Our Struggle with Kamchatka Cruising Permit

Any readers out there know anything about obtaining a cruising permit for Kamchatka?  We have tried the internet and had a possible hit from a possible sponsor (a tour group there) but then they evaporated.  We know it is possible but we are struggling to find out what hoops to jump through.  There is no Russian consulate here on Guam so that makes matters worse.  Plus I imagine the one in Japan is in Tokyo and we will be a ways away from there for the first several months of our trip in Japan.  Of course it doesn't help matters that we are not sure if we will need the permit in 2014 or later.  But if any readers have some information please email me (Mark) at murbius@gmail.com or sy.saritimur@gmail.com .

Cheers
 and Merry Christmas

Found this Quote

We found this quote and it kind of explains why we do what we do!

William Arthur Ward

 

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach for another is to risk involvement.
To expose your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To believe is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The people who risk nothing, do nothing, have nothing, are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by their attitudes they are slaves: they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.

New Chapter

Pauline resigned on Nov 6, after 11 months of working at DFS Galleria Guam.  She has been offered a job with RIM Architects, Guam.  An admin job, day hours, 5-day week with the weekends off and much better pay.  We think she will be happy.

Mark, however, is still trying to find something to do that pays him a salary.  It has been frustration after frustration, trying to deal with government departments and bureaucracy.  The latest rejection is based on a missing copy of the BACK of the TWIC card (out of about 30 document he sent).  They didn't say "please re-submit".

The decision to stay on Guam or move on is split, based on the above.  And also on the lack of confidence that we will find any jobs when we do get to the mainland.  In the meantime, we just get on with life and enjoy Guam and the friends we have here.

Google Earth has finally moved us!

Hey, for a long time after we left Raffles we could still look at Sari Timur in our old berth.  Today I noticed they had updated the picture, and we are not there.  So I looked for where we are and they have updated us there.  So we are not lost.  Check us out at 13 degrees 27 minutes 39.16 seconds N and 144 degrees 40 minutes 54.99 seconds E.  Big brother is watching us!

"Home" coming

Pauline has been away from Guam and Mark since July 20 and she is finally going home.  She was in Hong Kong and Singapore and will post more details when she gets back.  It was good being away from the stress of work and she has earned her much deserved rest.  It is hoped that she will feel more rejuvenated and ready to face the reality of work again.

Curiosity Lands on Mars

Hey, those of you may remember me posting pictures of the Mars Launch back in November 2011.  Well it is great to say it made it all the way to Mars and deployed successfully.  Man the landing operation just seemed posed with all kinds of difficult details but it went off ok and NASA now has a great research vehicle running around on Mars.

Our Rating

Well for those of you following our blog.  You will remember how I was rather disappointed with the club’s handling (or not handling handicaps) during the recent Rota Race.  So I went to Pacific Handicap Racing Fleet of the Northwest and applied for an official handicap.  Lots of measuring and a several emails later we got our handicap.  It was 236 with spinnaker and 248 without.  A whole 15 points more than we had originally asked for.  So we would have won the whole thing.  Oh and to add insult to it all I found out the pompous people who asked us to with draw from the race because we didn’t have a proper handicap.  They, themselves only had an illegal handicap.  There was not one racer in the entire race had a valid handicap.  Go Guam!

Why Pauline is in Hong Kong

The reason Pauline is in Hong Kong : her nephew Joshua's 1st birthday.  So far all she did was eat and eat.  Thank you PJ and Pearl for your generosity.

Bachelor

I will be a bachelor again.  Well only for a week.  Pauline is off to Hong Kong to celebrate her nephew's first birthday. 

Sounds like a mini family reunion will be happening there.  Oh well I need to stay behind and take care of same ole same ole!

Kid's Optimist Sailing Class

Hey the MYC just ran a 5 day Optimist Class for the kids.  It was taught by Cindy Bell.  But me as the laze around doing nothing club member got conscripted to volunteer to help.  We had 16 kids from 6 to 14 years old and they all did well and had a ball.  We also got some help from some other members part time and with out them the two of us would have been probably suicidal.  Instead it turned into a great five day program and all the kids were sailing by themselves by the end of the course.  One of the parents took a lot of photos and put them on a CD for us.  Pretty impressive about 300 pictures of smiling kids having a ball learning.  Thanks Cindy and the club for volunteering me into this active service!  Also thankyou to the tropical depression that decided to split into two and slow down enough to let us finish the course.

