest, rarest booby bird in the world and found nesting only on Christmas Island.

– A tick and leech free rainforest ecosystem so unique and untouched that 63% of the island is protected as Christmas Island National Park.

– Numerous rare flora, including orchinds, many of which are not found anywhere else in the world.

– Freshwater mangroves standing at a remarkable 50m above sea level, so special that the area has been designated a Wetland of International Importance.

– Endemic flying foxes  or “fruit bat” that often fly by day

O.K. it’s me again. Christmas Island is surrounded by beautiful coral reefs which are perfect for snorkeling, scuba diving and fishing. I didn’t personally do any of these things (my finger was still an open wound) but Moshe did some snorkeling and as I mentioned Efraim did a little snorkel/spear fishing.

We mostly shopped for groceries and souvenirs the third full day (Tuesday) on the island.

You have to be at the supermarket when the groceries are freshly stocked from Australia. One of the merchants told us to take a baseball bat. Groceries come in on Monday and are restocked at 3 – 3:30 Tuesday. That’s the only opportunity for fresh stuff all week, so you have to be ready for the competition. (Actually, it wasn’t all that bad, although fresh things did seem to disappear pretty quickly).

That evening we dined at the “Rumah Tinggi” one of the local restaurants. I don’t know for sure if this was the best filet mignon I’ve ever had but after all those “T-bone steaks”  I’ve suffered through in the last couple of months, it sure seemed like it. And quite truthfully, even if it hadn’t been for the T-bones, it would have been right up there. It was done perfectly and had a light savory sauce that went really well. I told Paul the owner to kiss the cook for me (it was his wife).

Wednesday was laundry day. During the week and a half we traveled from Darwin we accumulated about $60.00 worth of laundry at the Laundromat. It took us all day; although we managed to squeeze in a little more shopping. Also, because of the excellent,meal the evening before, we decided to revisit Rumah Tinggi. We were to leave CI that evening, but due to a malfunction of our dinghy hoist, we had to put off departure until Thursday morning so Moshe and Efraim could fix it. While they were fixing the hoist, Neroli returned a bag of someone else’s laundry that we had inadvertently snatched from the Laundromat the day before. I went down and scraped the bottom of the boat in my snorkel gear (there were some mussels growing along the waterline and we were wondering if we picked them up in Darwin?).

By the way, my finger is healing nicely, thanks for asking (I know you were). I don’t think a scar will be visible because the break in the skin happened right where the crease is when I bend the first knuckle.

Well, tomorrow morning we will arrive at Cocos Island. Cocos is 12 degrees 8 minutes south 12 degrees 52 minutes east. We will have been at sea for another 5 days. I’m not real confident in the internet availability on Cocos but we will see. I know I said I wouldn’t be sending anything until the Seychelles but I didn’t want anyone (especially family) to expect something from Cocos and then not be able to deliver and have them worry

Cocos Island Guess what? At this very minute, I’m baking bread. In the last couple of weeks, I have been baking bread daily (bought bread turns moldy very quickly at sea). And, if I say so myself, I’ve become quite handy at it. Today’s feature is cinnamon raisin.

When I left you last, I was at the local internet cafe on West Island in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The internet system there was EXTREMELY slow and tedious.

We arrived at the islands on June 23rd, 2003. I noticed from reviewing the last note I sent that I said these islands were 12 degrees 8 minutes South and 12 degrees 52 minutes East. This is an error. They are 12 degrees 8 minutes South and 96 degrees 52 minutes East. Sorry about that.

We had an escort into the islands provided by a half dozen porpoise jumping and playing at the bow of the boat in aqua colored water with white sand beaches and coconut palms in the background. It was really fun and beautiful and everything you could want on an approach to a tropical island.

The islands get their name from the fact that the place is covered with coconut trees (the Malaysian word for coconut is cocos), and the islands were discovered by William Keeling of the East India Company in 1609. I guess they can’t make up their minds which name to call them.

The inhabitants consist of 250 Malaysians who live on Home Island and about 80 European types who live on West Island. We anchored in the quarantine area off of Direction Island. There are about 27 islands in Cocos (Keeling) group and these are the three we visited.

