Anaho Bay, Nuku Hiva 19 May 2010 8.8208S 140.0636W

and other spots in the past week (plus a few days):

Taiohae, Nuku Hiva 8.9144S 140.1020W

Hakatea, Nuku Hiva 8.9444S 140.1643W

Taipivai, Nuku Hiva 8.8813S 140.0467W

Over 10 days since my last entry. I do get quieter when we’re near land, my “voice” that I diligently coaxed out, at sea is drowned out by all the land “noise.” It was rude to leave you hanging for 10 whole days with my 3 bad minutes. I know we won’t be getting much sympathy from any quarter (even after that description of some of the cost of paradise), but as you all know land offers up a plethora of distractions and time wasters, to what would otherwise be a monastic, contemplative existence on this blue planet.

If anyone was still concerned about socialization on a boat, I can officially lay those fears to rest. We’ve given and received more invitations, for hikes, outings, drinks, and dinners in the past three weeks than in the past 3 years. We’ve met 10 boats here with kids on board, and each of them has mentioned others we’ve not yet met. That’s just kids under 18 – I’m not yet counting all the 20 year olds out here, although I probably should, given how much they play, and how generous they’ve been in including our younger generation in their games. There’s an unspoken agreement among parents that the fun starts after school work (the 20-somethings don’t hold to that rule). It’s amazing how much faster Algebra goes on our boat with that motivator.

Logan said the other day, “Ya know, there are a lot of people doing what we’re doing.” It’s true, what we’re doing may seem far out to many of you, but we are not alone out here, even in the subcategory of cruisers with kids, we’re not in any minority. And all of them are blogging, if I ever get to an internet connection to update our www.silverliningacademy.org website, I’ll add links to their blogs, so you can find out more about the boats we mention as we go.

After a mega book exchange last night with kids from Capaz, our boat is filled with the sounds of kids engrossed in their books – that is to say my guys are so quiet that I can hear water lapping at the stern, waves breaking across the bay, roosters crowing in the village, voices from other boats, a call to crew on an outrigger to change paddle sides “hae, hae, HUP,” and is that a dinghy approaching our boat?

Later

OK, the creation of this message was interrupted by a visit from Catafjord. We kept crossing wakes with them between islands and anchorages, and never got around to a promised boat tour and drinks (they’d visited us briefly in Hiva Oa). We’ve now remediated that, by visiting their boat and enjoying their punch and their company; but my hopes (delusions) of a nice post describing more of what we’ve seen and done here on Nuku Hiva have been dashed. I’m hoping the markers show up on the map for you so you can see we’ve visited a few coves and bays since we arrived, and we’re now back in the sweet bay where I sent my last post. I better send this anyway to mollify any fears that I’ve burnt out on this cruising adventure, or that I’ve given up on the ship’s blog. We’ll see if I carve out some writing time in the next couple days to do this place some justice. Ya know, Melville was only in Taipivai, Nuku Hiva, for 3 weeks in his early 20s, and his terms on whaling ships and various jobs in the south pacific lasted only 5 or so years in his late teens and 20s. He then spent the rest of his life on a farm writing about his experiences, philosophizing and lecturing. I wonder how much he actually wrote while he was in the South Pacific? Maybe the ocean crossings are my farm in the Berkshires; and the weeks near land are recapturing my youth (and capturing it well for the kids).

xoxomo