With pictures!

Too long without posting. The pictures should have been on the last post.
Thanks to Bruce Premo for the taking pics while I was busy.

Masquerade back in the water!

Masquerade is finally back in the water after a long long haulout. We are working on shaking her out and fixing a some
issues.
Hauling and launching boats here is pretty much a DIY task and highly labor intensive. A big thanks to everyone that
helped me get launched.

It has been almost 10 yrs since we came to Kwajalein, and we are planning on leaving in January.

Christmas Parade

I found a photo on facebook of Masquerade in the Christmas Parade a few years back. Masquerade is in the middle, the rigging is supposed to look like a Christmas tree, not sure if everyone can tell.

Merry Christmas

A few pictures

This last weekend there was a photo exhibit and craft fair. I entered a few pictures in the exhibit and included them here. There is voting on the pictures and the winners often are used in the Kwajalein Calendar that the Art Guild puts together every year. The results have not been anounced yet, and there was some very stiff competition.

 

 

Island life

This time it has really been quite a while without an update.

Working full time just does not seem like there is all that much to write about. However we are living on a remote island in the middle of no-where, so I will try and do more updates.

 

We have been out sailing a few times, usually a short trip up to Bigej, about a 10 mile sail and a nice sandy anchorage. This is a nice weekend trip and the winds are normally on the beam so the sailing is good.  We did make a longer trip out to the island of Turruji. This island is on the west reef, so we were anchored Oceanside rather than on the lagoon side. We are still learning about anchoring in coral strewn areas, we prefer sandy bottoms but those are often not available.  The good part was that we had dive gear with us so we could check the anchor even though it was down almost 60 ft.  We had a nice 3 day weekend and had the area all to ourselves almost the whole time. Nice to get away, but the trip showed that we are not keeping up on our boat maintenance. We had an issue with the fridge and also threw a fan belt on the engine. Both issues were repaired underway without too much problem, but not my favorite way to spend my sailing time.

 

Back on Island

We are back from our annual leave, and back to work again.
We had a good trip and were able to visit family and some friends. It was quite hectic though and a lot of travelling. While driving around we saw both upper 90's weather and snow. We even had to buy chains to get over Donner pass. Luckily we had found some warm clothes before that trip! A few days in Hawaii before heading back to Kwaj was good, but even that was full of shopping and doctor visits. maybe our next trip will be a little more relaxing. Nice to be back in our own home again, plus the cats are happy that we are back.

On the move again

We are traveling again, but not by boat. We are on our “annual leave” and are back in the United States to visit family. Once a year we earn a trip back to the US and a few travel days to get there and back.

We have been very busy and making a lot of miles. We made several flights (most red-eyes) going from Kwaj to Majuro to Hawaii to LA and finally to Mazatlan. A few days there and it was a bus ride to San Carlos. After a few fixes to the truck, we started driving. Up to Arizona, then across to LA to visit Tim’s family. A quick stop with John and Bridget (Sailsoon) at their lovely house. Then Bakersfield to see our Son and family. Next was the drive up to Georgetown and SilverSprings NV to visit Cindy’s family.

As you can see we have been moving fast and have not been able to spend the time that we would like at any of our stops. In addition we are trying to do a years worth of shopping for clothes and other items that are not available on Kwaj. We are also taking advantage of having access to good restaurants. We are trying to taste all the things we have been missing (Japanese, Greek, Thai, Mexican, Chinese, etc…). It is turning out to be an expensive trip!

 

Sorry to anyone that we bypasses without a visit, perhaps next time.