Aries 32 - Thistledown
ok, so, it's been a while... that might make this email long, or maybe I'll just feel overwhelmed and won't put as much detail. We'll see what happens. In case you don't feel like reading the whole thing, short story is, I'm in Cebu, in the philippines, and I've posted new pictures on my web site. Also, I got a sim card for my cell phone. My number is (the +63 is the country code) +63 916 424 1737. I'm in the time zone GMT+8 (boston is GMT-5 and San Francisco is GMT-8). You might need to dial 011 to get out of the US. If you have skype or yahoo messenger or vonage you can probably call me using the computer for like 2 cents a minute. I have free incoming calls and text messaging.
pictures are at:
/sailing/aries32/batch14/
and
/sailing/aries32/batch15/
So where do I start?
I hung out in Kiribati some more... hanging out with peace corp people and with herbert.. trying to enjoy myself and not be misserable after Jill left. it was o.k. I like Kiribati but I stayed a bit too long.
Once a 17 year old hooker tried to pick me up... or ... actually a few times. I wasn't having it. I don't know why she couldn't take "no." One day she stole my dingy... she capsized it, and stood on it soaking wet in her bra paddling around in circles while a bunch of kids swam around her in circles yelling in I-Kiribati. The sailing rig was up, and she kinda screwed up the sailing rig. I couldn't get her to give it back, so I ended up having to jump in, swim over, and throw her in the water. It's good to have a little excitment in my life anyways. I was getting bored. All the kids laughed at her when I threw her overboard... they kept saying she was a "korikorea" girl.. their word that kinda means prostitute. The kids brought me the rudder and whatnot back, and I was able to re-rig the boat. that night though the dingy capsized on it's own while trailing behind my boat in the wind, and I lost boat the oars. I shouldn't have left the sailing rig up.
so... I went to a boat yard there (not mikes), and had them make me new oars. they came out nicely.
eventually, after spending too much time in kiribati, and wanting to see Jill, and having not gone home for Christmass last year, I decided to go back to the US for a visit.
In a previous email, I mentioned mike, who has a boatyard in abatao on north tarawa. Herb came with me for a sail on dec 20th, and we moved my boat there. Eventually Herb moved his boat there too. It's nice, and there's no coral to screw up the boat, and shallow enough for good holding, and mike and/or herbert would be able to keep an eye on my boat for me.
The row to shore from there was pretty bad at low tide, since most of the area would dry out, but I still had to get my dingy in far enough that it wouldn't float away on high tide... so this meant dragging it over the sand for a long long way. Eventually I would need to do more fiberglassing on the dingy. cruising is hell on a dingy. Once I didn't pull my dingy up quite far enough, and the dingy flipped over and I lost one of my brand new oars. I had a green paddle that I'd found in polynesia, and I still had one of the red oars that the boatyard had made for me. I didn't notice until someone made fun of me for my "port" and "starboard" green and red oars.
flights in Kiribati aren't reliable. I was flying from kiribati to the marshall islands, and then on christmass I would fly from the marshalls to the US (cheaper to fly on christmass day). I left myself almost a week to get to the marshall islands, but I barely made it in time. I'd been hoping to do some diving on the marshalls, but the first flight was cancelled because there were holes in the runway, the next flight was cancelled because the plane had mechanical problems, and finally I caught the third flight which arrived just an hour before my flight to HI left. Since the flights were booked seperately, I'm not sure I could have got a refund on the rest of my flight, if I hadn't been able to make it to the marshalls. I was pretty nervous.
I flew to DC first, where I stayed at Jill's sisters place. I guess I was hoping there was some way we could stay together, but she already had a plane ticket to Turkey, with a job lined up there... and we didn't get along increadible well in DC anyways. Maybe it was more than boat life that made us argue. Things went downhill. On new years flew to boston to visit family and friends, and then on the 10th or so I flew to San Francisco where I stayed at david's place and hung out with friends for a few days... then flew to HI for two nights, and then had about a week in the marshall islands on the way back while I waited for a flight to kiribati. I didn't end up scuba diving in the marshalls anyways since it was so ridiculously expensive.
In the states I got a new GPS, and my relacement radar detector, and some new books, and some food that's hard to find on the islands (Jill gave me a box of stuff to take back). I got a cell phone, and I was very very angry about it. I bought in from T-Mobile on the condition that it was an international phone that I could easily get unlocked to use anywhere in the world... but I ran around wasting lots of my precious US time going to probably a dozen cell phone shops and no-one could unlock it because of some funny new software. finally I got it unlocked here in the Philippines so finally I have a working cell phone.
