Ahoy Christmas Island!
This is the picture update to John's previous blog about our time at Christmas Island:


We arrived at Christmas Island with quite a site on shore.


A Beneteau 47, Gilda's Pride, had drug anchor and gone aground just a day or two before we arrived. More about that to follow.


In the mean time we set about doing a quick little repair job on the main sail.


And later in the day, a storm was a brewing over Christmas Island in the distance.


Moses took advantage of the downpour.


The next day was clear and gorgeous so we made our way into the small harbor in London to find out the scoop on the grounded yacht - and to get cash to buy diesel.


Nothing fancy ashore.


The streets were flooded from the previous days rain. Instead of going through the huge puddle in the road, I decided to take the longer, drier way around. As I was walking Timei (our agent who helped us get checked into Christmas Isl) happened to drive up and offer me a ride. We ended up picking up the guys just around the corner and spending the rest of the day with Timei driving us all over the place. Although Christmas Island is small, it has the largest land mass of any atoll in the world. So finding your way around on the long stretches of road can still be quite time consuming without a car. And there are no car rentals on Christmas - so Timei was a godsend.


First stop - Timei's house where he and his wife have a small bed and breakfast. Such a neat place!


The three little bungalows where guests stay.


The path leading to the protected water side of the atoll.


Moses standing with one of the inflatable kayaks that Timei has for guests.


The beautiful view into the inner bay of the atoll from Timei's beach.


We made many many trips here to the ATM. It was a holiday week for Christmas Island so the bank was on limited hours the entire time - same for the ATM! We needed to build up our cash funds so we could buy fuel before we departed because nobody takes credit cards!


Next, Timei took us over to the yacht that went aground so we could check it out. Timei was the one who had bought the yacht from the Captain, whom was now looking for a plane ride out of Christmas Island. He and his crew had to wait until the one flight a week on Wednesday before he and his crew could depart. Although they were staying somewhere on the island, we never did run into the crew.


The guys moving in to take a closer look.


Lots of stuff had already been taken off the yacht by the locals as soon as it hit shore. It was a mess inside.


Orcinius safely at anchor in the distance.


We spent the rest of the day taking a tour of Christmas Island. Timei drove us out near the airport (about a 40 minute drive) where the best store on the island was located. Since the store didn't open until 4pm, we went for a little drive beyond and took in some sites. Christmas Island is definitely flat and low!


Moses and Malo pointing at the highest hill on Christmas Island.


One of the villages a few miles beyond the airport.


After we checked out the store but couldn't buy anything (they use the Australian dollar and we had no money since the ATM was not working on our first attempt - and they don't take credit cards anywhere on the island), we headed back towards London with a stop at the large outer wharf to check out how we might load all our jerry jugs with fuel. We decided the wharf was not small yacht friendly and we would work on a Plan B.


The ship at the dock is Kwai - it carries shipments of various sorts and sizes all throughout the small islands of the South Pacific and up to Hawaii.


Kwai about ready to get underway.


This is a beautiful photo I took of Kwai as they sailed away that evening towards Penrhyn and the Cook Islands.


As John explained in our previous blog update, he worked out a deal with Timei. The sailboat that had gone aground had the same exact engines as Orcinius - score! So the next day we were on a mission to get what we could off of Gilda's Pride, including fuel in the port tank that was still above water. We loaded up the dingy with tools, fuel pump and a battery to operate the fuel pump, drinking water, and carts to carry all the stuff.


We couldn't fit the jerry jugs in the dingy so we drug them behind.


We were quite a site as we made our way through town with all our gear.


John had to rearrange his load several times.


Once we got to the boat, the guys set to taking off what was left and of any value - we would settle up with Timei when we were finished. Moses worked on getting all the winches off.


The inside of the boat was an absolute mess. Everything torn from the walls and bulkheads - sinks, drawers, toilets, navigational equipment ripped out, etc., from the locals. Malo and John were on the inside going after the engine parts that we needed to fix Orcinius, and a few other things that remained such as a shower pump and a refrigerator compressor. We were also going to pay Timei for the diesel, but someone else had gotten to all the untainted diesel in the middle of the night. The starboard tank had been leaking diesel on the inside of the boat. To get what they needed off the engine, Malo and John were covered in the nasty diesel-water mixture. Even after several cleanings, their clothes smelled of diesel for many days after.

We made an inventory of everything we took and settled up with Timei later in the day. After several hours of getting what they could off the boat, the next chore was to go get diesel. Timei drove the guys and the jerry's around to several places before we finally found a gas station that could supply us the several hundred gallons that we needed. It took several trips to the gas station and then loading the jerry's onto the dingy and back out to Orcinius to fill the tanks and the bladders. Luckily we had repositioned Orcinius into the inner lagoon and much closer to the small protected wharf in town.


It was a long day, but we got a lot done - and we had in hand what we needed to fix Orcinius's engine, plus extra gear that we can either use or resell down the road. After some well deserved showers and a cold beer, Timei met us at the town wharf and took us into the festival for dinner, then over to his house for a few more beers and some ice cream.


Timei really enjoyed Moses and Malo and will be making contact again with them when he goes to Fiji later in the year. His daughter goes to school in Suva, so he makes several trips that way each year.


And Timei's guests from New Zealand came into share some scotch with John and hear about our adventure for the day. We had a fun visit with them.


And I couldn't get enough pictures of the gorgeous water. So I am going to bore you all with lots of beautiful blue pictures!


A view to the protected wharf near town and inside the lagoon.


The red white and blue against the beautiful blue water.


Orcinius anchored inside the lagoon in 9 feet of water.


A view I never get tired of.


During the passage to Hawaii John and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary!


And our tradition is to watch our wedding video with a glass of champagne. Well, it might not have been the most romantic anniversary, but I sure enjoyed watching the video with Moses and Malo on each side!


The perfect apple pie that baker John created.

Next up - catching up with photos in Hawaii!

Lisa