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.

One year on Kwaj!

It has now been a full year since we arrived on Kwajalein. Time has gone very quickly. It seems a bit odd that we have not traveled more than 40 miles away from our home for the last year! This after logging several thousand miles over the previous couple years.

 

I have not added too many photos while cruising because many of the updates were done with the HAM radio. Now that we are on shore I can try adding more photos to the blog. Of course we are still on dial-up, so maybe not too many photos.

 

A few weeks ago we traveled up to Roi-Namur, which is at the north end of the atoll.

This is where all the big radars are located. I think that there are only about a 100 people living there so it is much quieter than Kwaj. It is also less built up and much more vegetation. It also has more remnants from the Japanese occupation. We spent a nice weekend up there, it was sort of a mini vacation.

 

We have also been doing a bit of diving and are now working on our “Advanced Open Water” certification. We did our first night dive recently, and it was a lot of fun. We were both nervous about it, but it turned out to be easier than expected. I did not take the camera along on the night dive, but I did get some photos of a wreck dive that we did earlier.

We have both been enjoying our new hobby, and look forward to exploring more around the atoll.

 

We have just completed moving to a new home. We left the BQ (dorm room style housing), and are now in a real house. These are 2 bedroom homes, cinder block homes that the navy built back in the 50’s. A bit dated, but still a nice place to live. We are still unpacking the last few boxes and re-organizing. It is nice to have our own place, a patio, and a BBQ. I will try and get a few pictures soon.  Of course the house also comes with yardwork.

Another Tsunami update

Everything is OK here. We were at a low tide when the tsunami passed through, and they think that it helped to prevent a large surge. We only saw about a 4 foot depth swing (down 2’, then up 2’). This was not enough to cause any waves to come over the shore. It may have been different at high tide, but we don’t really know. The other fact in our favor is that we are on the east side of the atoll, with the west side between us and Japan which probably protected us some.  Apparently they did see a bigger depth change up at Roi, but I don’t have any numbers for up there.

Tsunami Update

Just a quick note to let our friends know that all is fine here on Kwajalein.
We heard about the warnings, but nothing of any interest was seen here. We are both fine and the boat appears to be good also. I will try and get out to the mooring later today to do a better check.

I will try and get a better blog update later...

Happy New Year!!

Yes, I know that it is already February. I thought I better put a 2011 update up on the blog.
Cindy and I did manage to get out for a sail a couple of weeks ago. We sailed up to Bigej and spent the night there. It was a good sail with plenty of wind, we had a reefs in both the main and the genoa. The anchorage was calm so we had a pleasant night. The only problem was that the batteries were not holding a proper charge. It looks like the solar charge controller is over charging the batteries and cooked off more water than I realized. Hopefully there is not too much damage. I assumed that with the boat sitting idle with no electrical drain, I did not need to check the batteries as often. I was wrong.
We did have a good time, and a couple of other boats were there so a bit of visiting occured. We also brought along some scuba tanks and had a nice dive before we headed back to Kwaj. We need to set up a better routine and get out for sails on a more regular basis. It is really nice to get away and relax on the boat.

Smells like Christmas

The weather is definitely not Christmas like. Even in Mexico the weather was significantly colder in winter (at least in the places we were at for Christmas time). Here there is no seasonal temperature change. A week ago there was a tree lighting ceremony in the “downtown” area. It was a community event and was interesting, but the tree was a palm tree! Not quite traditional or what I was expecting!  Things are a bit different here.

 

However to make is seem more like the holidays we have a Christmas tree. A real Christmas tree! We have not had a Christmas tree since around 2000 when we moved from our house onto the boat. It is nice to have the pine smell that always makes the house seem more like Christmas. It was nice to decorate the tree and make the place look festive. Of course we had to buy some new decorations, the space allotment in the boat for decorations was a large shoebox. Large enough for the boat, but too sparse for a tree and our rooms.

 

Tonight we are going to participate in the Christmas boat parade! The boat was decorated this morning and has more lights on it than it ever has before! It should be fun, we have some friends coming and we will do a few laps up and down the beach, and maybe all the way up to Ebeye (The closest Marshallese island). The last Christmas light parade we did was in Seattle, and it was really, really cold. This should be a bit more comfortable!  I will try and get some pictures to post later.