For those who are not familiar with the procedure, when visiting a foreign port, we always must anchor in a “quarantine” area until customs and immigration clears us for entry. We dropped anchor about 25 yards from Jeno, the French guy we keep running into (I think I finally got the spelling of his name right, he spells it the Italian way as in “Jeno’s Pizza Rolls” (This is a mid-west delicacy you buy in the frozen food section of the grocery store). He had arrived on Sunday the 22nd and had to wait until Tuesday for clearance. We timed our arrival for Monday so we could clear customs not knowing that they were apparently too busy to deal with us on Monday. However, we did get permission, by radio, to go ashore on Direction Island (it’s uninhabited).

Jeno came over to our boat to visit and this is when we had our first unpleasant experience with customs. A gentleman named Gerald came flying out to our boat in his launch and reamed us all out because Jeno had made an unauthorized visit during the quarantine period. His reasoning(?) was that we could possibly be exchanging drugs or something, and that we were lucky that he allowed us to go ashore. We elected not to point out to him that we could make an exchange on shore and return to our boats for fear that he would cancel that privilege. Oh well, he got to show off his authority a little bit, and then he calmed down and left without shooting anyone.

Jeno, Efraim, Neroli and I went ashore a little bit later and walked around Direction Island collecting shells and gathering coconuts. As I mentioned earlier, Direction Island is uninhabited. However, this seems to be the place where most of the visiting yachts hang out. They leave the quarantine area, move their boats about 50 yards closer to shore and drop anchor. There is a shelter that has been constructed on the beach where the yachties hang identification symbols of their visit, a couple of picnic tables under the shelter, a telephone booth in the shelter, a couple of barbecue pits and a couple of large rain water cisterns. We met several nice people here from the boats, a couple of residents of West Island and further down the beach ran into Gerald and his wife camping out on a long weekend holiday. Direction Island apparently is a local “park” in addition to the designated yacht anchorage.

Over on the other side (ocean side) of the island while we were collecting shells, Neroli was showing me a pretty little speckled conical shaped one when Jeno came up and informed us that when “occupied” the mollusk that lives in it has a proboscis which it can eject from the bottom of the shell up to about 5 centimeters (this was a small one). The proboscis is loaded with a deadly poison. Fortunately, this one was not alive.

That evening was relatively quite as the rest of the boaters normally retire to their boats when the sun goes down unless there is something planned. Neroli, Efraim and I went ashore to see if there was anyone around, there wasn’t, so we just had a beer and went back to the boat.

The next morning, before our clearance, we all decided to go to the “Cabbage Patch”.

The “Cabbage Patch” is a large coral formation out beyond the breakwater where the scuba diving and spear fishing is excellent. Jeno and Moshe went spear fishing and Neroli, Efraim and I went scuba diving.

Once again the underwater scenery was marvelous, huge greenish colored coral formations with the look of a cabbage garden, hundreds of fish teeming around them and five medium size sharks swimming back and forth about 30 to 50 feet from where we were. I don’t think you have to worry too much about sharks (except maybe tiger sharks which are very territorial) when the fish are plentiful.

Jeno was successful once again. He brought in a large Trevoli (that’s a kind of fish). I can’t tell you much about what it looks like since I didn’t see it up close until I was eating it.

We got our clearance at about 10:00 a.m. and cleaned up and went over to Home Island in the dinghy. Neroli had to wear a long skirt and a shoulder covers (T-shirt) because as I mentioned, Home Island is occupied by Malaysians. They are Muslim, peaceful but devout. Women can’t show their legs or any skin except arms below the elbow and neck on up. We all (Moshe, Efraim, Neroli and I) went to the grocery store and loaded up. After shopping Efraim and I took the groceries back to the boat and Moshe and Neroli did their own exploring. Moshe found a carpentry shop and Neroli wandered around the village.

When Efraim and I got back, he went to find Moshe and I went to look for Neroli. I found her and we did a little more exploring. We found an old mansion that was being restored by an Aussie handy man who had bought it. The mansion was the former property of the owner of these islands before Australia bought them in the early 1900’s.

