This past year I have walked the beaches in Palau, California, Israel, Taiwan, and now Tokyo. My conclusion is--the earth is the Lord's, with all that is in it, the world and those who live there, for He set its foundations on the seas! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all His ways are just, a faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He!
And, everywhere that we have traveled, all of the nations, every people from every tongue and tribe are asking about His return. They are in every city, every culture, every faith knowing that the time is at hand. On San Cristobal, an island in the Solomons, when we came ashore to the small primitive village of 500 people, there was a large banner in front of their meeting place that read, "Jesus is Coming Soon." No electricity, just thatch huts, bare feet, minimal clothes, and subsitance living off the island, yet the message, very universal, He is coming soon! In Vanuatu, in an obscure village there was a larger than life mural of Jesus and His coming kingdom. When we acknowledged that we believed that message, the islanders welcomed us as fellow believers and preached to us that, "He is coming very soon!" These are the days of the coming of the Creator, the judge of the whole earth. There is no doubt; they all declare it; they are seeking to know when and where, how and what, and what they should do, how to be ready at His revealing. Some are making rash and foolish decisions trying to outrun, outlive the Day, others are making sober appraisals, making adjustments, setting things in order. Then, there is a mixture of everything in between! The energy level is high!
This is an incredible year, full of potential! I did some investigation into the meaning of the number "11" seeing how this year is 2011. It wasn't very good news. Apparently it is the number for "sin." This is derived from "10" being the number of "law" or "justice" from the "ten commandments." Eleven is going beyond that or transgressing the law, thus sin. It is the number just before "12" which represents God's Divine government, hence the 12 tribes of Israel, 12 disciples, hey there are 12 months in a year! Anyway, 11 seems to be an omen of something that is wrong, like when Judas, the disciple who betrayed Christ, killed himself and there were only 11 disciples left so lots were drawn and Matthias got picked to right the number at 12 again. Twelve has always been the "magic hour," the goal, eleven is approaching twelve. All kinds of contemplations there. Are we indeed fast approaching that hour? Is sin snowballing before the great day of Divine government returning to the earth? Could 2011 be a year of revealing; a timer for the last hour countdown? People are making statements like, "It's quarter to 12 on eternity's clock." What events will we see this year? And, if wild stuff starts to happen, will we adjust our thinking, our priorities, our living?
Rock n' roll! We were in Tokyo last week, the largest metropolitan area on the earth! Shoot! What a contrast to our beautiful serene Palau! We were with a bunch of Japanese in their 20's and early 30's setting themselves apart for 50 hours of nonstop praise and worship of God coupled with prayer, crying out for understanding, direction, intervention in their personal lives, their families, the communities they live in, the destiny of their nation and the nations of the world. This was a radical, vibrant gathering of people engaged, hopeful, getting inspired, filled with ideas, mobilized in the marketplaces, being part of the solutions instead of contributing to the problems. Enthusiasm! From En-meaning full of and Theos-God. True enthusiasm is inspiration from God. It is exciting to believe in and serve the living God, not a dull moment!

