Marshalls to Anuta Day 7

Marshalls to Anuta Day 6

As I gaze towards the horizon, I melt into the sea.  The expanse of it.  This is the emptiness.  the emptiness that exists below everything.  the emptiness that everything exists upon.  I am feeling this emptiness.  a raw existence.  a realization that this sea is all that is real underneath the superficial that our lives consist of.
the sea of my inner existence.
I sit at the edge of my subconcious.  reduced to emptiness.
Is this my lesson?  Is this why I've been driven to the sea?  To be reduced to emptiness?
It is beautiful.
I cannot exist in the old world anymore.

Marshalls to Anuta Day 5

Supposedly, when you cross the equator you must perform some ritual or celebration or something.  I had no idea what this was supposed to be, so it was decided that we would swim the equator, dragging alongside the boat...

Marshalls to Anuta Day 4

squalls.  watching them approach, I imagine them as some benign hovering creature, the falling rain appear to be feelers dragging across the surface of the ocean.
I welcome the beasts of beauty as part of the dynamic seascape.

 Dolphins!

at night surrounded by glitter!  glittery sky beaming down.  glittery seas sparkle around us as we pass.
glowing orbs in our wake.
we have arrived.

Marshalls to Anuta Day 3

 cockpit shade was a life saver

 squall band...

Marshalls to Anuta Day 2

Marshalls to Anuta Day 1

We had a lovely sail the first day out of the lagoon on Majuro, and witnessed the epic site of a full rainbow all the way around the sun!!  Quite a send off from the land of Love and Rainbows.

Genesis Earthling: a Racer!

Due to our poor performance in the previous races, we were aloud to run the course only twice, while the others had to do three laps.  We would start a bit later, and hopefully everyone would finish at the same time.  Since we were setting off for passage just a few days after the race, we spent a few hours underwater scrubbing the bottom (before the race).  Thanks to this unanticipated advantage, we got second place!

Fire in Majuro

I awake one morning to a funny smell about the cabin.  Taking a peek outside, I see the source.

My favorite restaurant is burning down...

A place removed, Mili Atoll.

How do you describe a place so alien, that there is no vocabulary for it??

Mili Atoll sits near the southern end of the Marshall Islands.  An under-sailed cruising destination, the Marshall Islands are free of hurricanes and typhoons, and are consistently cooled by the northeast trades.  Once inside the lagoon of an atoll, one is free of the rolling pacific, anchored in crystal blue water off coconut strewn white sand beaches.  Sounds like most of the pacific, but in the Marshalls, you get the feeling that showing up here, the islanders are asking, “Hey, how’d you get here?  How did you find us?”  They know perfectly well we exist out there in the "West", but it is clear, beyond simply our different appearance, that we are not of their world.  Physically the atolls are so small, and the elevation so low, that they are barely visible at 10 miles away, half the time dipping below the swell.  When you do navigate your way there, you feel you have crossed a threshold.  This place exists apart.

These islanders are not topless in grass skirts.  Copra sales go towards western clothing, rice, solar panels, and HF radios.  However, I sensed a level of detachment from these material items.  Although these modern conveniences have crossed into their plane of existence, the Marshallese understand the impermanent nature of these items, their sinking atoll, and themselves.  Remaining neutral, they allow these items to come in and out of their lives, just as they themselves come in and out of existence.

“Yokwe, yokwe!” is the greeting in the Marshall Islands.  It translates to, “Love, rainbows!”  When you boil it down, not much is greater than love and rainbows.  You are greeted this way, then handed coconuts and bananas.  The next day you are given lobster and more coconuts.  Gifting back via cakes and outboard engine repair only got us crab, and more coconuts!  It was clear that the Marshallese would have the last word when it came to hospitality.

I love the Marshall Islands, the Marshallese people, rainbows, and atolls.  One day I will again cross that threshold for a visit.