This guy, we never found out his name, went to the same high school in Perth, Australia, that Neroli attended (he was there about 20 years before her). Self-admittedly, he is a bit of a recluse and refused our invitation to visit the boat (and didn’t offer a tour of the house either).

That kind of wound up the activities for Home Island that day, and we returned to the boat.

That evening we were invited to a fish barbeque on the beach at Direction Island with fish provided and barbecued by Jeno. I cooked some rice with pine-nuts to take over and everyone from the other boats contributed to the feast. Jeno had shot another fish, a Parrot fish and cooked that and the Trevoli in palm leaves in a pit he dug in the sand.

My favorite was the Parrot fish. The Trevoli was a little dry.

We ate and drank and talked into the night, then packed up our stuff and went back to our respective boats.

Wednesday we went back to Home Island, visited the museum which tells a little about the early history of the islands and the people who owned them. They also have a display of the local birds and sea life including the shell that Neroli found. These shells were somewhat bigger and sure enough, they can project a lethal poison through a proboscis which can be extended up to 25 centimeters (almost 18 inches) from the shell.

We left the museum and had to hurry to catch the ferry to West Island.

West Island is where the territory administrative offices and the airport are located. This is also where most of the tourist and recreational activities are located. We visited a tourist store, had lunch, spent some time in the internet café, picked up a few chickens at the grocery and returned to Home Island and the dinghy back to the boat.

That evening, Neroli and I went over to Direction Island to make our phone calls to friends and families (time zones and work schedules permitting). Aside from the fact that it was pitch black, it would have been fun to have a camera along. Neroli insisted upon standing on a chair to make her telephone calls because the beach is crawling with hermit crabs and she was afraid that one might crawl across her foot. They range in size from a sewing thimble to about the size of my fist (plus claws).

That was our last evening on shore. The following morning Efraim took Neroli and me out to a diving spot called the “Lions Cave” while he and Moshe did some last minute preparations for leaving. We didn’t see a cave but once again, there were lots of beautiful coral formations teeming with fish. We saw one shark swimming around and later we apparently frightened it when we swam up behind the coral it was hiding under. Anyway, it took off.

Efraim came back for us after about an hour and we went back to the boat and left Cocos.

The ocean voyage between Cocos and the next stop, Chagos Island was pretty routine. We stand watches at night, read, and cook and look around during the day. We motor, motor-sail or sail all day and night. Once in a while we spot a cargo ship and may or may not hail them on the vhf. Occasionally something breaks or malfunctions (everything is getting a lot of use) and depending upon what it is Moshe or Efraim will fix it. Once in a great while some porpoise will come over to the boat and run out in front and put on a show, which is always a treat.

We arrived at Chagos Island, 5 degrees 20 minutes South, 72 degrees 15 minutes East, at 14:30 on July 7th, 2003.

Chagos is another beautiful tropical island. Aqua waters teeming with fish, white sand beaches, coconut trees and about 20 sail boats spread through out the chain Salomon Atoll (of which Chagos is one island). Apparently this is a vacation retreat for sailors.

We met up with Paul and Ingrid, a South African couple we originally met in Darwin.

They are completing a two year circumnavigation in their trimaran “Jam Today”.

Efraim, Neroli and I went over to their boat, picked them up and went ashore. We landed at about the same time that another dinghy dropped off three young boys. Neroli and I spoke at length to these kids and they were pretty amazing. Finn (7 years old) was from England and has been living with his parents on board their boat for 6 years. His brother Conn is five and has never lived on shore. Their friend Diego is 7 and has been sailing with his parents for 4 and ½ years. They had just met at Chagos and seemed to be good friends. Finn and Conn and their parents had been there for about three months and Diego has been there for about two. All three were bright, talkative, seemingly intelligent and felt very fortunate that they didn’t have to live in a house like other kids. The thing they all agreed was best was all the different people they had met from all over the world.