I love visiting all these other cultures! It is so refreshing. It never ceases to amaze me how much we are all alike: same joys, same disappointments, same hopes, same fun, same weariness, same relaxations, same eating together. Gesturing is a universal language--it goes a long way with smiles and nods. Abbey has met more young people her age this past year from many nations of the world than most of the people in the world ever have the opportunity to meet in their lifetime! She is definitely a global trekker. So much for the myth that homeschooling lacks proper socialization. Abbey goes right up to perfect strangers and says, "Hi, I'm Abbey! What's your name?" The next thing is we are eating together and spending consecutive days enjoying new friendships.
We flew back to Taipei. Clint is booked up with meetings every week teaching mostly on Biblical prophecy and Scriptural teachings of the end-times and where we are in reference to current events: political upheavel in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, economic collapse Greece, France, the Euro?, global weather, solar flares in 2012, Australia getting pounded, Matthew 24, Daniel, Revelation, Zechariah. The Bible is unique in its predictive prophecies and the fulfillment of them is a major testimony to its supernatural inspiration and that it is not a book just written by men.
Abbey will fly to Israel the end of February because her visa will be up then. I will fly to Israel the middle of March, and Clint will possibly be in the States/Canada in April for some invitations to teach then join us in Israel for Passover.
Dear Kairos is sweetly nestled in safe harbor in Palau awaiting our return. We don't know when that will be. We are taking things one step at a time learning much along the way. We are also getting needed supplies for the boat and making sure we are outfitted for this next season. We have had some amazing "hookups" with people and places that are along our route of the "Silk Road by the Sea" that we will be traveling during our next leg of journey. So, even though things seem to be delayed, they are in many ways moving right along!
I've been uploading pictures to www.sailblogs.com/member/svkairos. Abbey has a lot on her Facebook account. We've been well-cared for in Asia. We've toured the cities, the seaside, the mountains, seen exhibits like the annual Taipei flower expo, gone to museums, gotten lost in the biggest crosswalk in the world in Tokyo, eaten way too much yummy food. We are staged in the gate to all of Asia, waiting, watching, planning, living, loving. Love to you all, Janet