Dolphin Watching

Through Pauline's work we got a chance to go out on one of the dolphin watching boats.  There are a few pods of dolphins that hang out in one of the bays north of Agat Marina.  So for the tourist they offer a cruise out to watch them.  These are Spinner Dolphins so they get into doing some flips and spins when they play in the boat wakes.  Sorry we forgot the camera but certainly enjoyed the day out on some one elses's boat.  We had one large pod with two small dolphins that played with us for most of the morning.

The Rota Race/ Cruise

Every year for Memorial Day weekend the Marianas Yacht Club holds the race up to Rota.  This is roughly 60 miles away and the race consists of two legs, one up and one back.  There are two divisions, a racing class and a cruising class.  But it seemed to us the cruising class had no rules, they could leave when they wanted, they could use the engine, they didn’t even need to follow the course marks.  So we tried to enter under the racing class.  We submitted our measurements and asked for a rating.  There is no club rater and therefore ratings are rather loosely based on similar boats rated elsewhere.  There is a similar boat to Sari Timur here in Guam and he had a rating so we said no problem we will take the same rating.

Tropical Storm Sanvu passed by just 2.5 days before the start of the race and upset the normal trade wind balance so we were expecting light and variables for the race up hoping the trades would build somewhat for the race back.

So at 4 pm the crew were briefed and we headed for the start line for a 6 pm start.  We had on board a seasoned veteran of this race and he advised us where to head for local conditions.  The challenge was going to be to get out of the harbour entrances on one tack and through the gate which was set there.  There is a large high point that blocks the winds coming from the south, but we had enough way on to drift through until we again picked up the wind from the other side.  The lighter boats left us in their wake at this point but pretty soon the winds filled in a little and we were able to start to keep up with the fleet.  The crew did a marvellous job even though we nearly lost the wind three times.

Sunrise over Rota

Wedding Cake

As the sun rose in the morning we had Rota and several sailboats in sight (one was even behind).  The outline of Rota is quite nice when coming from the sea.  There is a large high area that looks a lot like Table Mountain in Cape Town and on the south-western peninsula is a unique feature they call the Wedding Cake as the hills form a steep high edged area that looks like a layered wedding cake.  Anyway we managed to cross the line at 8:59 am just shy of 15 hours.  After tying up and clearing customs we began to realise the attraction of this race.  The people of Rota are friendly beyond means and it is a chance for the Guam inhabitants to let their hair down so the beer started to flow.  REMEMBER I MENTIONED THIS IS JUST AFTER 9 AM!  Anyway at about 11 we got responsible and got the crew checked into their hotel and went for lunch.  After lunch most of us crashed for a couple hours in order to be able to at least make the main party for the day, if not the after party or the after, after party!  This party was put on by the local resort and a great spread of food, music and a show by the local youth dance group.  Note there were no provisional results so we should have tweaked that the organisers were not, shall we say, really organised for racing but were so for the social activities which hey “when in Rome!”  Pauline and I elected to head back to the boat after the main party and left the remainder of our crew to wave the Sari Timur pennant and we have reliable information that some did just that.

It's getting closer!

Crew Quarters

The first beer at the Party!

Sunset at the Rota Resort

The next morning we went back to find the crew suffering a bit but ready to do some site seeing, that was after a breakfast of left over burritos on board Sari Timur.  The first stop was to see Kurt and Christine at their home.  We had met Kurt and Christine at the Home Depot on Guam and had struck it off with them right away.  They are a German couple that used to cruise and eventually decided to settle in Guam, then Rota after their world cruise.  The crew all knew them and so we crashed their house for a late morning visit.  Their house is off the grid.  This means there is no power and water piped in and they have to provide that for themselves.  They have built a house that works great with natural ventilation, have a grid of 32 solar panels which keep them in electricity and have just about every kind of tropical plant and orchid growing on their property.  They also have chickens ad ducks for eggs and grazing.  The fruit selection made our mouths water.  They have custard apple, pineapple, bread fruit, limes, Madagascar cherries, Soursop, Guava, beautiful papaya as well as several dozen kinds of vegetables.  Not to mention a beautiful view of a bay on the east side of Rota.  After the tour we sat on the veranda and sipped fresh calamansi juice, and nibbled on passionfruit and soursop all picked within a few minutes before eating.  Finally at 12 we were loaded up with some fresh limes and papayas and headed back to check on our last remaining crew who needed a bit more sleep earlier!

