Massage Me Like a Pina Colada

There is a lot to do while I'm here in Tarawa, but – lazy cow that I
am (?!) I grabbed the opportunity for a day off yesterday. By a "day
off", I mean an opportunity to stop, think, and clarify before
hurtling on regardless. I suppose you'd think I'd had all the time in
the world to think while I was rowing – and I did – but I always do my
very best thinking when I have my pen in hand, blank page of my
journal in front of me. And ocean thoughts don't always make so much
sense on dry land. It was time to get real.

But first let me tell you a bit about the sheer pleasure of being back
on dry land. One of the best things about spending long periods of
time out at sea is that it makes me appreciate the simple things of
land life so much more. To wake up in a comfortable, clean, soft bed…
to feel the warmth of the shower jets on my skin… to open a fridge and
take out a bottle of refreshing cold water…

So it was with an immense feeling of wellbeing that I woke up in my
hotel room yesterday morning. I lay on the floor to do my morning
stretch-and-breathe routine, trying to remember how it goes. I went to
sit out on the balcony overlooking the lagoon, which is actually very
polluted, but from a distance it's a gorgeous light blue, so different
from the deep blue of the open ocean.

I flipped through my trusty spiral-bound notebook while I ate a
breakfast of granola bars. I am a great maker of lists and notes, and
it was half-full of the lists I'd made in the month or so before my
departure from Hawaii. I felt the need for a fresh start, so I tore
out the used pages, neatly trimming away the perforated edges before
archiving them. Now I had a book of blank pages, ready for the next
chapter of my life.

Continuing my theme of simplicity and fresh starts, I next cleared out
my backpack. I'd been shocked when I took it off the boat, safe in its
drybag, to feel how much it weighed. Did I really used to carry this
around on my shoulders all day, every day?! No wonder I'm getting
shorter! I found all kinds of junk that had accumulated in its many
pockets – useful junk, put there "just in case", but now some cases
seemed too unlikely to justify the weight. Simplify, simplify, said
Thoreau. So I did.

Feeling fresh and organized and ready to face the day, I joined up
with TeamRoz and we got going. We headed over to the office of David
Lambourne, the Solicitor General, to use his relatively good internet
connection so Nicole could post the press release and Conrad could
upload his video footage of my arrival for the media. The poor guy had
been up all night editing 6 hours down to 6 minutes.

David, originally from Australia but now a permanent resident of
Tarawa is fast becoming our local angel, as well as being a local
mover and shaker. His wife, Tessie, is the Minister of Foreign Affairs
for Kiribati. Somebody (oops, could it have been me?) made mention of
massage, and he said that one of Tessie's relatives does a great
traditional Tarawan massage. A quick call to his house, and it was
arranged. It was definitely one of the more unusual massages I've ever
had. I was introduced to a multitude of David's wife's relatives,
sitting in a row of small shady thatched cabanas on the lagoon side of
the island, whiling away the hot hours. Two of them tended to me,
while a small audience of aunts, sisters and children watched nearby.
I sat on the palm matting under the thatch while I was rubbed down
with oil and water, and my aching back muscles soothed with long,
gentle strokes. Then I was sponged down with a wad of coconut wrapped
in muslin and dunked in hot water. Coconut milk ran down my skin. A
gentle breeze wafted in from the lagoon. It was all very nice indeed.
I smelled like a pina colada.

My masseuse and I chatted as best we could across the language
barrier. She is the same age as me – 41 – but has 8 children and 3
grandchildren. Her eldest child is 26 and the youngest is 7. Her
husband died of cancer 4 years ago. What different lives.

I spent the rest of the afternoon communing with my journal in the
cabana, covering several pages with thoughtful handwriting while the
relatives around me chatted amongst themselves in the melodious
language of Kiribati, played dice, crocheted, ate and snoozed in the
shade. A litter of new puppies slept in a furry heap underneath the
cabana. A pig lay in its pen, also comatose. Island life.

Towards dark David's wife Tessie came home, and David himself arrived
with Nicole, Hunter and Conrad. We sat in the cabana drinking toddy,
the diluted sap of the palm tree. It's unlike anything else I've ever
tasted, but very delicious. It smells strangely of hot dogs, but
tastes much better – sweet and fresh. David told us they gather it by
climbing to the top of a palm tree and shaving the bark at the site of
a new palm frond to get to the rising sap beneath. As you drive around
the island you can see the jars they attach to palm trees to gather
the juice.

After sunset we sat on the beach under the palm trees, watching the
moon rise over the lagoon as we ate a dinner prepared by the
relatives. This is how their household works – David and Tessie work
to support the relatives, in return for which the 20 or so members of
the extended family provide them with cooking, cleaning, and massage
services. Everybody's happy.