Happy New Year! Wow, 2011! That sounds like the time period from Lost In Space when I was a kid! Well, I can only imagine how most of your Christmas and New Year's activities went. I'm sure that we celebrated on the other end of the continuum. For Christmas I pulled off a spectacular feat roasting a 12lb. turkey in my oven on the boat! It was a bit uncomfortable down below with it already being 88 degrees and very sunny. We packed it up with some stuffing, turkey gravy, and cranberry sauce and dinghied over to a small beach nearby where we gathered together with some other cruisers for a shared feast. We had a great time swimming in the lagoon, enjoying each other's company, and relaxing in our tropical surroundings. I can't remember too many times that I have had sand between my toes coming home from Christmas dinner!
We sailed around the Rock Islands for the rest of the week. I am now officially "Crocodile Huntress!" Yep, I am a certified professional croc sighter. There were two living in our anchorage. It was no easy task spying the one nearest our boat. I was sitting on deck when I hear a tumbling of some rocks into the water and a large splash. The island was only 20 meters away. I grabbed the binoculars and started scanning the grid where I heard the sound. That's when I spotted it, a greyish 1 1/2 inch diameter eye, a wafer thin plane of snout, and a barely distinguishable nostril noiselessly gliding through the water. It was a small croc, only about 4 feet long. I watched it for over two hours. Those crocs are stealth. When they move, the eyes slip just below the surface and there is no sign of anything in the water. Then, about 30 feet further, up pops the eyes and snout again. Amazing. Come to find out, that little "secret garden" lake I told you about that is only accessible at low tide through the tunnel, well, there is an 8 ft. long croc that lives in there! Shooty! We were swimming around in that small little space, enjoying our refreshingly placid lake (pun intended) while somewhere nearby lurked a creature nearly twice our size! And, just two days ago during the Jellyfish Lake tour that Abbey went on before, a 7 ft. croc followed a tourist up to the dock as he swam back from playing with the jellies. The man turned around and shoved his life vest between him and the croc who proceeded to push against the vest in an act of aggressive intimidation. Man o' man!
We moved on from our croc infested anchorage to a gorgeous lagoon in one of the other islands. I have to say that it was definitely in the top ten of loveliest spots I have ever been. We anchored in the first of a series of three lagoons. I kayaked around for a couple of hours exploring the entire perimeter and paddling from one channel through to the other side of the island and out another cut. It was so clear that I could see all the fish swimming in the coral down about 40 ft. There were beautiful gardens of lettuce coral, table corals, stag horn coral, and all kinds of other varieties. These giant clams are spectacular. When I say clam, many of you probably get an image of some little ivory colored thing that steams open with white wine and garlic over linguine. These clams I'm talking about are mostly 8in. to a foot long and up to 3 and 4 ft. They're embedded in the coral facing upward with wavy edges to their shells and this most incredible velvety looking texture between the ajar halves that ranges from a brilliant green to blue to violet to purple color. Clint loves to dive down and get real close like he is going to poke them making the shells close then watch them open back up. There just is no way to describe or replicate the colors here. The fish, the corals, the flowers, the greens that cover the islands are so vivid. I know that blu ray has made some great improvement in picture quality, but nothing can match what the human eye can perceive first hand. It's not just a physical thing; the entire sensation is definitely enhanced by the spiritual life of the whole of the creation.
For New Year's Eve, we celebrated on Kairos having some friends over from another boat. Allen, a Kiwi, his wife Ariane, Swiss, and their 5 mo. old baby girl Que (kwee) who sail on their catamaran Sanyasin came over for dinner and hanging out til the New Year rolled in. All of us boaters love having Que in the group. She is so cute. Allen paddles around with her sitting between his legs in the kayak. She absolutely loves the water and gliding along. When we are at the beach she gets to hang out in her baby seat swinging around on bungees tied to the trees. If I had to do it all over again, I'd raise my babies on a sailboat in a heartbeat.
New Year's Day I got up early and went for another kayak expedition. This time I paddled through a natural arch and hung out under the limestone canopy for about an hour just enjoying the scenery. The ocean was incredibly calm that morning, like a sea of glass. For 360 degrees it was just me, the kayak, and everything else that God created. That was an awesome way to start the year. I sat there alone just pondering the panorama in detail frying my human mind trying to fathom the intricacies of it all. I saw some small black tips feeding on little fish up against the edge of one of the islands. It's crazy how they can catch those fish! Between them and the seabirds that dive down and just pluck the fishies up there is some great entertainment. I mean, have you ever tried to grab a fish? I do all the time when I'm snorkeling or diving, never got one. It's not like they're ever stationary, and when they move evasively, they're lightening fast! Trying to snatch one of those little suckers is like Mr. Miaggi trying to catch the fly with the chopsticks. But, those birds and sharks can sure get them!
Clint pulled out the bridle and ski rope and took Abbey, Allen, and I for a tow on the surfboard around the lagoon. Abbey makes it look so easy. She stands right up and can skurf around forever. I couldn't stand up and was tired of consuming a quart of saltwater every time I tried so I just used it as a kneeboard and slalomed. It was a blast. Allen wouldn't be outdone by Abbey and he eventually stood and made a few rounds. He said it was loads of fun. Clint refused to even give it a go saying he wasn't stupid enough to write checks that his body couldn't cash.
Abbey is an official PADI open water diver! She finished her course, took the final, and completed her last check out dives 3 days ago. Hurray! Danny is going to continue to take her through Advanced, Rescue, and Dive Master courses. I will do them with her.
So, Palau, upon much closer inspection this past month, is still really an undiscovered paradise. In a way, I hesitate to even tell you about how awesome it is lest a massive influx of cruisers, tourists, and utopia seekers come and ruin it. Personally, I give it the number 1 spot in my overall cruising ground experiences so far. Tonga is a close number 2. The differences are--the Rock Islands are so unique geologically that they just downright exceed many other places. As a cruising ground it's ideal because the majority of the islands are surrounded by a large barrier reef that make the waters inside nice to sail, smooth sailing, baby! The diving is still tops in the entire world of oceans. There are only 20,000 people, so it's not over populated. It's not quite in the typhoon path, so storm damage is few and far between. There is enough US infrastructure to make it comfortable such as excellent provisioning, good restaurants, inexpensive for food, goods, fuel. The postal system is US making it cost effective and very quick. There are daily international flights and now Delta has flights in from Tokyo four days a week which should force Continental to lower their fares a bit to stay competitive. The people are really great and the crime is very low. Let me try to think of some negatives--the internet is expensive and very slow, cell phone service is expensive, ok, that's it. Oh, except there are some cruising permit fees that can add up. I still love Tonga, but it is a bit more expensive for provisions, goods, and fuel and there isn't a lot to choose from. It's a lot harder to ship things there and politically there are some hassles. No, international airport. The people are friendly, but there is more of a cultural gap.
We are keeping the boat in Palau for another season. Clint, Abbey, and I flew to Taiwan yesterday. We will be here through the 23rd for Clint to speak at some conferences and do some teaching on Biblical prophecy and eschatology. We fly to Tokyo on the 24th for some more conferences and teaching engagements. After these trips we will evaluate when we will go back to the boat.
Ok, here is a quick survey for cruisers, except this wouldn't apply for people who cruise on Tamsen or luxurious Farr design boats, you know who you are--what are the top two things that you don't miss about not being on your boat when you fly out somewhere? Clint, Abbey, and I all answered immediately the same things, so I thought I'd see what your responses are. Email me your answers and I'll share them with you next time. Love, Janet