View from Kurt and Christine's place

View of the bay

Custard Apple or Sweetsop

papayas

Madagascar Cherry

Madagascar Cherry

Pineapple

Passionfruit

Breadfruit with the male pod

orchid

Orchid

orchid

pretty flower

After determining that everyone was among the living and were going to be able to attend another party that night some of us again piled into the car to go up to the north east side of the island and check the wind and waves as well as see some of the sites. 

I digress here a little but a rather interesting thing happened on the way.  A lot of the roads on Rota are very rural, what we used to call when I was a kid, two tracks.  And the map is only partially correct when showing these roads.  We were first heading to the As Matmos Fishermen’s cliffs which were at the extreme end of one of these roads and we were a little unsure if we were heading correctly.  And suddenly we saw a truck and two guys doing some bush cutting.  We stopped and asked through the window to one of the guys if we were on course and could he direct us.  He said “Not really, I am from Kentucky and do not know where things are here but ask my partner”  It was just the strangest reply out in the middle of nowhere half a world away from Kentucky to find a guy cutting the bush.  Anyway his mate did know the way and we were indeed on the right track.  We soon found the cliffs.  These are pretty spectacular and the water clarity is fantastic.  We could look down a long distance and see fish swimming directly beneath us.  It made the angler among us pretty upset he left his rods and reels on Sari Timur.  The pictures don’t really do the cliffs or the spray justice but if you look at cliffs with the people in the background you start to get a perspective on the heights.  I know when I peered over the cliff I was struck badly with vertigo.

As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs

As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs

As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs

As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs

As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs

As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs

As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs

As Matmos Fishermen's cliffs

After leaving the cliffs behind us, we backtracked to one of the regions’ significant historical sites.  It is an area full of latte stones in their natural state.  Supposedly one of the largest and most important sites in the North Pacific.  Latte Stones are a symbol for this part of the world.  They are carved foundation stones that sort of look like an inverted vase.  Many of the older topstones have fallen off supposedly due to the large number of earthquakes in the region.  This particular site is carbon dated prior to 1300 and supposedly was occupied until the late 1700s.  All over the ground are pieces of old pottery and it is interesting to think how the village was set up.

Machong latte stone ruins

Machong latte stone ruins

Machong latte stone ruins

Machong latte stone ruins

Anyway after a while the mozzies suddenly arrived and we figured it time to continue on.  We took the coast road and followed along seeing the famous swimming hole area and other sites before finally coming back to the resort.  We quickly showered and headed off for another party.  This was hosted by a couple that used to live in Singapore so Pauline and I talked to them a bit about that.  We came to find out that he was a former Oceaneering diver and know some of the same people as us.  Small world.  Anyway they put on a great spread including a roast pig that was fantastic.  We tried to take some pictures but the lighting was all wrong.

The race start for the following morning was 7 am so Pauline and I headed out at 11 to get some rest and be ready to prep the boat for departure at 6 am.  The evening was full of showers and the wind died off completely.  During the start sequence we just put our engine in neutral in case we go into any situations but everyone stayed out of our way and we were able to drift across the start line ok.  We coaxed up the spinnaker and were riding a favourable current while we waited to clear Wedding Cake and hope for some wind.  And sure enough it happened.  I have never flown the spinnaker as shy as we did.  Usually about 75-80 degrees but we were able to carry it for almost 2 hours before the wind came around so much that we had to go back to white sails.  But we were back with the fleet and the wind had piped up.  We were having a glorious trip.  We even passed 2 boats!  Again our tactician had us steering a great course and we came around the entrance at 4:10 pm or just over 9 hours right on the heels of another boat.  About 20 minutes to go and we are battle ready.  But alas, what is that over there? Is it 2 kids on a disabled jet-ski asking for help?  Cannot be, because if so, surely the other boat in front of us would have seen them.  But after some quick signalling we soon found out they were indeed panicked and worried that they were drifting towards the Philippines and being ignored.  So we retired, dropped sails and tossed them a towline. We were hoping to gain redress from the race committee.  After towing them for a while we saw a whole search party was out for them and that even the Coast Guard had been called.  The searchers finally spotted them behind us and came over to bring them home.  

