Well, I was going to upload photos and all that, but its the usual: an hour on the Internet and I have been unsuccessful at getting any on, so I’ll try again next stop.
We got into Chuuk in Micronesia a couple of days ago and Katie and I have been quite excited about some of the products for us to buy here… at the same time, however, I miss some of the Australian/NZ products we’ve been seeing since French Polynesia. Its hard to believe that we are back in the Northern Hemisphere! Its still stinking hot however. I suppose the tropics are still the tropics no matter which side of the line you are on. We’re at about 7 degrees North right now, so things will get cooler as we head towards Guam and then Okinawa.
There isn’t really anything much exciting to report about Chuuk. Its a bit of a hole of a place, although it has the best Wreck Diving in the world as an entire Japanese fleet was sunk on the lagoon floor in 1944. Its supposed to be quite amazing – whole shells, vehicles, and airplanes are inside the holds of these cargo ships (aswell as many many sake bottles). Too bad I don’t dive.
I did my laundry this morning – $1.00/load, which is pretty much the cheapest I’ve seen it since we left home. I did have to do it myself, however, which is a new thing this Offshore. So far the only way to do laundry has been to pay someone to do it for you. Shucks. But Micronesia has the beautiful blue water like we’ve been used to all along the South Pacific.
Our line crossing went down much the same way it did Leg 2… we crossed late at night, it was cold, windy, rough… pretty much what the equator is not supposed to be like. We had the ceremony the next day, which was my cooking day this time, nice for Katie because she cooked the last one. It also meant that I did not have to have any part of throwing disgusting slop at trainees to initiate them from polywog to shellback. There were two trainees on still from Leg 2, so they joined in the festivities. I did get some fantastic (and incriminating…) photos however, which will appear in due time.
We leave Chuuk tomorrow and keep heading north to Guam. I’m looking forward to good internet, hopefully showers, and maybe even a spa… a massage would not be out of the question right now!
This group of trainees has been lots of fun so far. About half of them are stay-overs from previous legs meaning everyone has a good idea of what goes on with shipboard life. There are always some challenges and we had some seasickness the first day out of Madang (including yours truely once again. Drat, I was hoping I’d kicked it. I guess 3 months of flat calm will do that to you though. It was my cooking day once again too.), but it went by quite quickly. I think already we’ve done more sailing than we did all of last leg, which is great for the trainees from last leg who are still on.
As we get closer to China, I’ll be starting some Chinese lessons and hopefully getting everyone prepared for the culture so the culture shock isn’t as huge. It will already be two-fold for those of us who have been out since home. The biggest city I’ve seen since Honolulu was probably no more than 10,000. Yikes! Cities?!? Skyscrapers?!? Neon lights?!? We don’t need the re-entrance into “Westernization” to coincide with the culture shock of China. Maybe Guam will be a warm up for that as well.
Until then, I will continue to suffocate/soak in sweat in my bunk and enjoy the cool nights (aka 29 degrees Celcius. Yes, that is now cold for me. Maybe that will be the third type of culture shock I’ll have: Freaking Cold) up on deck looking at the stars. Speaking of stars, I saw the Big Dipper the other night for the first time in months. That was a nice reminder of being back in the northern hemisphere again.

I don’t think we had a shipping agent for Japan yet when I last posted addresses. There is still the address for China that I put up – you need to give mail about 2-3 weeks to get there. We anticipate arriving in Shanghai in about a month and will be there for 2 or 3 weeks. We should arrive in Osaka near the beginning of March – the second or third week I think, so mail should be out by the end of February, early march to make it in time.
Gillian Hoyer, Pacific Grace
c/o Waldron Norton Lilly Intl Osaka Branch Heisei Shipping Agencies Ltd
Wakasugi Grand Building 3F
5-25 Tenjinbanshi 2-Chome
Japan

Hawaii will be the same as it was on the way out here, so that is all the addresses to take me home! Only 3 legs and less than 6 months and I will be waving frantically from the boat as we pull into the Inner Harbour, Victoria. See you all there!