The past few weeks we have been exploring all the little nooks and crannies of this beautiful island paradise. I braved a cave/tunnel swim through that is only visible at low tide, about 30 feet long, 3 feet wide, 3 feet deep, with only a couple inches of an air pocket for a snorkel to catch a few breaths. It opened up into a small lake. The water inside is a mixture of fresh and salt, much cooler in temperature. It is a "secret garden" of the sea. It was so cool being in there all by ourselves; who knows how many people have ever been able to find this hidden spot. We didn't stay very long. The tide was rising and our air pockets would be gone. I don't like that tunnel business; it's just a bit too constricting for me. Abbey and Clint love the tunnel part.
Abbey is getting certified by a cruiser friend of ours who is a dive master. "So, where did you learn to dive?" "Palau." "Oh, really, I learned in Lake Mead. The visibility was about 1 ft." "The visibility for my check out dive was about 100ft. Yeah, it was ok, I saw a few thousand fish, hundreds of species of corals, some cool things like sharks, turtles, mantas." At 18 years old, Abbey continues to enjoy experiences that boggle anyone's comprehension. It really is great getting to share these experiences with her. She continues to make new friends wherever we go and gets invited to join in lots of fun.

Recently, she has been wake boarding and water skiing. Clint got some fun video of her.

We successfully repaired the dinghy and she is working like a champ. Our running rigging is all sorted out and fine. The radios are working well. No more critters to report. Clint has not had an allergic reaction since his last one, but we haven't fed him any peanut butter or nuts since then either, so I am highly suspicious that those may be the source of it.
Well, the news is that the auto helm has gone the way of everything else on earth, "Store up your treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt!" We have not been able to locate any parts. So, for any of you cruisers receiving this, if you have parts or know of someone else who has an old Robertson 300 auto helm laying around some place, please let us know. This means that we are not making any passages any time soon. We either need to find these parts, buy a new auto helm, or buy a wind vane, or Joel and Colin need to come back aboard and help us to hand steer! We are looking at getting a wind vane right now, a hydrovane if we can, so put that on the message board too. Meanwhile, we continue to hand steer around the islands here and wait it out. This has cut into our plan for making the Philippines and Hong Kong as we had scheduled. We will have to fly to Taiwan and Japan for some previously scheduled conferences that Clint is speaking at and then return here afterward. Kairos will continue to enjoy the warm lush waters of Palau! Stranded in Palau, oh shucks, how awful, I hope we survive!
Speaking of survive, we have been to the place where they filmed the Survivor Palau series. Please, fresh water in abundance, easy shelter, fish, coconut crabs, fruit bats, even rats. We hung out there with some native Palauans who had no trouble rustling up a quick lunch of jack fish and land crabs then started a pot of fruit bat soup. But, it is understandable how one could imagine the drama and adventure of being marooned on a deserted island. It's always been my dream since I read Swiss Family Robinson for the umpteenth time.
We've spent some fun days snorkeling and kayaking. There are endless places to explore. We didn't get to see the lunar eclipse, but we did enjoy a moonlight dinghy ride over the reef and were able to see down about 40 feet through crystal clear water illuminated by the midnight glow. It was an awesome union with the underwater world.
We had a Christmas feast at a local beach. I roasted a turkey on board with stuffing and gravy, others brought mashed potatoes and salad. It was nice being together but quite a contrast to the gathering we had with our family last year.
We miss all of you and wish you well. May your new year be blessed with greater love, joy, and fullness from our gracious God. Clint, Janet, and Abbey
PS Here are some pictures that our friends Wayne and Duane took of us from their helicopter tour. We were anchored enjoying a beautiful quiet morning when they obnoxiously buzzed us in our anchorage! The pics are their peace offering.

