Unbirthdays at Huntington Lake

What's An Unbirthday? Away from our family, as we are, we miss many important days...like Birthdays! So while at Huntington Lake this summer, we celebrated the UNBIRTHDAY of each of our grandchildren. With hats, balloons, maracas, noses and an UNBIRTHDAY Crown, we all sang and carried on like it was a real birthday.
Zachary

Julia







Big O Dad









Sally and Glenski









Lauren






For more excitement see Unbirthday II.

Our Beautiful Anchorage in Koror, Palau

Here are three views of our location in Koror, Palau. The image on the left is a view of the anchorage that Creola shares with several other cruisers and local vessels. The surrounding islands are composed of limestone, are very steep and, as you can see, heavily wooded with a wide variety of tropical vegetation.

The islands are undercut at the water level due to erosion caused by tidal flux and wave action. This overhang can be clearly seen in the image at the left. How limestone islands are formed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is a mystery to me.

Beneath Creola is a depth of about 60 feet with the bottom covered with coral. This is not ideal for anchoring, so Sam, from Sam's Tours, has allowed us to use one of his moorings at one cost.

The last image is a view from Sam's Tours facing to the west. The island in the far distance is the island that you see in the top photo and is about a quarter mile away from the dock. This is a short dinghy ride and unlike many other places that charge every time you use their dinghy dock, Sam's Tours does not charge.

The most outlandish dinghy fees we have experienced were in Costa Rica, where the marina charged $40.00 US to use the dinghy dock so you could use one of the restaurants or businesses! We declined to use their services after the first visit.

More tomorrow, B and L

Who Needs A Watermaker...We Got Rain

It has rained here in Koror, Palau and Linda has very effectively collected the water into Creola's tanks. We can wash and drink and relax a little.

So we unloaded the bicycles and got them ashore and operating, cleaning bits of rust from here and there. We got out the Income Tax information so we can complete our filing extension before October and we snorkeled around the boat.

We found many specimens of the this Giant Clam above. Of the genus Tridacna, these are endangered and we have discovered that they are illegal to ship to the US. It's funny, because shells of these critters are abundant on beaches and are sold almost everywhere. One shelf along the edge of one of the islets had beautifully colored clams everywhere we looked. We have visited four clam farms across Micronesia. Both Linda and I have always favored protection of endangered species and we have learned to wonder what the process of becoming identified as endangered and how often it is reviewed. More on this as we learn about it.

Until tomorrow, B and L

Watermaker Gets Cranky Again!

This is our infamous ETD, Energy Transfer Device... better known as a Clark Pump. It is the weak spot in our SeaRecovery watermaker system. We have rebuilt it numerous times and once again it has failed. This time a new aspect has developed...water squirting from one of the bolts holes you see next to the pressure gauge.

Tomorrow we drag out the old ETD...we've had three in four years and see if we can patch it together to fill Creola's tanks.

The good news...Sam's Tours will let us fill with beautifully filter water right at the their docks..NO Charge. Life remains good.

Until tomorrow B and L

Use It! Or Lose It!

Not everyday is dedicated to snorkeling or diving among sea fans like this.

Today was the day to fire up the often troublesome watermaker. You guessed it... sitting idle for a month caused her to be a bit cranky this morning. Use It! Or Lose It!

After reinstalling the filters and opening the through hull, she was coaxed into building the necessary pressure to produce sweet wonderful water from sea water. It was then that water began squirting from one of the bolts in the Clarke Pump. Having salt water spray beneath the bunk in the forward stateroom is not a good thing, so the pump was shut down and will need to be rebuilt for the umteenth time tomorrow morning.

On the upside, Bill spent some inspirational time with a watercolor artist this afternoon. She is quite talented and if the watermaker works tomorrow afternoon, Bill will return to working on Abby's book, "Have You Ever Tried To Reason With A Fly?"


Linda successfully talked Citibank into honoring our purchase of a new camera. It is always a joy to talk with Citibank.

We are all well here in Palau. Until tommorrow!

Back To Normal - Almost

We have almost caught up with our sleep and have begun to return to normal. Normal is not always very exciting... today's activities included laundry, grocery shopping, locating the recommended doctors and dentist and a trip to the post office. We spent the afternoon on the internet here at Sam's, which is pretty slow. (Not Sam's fault)

There is no Skype here in Palau. Rumor has it the national telephone company prevents access to it, so we are doing our best to use Yahoo Messenger, but with little luck so far. For some unexplained reason, I cannot post photos to these blogspots today. Sorry about that.

It might be useful to note that there is a good selection of groceries in three major stores and many smaller ones here in Palau. You can get fresh fish, of course, but Angus beef is also available. A good supply of fresh fruits and vegetables is available most of the time. We are still looking for a reasonable source for wine....this remains a challenge. There is quite a selection of good restaurants.

Last night we had a HUGE Yellow fin tuna steak with salad and onion rings for $10.00. Oh yeah, the currency here is the US dollar.

Until tomorrow! B and L

Return to Palau

We have returned to Koror, Palau after four weeks in California. Most of the time was spent at Huntington Lake where we were fortunate to be joined by all of our children and grandchildren. We celebrated unbirthdays. Abby is pictured here all dressed up for her unbirthday party. We ate. We sailed. We ate. We swam. We ate. We hiked. We ate. We boccie-balled...we ate!

The friendly people at Sam's Tours cared for Creola in our absence and she was in fine shape when we returned. We offer our gratitude for their professionalism and care. Go to www.sam'stours.com for more information.

As we regroup after four+ days of travel that took us through Tokyo, Japan and Manila in the Phillipines, we will prepare to do some sailing and diving in some of the world's most famous waters. The weather has been "iffy" of late and according to local tales we missed some of the worst. So we stow away our California goodies and make sure all is ready aboard Creola, before we venture to the Rock Islands and Jellyfish Lake.