Ron is in charge of so many things on our boat. One of his most important jobs, however, is to provide us with nightly entertainment in the way of downloaded television shows, movies, etc. Last week, in light of the fact that we were immersed in all things south Pacific, he got a 6 part series from the BBC, entitled South Pacific (not very imaginative, but it does get the point across). Last night, we started in on Part 1 to prepare us for the next leg of our sailing journey.
I won't bore you with descriptions of azure seas, crystalline waters, dramatic music and photo angles, (okay, just had to throw that in there) but there were some interesting lessons to be learned. One island, described as being very remote (duh) was highlighted due to their many ways of fishing. Jigging while lying prone on the waters' surface, enabled these islanders to still obtain the daily meal when the seas were too rough to take their boats out. Apparently, they have some of the greatest numbers of ways to fish than many of their neighbors. I'd say that they were keeping up with Darwin's iguanas, in discovering many methods of adaptability and evolution.
A segment detailing the beginnings of the "bungee jump" on Pentacost Island in Vanuatu, showed that the men there have been throwing themselves off high platforms for ages. Although the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club claims to have been the first to participate in this "sport" in 1979, in reality these islanders have been doing so for hundreds of years, but they call it Bislama nanggol (or the more easily pronounced "land diving"). Although the Kiwis in New Zealand claim to have been the first to do it commercially, in reality they are just pussies, using giant rubber bands rather than the more traditional vines, the way the real men of Pentacost do it.
On our list of things to buy prior to our Pacific crossing is a machete. I know, you would imagine that we would already have one on board, but as the boat tends to go where there aren't jungles and vines needing to be whacked through, we've bypassed this boat tool. We either buy one, or we take aboard a Robber, or Coconut, Crab to help us with shucking coconuts. They are so big that should we take on this extra crew member, I'll need to do something about clearing out the vberth. A meter-wide leg span, and strength to drill through coconuts, means these guys are not messing around. Perhaps I could even teach it to clean the barnacles off the bottom of the dinghy.
One item of note was the mentality of the community of Atuna Island, when hunting for birds to supplement their mostly marine meals. They know that they could hunt these birds to extinction, but they net them in numbers which ensure their sustainability. Their "at oneness" with their environment showed a rhythm with nature which is commendable.
Not so with those now-extinct Rapa Nui, of Easter Island. This at one time lush and diverse island, was completely denuded of massive palm trees due to tribal competitions in one-up-manship. The building of the massive Moai heads, led to their ultimate destruction of the very habitat they needed for survival.
While the interesting facts we learned last night were presented in such spectacular photographic fashion by the BBC, most importantly the lessons learned were those of survival. While the peoples of the south Pacific islands have been around for 2-3000 years, I'd suggest that perhaps they go on a road trip to educate the rest of the world. Sustainability, living in harmony with nature, value of community versus competition, these are age old lessons that apparently still haven't been learned in the world at large. What is concerning is that the populations of these islands are newer than those in North and South America, and in Europe and the Middle East - is the evolution that is still to come there going to follow the rest of the world's example?
Showing posts with label Easter Island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter Island. Show all posts
Monday, October 6, 2014
Saturday, September 13, 2014
The list is piling up...
....for us to leave this continent. Now that I write it down, its a reality. After all, anytime you see anything in print, it's true, right?!
We have decided to head west, and then south, and then west again. Any guesses?
Our goal, should all of the paperwork come through in a timely manner, is to head to the Galapagos in mid-November, or whenever our French Polynesia long-stay visa comes back from Papeete with a stamped approval. New regulations are now enabling cruisers to spend up to 3 months in the Galapagos, so rather than hang out here much longer, we'll set up shop over in the Galapagos, and go swimming with the sea lions. We find that we have much in common with the Galapagos turtles, as we seem to move about as fast as they do, so life should be good. In order to go for any length of time, we have to apply for an Autografo which will enable us to visit 3 different islands, and stay past the usual 20 days. Of course, this comes at a price and for a boat our size, it's going to come in around $1400, but we figure that while that amount is tough to take for 4 weeks, spread it out over 3 months and the cost/day ratio improves. That is true creative accounting.
After the Galapagos, we'll see what the weather says, and if it's favourable, we'll head south/southwest to Easter Island. Those of you that know us, know that we have been fighting about this for months, and months, and months.....Ron has worn me down and I'm tired of fighting. Do I want to sail for 25 days to go to an island that we may have stay on board the boat for the entire time....nope. Do I want to sail for 25 days to go to an island that we may have to leave after a day for the next island (Pitcairn), 10 days away....not so much. Do I want to sail for 25 days to go to an island that we may have to move locations every day, due to weather and swell.....ya, no again. But, it looks like we're going to try. Unless, we don't. The gribs will tell us, once we decide the time is right to make a break for it, whether we head to Easter Island, or whether we hitch a ride on the Coconut Milk Run and make a break for French Polynesia, and the Marquesas.
In the meantime, I am going to be provisioning like we'll never see land again. Rumours of $10/pound of ground beef, $12 bags of Doritos, $4 beers.....we are in serious trouble if we think we can afford to buy food once we leave the shores of south America. That being said, a fellow cruiser, Patty on Armaugh, and I have been commiserating with the less-than-satisfactory provisioning options here in Ecuador. Where can we buy 8-packs of canned tomatoes.....where are the 12 roll bundles of papertowels....where are those jars of $6 (that's cheap!!!) peanut butter? They are up in Panama, that's where, and since we came from there 6 months ago, we've run out of food stashes. No pickled jalapenos, no cocoa powder, no $2.80 liters of wine. It has been tossed around to "run up" to Panama to provision, but Ron rightly pointed out that I might have too much of a love affair with PriceSmart (a Costco affiliate) and that traveling for a week might be too much of an effort to be able to purchase 6 cans of chicken. He did have a moment when I asked whether it was still too much effort to head up there for $12 cases (yes, that's right, a case, 24 cans, 4 sixers) of beer, but in the end, figured I'd make some sort of a plan to keep him hydrated. I do...and it's called water, made from the sea.