So much has happened in one week! First, let's deal with the critter tales. As we were returning to Kairos in the harbor after spending an evening at the Bottom Time Bar and Grill, while climbing aboard from the dinghy, a giant, nasty, armor-plated, creepy, dive-bombing 2" cockroach flew onto Abbey's back. Being the protective mother that I am, I dutifully screamed and swatted rescuing her from the attack. But, alas, that was not the last of the visitations. Later that night, we spied two of the contemptuous creatures aboard in the salon and forward cabin. This was a great distress to me. Clint said, "Honey, it's not a big deal. We had lots of cockroaches every year in Vegas. They don't hurt you." I replied, "Listen, it is a big deal! In Vegas we lived in a 3000 sq. ft. house, and if I saw a roach I could launch a shoe at it across a 20 ft. living room. This boat is like being in a coffin and having corpse eating insects crawling all over my body!" So, the next morning, to the store for bug bombs and 6 hours of fumigating.
As soon as that was cleared up, the next trial began. At about 3 am Clint wakes me up saying, "Honey, what's that noise?" Not happy at all about him laying there waking me up to ask, I get out of bed with the flash light and go exploring in the galley where the rattling is coming from. Just as I move the dishes on the drying rack and open one of the cupboards, out jumps a big ole hairy rat! I screamed my head off! Clint's yelling at me, "Why do you have to do that! Stop screaming!" I told him, "I am a woman! That's what we do! We scream when we see rats! It's a fact of life! Get over it!" This was getting overwhelming. First, creepy bugs, now rodents! I can't live on a boat teaming with critters! All we had to deal with the problem was two small mouse traps, so we set them for the night.
The next day we set sail for Ulong Island, one of the many out past the Rock Island group here in Palau. We had 4 beautiful days on the hook, swimming, snorkeling, diving, exploring, barb-b-quing on the beach, hanging out with other cruisers.
The first night the traps went off 3 times with no carcass to show. We talked to the other cruisers who told us about the no fail sticky pads to catch the rats. The next night, Voila! Mr. Hairy stuck and thrown to Davey Jones locker!
Now that we were free from pests, I could relax a bit and enjoy myself. We had a great dive in Ulong Channel. Down for 55 min. at about 50-60 ft. Saw over 20 sharks; white tip, greys, black tip, huge grouper, giant clams, big patch of lettuce coral, nice fans and hard and soft corals, turtles, just an all out amazingly wonderful dive.
We sailed for several hours; all the rigging is working well. The engine is good.
Our auto helm is not working and is the real bummer right now. The HF radio doesn't have all the bugs worked out of it. The frig is still on the fritz. This is all a bit discouraging because we really want to move out of here toward the Philippines by Friday. Oh yeah, we ripped a 4 in hole in the seam of the port aft pontoon of our AB dinghy. Big bummer, been kayaking too and fro getting wet. The woa's of cruising!
Clint has had a problem with allergic reactions lately. While out at the Ulong anchorage one evening he had a bad acute reaction with angioadema full body rash, burning hands and feet. We started with 50mg oral benadryl when the symptoms first started, and then some oral prednisone, then when he started the facial swelling and difficulty breathing I broke out the epinephrine. I didn't actually give him the epi because after monitoring him for 2 hours and giving him some IM benadryl, we got it under control. We've figured it isn't an allergy to shellfish cause he didn't have any, it's not wheat cause he is ok with that, it may be nuts or it could be the additives in the chocolate pudding that he ate just before that. So that's exciting.
Well, we will be working on these projects for the next few days. We'll let you know if we get underway here. Thanks for your replies. It's been great hearing from you all. Love, Janet

