Rainy Season

Ended the drought in Palau but made traveling by bicycle challenging.
We try not to get caught by squalls when out and about , but this day we
failed. Thankfully there's a lot of water available for laundry!



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Underwater Palau

In just a few short days in June 2016, a few short miles from the yacht
basin, we saw more new creatures underwater than almost any other time
we've ventured out into the Rock Islands. See our new photos in the
photo gallery at:

http://www.sv-carina.org/OurPicturesPages/OurPicturesMicronesiaRockIslands.htm



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Rock Islands!

Five idyllic days only a few miles from Malakal brought us quiet nights,
beautiful snorkeling and good company. Crocs, octopus, mandarinfish,
endemic birds, and this beauty, spotted by Philip but caught on "film"
by Glen of Backbeat using our GoPro. He is a crocodile flathead.

If only the week had stayed idyllic...the world and its horrifying news
reached us even in the islands.



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A Leaf? A Fish?

This little beauty was grazing on Carina's hull, but until it turned
around and started back in the other direction, it looked just like a
floating leaf. Sometimes the most boring of tasks - cleaning the hull -
can become wonderful.




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The Fat Cat

He was quite the cat. We were lucky he found us and chose us. He has
taken a big chunk of our hearts to wherever he has gone. Carina feels
different; we feel different.

Sometime in the future another fuzzy one will fill this hole in our
lives, but not yet.

http://sv-carina.org/ourcat.htm




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Just When We Think Our Project List is Shrinking

We had expected to write an update on our relaxing (but very sad, RIP
John) week bobbing in the Rock Islands in a little nook called "Baby
Shark" but "disaster" got in the way. A few hours after motoring slowly
back to our mooring at the RBYC on a calm morning, we returned from a
supply trip by bicycle to town to find our backstay on the deck. On its
way down it gouged the new LP paint on the hard dodger but thankfully
missed all of the solar panels.

This failed tang was about 10 months old. We are oh so very thankful
this did not happen when we were 1000 nm at sea. Our priorities for
Carina have now shifted; our aft chainplates were made in the same shop...



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Eco Glass

At Palau there is an innovative program to turn recycled glass waste
into useful items...or art! The program at the state dump is free;
residents can enroll in a course, but anyone visiting can have a try at
making a drinking glass made from trash! Maki and Waylon are patient
and competent teachers.




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Glorious RAIN!

Today the skies opened up and Palau received a welcome deluge after months of drought. Unfortunately we were downtown Koror with a load of groceries in our backpacks and only our bicycles as transportation. We waited and waited and waited for even a slight break in the driving rainfall, during which time we met George one of the parking attendants at the Western Caroline Trading Company (WCTC) who traded with us stories of cold rain in Seattle (or in his case Tacoma where all of his children live). Finally we shrugged and took off, whooshing down the streets of Koror, trying to avoid cars and buses - "Long Rainbow Happy Tour" - oblivious to the mucky splashes they sent up in our faces. By the time we got back to Sam's - where everyone was abuzz collecting water - we were streaked in mud and soaked to the core. And cold!

At 4/20/2016 and 7:17 UTC (GMT) our position was: 07°20.40'N / 134°27.06'E.



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Palau

We've pretty much settled into life here in Palau and have a routine going. We've bought bicycles and travel to town pretty much every day to shop a little but the main reason for the bikes is exercise. We're chipping away at various boat projects and everyday maintenance. Our list grew significantly while in Indonesia. We are still meeting all sorts of interesting people, some of them true characters, and this helps us to keep learning about the world from aboard a small yacht. Maybe too it helps us to ignore some of the shenanigans going on back home or the worry of our friends still being held hostage.

At 12/19/2015 and 21:34 UTC (GMT) our position was: 07°20.38'N / 134°27.10'E.



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Omens

Dawn brings us to a full seven days on passage from Momfafa, an uninhabited anchorage we used to clean our hull and propeller. We stayed there four days watching weather, believing the computer-generated GRIBS that westerly winds would arrive. They did not. With no clear "window" to jump off and make progress northbound, we simply went.

The passage from Pulau Waigeo Indonesia to the Republic of Palau - a passage of roughly 500 miles at a bearing of 20 degrees - crosses the equator and an area prone to calms. To complicate matters, strong currents of up to 2 knots or more run westerly north of Waigeo and easterly at or above 04 N, creating a clockwise rotation with a southbound arm that hampered our northbound voyage, reducing our usual passage speed by about 40%.

At the equator, at a change of watch in the dark of night, Philip made an appeal to Neptune to keep us safe and mixed a small tot of aged Filipino rum with the briny sea. If a slow passage defines, safe, than safe we are. Many times Carina bucked like a rodeo bull in confused swell and calm winds going absolutely nowhere but backwards, we wanted to cry (or Leslie did).

On one such occasion, at night, dolphins suddenly began to play around Carina, their punctuated blows throwing mist into the moonlight, as if to say, "stop fretting, life is good". Each night too, falling stars streaked across the magnificent starlit sky, pushing us from frustration to appreciation for being just here, just now, where it is truly beautiful.


At 12/4/2015 and 21:10 UTC (GMT) our position was: 05°09.19'N / 134°30.53'E.
We were traveling 010 degrees true at 3.5 knots.





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