O.K. I'll write a BLOG. It's raining cats and dogs and Sally is working on her Quilt. She suggested that I write a BLOG, so bear with me, it's not your usual author, that you are use too. She also wants me to make some bread today. (boy is she pushing it or not?) As I said, it's really raining hard and our boat doesn't like it a bit. I am renaming her the "Leaking Lena". Bowls all over the place. "Boat for Sale !!!" Last night it started pouring so we got up and put the bowls out and checked our position, since the wind was howling at about 25 to 30 knots. We leave our GPS on, with our original anchor spot marked, so that we can compare where we are and where we were originally anchored, to make sure we weren't dragging our anchor. Everything looked good. I looked out on the deck looking at all that water going down the deck drain and it made me think of what a waste. We are always having to run our water maker to keep up with our needs, especially when we do washing. I decided it was time to try something that I had been thinking about for some time. After the rain had time to clean the salt and loose dirt off of our decks, I decided to plug the drain and open the cap to our water tank, which was about 3 feet forward of the drain. The water pooled up and began going down the open fill cap. I went to bed and decided to check it a couple of hours later. Guess what? Our tank was "FULL". We took on about 30 to 40 gallons of rain water in under 3 hours and I didn't think that it had rained that much after I had plugged the drain, but it apparently had. WOW, that was, too easy. Why I hadn't I done this starting 2 years ago????????????

Our Mainsail had ripped in several places, prior to making the port of Fanning. So one of our major jobs was to resew the sail. After being here for a week or so, we awoke to a windless morning, so decided this was the day to drop the Main for repairs. It went well. Sally did a great job of sewing up all the tears. That was the last of our major jobs to do before departing for Hawaii. Now we are just marking time before it's a good time to go. Don't want to run into a late Hurricane on our way. We have decided to leave Monday the 23rd. We need to get further to the east before we turn north towards Hawaii, so we will spend the first 3 or 4 days getting our easting in, then turn north for Hawaii. We will be in a safe area, even if we are leaving a little early. The hurricanes don't go much further than about 10 degrees north or south of the equator and we won't be any higher than 10 degrees for the first 3 to 4 days out, so we'll get our easting in at that time. Looking forward to our trip and getting to Hawaii. Back to the English language, stores with good food and lots to select from. (About a 11 day trip ?????)

We are out of beer, so we made some last Monday. The first batch will be ready in about 2 more weeks and then the 2nd batch a week after that. Oh well, we will be a little dry until then. Probably won't hurt us tho. Might even loose a little weight. The reason we ran out is that when our water maker decided to get sick, we didn't want to use the water for beer. It takes 23 liters of water per batch. (6 gal.) But now we are styling. BEEEEEER on its way. We do have a little wine to drink with our dinners tho. A nice treat in the evenings. Would you believe we just sip it, SLOOOWLY !!!! and make it last.

Marcy, you had asked about the language here. They speak Kiribati. (pronounce kiribas) The language sounds very oriental to me. The people are Gilbertese. They settled here from the Caroline and Marshall Islands about 3000 years ago. This Island is part of what they call the Line Islands, because they are in somewhat of a line and close to the Equator. Also, called the Equatorial Islands. A very slow pace. They literally live on rice, fish, breadfruit and Taro, a plant that they grow and cultivate here. A very bland diet, by our standards. They get a supply boat here about every 3 months, if they are lucky. They are totally self sufficient. Well, I think I have made you suffer through enough. Sally will be back with you soon. Cio from the Dorothy Marie.

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Okay, I know, it's a bad tittle, but it is sooo hot and steamy here we have been doing just that - fanning! We have two 12V fans going round the clock in the main salon and two more going over our bed at night. The batteries are not liking the constant power draw, but when they get low, we smile, because that means we get to start the generator and turn on the air conditioning! :) Also in an attempt to stay cool, we have been swimming (more like just hanging on to the rope as the current whisks by us!), taking lots of quick showers (thank goodness we have fresh water again!), and taking dinghy rides whenever there is a good breeze. Our attempts at exploring the island have been somewhat short - the minute you get away from the water, it feels even hotter, but we have managed to see some interesting sights.