… its been a long time…
So long in fact, that I had forgotten my Facebook password. No matter, Facebook wasn’t working much once I got on and I couldn’t actually do/see anything. And then there was the 100+ emails. Real emails. That is not counting the forwards and mailing lists. So, an hour later, I have sorted through those and am saying hi on here. I long ago gave up any hope at being a good email-replier. I love reading them, but until I have internet that costs less than, say, 45kina (like 20 dollars) an hour, I’m going to resort to this.
This is, mind you, the first internet I have used in the fair country of Papua New Guinea. PNG is possibly the hottest place on earth. Seriously. 30 degrees Celcius is now cold for me and I reach for a sweater. Katie and I have checked into the Madang Resort for tonight and the next night as they are our days off. This is the first time I have left our airconditioned room all day… and it was into the airconditioned “business centre”. It doesn’t help that we have food and there is a mini bar and a tv with a movie channel.
Watching TV reminds me of how much goes on without me having a clue about it – CNN and BBC are full of the news of Bhutto’s assassination. I only just found out that a family friend died a month and a half ago. My friends had a baby. I have loved reading christmas letters emailed to me and finding out about your lives over the last 6 months that I’ve been away. Maybe I can implore some of you to make lists of books I need to read and movies I need to watch when I get home… and perhaps if something earth shattering goes on, make note of it. I devour the Economist, TImes and Macleans when Dad sends them, and then they get passed around the boat to all the other news-deprived people. ANd to think I used to consider myself up to date on current events!
Well, Leg 4 has come to an end. December 8th was officially Half Way Day so it is less than 6 months until we sail into the Inner Harbour. Right now, I am dreaming of cool weather dispite the fact that I will freeze my butt off in it. I console myself with the fact that every other day I will be warm in the galley and that I never really have to go up on deck if I don’t want to.
This leg has been the most challenging in terms of my job on the boat. The heat has been killer and I have never sweat so much in my life. Just walking into the galley makes me break out in a sweat, a la Pavlov’s dog maybe? My funky blisters have pretty much dissappeared, which is great. We think we have a diagnosis, I just don’t remember what it is. A couple other people ended up with them too (although not as bad) which makes me feel like less of a mutant.
THe Soloman Islands were possibly the hardest place I have ever had to find food. PNG has been a pleasant surprise, although they let me down with the lack of taxi service, thus necessitating us to beg and borrow shopping carts from the local supermarket and make lots of runs back and forth. However, with the exception of our frozen meat and a few other things (like TP, which we almost ran out of in Kimbe, it was pretty sketchy there, we were down to 2 days worth… yikes!) all of our shopping is done. We’ve only spent about 9000USD here in the last week. Wow.
CHristmas was fun. We drew names and made presents for our person. I had Noah, the Skipper’s 9 year old son. I made him a sling shot out of a piece of wood I got in Kavieng, New Ireland Province PNG and all of us are living in fear now. From my Secret Santa (Matt) I got a hammock made out of a blanket and I am looking forward to many non-cooking days being slung between the main mast and shrouds… provided the sail is not up of course! THere was some amazingly creative gifts given!
There are so many things that have happened in the last month since I was on: swimming with whales, dory adventures, shopping trips, crazy rides with port agents who are ex-assassains-for-hire, climbing active volcanoes, sailing over areas marked “mine-field, do not anchor” on the chart, crazy beautiful sandy beaches, dugout canoes, amazing snorkling… I could go on.
Now, with three legs to go, we head north in a few short days. Look out new trainees, because we’re crossing the equator in less than 5 degrees… We leave here new years eve (pending safe arrival of all trainees, Air Nigini cancells flights to Magang first and it took some 3 days to get here from Port Moresby, so you can pray for that) to head north to micronesia, Guam and then Shanghai. Skipper has asked me to prepare some briefing info on China, maybe teach some Chinese words and plan some trips! I’m looking forward to cheaper internet (I hope) and more of it. I’m convinced that there are no more than 2 computers in this country. Oh well.
Until then, I will sign off and hope that I can send you some fabulous photos at a sooner date rather than later. Lots of Love! 🙂

PS – My updated Books I read this year list is up!

Yay for touristy towns with wireless Internet available on the boat. I’m in Ghizo on the island of Gizo… or is it Gizo on the island of Ghizo. Whatever. I’m in the Solomon Islands. The Solomons are pretty darn cool. Firstly, there is the history – up until the 30s, these guys were known as some of the most dangerous people in the world what with headhunting and cannibalism and all. Now they are incredibly friendly. The sight of some major WW2 battles (Guadalcanal is the main Island here…), there is some amazing diving and snorkling. We’ve essentially been following the American advance since Luganville in Vanuatu which is pretty meaningful now that it is Rememberance Day tomorrow. Some highlights thus far:
Marovo Lagoon in the New Georgia Island group in the Solomons. Pretty much the most amazing coral I have ever seen. Full stop. We’re snorkling in maybe 6 feet of water and then we get to the shelf and its full of brilliantly coloured corals and fish, all at snorkel level. That was pretty neat.
Then we were off to Munda, also on New Georgia I believe. Then we traversed Diamond Narrows between two Islands – a mile long, maybe half a mile wide in its widest. It felt like we were going down the Amazon. People were cheering as we sailed by. Amazing, Then it was down to snorkle a wreck of a Japanese supply ship WW2 era. Also amazing. I swam up the smokestack. Yay me and conquring my fears.
Next it was to Kennedy Island, the Island that JFK was shipwrecked on in WW2. Tiny tiny Island close to Ghizo. Now we’re in Ghizo and I spent the most amazing afternoon playing volleyball and soccer with the youth at the local united church who were having a sports day. It was so much fun!! It totally recharged me and now I’m feeling more positive about things (groceries were frusterating me.)
Offshore isn’t all fun and games though. It is pretty much the hottest I’ve ever experienced right now. We measured 45 degrees on deck the other day. I have never sweat so much in my life. My skin problem has come back, so I’m back on the antibiotics, hopefully this will clear it up. And food is so hard to come by here. The grocery stores, when they have them are tiny and quantities are tiny and expensive. We spent $500 US today on what would have maybe cost half that at home – some canned fruits, veg, a bit of margarine and enough meat for 1 meal. Its a bit sketch. I think this is the area of Offshore I was most concerned about and it is living up to my expectations. I’ve heard that Rabul in PNG where we are off to next is a bit better. I hope.
But for now, I’m just going to enjoy Ghizo. There is a sunken Japanese Zero plane in the harbour I may be able to check out tomorrow (but I’m cooking and I’d also like to try and get to church too).
In other news, I’ve signed a contract to finish the summer season and the fall season next year with SALTS, cooking still. I’ll be cooking trip 4 an 5 – August 9 it starts in Port Hardy and then cooking until October 30. So that is life as far in advance as I’ve planned. After that, who knows?!?