While Efraim, Paul and Ingrid walked around the beach, the boys showed Neroli and I their path to the other side of the island. All the way over and back it was raining pretty heavily but the thick canopy provided by the lush vegetation kept us pretty dry for about ¾ of the round trip. The boys were giggling and laughing and jumping around in and out of the natural “showers” that would spring out of the canopy. After our short visit, we returned to the boat and that evening invited Paul and Ingrid over for my tuna casserole some fresh baked bread and some wine. We also watched a movie which I had picked up in Honolulu called “The Brylcreem Boys”. This is a story about how Ireland in WWII was neutral and interred captured fighters from both sides. Of course there is a love interest that both an English and a German airman are interested in and how they resolve their conflicts etc., etc.

The next day it was still overcast, raining and very windy. Efraim put Neroli and me ashore while he and Moshe got the boat ready to leave. Neroli and I snorkeled and collected some shells and took a little walking tour of the shore, then Efraim picked us up and we left Chagos.

Again the Indian Ocean crossing has been pretty routine. We are less than 24 hours from the Seychelles. We will be anchoring at the Inner Harbour in the town of Victoria,

04 degrees 37 minutes South, 055 degrees 28 minutes East. Seychelles to Israel I’m in the pilot house of Aliza, in the Red Sea between Sudan and Yemen. It is 107 degrees Fahrenheit. It seems kind of strange. On the equator in the Indian Ocean, I was going to bed with a small coverlet because the night air was a little cool. Twenty degrees north of the equator, like Efraim says, you feel like you have to go to bed with a bilge pump to drain off the perspiration. We arrived in the Seychelles on Wednesday, July 16th, 2003. Customs and Immigration were, as usual, pleasant and accommodating and it only took about 30 – 45 minutes of conversation and paperwork to clear us out of quarantine and escort us into the yacht club mooring facility. Victoria is the port city on the major island called Mahe. There are no opportunities for tying up to a dock in the Seychelles so we had to be satisfied with a mooring at the Seychelles Yacht Club, which of course means that we had to ferry ourselves back and forth from Aliza to the club dock in order to go  ashore. This was a two minute boat ride in Aliza’s dinghy. Seychelles is another gorgeous tropical paradise with political issues that cause some consternation amongst a large portion of the population, but mostly do not affect visitors. Seychelles became independent in 1976 from Portugal I think, although there is a strong French influence in language and culture. In 1977 Albert Rene seized power through a coup, became president for life (nice job) and since has quelled four coup attempts. In 1991, under political pressure, he authorized the concept of an opposing political party. Until then it was a quasi-Marxist one party system. Our first night ashore, the four of us, Moshe, Efraim, Neroli and I took a taxi to the “Boat House” an open air restaurant on the other side of the island of Mahe featuring Creole cooking. On the way to the restaurant the cab driver, who was obviously a supporter of the opposition party, informed us that there would be a revolution on Saturday, or if not this Saturday, then next Saturday. His main concerns were that all the wealth of the islands was vested in immigrants from Asia, primarily people from India and the indigenous Seychellois got the left overs. This of course has created a class society with the natives once again at the bottom. I have an opinion, however having spent only four days in Victoria; I concede that it is based on a very shallow experience. The food at the “Boat House” was SUPERB! It was SR100.00 per person (Seychelles Rupee) which is a little less than $20.00 U.S. There were about 30 side dishes of salads, potatoes, rice, and assorted vegetables, two kinds of fish plus pork and about eight different desserts. You helped yourself to all you could eat. No one left hungry, although I have to say Efraim had to be a lot less hungry than everyone else. Most of our visit to the Seychelles was riding around looking at the country side, walking through downtown Victoria and hanging out at the internet shop. Like everywhere we have visited, the Seychellois seem to be very kind and friendly people. Case in point. Neroli admired a pair of sandals that Julie, one of the employees at the yacht club was wearing. The lady went home that evening, cleaned the shoes and gave them to Neroli the next day! Well, our stay in the Seychelles was short but memorable. I doubt if I will return because it is so far out of the way from everywhere else I’d like to see. Then