Fanning Island used to be visited up to three times a month by the Norwegian Cruise Line ships. I'm not sure we would advise spending money on a cruise ship to come here, but we think they were coming from Hawaii because of the Johnson Act (a US law that says foreign registered ships must visit a foreign port before visiting multiple US ports - we have the same thing in CA with all the ships going down to Ensenada). Anyhow, the island is set up to handle the cruise ship people - there are lovely thatched roof bar/restaurant areas, buildings with signs offering bicycle rentals and handicrafts, three big party/sight seeing boats for cruising the lagoon, and a nice wooden dock area. The problem is - no more cruise ships! No one here has been able to explain why, but about a year ago, NCL pulled out of Fanning. The economy took a major hit and there is now absolutely nothing offered to those of us who find our way here. No bikes, no stores, no cold drinks, no pizzas baking in the giant ovens still in place under the thatched roofs, no sightseeing tours, no nothing! Zip, nada, fine'!! We did get a little tour of the village from the police officer/immigration officer, and we have been wandering around on our own, but the most interesting things have been the people and their agricultural endeavors.

The people here live very primitively - existing mainly on fish, coconuts, and breadfruit. They do get a supply ship in every three months, but it doesn't seem they rely on it much for food - other than maybe rice. Every day we are treated to watching several different forms of fishing - it seems the older men and younger boys fish from a point on one side of the pass into the lagoon - some with poles and some with nets. Young men surf cast on the beach side of the atoll while the "regular" men paddle their outrigger canoes in and out of the lagoon. These are the ones at the current's mercy for a safe ride in and out of the pass each day. It has been interesting to see that some of the men have made themselves lateen sails and are taking advantage of the breeze. This is the first island we have seen them do that. It's funny to watch them take their "mast" out of one end of the boat and move it to the other end if they want to change direction instead of turning the boat around. (I am going to attempt sending a picture of one of these outriggers with its homemade sail - notice the far side of the atoll in the background completely covered with coconut palms! You can also see the varying colors of the water in the lagoon - so beautiful!) There are three small motor boats that several men take out daily as well - they must be the "jet set" of the island! Glen has gone out a few times in "Little Dot" and is realizing how frustrating it must be for these men to go out day after day after day, sometimes for naught. He did get a good hook up outside of the pass, but it broke loose, and he did bring dinner home a couple of nights ago from within the lagoon - a very pretty fish and very tasty, as well! When the cruise line left, they must have given the locals their supply of kayaks and little Hobie Cats. There are three of the bright, colorful catamarans and they are almost always in use - a good form of transportation to get from one end of the lagoon to the other! The children love to play on the kayaks and use the hard end parts of coconut palm fronds as their paddles. A couple of days ago, there were about six kids on one kayak and it was getting pulled out away from the shore by the fast paced current. One by one, each jumped off to be able to swim back to the dock. When the last one jumped, the kayak was speeding toward the pass! We had been sitting on the dock watching and enjoying all the fun, so were able to jump into the dinghy and go after the wayward vessel for them. That got almost as many smiles as our lollipops have! :)

The soil here is not the greatest, being an atoll, but does support tons of coconut trees, breadfruit tress, and a variety of non-food providing trees and shrubs. We miss all the beautiful flowers of the more fertile islands, although there are a few frangipani trees (what I had always called plumeria until this trip!). Unlike the people of Christmas Island, however, the Fanning Islanders are not giving in to their cruddy soil! They have worked very hard to dig trenches and gullies into the rocky, sandy soil so they can plant taro. We can tell they have tried a few different methods, but it seems the one that is working best for them is to wrap braided pandanus leaves around the base of the plant - making a ring about 24-36 inches away from the trunk (sort of like our use of tree rings). They then stuff the ring with mulch - coconut palm fronds and fibers and other vegetation. The combination of the plant being in a trench that catches the rain water, and the mulch holding the moisture and few nutrients in place seems to be working. When we get to Hawaii and have internet again, I will put pictures in the gallery. It is amazing how much hard work has to be done here just for their "basics." There are lots of chickens running around and there are some pigs, but here, the pigs are tied by a back leg so they can't go too far from home. While on a walk the other day, we walked by a home that had the biggest pig we have ever seen tied up in its front yard. It was the size of a shetland pony! We met the man who owned it as he was out cutting some taro to feed it and he laughed a lot when we told him that! You could see how proud he was, as well.

We have met a teacher from the secondary school, and are hoping to meeting the primary school teacher. I look forward to spending a few hours volunteering - maybe a little ESL if they like. Not many of the people speak English, so it is a bit hard to communicate, but we'll keep trying! We heard someone playing a pretty good ukulele the other day, so Glen may try to track them down for some shared music - that says a fun time in any language!

