Tabuaeran II: Bigger and Better

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Fanning Island Blog: By Riley Coon

This morning Capt. Randy and Kenny again tried to fix the watermaker. The third party water filters that someone just happened to have an extra of unfortunately just made things worse. Without the ability to make fresh water, life is not only uncomfortable, but an ocean passage becomes nearly impossible. I had set up some rain catchers the previous day and was able to catch about 30 gallons, but this water was already used for washing and had laundry soap in it. There is another ten or so gallons of rain water sitting in the bottom of my tent, but this has been used to roll around in after swimming, or to lounge in on a hot day (it's quite nice, actually- sitting in cool, fresh water in the shade, with ample wind blowing through) and the prospect of drinking this water is not desirable to say the least. With less than thirty gallons left in the water tank, we're pretty much screwed until we can catch enough rain, and today happens to be a hot, sunny day.

The vibe on the boat had reached a new low. It was now apparent that we would be leaving soon, and would have to ration water for the passage.

Capt. Rand took the skiff somewhere and returned a few minutes later with a big smile. It turns out that a Spanish guy named Sierra was willing to let us fill up with his fresh water! Sierra worked for Norwegian Cruise Lines, which used to bring thousands of cruise-shippers here on a regular basis. Sierra, like the rest of the left over NCL equipment that can be seen strewn across the island, has apparently been forgotten. He's been in charge of looking after NCL's stuff left here and is still waiting to get paid for his indentured servitude. In the back yard of his sizeable property are piles of picnic benches, paddle-wheel boats, old offices, abandoned structures, and overgrown gardens. What NCL wants with any of this is beyond me. Every night, according to Sierra, something else goes missing. I didn't feel too bad about the nightly theft because in such a remote place as Fanning Island, it's better that these things can be put to good use and add to the quality of life ins tead of simply rotting away in the sun and rain.

Back to the water issue- The plan was to fill up the two twenty-five gallon coolers and then pump it into the tank. To make things even better, Sierra had a tractor that could carry the coolers that would weigh close to 200 lbs. for the next three hours Kenny and I filed coolers, loaded then into the Skiff with Capt. Randy, skiffed it across the channel, and hand-pumped it all directly into the water tanks. It took me 150 pumps for each cooler. Quite a shoulder and back-intensive activity. After at least eight coolers we had finally toped off with water. Sierra also had thousands of gallon-sized Menehune bottled water that he was willing to give us. This is perfect for drinking. We took 30 gallons, but I would feel better if we had double that amount before we leave for home. No one else seems to share this concern.

The afternoon was spent split up. Denver and Kenny went surfing. Ginger, Uncle Randy, and I went ashore to explore a little. The lighting was great and I was looking forward to loading up a few more cards full of pictures, but after a few minutes my battery indicator went from full to empty. Quite disappointing.

We walked over to Tyron's place to see if we could find the lady who said she'd show us how to make a coconut hat. Remember the lady at the party about a week ago who got up to dance hula behind her daughter only to get whacked on the head with a bucket and thrown off stage by her husband? Well, we presume it was her husband. yeah, that lady. She agreed to show us how to make weave stuff out of the coconut fronds. We cut down a young frond but we had to let it dry for a day. We made plans to come again tomorrow morning and begin the hat weaving.

We then walked over to Bruno's place. Bruno is a short, skinny, sun burnt French man with a thick, gray beard covering his leathery face nearly up to his eyes, that are always smiling. He has been living here for the last thirty years and has made quite a nice little home for himself. He's got a quarter-acre of land (initially costing a whopping $250 dollars) that he has used to the fullest potential. On this compound is a main two-story house, and four other smaller abodes that are basically just bedrooms. His house is amazing and it is understandable how it took him ten years to build with only his two hands. The walls are made entirely out of flat pieces of coral that make up the majority of the shoreline around here. He made a cement using the clay-dirt from the ground to fix the coral into place, and then white-washed the entire place. Three big, open-air windows let in ample lighting into his little place. The house is so organic. A thatched roof overhangs and provides covering for an upstairs balcony with a loose pebble floor. Beautifully rich coconut wood has been used to make tables and chairs. Bits of discarded blue sails make curtains that cover the upstairs entrance way. No doors. The wood used to frame the big window spaces are a little crooked and asymmetric, but these imperfections only add to the character of the house. Simple, yet eye-catching decorations give insight into this man's love of the ocean and the pleasure he gets out of living this uncomplicated life in his little corner of paradise.

The rest of the property has been covered with large, flat coral and is easy on the feet. A big shade tree in the middle of the place keeps things nice and cool for his two dogs, cat, pot-bellied pig, and duck. Lush coconut trees, Lau Hala, and shrubbery add plenty of vibrant colors to contrast nicely with the dark-gray coral floor. He's got a large entrance to his property that looks a bit like a Japanese entrance to a temple, except made out of coconut. As he was giving us a tour of his place we came upon a massive, gnarled, upturned piece of coral. It towered ten feet tall and sprouted a dozen or so small trees and bushes. A big fan palm growing on the very top made this thing look like a giant pineapple. Bruno was just as pleased as he could be when he disappeared for a second to flip a hidden switch which all of a sudden made this thing start spurting water into the air. He is so stoked on this fountain and says it is nice to sit with your feet in the shallow pool at the base and listen to the trickling water as a break from the incessant, low rumble of the surf. He then proceeded to tell us about when he lifted this coral head out of the ground: "Iee waz soo excitehd to seee wat would be undeuh dees sing zat's been lying down fuh like one-souzand yeuhs! And youz know wat waz deuh? Cloze pin! Blue and plaztik cloze pin. Taken down deauh by ze cwabs! Deez would no be vewy good foh like ze Brittesh moozeeum eh? We had to show Kenny and Denver this haven. That night we all went over to Bruno's with Jerry and Robbie. Uncle Randy brought his instruments. Ginger baked brownies to take over. I had been playing my guitar earlier in the afternoon and was tickled when Uncle Randy asked me if I was going to bring my guitar. An invitation to play! "Yeah sure" I said, trying not to feign too much excitement. We had a great time at Bruno's making music with Uncle Randy on the Banjo, Jerry on the Ukulele, and me on the guitar. Surprisingly, I was able to play on quite a few of the songs because I've heard them pretty much all my life. For such an experimental time, it seems that many of the songs written in the Sixties share a common G-C-D chord progression. We played music until late, and enjoyed the cold beers Kenny provided. It's always nice to beat the cabin fever and go ashore. With such good times as these, it pains me to remember that we're probably going to leaving soon when there's so m any more friends to make.

Anyway, that's it for now. Thanks for reading. And thanks to the California Board of Engineers for deciding to pass me on the EIT exam! Wooo! (sorry, I just found out)

Keep living the dream, -Riley