again, you never know, heck I never thought I would be there the first time. Our trip north started at 6:00 p.m., Seychelles time, on July 20th, after we had dropped Neroli off on a neighboring yacht while she researches plane fares. Neroli had decided to meet with her friend Mark from Hawaii and tour a couple of the African countries. She plans to join us again in Elat, Israel for the trip through the Suez Canal to Haifa. The trip north has been fairly routine except of course for the possibility of piracy. This area is considered one of the higher risk areas in the world. Apparently fishermen feel they can ensure their retirement off of one opportunistic raid. The Indian Ocean Cruising Guide warns cruisers not to cut between the Island of Socotra (Yemeni territory) and the country of Somalia in Africa even though it would shorten a trip north or south by several hours. Anyway we didn’t. Never the less we found ourselves being “stalked” by a large craft (about our own size) off the northeast coast of Socotra. Every time we would change course, it would change course in apparent pursuit. It was pitch dark so we could only see them by radar and their running lights. When Efraim got on the radio and asked them why they were pursuing us, they stopped. We presume that they were a Yemeni patrol boat patrolling the western shore of Socotra. When they heard English, they broke off their pursuit. Perhaps because this area is full of coalition warships, all of which speak English. When we were rounding Socotra, we left the Indian Ocean and cut across the south west corner of the Arabian Sea enroute to the Gulf of Aden. If you had a pilot’s chart you would see that in the month of July, the Arabian Sea is over laid with a series of concentric circles starting at the outside with the number 10 and ending with the center circle a 6. These circles represent the percentage of the time that the waves will exceed 12 feet. For about three days we had waves on our port quarter that were anywhere from 8 to 30 feet high. I’m glad we didn’t have to cross the middle. While enroute to the Gulf of Aden we received a radio call: “This is Coalition Warship to the vessel that is proceeding west at (our lat. & long.) at 10 knots, come in please.” O.K., this was exciting. For one thing, we assumed we were in their cross hairs but then again, we too are part of the coalition and it was kind of comforting to know that they were out there given the part of the world we were in. They wanted us to broadcast our last port, our next port how many people were on board, and what our nationality was. Efraim refused to give them this information on the open airways (you never know who is listening) and asked them to call our satellite phone. They agreed. They called about 10 minutes later, there was some background noise and we could hear the watch talking to probably the officer of the deck about what information he wanted. After listening to them for about 2 – 3 minutes they hung up! We assume that since the satellite phone has a phone number registered to a New Jersey address (or just the fact that we even HAD a satellite phone and answered it) was confirmation enough that we were not a “hostile” and that was good enough for them. We think it was a British warship. In the Gulf of Aden, which is between Somalia and Yemen, just abreast of the city of Aden, Yemen, we were treated to a really unusual phosphorescent light show one night. Imagine a neon light sculpture. The boat created multiple waves along the side as we motored through the water. These waves would cast a band of brilliant blue green light at the leading edge followed by a sparkling sea foam green churn following each of these blue green bands for about three feet. In front of the leading edge of the waves, as far as you could see into the night there were twinkling phosphorescent “stars”, at different depths as though reflected from the heavens. It was really spectacular. Throughout the Gulf of Aden and through Bab El Mandeb, the strait which separates the gulf from the Red Sea, we came across hundreds of fishing boats (at a distance when possible) and scores of commercial cargo ships. This is the major passageway between the Mediterranean and Asia via the Suez canal. Anyway, I’m getting a lot of practice in collision avoidance but it is very interestng and after a while not so scary. In the gulf we encountered a few fishing boats which ostensibly wanted to sell us fish. Some we simply took evasive actions until they gave up the pursuit, a couple got close enough that we had to give hand signals to wave them off. We had all the fish we could handle thanks to Moshe and you never know… you know? The Red Sea has been a surprise, weather wise. The cruising guide says to expect a three knot southerly current, 30 knot northerly winds and three