On February 11th, I finally got motivated and sailed out of Tarawa, bound for Kosrae, the first island in the Federated States of Micronesia. It was a good sail, about 600 miles. Sailing out of Tarawa alone felt pretty lonely though... it was my first time sailing alone since August 18th when I arrived in Pago Pago American Samoa. I arrived on February 16th. I finished the wealth of nations and started origin of species. In Kosrae I finished my open water dives, and finally got my open water scuba certification. Kosrae's a nice place. friendly people. very religious... as are many of these island countries. people don't really drink in Kosrae. I met a couple on another boat who brew there own beer onboard. I should try that, though I'm not sure I have enough space. I spent too much time/money again on internet there. Internet cafe's have been a big dent in my budget. For some reason while I was in Kosrae, even though there were no bars or anything, and not much to do, for some reason I always felt like I had a purpose... like... some places are buetiful places or whatever, but I just don't know what to do when I get to shore, and so I hesitate to even leave my boat. In Kosrae things were going well for me in that sense. I met some people and sometimes I'd have plans to go somewhere with people or whatever, or I went for a run, or I did my dive class, etc.
On the 28th I sailed out of Kosrae. It was quite difficult to sail out the pass, right into the wind, out a narrow reef pass. It went alright though. I arrived in pohnpei on the following Sunday (march 3?), bad timing because I was afriad of overtime charges at customs. They ended up not charging me extra though. It was another hard beat into pohnpei, against an outgoing tide through a fairly narrow reef pass. I was a little confused on the way in, as to where exactly the pass was, so I talked to someone on the radio. It turned out to be the pilot, who came out to "help" me in a little motor boat. He jumped aboard while the other guy motored around watching. I think he just wanted to see my boat. it was cool with me. he was pretty funny.... One of my books, "world cruising handbook" by jimmie cornell says about this place: "Visiting sailors, coming by sea, with which the islanders have a deep affinity, can be sure of a warm and sincere welcome." I definately felt that from this guy. He was so excited an enthusiastic that I was sailing without a working motor. His excitement to see my boat was like that of a little kid, and yet his job is pilot.. it's not like boats are new to him. He talked about how he used to sail little outrigger canoes with his grandfather when he was little, and lamented the fact that everyone no-adays has 40hp outboards on their canoes. Everyone I met there was very excited and appriciative and impressed by what I was doing in a way that.. kinda made me feel good about what I'm doing.
It feels good when people have that kind of appriciation and respect for what I'm trying to do... some people just think I'm some rich yachtie living a life of luxury. That if I can afford to buy a boat, I must not have any other of life's problems and frustrations, and they fail to see the frustrations that such a life can add. I remember talking to an american in kiribati who'd asked about my trip. I was responding saying that this lifestyle has it's ups and downs, and how I was feeling a little frustrated lately, in part due to boat problems, but espcially since Jill had left... and she kind of attacked me, saying things like "you think my life isn't frustrating??" and was kind of accusing me of... I duno... being somehow spoiled or something... having some dream life and still complaining about it. We were at a bar. maybe we were just drunk and miss-understanding each other but... I think it's interesting when some of these poor locals who have absolutely nothing, are more impressed by this lifestyle I've chosen, than people who themselves have a relatively high level of comfort and convinience in thier lives... like, I think there are some people who think I have this opportunity that they don't that maybe they're somehow jealous of or coveting of, and figure I've got it made... but I worked hard to make this happen, and people with nothing sometimes see that, when people who really have the opportunities available to them to do anything they might choose, sometimes don't see it that way.
Right now though, I'm kind of feeling an "up" in terms of the ups and downs. I'm happy about being here. I haven't been obsessing over Jill so much. I feel good about things. This feels like a new phase of my trip. I feel like I'm crusing a new continent, even if I am still in islands... I feel like I've actually crossed the ocean now. The place has a feel like mexico. I just wish they spoke spanish. they almost do... there's a lot of spanish influence in the visayan dialect. they use Pesos.
So, Pohnpei. There were some large multi-hulled canoes in pohnpei sailing from HI. Aparently they'd been in the news. I'm not really sure what the deal was.
I asked around about a welder, thinking I'd have an outboard bracket made. There's only one guy in town, a new zealander guy. I found him at the bar one night, and we drew up some plans for a bracket on scraps of paper and napkins and such. He said would meet me the next day to take a molding of the side of my hull so he could make a contoured bracket. he wrote down the "appointment" on a piece of paper and put it in his pocket. He must not have checked his pocket. A few days later I come to the bar again... "which one of you wanted some welding done?" hehe. I guess the bar is the wrong place to make plans like that. He was probably good during the day, but I decided against it anyways... It was getting to be time to leave, and he only had marine aluminum... I'd prefer stainless steel. They didn't sell suitable outboards in micronesia anyways either.
I met a couple of guys, chris and eddie, that were delivering a 34' boat from cali to hong kong, for the owner, pat, who was a pilot out of hong kong. I hung out with them while I was there, and we rented a car one day to see the sights of the island... the ruins of nan-madol, a waterfall, etc. It was nice.