Anyway after clearing customs we went ashore and grabbed some spouses, children, dogs and spectators and did what Sari Timur is famous for, that is we held an impromptu party.  All in all a great weekend and thanks to a great crew we sailed a great race.

See Kelly, I never even mentioned about the buxomy babe crew we had that lost her chap stick for two days, only to find it in a secret compartment in her bra!

Final note.  Apparently we did really well, so well in fact that we caused all of the other racers to protest our handicap.  As they figured out it was indeed close, it was starting to cause friction so we withdrew our entry.  But we still had fun and got to see Rota.  However we do know something about how racing works in Guam and will not take part again.

Cinco de Mayo

What!, you say, it’s almost June why are we talking about Cinco de Mayo?  Well to tell you the truth, the other half partner in this blog site was supposed to post this, but to keep marital bliss, let’s just say we are never "breaking news" on this blog site but more a historical log. 

So as many of you know, Pauline is a Cinco de Mayo baby and this year being her half century celebration we thought we would make it a party.  We no longer have the funding to put on quite the affair we did for her 40^th but figured a joint party with the Marianas Yacht Club would be good as most of the people we know on Guam are from there anyway and the few outsiders we could certainly invite separately.  

Anyway, as there was nothing on at the club, we got with a few other senior members of the club and suggested we organize something.  So it was a potluck of bring your favourite Mexican dish to pass and I will put on a keg of Dos Equis and make sure there are the fixings for enough margaritas that we were sure to believe we were in Mexico. One member brought all of his Mexican music and tied it into the sound system.  We also filled up a piñata to keep the younger people interested with enough tooth rot (or I mean candy) to get the kids feeling as high as the adults.  In honor of Pauline’s 50^th we considered anyone 49 and under kids and they were allowed to whack the piñata.  In truth we had so much fun with the youngest two 9 and 12 that we forgot to let the older ones get a chance.  Sorry Jeff and Liz!  One of the downsides of the MYC clubhouse has to do with the uninvited six legged winged guests.  So we got all the tiki torches going and a few coils and no one complained of any mozzies.  Of course that could have been due to the great food everyone prepared or the fair amount of beer which we didn’t finish or the Margaritas which we came close to finishing.  But I think all in all everyone had a good time.  The pictures below are all pre-party as we didn’t want any real photographic evidence once we were in full swing.

The next delayed post we will write is on the Rota Race which we just got back from.  We are waiting on results for that race but we didn’t do too badly and burned no diesel during either leg except to perform an emergency rescue to some disabled jet skiers, so watch this space.

The Beer

The Margaritas in raw form

This Year's Pinata

The Cake

"But I am not Old Yet!"

The Early Guests/ helpers

Sorry there are no pictures of the excellent spread, must have been too much booze by then.

Tropical Storm Sanvu

Well that storm we told you about did develop into a full tropical storm and missed us by about 60 miles.  Needless to say we were a bit on edge as we didn't know the state of our mooring.  Here is a picture of it now.  Pauline has one of it earlier so hope to add it later. 

The weather is still very sloppy here but I am sure it will drop to nothing for the race to Rota on Friday.  Too bad because conditions other than wet and miserable are perfect for a run up there.  By the way I passed my USCG exams.  Except now I found out I should have a sail endorsement.  Oh Joy 2 more exams.

