Fun and excitement in Fanning

Normally, Fanning is very quiet and peaceful and the pace of life is nice and slow - island time.

Yesterday, that all changed. Two supply ships arrived delivering people and supplies and the wharf was lined with locals all day and there was lots of activity!

Moa Moa arrived first. It is a big ugly metal cargo ship and it anchored outside of the lagoon (thank goodness). Boats/tenders were going back and forth all day delivering family and friends, plus tons of rice and flour and other cargo.

The big motor sailer, Kwai, arrived later. We are guessing it is about 120 foot and it motored right past us gesturing that we were in the way and ended up anchoring just on the other side of Evergreen. A little close, but the boats negotiated a truce and even invited Dennis and Carol over for drinks. Nice that we got included in the invite too. So, we had to go. It was very interesting meeting Captain Evy (sp) and his crew of 7 who are from all over and on the boat for different reasons: research, adventure, work, etc. The Kwai delivers food from Hawaii all over the Kiribati and Cook Islands, so they cover some ground and see some amazing places.

The kids on the wharf were so full of energy with all this excitement and had a great time showing off - gymnastics, daredevil acts jumping into the lagoon, and lots of giggling. It was fun to see.

Hopefully the ships brought enough supplies to feed the 2500 locals for a couple of months. The rice and flour were disappearing off the wharf very quickly and the supply ships won't be back for a while...

Also Doug, Dennis, and Josh had to make a rescue yesterday. The other cruiser in the anchorage (a single-hander) had rigged his inflatable dinghy with a sail and was out of control and being swept out to sea by the wind and current. Doug hopped in our dinghy; Dennis and Josh in theirs. It took them about a 1/2 hour to catch the guy and rig the dinghies to pull the inflatable back to the lagoon. Close call and glad all came back safely.

Whew!

Today, was much calmer. Today is Saturday/Sunday in Fanning, so everyone takes it easy. Except the cruisers - we still have projects to work on. Carol finished sewing our jib (after 3 long days). She also had to come back to help me with our canvas work. She is amazing and we are very grateful! Doug has been working on re-bedding the mast pulpit and other leaky things. Getting closer every day. My big accomplishment - baking sourdough bread.

Now, it is time for some R&R. If we were in Ko Olina, we would be sitting out with our dock buddies shooting the breeze and watching the sunset.

Miss those days!

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com