118 | Various points of interest
Reading time: 5 minutes
WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW
We arrived at Majuro, Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI), on Tuesday June 6 around 11am. (It’s pronounced “MAH-jur-oh” where the “jur” is like “jury”.) We were greeted by a couple of dinghies coming from the mooring field to show us what mooring ball to pick up. There’s limited anchoring here because apparently the floor of the lagoon is littered with sunken boats. (Sobering.) A family of 8 came out of their boat just to watch us arrive. It was a proper community welcome and I couldn’t stop smiling.
Upon arrival at a new place I always send a message to my Mom and Dad and our daughters letting them know we’ve arrived. Most of the time my Dad replies with something like, “Let’s go get some pizza at Marco’s Pizza and Pasta.” This is something he does that makes me feel loved and cared for. He checks Google Maps to see what’s around us and he envisions us visiting different restaurants. We’ve never actually visited the restaurants he identifies, but sometimes we see them later when we’re walking around town and I’ll remember his invitation. This time he said, “Long hot showers are on me if you want to check in at Hotel Robert Reimer.” We said yes absolutely please and thank you. What an amazing gift. We got three nights in air conditioning (but we’re keeping it at 78F/25C – we don’t want to lose our acclimatization), a soft, fluffy bed and fast wi-fi. It’s been a respite from the heat and the effort of boat living as we recover from covid.
I’d like to apologize to new readers who have joined in the last couple of not-fun months. You missed out on the reports of snorkeling in the Tuamotus, and hiking to waterfalls in Fiji. Instead you’ve had a series of stories that are more misadventure than adventure, more disappointment and bad news than joy and exploration. I’m sorry. To all of my readers, especially the ones who have been with us for almost two years, I know it can be hard to read posts from me that are full of our challenges. I know that’s hard. I understand if you skip those. But I don’t have it in me to gloss over the hard times. I only know how to be real about what this experience is and lately it’s been tough. I have soaring hope that the tide will turn in our favor soon.
VARIOUS POINTS OF INTEREST
Marshall Islands is more American than anywhere we’ve been
Republic of Marshall Islands has a special relationship with the United States, largely owing to us trying to destroy their country with nuclear testing. Bikini Atoll is here. You know, the one famous for those images of an atomic bomb explosion. The US has provided more than a billion dollars (in today’s dollars) to support RMI. Most people speak some English. They use the US dollar here. They drive on the right side of the road. There are some American businesses like Ace Hardware and Napa Auto Parts. In grocery stores there are some familiar American products like Duncan Hines cake mix and the Safeway store Signature brand. In restaurants the menus are decidedly American with a sprinkle of Polynesian. Burgers, pizza and spaghetti are common, but also Teriyaki Chicken. Visiting a foreign country comes with layers of complexity, but a few of those layers are removed here because of the American influence and presence.
I wish their eggs were less American
Here in Majuro eggs are refrigerated. This is an American peculiarity. Most other places in the world do not refrigerate eggs. Even in the tropics eggs at room temperature (which here means 80-85F/26-29C) can last a couple of weeks and longer if you turn them every day. (Turning the eggs from one end to the other prevents that little air sac from getting too stuck in one place and aging prematurely.) The rule of thumb is if you buy a refrigerated food item – eggs, fruits, vegetables - then it needs to continue to be refrigerated or it’ll go off pretty quickly. I’m going to have to whip out some scientific inquiry and test this before we provision for our passage. Because our tiny refrigerator can only hold about a dozen eggs and we’ll need eight or nine times that for our passage to Alaska.
Why must we always be shipping things from the US to tiny islands in the South Pacific
Tracking numbers are meaningless once parcels leave the US. Delivery estimates are meaningless once parcels leave the US. In Majuro we are awaiting delivery on a few items critical to our next passage including the new tiller arm for the autopilot and granola that my Mom made. The non-critical but still important items fill two boxes. Everything is in transit to us. And this is where certainty dies. Are the boxes being sent to Honolulu then Guam, or just Honolulu then Marshall Islands? If to Guam then we can expect the delivery to take a couple of weeks longer. There’s a literal ship involved in delivering here. If just to Honolulu though they might show up on tomorrow’s plane. Right now our worry is that the packages will take too long to arrive and our window for departing will close. In which case we’ll make the tough decision to sail on without those items.
WHAT’S NEXT
We’re focused on getting Harry’s health back on track. His covid symptoms improved a lot in the last couple of days of our passage but then he got hit with a sinus infection. We’re treating that (thank you Dr. Rob for the immediate consult from your boat in Japan) and he’s already improving but full recovery is going to take some time. My covid has also improved a lot but I’ve got some congestion lingering. We cannot depart on our next leg if either of us isn’t up to par. So that’s our focus.
All my love,
Joy