Forget Fiji

When Paul, TC, and I decided to turn around and head back here to Majuro, it basically meant we were pulling the plug on the Fiji portion of our trip.  We were already going to be doing a lot of sailing (3 to 4 weeks there and 3 to 4 weeks back) and we’d have had only a few weeks to actually enjoy Fiji.  AFter returning to Majuro, it'd mean the same amount of sailing with only 2 weeks or so in Fiji.  That is not worth it in my book.  I mean I really don’t enjoy the sailing aspect of sailing off to visit new places.  It’s not that I hate sailing, but it is simply “a means to an end” as TC says. 

I absolutely love the anchoring off some island and snorkeling around, exploring onshore, and meeting new people.  And sailing there is a fairly inexpensive way to do so (well, after you get the cost of the boat and all the repairs out of the way).  So, after a serious cost-benefit analysis, I definitely think that setting sail is totally worth it. 

Our new plan (oh, how dangerous to say "plan") is to sail around the Marshalls and possibly Kiribati.  The bright sides to this are that I’ve only been to 4 of the 29 atolls (plus 5 stand-alone islands) in the Marshalls, so I would be seeing new places.  For the past few years, I’ve been making my students and myself memorize all the atolls and the islands.  It’ll be fun to go back and be able to show them picture of the different atolls.

Plus, the best part of our changing our plans is that the passages will be much shorter – measured in days instead of weeks. 

I am sad that friends and family will not be able to visit us in Fiji, but they are still welcome to come and visit us here in the Marshalls or Kiribati.  We have no set departure date or schedule yet.  We’re currently sitting in a restaurant with wi-fi access ordering parts.  We have to get those parts delivered and installed before we even think about leaving. 

Plus, I’d really love to have the SSB radio working, so we could send out updates from our different locations.   We’re even a little more concerned about it since it was drawing 3 amps even when it was shut off.  To get it to stop, we had to unplug it.  Not so good.

So we’ll see, this is a good experience for me as I am learning to “go with the flow,” which is TC’s preferred method of travel. 

Oh, and for you AFN watchers, I am also totally bummed that I will not be making the transition from pollywog to shellback.  (For you non-AFN watchers, you become a shellback when you cross the Equator on a boat.)