Today we moved off the mooring ball in front of the YC and anchored instead. We weren't sure it was feasible to anchor in the little harbor, but we managed to anchor on the side of the channel and the direction we are hanging now has us over 14 feet of water above the reef and after so much deep sea and 90' deep in Majuro it's kinda freaky! It's a little nerve wracking too with the way the local boats drive, they are exactly like the pangueros in Mexico, high speed but these guys stop short of the beach where the Mexicans would drive right up onto it! The wind is switched to the NE and apparently the fetch built up with it and we are now rolling from side to side much like the anchorage in La Cruz de Huantacaxtle, so hope it becomes offshore or we'll all be seasick...

After anchoring we were able to complete the customs and immigration check in and payments, and Noortje, the boys and I went to the giant fruits/vegetable market where we had anchored the first night, and it was awesome. I felt right at home and the people may have been gawking at us as we really stood out, but we just smiled like it was Fiji again and had a very good selection of lettuce, mini capsicum (bell pepper), cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, many other kinds of greens, banana, cocos, papaya, tangerines, green oranges, green lemons, pineapple, watermelon, and potatoes. We feasted tonight on lots of it already! YUM. After the market we unloaded at the boat and went along the shoreline to the Kokonut Beach Cafe where we had lunch yesterday and the boys came prepared to swim there along with hundred of other kids who come to swim after school on the pier, and they were immediately befriended. They swam with some other kids to the dolphin pen and were quite thrilled with the dolphin that floated in front of them (they were separated by a double fence) and whistled and chattered at them. The boys clapped their hands and all the local kids clapped, and we suggested they swim like dolphins and they all started dolphin kicking, and we thought the dolphins might feel frisky if the kids splashed around a bit so a big water fight ensued...looked like fun for both sides. We thought the dolphins must be bored but there are so many kids swimming out there that they must notice all the noise and action!

We heard there is supposed to be a beauty contest at the YC tomorrow night, so that ought to be an interesting night out for the girls' last night with us. They fly to Fiji at 0615 Thursday morning and we will definitely miss their smiling faces and their helping hands, but it will be good to get back to a little bit of a school routine with the boys, although we were able to do some school on the smooth passage for once! They have been willing to try any task put to them, and came up with some personal touches for Love Song that will remind us of them long after they are gone.

We will set up some field trips to the war memorials for the weekend, and had some good advice from some Aussies that lived here for several years and are back visiting. They had lots of insider info. we can't wait to check out.