Eddie's an old hippie artist with dreads that he keeps in a bag around his neck so they don't drag on the ground. Having just finished "the wealth of nations" we got into some arguments about capitalism and such, which were entertaining. I played chess with chris, and hadn't really played since I was hanging out with Jim. I wish those guys were over here.
I was able to get wireless internet there from the boat... I also recieved mail in pohnpei, since micronesia has a US post office. Some girl from findacrew.net who seemed particularly interested in actually coming sailing with me was eager to send me a box of goodies, and so I gave her the address and she did... and then she never talked to me again. weird. I don't understand why she would eagerly put together a box of stuff to mail to me, and spend all that money, and then never even talk to me again. At least I got some good books out of it, and a decent bottle of wine. I feel like I waste too much time on that internet thing. I think I waste too much time on flakey women in general though, regardless of if they come from the internet. How many times I've gone hours out of my way to meet some girl who has something else to do at the last minute with no notice and not even a good excuse. Findacrew.net worked well for finding Jill, ... I think she was the first person I clicked on the first time I went to findacrew.net, but, I think I need to spend less time on the internet. at least internet is cheap here in the philippines though. Everything is cheap here. I like the philippines quite a bit. I think I might have less trouble with flakey women here too... every cute girl I see seems desperate to talk to me. Many of them have children already (they don't believe in birth control), and most of them are talking about marriage before they even know your name, but, my point is, it seems to be true, the things they say about the Philippines. It's a good place. anyways, I'm ruining the chronology of my story.
I hit a reef on the way into the anchorage coming from the customs dock, when I first arrived in pohnpei. Luckily I just bounced over the top of it. Eddie and chris had arrived the same day, and had been behind me, and I yelled at them frantically as they sailed along right behind me, drawing slightly more than me, and getting stuck on the reef I'd bumped. So, on March 18th I weighed anchor and sailed out of Pohnpei. Eddie and Pat (pat, the owner of that boat, came for a visit to cruise around pohnpei), came aboard to give me a hand while I sailed from the anchorage back to the customs dock... an upwind leg I was kind of nervous about. It made it a little more relaxing to have them aboard, though the sail turned out to be fine. I was thinking I might have had to row in a narrow up wind part, but it was ok. Eddie watched from the bow to make sure we didn't hit a reef. It took most of the day to check out, so while I was waiting for the customs people who were out to lunch, I took a cab in town to load up on coconuts and other last minute supplies. I still have coconuts from micronesia, speaking of which, I should drink those before they totally dry up. The eating was good on this passage. I was supprised by how long eggplant lasted... I brought about 10 of them... and about 10-15 coconuts, and cheese, and a dozen eggs. I couldn't eat much for the first week or so though, I got some really really bad diareah, as well as being a little sea-sick. I started feeling weak and dehidrated, I started worrying I was going to have to stop in Palau and get medicine or something... but... it went away. Then I didn't know what made me sick so I was afraid to eat certain things... I ended up throwing away one moldy block of cheese that I'd been eating.. and re-introduced things like butter and eggs one at a time so I'd know which did it if I got sick again.
I dropped anchor in Maasin, in southern Leyte, an island of the Philippines, on April 5th (UTC anyways). I didn't go to shore, and the next day when I did go to shore it was good friday, and everything was closed. I had a hard time just finding an open ATM so I could get pesos. I don't like how everyone is so religious in places like these. After reading most of the bible on passage from micronesia, ... I really don't understand how there are christians. I guess I'm probably insulting some people, but nothing seems holy about that book. I can understand thinking jesus had some good stuff to say, but... to think of him as the son of the god that led the hebrews out of egypt and masacred palastinians etc? What does that have to do with the rest of us who aren't even of jewish blood? we're not the chosen people. Just cuz some priest somewhere in the new testament decided to start baptizing non-jews? it seems pretty remote for most of us... especially for these pacific islanders. and how is any of gods word as recorded there "good." People are horrified when I say I don't believe in God, but I'm horrified that someone could read all that story about moses and tell me that they believe in that as god. I think my athiesm would devise a more ethical system of morals than any you could derive from that book. People actually think this moses guy was a prophet, not a hoax...? that the cloud he was talking to in his wilderness camp was actually god personfied, telling them to masacre villiages of people. And... god as described in the bible is a flake! people believe that god is forgetful? moses has to be like "hey, but you promised this!" and "god" is like "oh, you're right, my bad." From what I've seen so far, I think I'm going to enjoy the koran a bit more.
anyways, good friday. The people I talk to say "we are in mourning because this is when jesus died." they bring a float down the street with a statue of jesus and people beating him with a cross. everyone is holding candles. It was pretty morbid. I'll stick with my easter bunny and chocolate eggs. Everyone I talk to it's "what's your name? where are you from? what's your religion?" and then they freak out when I say "I'm an athiest" or "I don't have a religon." They say "what?!? you don't have a god?!?!" A few times I've just said "I was baptized catholic" so they don't get worried. hehe. They seem to accept that answer.
