Moku pe'a Report

0600 position 2-00N 157-29W. At anchor in 28', sand bottom. Christmas
Island

One of the words that came to mind the other night when we saw the loom of
the Christmas Island lights in the distance was "civilized". Now, I'm not
so sure. We had the anchor down at 0800 and at 0815 called "Christmas
Island Radio" on VHF Channel 16, as all the guidance recommend, to request
clearance into the country from customs and immigration. We spoke to
someone official on the radio, gave them vital statistics, and were told
to stand by while they contacted the officials. We are still "standing
by" a day later. We've called them numerous times on the VHF to make sure
they haven't forgotten about us. I even went ashore for a bit and tried
to get their attention that way, but the pier yard gate guard and the
Harbor Master sent me back to the boat to wait for the officials.
Civilized indeed. As you recall, we timed our departure from Hawaii so we
wouldn't arrive on a weekend requiring the payment of overtime to the
officials. Perhaps this is a conspiracy and they are planning to keep us
"standing by" until the weekend to wrest that overtime pay from us? Time
will tell. Stay tuned.

It is hot here. Africa hot. I don't remember Palmyra or Fanning, which
are only a few hundred miles away, being this hot. Perhaps it is El Nino
rearing his mischievous head? The heat of the air makes the ocean feel
great and we have both been in for a swim. The heat also makes an iced
cold beer taste great. We both broke down under the stress of the waiting
and boredom at noon and had our first beers of the trip. Definitely worth
waiting for.

As we powered into the anchorage this morning we were surprised to see two
"raft ups" of large ships anchored in the roadstead. There were four
ships in one raft and two in the other. They looked to me like fishing
factory ships with some of their fishing fleets tied to them. Almost
looks like a small version of Middle Loch in Pearl Harbor with the
mothballed ships. I had read somewhere that the sale of their
territorial fishing rights to others is a significant income source for
Kiribati. These ships are probably related.

After dinner we had movie night (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) and a
full night's sleep. I could get used to that.