February 17, 2018 - Emidj

February 17, 2018

Even after going to bed early, I still slept in until almost 8am, but felt better this morning and things have really improved throughout the day.

Not much of an eventful day as we both spent the day working; Pete on the boat and me in the kitchen. We now have fresh wheat, rye, buckwheat bread, dried fruit – not exactly sure what kind – and lemon scones, white chocolate chip, candied ginger and almond cookies and by morning, fresh yogurt which is making in the thermal cooker I bought in Majuro.

After the baking was finished, it was time for an overdue cleaning of the boat. I swabbed the deck, swept and washed floors, cleaned the kitchen sink and the bathroom, and wiped down walls that had fingerprints all over from clinging to them during the passage from Majuro to Jaluit. A nice scrub down in the lagoon for myself followed and feeling clean and rejuvenated, made pork, chicken, rice and bean soft tacos, basically leftovers with a different twist. As I began making dinner there was a flurry of voices approaching outside and Pete warned me that a group of boys were swimming to the boat probably in search of another candy. Since my supply was already low, I asked Pete if I could hand out some of his ginger snaps with a promise to keep him in homemade cookies.  The boys really enjoyed them and when one lost his in the water, another dove down, nabbed it and ate it right up. After telling them I’d see them tomorrow, went back inside to continue work on dinner. But, the boys weren’t too keen on leaving and proceeded to explore the outside of the boat for quite a while getting as far as the steps where Pete said they could jump off, but not come on board. I wanted to give them more treats, but also figured that like most kids, they’d think if they waited around long enough each time, they’d get more, so decided to make some scones with dried fruit to take to shore and hand out tomorrow as our supply of ginger snaps is now a bit low as well.

After dinner, there was the washing up to do, in a bucket with saltwater, a saltwater rinse and then a freshwater rinse. Since it had been raining quite a bit, I took the five gallon jug up front to refill the boat freshwater tank so we would have a place to put the new fresh water being collected in buckets off the solar panels and a couple of others. It’s surprising how quickly the fill up and the only fresh water in most places here is from catchments that collect rainwater off roofs. At least Pete does have a system that can turn the salt water into fresh water for drinking and when needed for washing as well. Life on a boat is very different and one learns to be very self-sufficient, esp. in remote areas where the people have little so you can’t expect them to have extra to sell, except for coconuts and in season, breadfruit.

Tonight is Pete’s night for an early sleep after spending hours cleaning the underside of the boat with a scrubby getting it ready for painting on Monday. We can’t do it tomorrow as the Marshallese do take Sunday as a day of rest seriously and we don’t want to offend them but rather be respectful of their culture and kindness in letting us visit here.

Boys, older and younger, older ones shy smile and giggle shyly  hiding their faces with their hands.

Miss Kiss from Emidj Island and a ladder for picking coconuts

A lovely flower that floated by the boat

We didn't know it at the time, but this is the canoe that was full with the two ladies and a few kids that visited us on Feb. 18