It's so cheap here. A litre of beer at a resort is a dollar. A taxi is a dollar or two. a meal is usually about a dollar. An hour of internet at the cafe is about 30 cents, as opposed to the 24$ in bora bora. I'm glad to be out of the islands. I guess these are islands too, but I feel like I've made it to asia now, and that's a good feeling.
The people live in some pretty rough conditions here. I talked to a lot of the girls who live and work in Maasin... it sounds like 100$/month is a good wage. One girl works 10pm till 6am 7 days a week, and then does paperwork for the business until noon. she has a three year old daughter. Another girl I met said her boss beats her if she does something wrong, and then tells her aunt (who she lives with) who also gets mad at her. They all live with their families, even after they get married. I stopped by a girl's house for a minute when she was getting something or something like that... they had no electricity, but I had my flashlight. there were swarms of cockroaches on the floor... I was stepping on them without trying. I asked to use the bathroom and she said "no, it's dirty." I said I just had to pee, and so she had me pee on the floor in tihs tiled room that seemed like maybe it was some kind of shower. The walls looked like they were crumbling apart, and they were covered in ants (or maybe termites?).
The wanting to get married thing is kind of anoying. Most of these girls probably just want a US passport. I hung out with this one girl, and when I met her aunt her aunt actually jumped up and started dancing around the room in excitement that her niece had met some white guy. Aparently one of their cousins or something married an american, and lives in america, and probably sends them money once in a while or something. it feels kind of ... disgusting..
I probably wont find some philippina girl to sail with me. a few of them came out to see my boat in Maasin in the anchorage... it wasn't all that rolly, but within a minute they were all sea sick. In the anchorage. If that's some genetic thing or something, it seems the philippina girls aren't cut out to be sailors.
On April 9th I sailed out of Maasin, and it took about 24 hours to get to Cebu. That 24 hours was probably harder than the 20 or so days from Micronesia... I couldn't sleep because it was in close quarters the whole time, lots of fishing boats and ferries, and the wind was flakey from the mountains, and I had to fly the spinaker to get in before dark the next night. I timed it horribly... I meant to leave in the afternoon so I'd go through this particular reef area in daylight, and so I'd arrive in daylight, but I was hanging out with some people in the morning and was having a hard time getting motivated to leave.
Yesterday I checked into the country finally, so I'm legal now. They almost didn't let me because I was wearing shorts and sandles... they want pants and shoes in government offices. After that I got my cell phone fixed etc, and then I went looking for a bar or something, and ended up in some restaruant area that lonely planet recomended. I talked to a couple of girls who were models waiting for a goci, asking them where they thought I should go. They didn't have any suggestions. After a while I met some guy who suggested some bar downtown, so I jumped in a cab, but as I was trying to explain to the cabi where the guy had said to go, the models, star and audi, banged on the window and told me to come play pool with them. It doesn't seem to go that way in the US. They were horrified that I was going to where this guy had suggested; it seems he was sending me to a brothel...
I kind of want to make a trip back to Maasin. I met some cool people there and had a good time. It's a little cheaper than Cebu in part because I end up taking a lot of taxis in Cebu... and it's kind of a nice little quieter town to walk around in, rather than a giant city. This is probably the biggest city I've been in on this trip, outside the US. If I go back I'd probably just take the ferry though, and stay in a pension house for a bit.
The NE monsoon and non-typhoon season is almost over now... so I'm trying to decide what to do. I think the typhoons don't really kick in until June, but there'd by light and flakey winds going down eastern malaysia, and I don't feel ready to leave here immediately. it's not *that* far though, so I could probably make it south, past singapore to the malaca straight or something, before september. I'd have to leave here quickly though and I'm just imagining that I'll get sucked into this place for a while. My tentative plan is to leave my boat somewhere, and study chinese in Beijing from September to January. I still have to apply for the Chinese course. I might leave the boat here in the Philippines. That means I need to find something to do for the summer too.. like backpack around SE asia maybe, or try to get a job teaching ESL in S Korea, or maybe even find some short term telecomuting computer job. I'm hoping to put the boat on the hard when I leave it, so I don't have to worry about it so much when I'm gone. I'm also hoping to do some work on it. I need to commit to what I'm going to do about this engine, either fixing it, or finally getting rid of it.
It could be tempting to just live here for a few months. I could picture buying a cheap motorcycle and finding a girlfriend and an apartment and just kind of hanging out. The most expensive part would be if I needed to make a visa run. I'd like to see other areas in SE asia though... I have a couple of friends I'd like to visit in Thailand etc.