Although we feel we are melting in this heat, we are still thinking we will wait until near the end of this month to start our crossing to Hawaii. One of the worst hurricanes to ever hit Hawaii was around Thanksgiving time, so don't want to get caught if another late one should materialize. Our plan is to head for Hilo on the big island of Hawaii for our check-in. We just got the word Gladys and Dan now have their tickets in hand for Feb. 6 - March 6th! We are so excited! Let us know if anyone else is planning a visit - we'd love to see you all! :)

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We are now safely anchored at Fanning Island. We arrived on Saturday, about 1:30 in the afternoon, but couldn't get checked in until this morning. The crossing started out absolutely wonderful! We had the "Sally Sail" up and were flying at 6.5 Kts - we can't even remember the last time we had the jenniker up, but we think it must have been before New Zealand! It was great to get away from Christmas Island and be out on the blue again. About 12 hours into it, however, the wind picked up and we hit major squall after squall! It would have been the perfect time to collect fresh water if we hadn't just filled the tank with our handy-dandy new water maker pump - one of the few times we haven't been in the right place at the right time - oh well! The ride got a bit bumpy, but not too bad - just had to reef in most of the sails... "Sally" went back into her bag and the mizzen had to come down. The worst part was the downpour, but at least the deck got a good wash down! Neither of us got much sleep, so we were a bit happy when no one answered our calls on the radio when we arrived.

Fanning is an atoll with a big, beautiful lagoon. The pass into the lagoon has major tidal current flowing through it - up to 5 kts! We hit it while the flow was exiting. Looking at it made me squirm and brought back memories of leaving Fakarava (and okay, I admit it.. I was begging the captain to anchor outside!) , but once we got through the washing machine action outside of the pass, it really wasn't that bad! There were lots of little outriggers and panga type boats outside the pass fishing and we were so happy that the men all smiled and waved back at us. We could tell right away we would like Fanning! Once in and anchored, it was interesting to watch all these same little boats ride the tidal flow back in the pass a few hours later - they were flying! Most have no motors, so they are on the tide's schedule to get in and out - there is no way they would be able to paddle against that strong of a current. The main village is right near our anchorage and we kept trying to call on the VHF to let the Port Captain know we were here, but no one ever answered. We found out today that is because they no longer have a working radio! Yikes! Sure hope no one ever needs help around here!

We spent Saturday afternoon unwinding and cooling off in the water - although we quickly realized the current runs swiftly through the anchorage as well! Luckily, Glen had planned for it and had a line hanging from the boat for us to hold onto, otherwise, we would have been swept right out the pass! We crashed early and slept late on Sunday. Tried the radio again, but of course no answer! It was interesting to see there was no one around the village most of Sunday - they must have all been at church. We had such a good time watching all the children gather and swim by the dock on Saturday - it made Sunday seem much too quiet! We did little projects, like fix Glen's sandal (his new Merrells from New Zealand already broke - what's up with that?!!!) and put up a shade cloth over the back patio, but pretty much stayed lazy all day! We watched a movie with dinner, then tried to crash, but the wind came up and the rain started pouring again, so neither of us got much sleep again - between the current and the wind, we were a little anxious about dragging anchor, and the noise of the water slapping the boat and the wind whipping our shade cloth made sleeping out of the question! Finally, things had calmed back down around 7:00AM and we had finally CRASHED when shortly after we heard voices right outside our portholes! The officials had come back on duty and had come out to officially welcome us and get us checked in to Fanning Island. After filling in their paperwork (the same forms we did twice at Christmas!) and getting our passports stamped (we sadly realized this is our last foreign stamp for a while!), we helped them load the 13 boxes of medical supplies we brought from Christmas into their boat - and were so thankful we didn't have to take them a few at a time in our dinghy! We went with the officials, who wanted to introduce us to the nurse at the clinic on the island. She was so grateful for the transport of the supplies and insisted we stay and chat while she was in the middle of an exam. It was interesting to watch as she inserted two little stick looking things into a lady's arm - she explained that it would take care of her "family planning" for 3 years! The patient seemed somewhat honored that we were there and we had to smile that not only were we in the room while this was being done, but a dog was under the exam table sniffing at something it liked - yikes, not exactly what we are used to in medical care!

Just like at Christmas Island, we are the only boat here. It seems a little lonely not to have fellow cruisers about, but we are determined to make friends with the locals. Not many speak English, but at least they are willing to return our smiles and waves! Our visas expire the 27th and we think we will be leaving for Hawaii a couple of days before that.

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