I've been camped on the internet for days. The anchorage here has improved their wifi signal, so I can now, in the comfort of my own boat, do as much research as I need. I've downloaded sv Soggy Paws' Compendiums for the Tuamotus and the Marquesas. I've made provisioning lists that include 12 cans of tomatoes, and 20 bags of tortilla chips. I've filled out paperwork; more paperwork than I've done in years, for our French Polynesia long-stay visa. I've been in touch with banks, and healthcare providers.....and after the internet signal dropped me for the 4th time while telling my financial advisor why I needed an infusion of cash.....I raised my eyes to the heavens and said aloud that it had better be worth it.
Ron has his own traumas, but that's for another post.
Meanwhile, the usual stuff continues to break, and we continue to fix it. We have started looking around the boat for little things we can add to make our lives better, or at least keep our lives alive, like adding lines to our parachute anchor that somehow had been neglected. And to once and for all, start adding stuff to our ditch bag for emergencies. In my moments of weakness, I reread John Vigor's black box theory, http://johnvigor.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-black-box-theory.html to motivate me.
In the end, we'll leave when we leave, and we'll leave things behind. But unlike a lot of people, our dock lines were cut long ago, and we know that if we don't have it aboard, it won't kill us. Mmmmm, about that black box.....
We have decided to head west, and then south, and then west again. Any guesses?
Our goal, should all of the paperwork come through in a timely manner, is to head to the Galapagos in mid-November, or whenever our French Polynesia long-stay visa comes back from Papeete with a stamped approval. New regulations are now enabling cruisers to spend up to 3 months in the Galapagos, so rather than hang out here much longer, we'll set up shop over in the Galapagos, and go swimming with the sea lions. We find that we have much in common with the Galapagos turtles, as we seem to move about as fast as they do, so life should be good. In order to go for any length of time, we have to apply for an Autografo which will enable us to visit 3 different islands, and stay past the usual 20 days. Of course, this comes at a price and for a boat our size, it's going to come in around $1400, but we figure that while that amount is tough to take for 4 weeks, spread it out over 3 months and the cost/day ratio improves. That is true creative accounting.
After the Galapagos, we'll see what the weather says, and if it's favourable, we'll head south/southwest to Easter Island. Those of you that know us, know that we have been fighting about this for months, and months, and months.....Ron has worn me down and I'm tired of fighting. Do I want to sail for 25 days to go to an island that we may have stay on board the boat for the entire time....nope. Do I want to sail for 25 days to go to an island that we may have to leave after a day for the next island (Pitcairn), 10 days away....not so much. Do I want to sail for 25 days to go to an island that we may have to move locations every day, due to weather and swell.....ya, no again. But, it looks like we're going to try. Unless, we don't. The gribs will tell us, once we decide the time is right to make a break for it, whether we head to Easter Island, or whether we hitch a ride on the Coconut Milk Run and make a break for French Polynesia, and the Marquesas.
In the meantime, I am going to be provisioning like we'll never see land again. Rumours of $10/pound of ground beef, $12 bags of Doritos, $4 beers.....we are in serious trouble if we think we can afford to buy food once we leave the shores of south America. That being said, a fellow cruiser, Patty on Armaugh, and I have been commiserating with the less-than-satisfactory provisioning options here in Ecuador. Where can we buy 8-packs of canned tomatoes.....where are the 12 roll bundles of papertowels....where are those jars of $6 (that's cheap!!!) peanut butter? They are up in Panama, that's where, and since we came from there 6 months ago, we've run out of food stashes. No pickled jalapenos, no cocoa powder, no $2.80 liters of wine. It has been tossed around to "run up" to Panama to provision, but Ron rightly pointed out that I might have too much of a love affair with PriceSmart (a Costco affiliate) and that traveling for a week might be too much of an effort to be able to purchase 6 cans of chicken. He did have a moment when I asked whether it was still too much effort to head up there for $12 cases (yes, that's right, a case, 24 cans, 4 sixers) of beer, but in the end, figured I'd make some sort of a plan to keep him hydrated. I do...and it's called water, made from the sea.
I've been camped on the internet for days. The anchorage here has improved their wifi signal, so I can now, in the comfort of my own boat, do as much research as I need. I've downloaded sv Soggy Paws' Compendiums for the Tuamotus and the Marquesas. I've made provisioning lists that include 12 cans of tomatoes, and 20 bags of tortilla chips. I've filled out paperwork; more paperwork than I've done in years, for our French Polynesia long-stay visa. I've been in touch with banks, and healthcare providers.....and after the internet signal dropped me for the 4th time while telling my financial advisor why I needed an infusion of cash.....I raised my eyes to the heavens and said aloud that it had better be worth it.
Ron has his own traumas, but that's for another post.
Meanwhile, the usual stuff continues to break, and we continue to fix it. We have started looking around the boat for little things we can add to make our lives better, or at least keep our lives alive, like adding lines to our parachute anchor that somehow had been neglected. And to once and for all, start adding stuff to our ditch bag for emergencies. In my moments of weakness, I reread John Vigor's black box theory, http://johnvigor.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-black-box-theory.html to motivate me.
In the end, we'll leave when we leave, and we'll leave things behind. But unlike a lot of people, our dock lines were cut long ago, and we know that if we don't have it aboard, it won't kill us. Mmmmm, about that black box.....
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