Naval battle

A few weeks ago the yacht club (that sounds much more pretentious than it is) decided to forgo the race for a naval battle. The battle was to be waged between the sailboats using water balloons (yes, eco-friendly bio-degradable balloons).  The original plan was to track hits to the hull and sails, and hits to crew to determine some type of winner.  The actual battle was a bit more chaotic and scoring was pretty much left behind. Unfortunately Jon and I were a bit late to the battle. Filling the balloons was slow, then we went out to the first marina rental boat, and realized that the boom/gooseneck was broken.  We decided to try another rental boat.  This one looked better till we looked inside. There was water over the floor! We bailed and had the marina staff bring out a pump. The pump was very small and slow.  We eventually had the water down to a reasonable level, and started to head out. Then we found that we had the small storm jib onboard made for high winds, which we did not have today. So we slowly sailed out to join the battle in progress.  By the time we got there the battle was mostly over. The other boats saw us and headed for us, not recognizing us in the rental boat they thought they would surprise whoever was sailing it with a few balloons.  What they did not realize was that we were better armed than they were, as we still had all our balloons and they were nearly out.  Once we closed upon each other the mistake was quickly realized as a lopsided battle occurred. The next several minutes were spent making passes at the other boats with balloons flying.  We noticed that some of the balloons were getting filled with salt water, and they noticed that some of our balloons had been stored in the ice chest with the ice and cold drinks.

The event was declared a big success and will certainly occur again. A lot of fun for everyone.

Aerial photos of Kwajalein

I was looking at the Kwaj Scuba club website and saw that there were some good aerial photos of the island. I thought that some people might like to see what it looks like here. Some of these photos are pretty old. There are some buildings that no longer exist and some new ones that have been built. The trailers that you see in some photos were temporary housing, (temporary being 20 years!), but they are all gone now. Check it out.

http://www.kwajaleinscubaclub.com/photos/photo_thumbs.php?top_view

The 3 story building near the water, on the right side in photo 17, and the far left side in 18, is where our rooms are.

There are also pictures of Ebeye, which is where most of the Marshallese that live on the atoll are located.

I also uploaded a few photos that I have taken over the last few weeks to the website.
Living on Kwaj

Blowing bubbles...

Cindy and I are finally enrolled in a SCUBA class. Getting certified has been something that we have talked about for a long time. We just never found the idea of diving in the cold,cold water of the northwest too appealing. Up there you need to have a dry suit. Here in Kwaj, even a wetsuit is optional. We have been doing the classroom work and have completed two pool dives. This weekend will be our first ocean dive, which will be off the swimming beach. It should be fun. There has been a lot of studying to do, but we have a great teacher.

There is a lot of SCUBA activity here on the island (what else is there to do here?). The SCUBA club (http://www.kwajaleinscubaclub.com)(which you have to join to dive here), is very active, and diving is actually pretty inexpensive to do (once you have the gear). We are looking forward to exploring the waters around the atoll and maybe even checking out some of the wrecks, many from WWII.

One more hobby to take up our time and disposable income! (as if the boat wasn’t enough!).

Rain... rain... RAIN... Rain... rain...

It is definitely the rainy season here at Kwaj. It has been quite a bit wetter than before. The rain squalls are a daily occurance now. There is a weather channel that shows radar, forecasts, summaries and such. When leaving the room to head for work or to the chow hall we always take a look to see what to expect. We often are hurrying off before something arrives or waiting till it passes through.

We can’t always wait it out though. We had one day where we had over 5” of rain !! We have had several days with over 3.5”.  The island gets covered with puddles and small ponds, but most of it drains off pretty quickly. The rain is not really cold, but you can get soaked pretty quick and with strong winds it can get kind of chilly. When you get cold is after you go back inside an air-conditioned building! 

I was encouraged to keep a change of clothes at my office, so that when you get soaked on your bike you can change to something dry. It would be miserable sitting in wet clothes for hours. I have used my spare clothes a few times.

 

Of course after the rain, the sun comes back out and then it gets really hot and humid.  Always interesting weather out here.

 

 

 

Lagoon sailing

It is a bit amazing that you can sail 40 miles here and not leave the lagoon.

We took a long weekend and sailed with some other boats up to the island of Roi-Namur a few weeks ago. The Small Boat Marina needed to move one of the Capri 20’ sailboats from Kwajalein to Roi. Since these are small boats and it does not have a motor, an escort was set up. There was also happened to be an Octoberfest celebration going on that weekend. Eventually 4 additional boats decided to make the trip.

 

We left on Saturday afternoon, and sailed north up the atoll in light winds up to the island of Meck. It was a slow spinnaker run, but a good sail. We needed to start the motor eventually as the wind died and we wanted to get anchored before dark. Meck is part of the missile range, and permission is needed to go ashore, so everyone stayed out at the anchorage.