No Longer a River Skow

Hey we finally took Sari Timur out of the Harbour of Refuge yesterday.  Went for a test sail out of the main harbour and headed north toward Rota to see what kind of angles we could make.  Got all excited because Sari T was performing great.  Came back in and plopped on a yacht club mooring until next week's Rota Race.  Got to the yacht club and found out there is a low heading our way with a 40% chance according to one website of becoming a typhoon.  Talk about timing.  Anyway most of the other models have it just sloppy weather up to 35 knots so we will be uncomfortable for a day or two but nothing severe.  Anyway after it passes the wind will die and we will probably end up motoring during the race.  That sounds typical for us.  Anyway no seasickness to worry about.

Friend at the Gate

As most of you know we are in the Harbour of Refuge.  This is much more convenient for a lot of reasons.  One of the things is it is gated off at night, which means we have to get out, open and close the gate to get the truck through.  Half of Pauline’s work schedule is the night shift and she gets off at 23:15.  We have two stray dogs that act as yard dogs that have befriended us and we usually have a happy greeting when we come home at night.  Last night as usual the dogs came up and greeted Pauline as she was opening the gate and she was not concentrating on the gate.  Quickly crawling way from her working his way through the chain link fence was a brown tree snake.  Anyway I guess we will pay more attention now when we are traveling around at night on foot.  These guys can’t really hurt you much but are known to be aggressive and bite if they feel cornered.

Sorry no pic as I didn't have the camera.

Our Thousand Dollar Clock

Let’s begin by saying we think our clock has a very storied past and we have only been the keepers for the last 10 or so years.  Hopefully one day we will find more about it but for now we are content to wind it every Sunday and display it in Sari Timur’s main salon.

The clock was given to us for Christmas one year by Chis Nunns, the current caretaker of a beautiful Phillip Rhodes Offshore 40 built in the early 60s called Valera Linda.  He inherited the clock when he bought the boat.  When we were in Changi our two boats were the classic looking ones and we always competed and helped each other with regards to keeping the yachts up to scratch.  His was always faster but ours was prettier (sorry Chris had to get that in).  Anyway one day we were on his boat and he said in frustration it was a funny clock and he was going to be rid of it.  I told him no it was a classic and belonged on a boat of our types.  He took my advice for another couple of years but then decided to pass the clock on to us as a Christmas present.  I do not know when the clock got on board Valera Linda or if she was the first vessel it was on.  It is a 24 hour navy clock.  It takes a little getting used to telling time with it but is quite accurate at keeping it.  The hour hand makes one trip around every 24 hours and the minute and second hands work as normal.  The large numbers are the hours, the small numbers on the outside of the dial are in 5 minute graduations and the inner ring is 0-60 seconds.  It is really not difficult to use and the picture below shows the time at just after 10:15 in the morning.

Anyway, after having the clock for many years it decided to quit.  I took it to clock workers in various places and found out it had a broken spring and needed a major service which they couldn’t do.  So in frustration I looked up Chelsea Clock out of Boston and found they still exist and repair these time pieces but advertise that they do not do it quickly.  Ours took 8 weeks to get repaired!  Anyway after I sent it I got the estimate for repair back at just over $400.  I gulped but said go ahead.  By the way what is it worth?  They replied they just sold a similar one with a white face at $875 and ours having a black face was worth at least $975.  I bet you are sorry you gave it away now aren’t you Chris?  Of course you saved the repair bill.  Anyway the repairers say that it will last a long  long time and guarantee it as new.  As we are now in our fifties it is nice to know some old machinery is still capable of running well

Just past 10:15 in the morning

And they are all Gone

One of the toughest parts of cruising is everyone goes their own way at their own pace.  This means saying a lot of goodbyes.  Since coming to Guam we have met 6 cruising boats passing through Guam.  We have decided to stay until 2013 to see if Guam has more to offer than a transient stop.  Anyway over the last few weeks we have seen all of the cruisers leave.  It is rough being left behind and we keep trying to second guess if we made the right decision.  Guess only time will tell that!

Jim & Tori Yacht Elanya and Rick Yacht Freestyle

Easter at the Club

Easter was at the club this year.  Another potluck affair but a great turnout.  The kids enjoyed the Easter Egg Hunt, the adults the food and beer!  And all enjoyed the egg toss.

Kids getting the goodies

Beginning the egg toss