meter seas. Although as I mentioned earlier, it has been extremely hot, the seas have been very favorable. One day we had to deal with some chop and adverse current but overall, the sea has been very calm. The winds have been peculiar though. They seem to circle the boat constantly, never coming from the same direction for more than 15 – 20 minutes. O.K., I spoke too soon. We got about 10 miles from Straits of Tiran at the entrance to the gulf of Aquba and gentle swells turn to chop, which turned to three meter waves which would come in triplets and heavy winds on the bow. Our six to six and a half knot motoring speed would deteriorate with each wave to about one knot. Then we just get back up to cruising speed and hit another series of waves. It took us 24 hours to go about 30 miles. This consumed a lot of fuel and we had to turn around .We sailed back to Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, about 35 miles, in approximately 6 hours. Since the wind was with us now we could make about 6 – 7.5 knots under sail. Sharm El Sheik is an amazing city. Although we were there only one night to get fuel we got to look around a little on the way to dinner. It is full of casinos and night spots, restaurants and shops. It looks as though it would be a fun place to spend some time. We had dinner at a Lebanese Restaurant and the food was excellent. It seems to be customary in Middle Eastern restaurants to serve about 12 different appetizers before the main course. Along with a pile of pita bread, there were relishes, pickles, olives, hummus, tahini, egg plant and several other items that I didn’t didn’t recognize, but they didn’t stare back at me, so I ate them. Everything was delicious. The next day Efraim and I went to the money exchange to get some American dollars to buy fuel and while Efraim was waiting in line to get some cash to pay for fuel (they would only accept American dollars at the fuel dock), I went next door to get some hummus for lunch. They didn’t have hummus so I ordered two chicken sandwiches which were excellent but had a VERY undesirable side effect which we were to find out about later. Our taxi, which we had rented for the duration (about an hour and a half) took us to one of the shopping areas so Efraim could go to a hotel and get cash (the money exchange was fresh out of USD). While Efraim did that I went on my own to buy a new snorkel (my other one broke). Efraim headed off to the grocery store and I took a taxi and met him back at the boat. We took on about 3800 liters (about 1000 gallons) of fuel and left Sharm El Sheik at about 3:00 p.m. The weather heading back up the Red Sea was about the same as last time for about 50 miles. Then it calmed down and we made it to Elat, Israel in three days. Elat is a fun place, kind of like the Miami Beach of Israel. Neroli and her friend, Mark, met us there, flying down from Tel Aviv. Efraim’s family was waiting for him, which was a happy reunion and Moshe left to meet his friend Beverly from New York who was in Israel for her daughter’s wedding. After the wedding, Beverly joined us on the boat for the 10 days we were in Elat. Efraim and I went on the Imodium AD diet for our Elat stay as the result of the chicken sandwich from Sharm El Sheik. This is the Middle Eastern version of Montezuma’s revenge – we call it Saddam’s revenge. I mostly walked around the beaches, visited some shopping stalls (didn’t buy much) tried to find internet access (not a lot available) and made sure I knew where the closest W.C. was at all times. Like I said Elat is a resort area so with all the beaches and the constantly warm weather, there are a lot of pretty young girls in teenie weenie bikinis and young muscular guys walking around – nice sight seeing whether you’re male or female. I can understand why such a young, small country as Israel has had two Miss Universes. Moshe and Efraim had various radio and television interviews as well as newspaper coverage of their arrival. They had decorated the boat with hundreds of those little, colorful, plastic triangular flags as well as a couple hundred plastic Israeli flags and the flags of all the countries they had visited were run up the mast. One day a cable T.V. crew came to the boat and filmed us and interviewed Moshe and Efraim I spent some time at the “American Bistro” in Elat. This is a family kind of restaurant/bar modeled after TGI Friday’s. Thanks to my “Saddam’s Revenge” the first thing I blurted out when I entered the place the first time was “where’s the bath room?” The general manager “Zach” and I became friends and he made sure I got a 25% discount and treated me to dinner my last night there. The people of Israel that I met seem to absolutely love Americans. Mark and Neroli chided me for wanting to go to an “American” style place the first night