Greetings to all! We are back aboard after a year of travel between the boat here in Palau, the States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Kairos is afloat; she needed a bit of scrubbing bow to stern below decks and topsides to freshen her up, but she is in good shape overall.
We are completing a lot of work to prepare for this next season of cruising. When a boat is left to sit for a long time, things just stop working due to lack of use. We needed new AGM batteries which we had shipped here and installed. We put in our VHF and SSB radios that we had referbished. Our frig/freezer system electronics got replaced. We had to buy a new 25 hp outboard for the dinghy. Our autohelm chain broke here in the harbor thankfully and not out there, so we had a spare that we were able to put on.
The list goes on and on checking all systems: engine, watermaker, lpg, bilge, anchoring, running rigging, sails, navigation electonics, etc.
Cruising is by definition fixing your boat in exotic places!
The current plan is to sail around the rock islands here for a week to "shake her down" doing some diving and fishing. Then, we head off west to the Philippines. It should take us about 5 days to make port in Cebu. We'll cruise northwest through the Philippine islands to San Fernando which is north of Manila then make the passage across to Hong Kong. Hopefully, we will be in Hong Kong by the second week of January.
Abbey is out and about doing some tours to Jellyfish lake and exploring WWII sites and kayaking caves. Clint and I are provisioning and working through our lists. It's nice to be back aboard in the fresh air and on the water. It is taking a little while to adjust to the slower pace of life and get back into "smelling the roses."
More to come later.......Janet

Is there such a thing as birds or insects having poor tone or being too "pitchy"? I don't think so! I sat out in the cockpit in the warm darkness accented by the soft glow of the waning moon and punctuated by the incandescent stars listening to the myriad sounds chorusing from the island. Euphonious progressions resonating harmony, wellness, calm filled the night air. The thought struck me that so much life is overlooked! Somehow things get qualified, measured at a linear level and incredible dimension is missed. How many birds were part of this symphony? How many geckos, cicadas? Every square foot of the island was teeming with life. I am only one; out there are zillions! Underneath is another universe alive with activity: corals feeding, fish, echinoderms, crustaceans, and plankton occupying the volumes of the sea.

That's just the animals; there's flora: trees, vines, sea grasses; inorganic rocks, dirt, sand. These are my surroundings. WOW! Awesome! Incredible! My senses climax with the display!
I love Kairos for carrying me here! For letting me live in the midst of this! She is the vehicle: wood, fiberglass, lead, aluminium, steel, crafted out of passion to explore! Many consider 38ft. limiting. The opposite is true. Living aboard her is boundless!

Clint is traveling; I'm aboard by myself for a couple of weeks basking in the fathomless occupied solitude. My days are filled polishing stainless, sanding and varnishing teak, waxing fiberglass, enjoying rest. I hang out with the locals at the yacht club delighting in the variety of souls, listening to the daily stories.

Our purposes draw us away from being on the boat for 4 more months of land travel. Decisions have been made to keep Kairos in Palau for another season. We're pausing in the journey, waiting, watching, listening. It's a parenthesis, not an end, an expansion.
We have more maintenance to do also: new AGM batteries, frig/freezer components, SSB repairs, etc. All this has to be ordered, shipped, installed. We are patient; time is a friend.
It's a difficult transition back to urban land life. But, I find that the longer I am out here, the greater my capacity for continuity wherever I go. I have been baptized in the seas! I am infused with cruising!
These updates are mainly about what we are experiencing while sailing. It's not really about us as much as it is to share with you that can't be here, to give you a little taste! I probably won't be writing again until we are back aboard, but if I feel that something is valuable for you in our journeys, I'll pass it along.
You can always keep in touch by emailing me directly at sailfever43@aol.com. Take care and we'll catch you in a few months. Love to all, Janet and Clint