IOLEA 2019

We are an Australian couple who have been cruising on our Hylas 49 since 2010. We are currently in Alaska having sailed from NZ via French Polynesia and Hawaii last year.

12 July 2020
04 October 2019
17 September 2019
08 September 2019
27 August 2019
15 August 2019
29 July 2019 | Prince William Sound: Snug Harbor
19 July 2019
17 July 2019
16 July 2019 | Aialik Bay, Kenai Peninsular
14 July 2019 | Northwestern Glacier
13 July 2019 | Kenai Penninsular
12 July 2019 | Pilot Harbor, Kenai Peninsular
11 July 2019 | Kenai Peninsular
10 July 2019 | Kenai Peninsular
09 July 2019 | Afognak Island
08 July 2019 | Afognak Island
06 July 2019 | Afognak Island
05 July 2019 | Kodiak Island

Abaiang, Kiribati

13 November 2016 | Abating, Kiribati
November 2016
After a couple of weeks in Tarawa we collected our permits to visit Abaiang and Butaritari Atolls which are to the north of Tarawa. Ideally we would visit these as we made our way to Majuro but Kiribati Immigration made it very clear that we should return to Tarawa to check-out of the country. Immigration also limit stays on atolls outside Tarawa to 10 days. There is some leeway in this timing as we discovered in Abaiang when we were given an extra 4 days to wait for a decent sailing window to Butaritari but the local police and quarantine officers on these atolls do monitor visiting boats and note your length of stay. The quarantine officer in Abaiang was particularly vigilant because he had had a run in with a Boat that had brought its dog to shore despite having been told they were not to do so. Still, once he knew we were OK he was chatty and showed us around his Eco resort which is quite lovely. We discovered that dual occupations in government and business can be common. On Butaritari the local policeman, Tim, also makes cakes for birthdays, weddings etc and it was clear where his preference lay.





In Abaiang we anchored off the communications tower and government offices and arranged to hire a motorcycle from Nei Wa who runs the private ferries and has a shop and guest accommodation about a km east of the communication tower. Motorcycles and legs are the main transport on Abaiang and it is easy to arrange to hire a motorbike from the council or a local family. Abiang island is about 20kms long and is easily covered by motorcycle in a day.



We headed west to the end of the island and to the western ancestral shrine. It is customary when visiting an atoll in Kiribati to first visit the ancestral shrines and make an offering (usually irish tabacco or money). If you fail to pay respect to the ancestors your stay may be cursed and we were happy to avoid any chance of that. The local chief or elder is the keeper of the ancestral shrine. In the west his son took us to the shrine and once we had left our offering placed crowns of local vines on our heads to indicate we had paid our respects. At the eastern shrine, which once again you could easily miss because its just a circle of coral stones almost indistinguishable from the surrounds, the local Chief took us to the site with his daughter.







On our way back from the western shrine we stopped to see pandanus being prepared for weaving, then to watch dried copra being sorted and bagged for the copra boat that had arrived during the morning.








The Cathedral of our Lady of Rosary is large and white and has a bell tower which dominates the skyline and can be seen from well off the coast. The stairs to the top of the bell tower have fallen into disrepair which was disappointing as the view would be panoramic. We were invited by the couple who caretake the Cathedral to sit in the Maneaba to eat our lunch. They are always wonderfully cool.








We also stopped at several spots along the road to look at the fish traps carved into the reef. These traps use the tide to trap fish in pools which makes them easy to catch. They have been used for centuries and are still used today.


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Vessel Name: Iolea
Vessel Make/Model: Hylas 49
Hailing Port: Sydney, Australia
Crew: Paul and Kate
About: We are an Australian couple on a 2003 Hylas 49 and have been cruising from the Caribbean to the South Pacific since 2010. We are now in Alaska after 6 years in the tropical Pacific
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