there, with “why would you want to go there? You’ll get plenty of that when you get back to the states. Let’s go get some of this great middle eastern food.” So we walked about a half a mile to the beach on the other side of the bridge and I had “kebab”. Mark and Neroli had pizza and salad – go figure. Anyway, by the time I left Elat, I had made several friends at the American Bistro (where by the way, they serve wonderful middle eastern food in addition to western style). One of the things I really appreciated at the bistro was the huge American flag they had hanging behind the bar. You don’t see that many after you leave Hawaii and it just made me feel good – it’s a beautiful flag. We left Elat about August 23rd with a crew of Moshe, Efraim, my old buddy Haim, Uzi and his son Yoni (short for Jonathan or Yehonatan as it pronounced in Hebrew), a young guy named Michael and me. Mark and Neroli decided to take a car to Sharm El Sheik and do some diving (Mark is a diving instructor). It took us about four days to go back down the Gulf of Aden, round the Suez peninsula and sail back up the Red Sea to the Suez Canal. The trip was pretty uneventful and the weather was favorable. When we got to the canal, it took us two days to get through. The thing that surprised me was that it is not a “lock and dam” like I expected, just a long, long canal, cut through from Port Said, Egypt on the Mediterranean, to the Red Sea. Haim and I stood watches together for this whole leg. All along the mainland side of Egypt there were fortifications and soldiers patrolling the bank. On the peninsula side, it was mostly desolate with a few wrecked buildings from earlier wars and at one point we watched a dredge chucking mud from the bottom of the canal up onto the peninsula. After exiting the canal at Port Said, it was about a day and a half to Haifa, Israel and the end of Aliza’s circumnavigation journey. We arrived in Haifa on about the 29th of August and put in at the new Haifa marina. Haifa is a really pretty city and the original name, which has been shortened to Haifa, means “beautiful harbor” in Hebrew and it is. Haifa is built at the base and on one end of Mt. Carmel. Coming into the bay, you get an overview of the suburbs and round a point which sticks out into the bay before you see the city. The architecture of Haifa is of course modern mixed with ancient. And it is very striking. The gold dome of the B’hai Temple and the grounds are a pretty dominant feature nestled into the tiered city and are extremely well cared for and very beautiful. The gardens are gorgeous and upkeep is so meticulous the grass looks as though it is manicured with a nail clipper. The dome is the final resting place of the founder of B’hai, a man named Ali. B’hai is based on a principle of all inclusive love and peace and I believe encompasses most if not all religions. They believe in six prophets, Moses, Buddha, Elijah, Jesus, Mohammed and Ali. (O.K., I didn’t take notes so anyone who knows better is welcome to correct me and I will make sure the correction is distributed). Haifa is mostly an industrial city. It was really confusing for me to drive around in. Although many of the road signs are in Hebrew, Arabic and English, there are many that are not – only Hebrew and Arabic. It’s really thought provoking being in a country where everyone looks pretty much the same as they do in the U.S., but not only could I not understand the language, I couldn’t even recognize the characters the language is written in. I have a little more empathy for people who come to the U.S. from foreign lands and have to tackle the job of communication and just getting around. If I can ever get back to Israel, I’d sure like to know some Hebrew. Although most people understand English and a large percentage speak English fluently, it is not their mother tongue. So in conversations with a group, it would not be unusual for the others to revert to Hebrew without even realizing it. Efraim took me on a “cook’s tour” of Haifa, Akko, where Napoleon was turned back, and Rosh Ha-Niqra on the Lebanese border. I will be just giving some highlights of my stay in Israel. Mostly because this is one of the most amazing countries in the world in terms of history and religious significance. The information, the spectacle and the emotions packed into this small country are so overwhelming a tourist brochure could be written every 100 feet and I would still be writing next October. I moved off the boat on Friday the 5th of September. Efraim drove me to Tel-Aviv and we visited his uncle Israel who is like a Tony Bennett or Frank Sinatra in Israel. Israel was one of the top performers in Israel for many years and is still very active in television and with personal appearances. He signed one of his CD’s for me. Most of the songs are old standards by