We're Ninigo Sailors Now

Took a sailing canoe trip all day yesterday with Oscar and Keren from Longan Island. We rushed to get to shore when it was cloudy as we did not know what time exactly was meant by "after breakfast" and then when the sun came out, we both got totally sunburnt despite big hats. Dumb. Leslie has blisters on her lips and isn't looking forward to when they pop.

We sailed Oscar's nearly new canoe from Longan to Amik to wait out a squall and visit the people there. Many of the people on Amik - Oscar's people - we had met at the canoe races. Amik is a lovely but very small and low island, tightly packed with sago palm homes and banana trees and a few breadfruit. There is a tiny school and a concrete platform that was supposed to be a church. Someday maybe. We met Oscar's tiny ancient blind mother - a blue eyed beauty named Margaret - and spent time with his brother Michael in his half-finished house, watching the clouds to the SE, and keeping his loyal pup "Coffee" company. Once the squall passed, we sailed again south into the center of the lagoon and then Oscar and Keren changed the mast location (end for end) and we screeched right up to the beach at Pihon. Beautiful sailing...like flying!

Everyone at Pihon was surprised to see us back. We spent hours visiting and eating, and eating and visiting. We were able to get photos and talk with the family of a little blind boy named Jamie. We hope we might be able to scare up some help for him in the USA. None of our friends at Pihon would let us pass without a hello, firm handshake, a chat and maybe a look at their broken "whatever". We delivered a letter from a yacht we do not know that had been emailed to us to the Lemky family and had a nice long visit sipping tea and munching biscuits and bananas while watching the beautiful turquoise water just at arms length away. As we "told stories" Lemky's daughter Doreena carefully composed a letter for us to be emailed back.

Back at our canoe landing, the gracious Kalonga family served us a lovely snack of veggies, fish, ramen and rice with mango juice, insisting we must eat with them before we sailed. Before we finally clamored aboard "Sea Mate" headed NW to Longan - just as the sun was getting low and the SDA families were getting ready to shut down for sabbath - we had packed in our bags Doreena's letter; photos of a light we promised to email to a brother so he might buy another for them; bags of oranges, bananas, nuts, coconuts, a bucket of eggs, and full bellies. It was downwind home to Longan and as the sun set, we pulled up to the beach and all of Oscar and Keren's children swarmed to the beach to help unload the canoe before we all rolled it up on rollers of styrofoam floats. We got some great photos and a bit of video of the day - but even better memories.

At 9/4/2016 and 5:17 UTC (GMT) our position was: 01°13.10'S / 144°18.17'E.






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