 

We woke the next morning and soon had a squall blow in. We were protected by the island but it raining very hard.  We waited for the rain to taper off a bit and headed off with reefed sails. The wind brought some chop, but since we were in the lagoon the seas did not grow big.  As the day went by the winds dropped again and we shook the reefs out first, then put the spinnaker up, then a mile short we had to start the engine again. Roi has a pretty nice sandy beach area to anchor off. We spent the afternoon swimming around and visiting.

 

Roi looked prettier than Kwaj, more trees and more sandy beaches. This island in closer to it’s natural state as it was not enlarged as much and not built up as heavily. We did not have much time too look around, but you cannot miss the huge radars and some of the WWII artifacts. A pleasant evening was had by all.

 

The next day we got an early start for the 40mile sail home. It is still the rainy/doldrums season and very light winds have been common. We were concerned that we might have to motor all the way home, but we were once again lucky to have good wind. Forward of the beam, but a good tack all the way back.  In fact the entire trip up was on one tack, and the way back was all the way on the opposite tack. Not a whole lot of sail adjusting to do. At least not till we were hit by another squall a few miles out from Kwaj. High winds and heavy rain for about 30 minutes, then it was past and it took all the wind with it.

 

It was a nice trip. Lots of good sailing. Sailing in the lagoon means calmer seas, but require a watch for shallow coral heads. Some of these are marked, and some are charted, but a lookout is required. You can see them by a change in water color, but that all depends on the angle of the sun, or if there is any sun, and distance away. The lagoon is huge and the islands are intermittent on the reef, this means that often you can only see a few specs of land at a time.

 

 

Island sail

Apologies for the long time between updates.

We are still alive and doing well. We were actually acting like cruisers again, at least for a weekend. We took a short little cruise up to the island of Bigej  (pronounced Beegee). It is a small island on the east side of the Kwajalein atoll. It was a short trip but it was very nice to be back out on the water. The anchorage was nice, with clear warm water and a nice sandy spot between coral heads. A bonus was that we made the trip without any further breakages! We did not get the stove working yet, so we had no coffee in the morning. However it was a small price to pay for a nice weekend. Sailing was great as there was decent but light wind, and no waves as we were in the lagoon the whole time.

 

For some reason my entries to the old blog were not getting updated on the website. This meant that I needed to re-create the Blog. I will be working on adding all the old entries to the new blog.

 

And I still need to put up some new photos.

Brief update

Working on getting a new blog up and running. The old one is no longer accepting updates.

On a more blog worthy note; The boat is up and running again, Yah!!

We plan on doing an overnight to Bigej next weekend. I just need to see if I can get the stove and the BBQ working or we may be eating cold food for the cruise.

We have also started playing a bit of golf here on Kwaj. There is a 9 hole course, that has two sets of tees so that it makes an 18 hole course. It has been fun but our game is pretty bad after not touching a golf club in years.

More later.

Settling in...

A few changes for us here on Kwaj. Cindy is now working as an Emergency / Fire Dispatcher for the Fire Department. This is great as it means that she is no longer on a visitor badge, and does not need to leave after 90 days. You need to have an employee badge to go shopping at the island stores, so now Cindy can go shopping without me.

Another good thing is that we now get two rooms. We managed to get assigned a “married suite”, which is two rooms with a door joining them. This gives us much more living area, one room as a bedroom and one as a living room/kitchen area. Having two rooms means that we can have two cats. Blue gets to come home with us after having been living with our friends the Golly’s since we arrived. The suite rooms also get a full size fridge instead of a dorm fridge which is very nice.

We lost our great view as our new rooms are in the other wing of the building. We can still see the water, but not the ocean view we used to have. Since we should be in this room a while we are working to make it homier. We knew that we were going to move out of our first room so we never decorated or worried too much about the furniture. The couple across the hall from our old room are leaving the island, so we picked up quite a few things from them. Less stuff for them to ship home and new goodies for us.

Masquerade is still tired from the trip. I first had a problem with the exhaust system. I was lucky to be able to find a new exhaust elbow on island, and was able to scrounge up the other parts that I needed. Unfortunately on the way out to the mooring the engine stalled and would not re-start. Rather than trying to sail to the mooring we called the marina to help tow Masquerade to it’s home. I have not figured out the issue yet, but I think it is a problem related to wear and tear from the trip out here.

Last week there was a mission going on late one night. A missile was launched from California and we were able to watch the re-entry vehicle come down. It was pretty interesting to see what looked like a large shooting star come down and land near the island. It was funny to think that the missile took around half an hour to make the trip that took us 44 days!