Bennett and Sinatra with some original compositions by Israel. All the songs are in Hebrew which of course had to be re-written and arranged by Israel. We met my friend Rafi, from Rishon Le-Zion, a suburb of Tel-Aviv at Israel’s house and I went to Rafi’s that night and hung out with Rafi for the weekend. Saturday morning, September 6th we went back up to the yacht club in Haifa and celebrated Moshe’s September 3rd birthday. This is where “Aliza” was originally launched in 1994. There was more food than could be eaten and about 30 – 40 people were able to come. Rafi’s daughter, Jasmine, is the accountant at one of the major five star hotels, Mercure, in Bat-Yam, another city adjacent to Tel-Aviv and she was kind enough to provide me with a beautiful corner suite on the 14th floor overlooking the Mediterranean at very low off season rates for a couple of weeks. It’s really nice to have good friends. I took several tours from out of Tel-Aviv while I was there. I went to the ruins of Caesarea, which was founded by the Phoenicians but reached it’s glory under Herod the Great when he developed the city to replace the port cities of Jaffa and Dor. Also, near Caesarea you can see the ruins of the Roman aqueducts which were constructed to bring fresh water to Caesarea from Mt. Carmel, twelve miles away. Pontius Pilate lived in Caesarea. It was from here that he set out, on the feast of Passover, to Jerusalem to condemn Jesus to the cross. Caesarea was conquered by Mohammed in 640 CE.(Common Era) I re-visited Rosh Ha-Niqra where I rode the cable car to the grottos, natural caves worn into the rock by the wave action of the Mediterranean over the eons. And where the Lebanese border begins. I saw Capernaum and Simon Peter’s house where Jesus stayed during his visits and the Synagogue where, as a devout Jew, he worshiped; the Mount from which he delivered the Beatitudes and fed the multitudes; Nazareth, his home town (should us Christians be called “homey” in Nazareth?). I was in Jaffa, the oldest port city in the world. This is where according to legend, Jona was spat upon the beach by the whale that swallowed him. I took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee and walked in the river Jordan. I was at the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth. I soaked in the mineral hot tubs, covered myself head to toe with the mineral rich black mud and floated on top of the sea. I was at Masada, the mountain fortress, where 967 men, women and children held off 15,000 invading Roman legions for months and then when defeat was inevitable, demonstrated their contempt of death by committing suicide rather than be raped, tortured and enslaved by the Romans. Haim, my friend from Jerusalem, picked me up at the hotel when my stay was over and took me to his house for a week to stay with he and his college age daughter Hadat. Haim took me to the Lutheran Church of the Ascension; Dominus Flevit (where Jesus wept); the church where Mary was entombed (can’t remember the name); Gethsemane; the Mount of Olives; the tomb of Absalom, son of King David; the West Wall of the 2nd Temple (also known as the Wailing Wall); the bazaar in the old city of Jerusalem; the Via Dolorosa (where Jesus carried the cross); the Mount of Olives; the Church of the Holy Sepulchure where I touched the stone on Calvary where Jesus’ cross stood, the stone slab where his body was anointed with oil and was in the tomb of Jesus. Haim could be a tour guide and like I said, it’s good to have good friends. I can’t possibly do credit to all the sights and history of Israel in an update. But I can tell you it is an amazing thing to walk on stones and touch things that Jona, Roman centurions, Jesus, Mary, Alexander the Great, Napoleon and many, many others have. I flew back to the U.S. the end of last month and am now in Iowa at my brother’s place. This is the last update. Anyway, until I can again get my own boat again or sign up for another voyage. Many people have asked me, “What are you going to do now that you have lived your dream?” Keep dreaming and keep living I guess. Besides, I don’t think I really have lived my dream. I helped someone else live theirs. It was Moshe’s dream to sail around the world and Efraim’s determination to help him do it. My dream was to sail about the world, not necessarily around it. What this voyage gave me was invaluable experience in deep water cruising. I love it and am thankful to have had the opportunity to join Efraim and Moshe in their historic trip. They like many, many of the people I met along the way were the most important part of the trip. I am overwhelmed at the goodness and kindness of people all over the world. Many thanks to all of you who enjoyed my ramblings, sometimes commented, and always encouraged.

Much love and success to all of you, Steve Rohm