The food was the best I'd had so far on the island. There is nowhere
on a coral atoll to grow vegetables, so they are in scarce supply.
Cabbage is about the only fresh veg available. So we had coleslaw with
local tuna and chicken, and the ubiquitous white rice, washed down
with coke, cold beer or a very nice New Zealand Pinot Noir according
to choice.

Conversation was varied and interesting – including a lot of talk of
climate change, which is very much on the minds of the Kitibati
government. But more of that later. This blog is too long already.
Ciao for now – more tomorrow. We have to go to the airport to collect
Ian, who is arriving from San Francisco to help with the boatworks.

[Note: All travel by members of TeamRoz is balanced by carbon offsets
to maintain our carbon neutral status.]

Other Stuff:

Just so you know… I still have very limited internet access. Tarawa is
progressing fast, but its infrastructure is still a way behind US
levels. David's office has the best data speeds, but it still took
Conrad 7 or 8 hours to upload his 6 minutes of video footage. I'm
still having to post blogs via email, and Tweets via my satphone, and
it's not easy for me to see comments and other responses. So please
forgive me if I seem a bit remote from the online dialogue. A more
normal service will be resumed once I leave Tarawa in a couple of weeks.

Some facts on Tarawa – as gleaned by Nicole from the internet:

Tarawa Overview

Latitude: 1° 25' North, Longitude: 173° 00' East

Tarawa atoll is the capital of Kiribati, previously capital of the
former British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.

Tarawa is not a single town but a group of 24 islets (of which at
least 8 are inhabited) surrounded by a coral atoll. Apart from the
south where causeways link the islets, one needs a boat to
navigate around the main features.

The largest islet (South Tarawa) extends from Bonriki (southeast
corner of the atoll) along the entire south side of the lagoon to
Bairiki. A causeway now connects Bairiki to Betio (Japanese causeway).
The largest town, Bikenibeu, and the only airport on Tarawa, Bonriki
International Airport, are on the southeast corner of Tarawa.

Betio island, the chief commercial center of the country, is a port of
entry. The main hospital is located at Bikenibeu. The central
Government offices, Parliament building, President's Office and
Residence, Central Post Office, Telecommunications Services Kiribati
Limited (TSKL), Library and Archives, and various other official
buildings are all on Bairiki islet.

The population is mainly Micronesian. Tarawa was occupied by the
Japanese (1941-43) and fell to U.S. marines after a bloody battle. In
the early 1990s the southern part of the capital, particularly Betio,
had one of the highest population densities in the world, leading the
government to resettle residents on less crowded islands.

They are 2 hours behind Hawaii Standard Time. (ie when it is noon in
Hawaii, it is 10 am in Tarawa)

Travel

Flights: The only flights into Tarawa (TRW) are Air Pacific flights
from Nandi, Fiji (NAN). They leave twice a week, on Tuesdays and
Thursdays.

From Honolulu (HNL), there are a few more carrier options. Air
Pacific flies from HNL to NAN as does Qantas, American, United,
Hawaiian and Air New Zealand.

Ships: Supply ships occasionally go to Fiji and Tuvalu.

Accommodations

There are a few options for lodging on Tarawa but we are staying at
Hotel Otintaai. It is the main hotel in Kiribati. Fully owned by
Government, the hotel is on South Tarawa with a good view of the
lagoon. It is about a 10 minute taxi ride from the hotel to the
airport. They have a restaurant, running water, clean rooms and
Internet (ish).

Massage Me Like a Pina Colada

There is a lot to do while I'm here in Tarawa, but – lazy cow that I
am (?!) I grabbed the opportunity for a day off yesterday. By a "day
off", I mean an opportunity to stop, think, and clarify before
hurtling on regardless. I suppose you'd think I'd had all the time in
the world to think while I was rowing – and I did – but I always do my
very best thinking when I have my pen in hand, blank page of my
journal in front of me. And ocean thoughts don't always make so much
sense on dry land. It was time to get real.

But first let me tell you a bit about the sheer pleasure of being back
on dry land. One of the best things about spending long periods of
time out at sea is that it makes me appreciate the simple things of
land life so much more. To wake up in a comfortable, clean, soft bed…
to feel the warmth of the shower jets on my skin… to open a fridge and
take out a bottle of refreshing cold water…

So it was with an immense feeling of wellbeing that I woke up in my
hotel room yesterday morning. I lay on the floor to do my morning
stretch-and-breathe routine, trying to remember how it goes. I went to
sit out on the balcony overlooking the lagoon, which is actually very
polluted, but from a distance it's a gorgeous light blue, so different
from the deep blue of the open ocean.

I flipped through my trusty spiral-bound notebook while I ate a
breakfast of granola bars. I am a great maker of lists and notes, and
it was half-full of the lists I'd made in the month or so before my
departure from Hawaii. I felt the need for a fresh start, so I tore
out the used pages, neatly trimming away the perforated edges before
archiving them. Now I had a book of blank pages, ready for the next
chapter of my life.

Continuing my theme of simplicity and fresh starts, I next cleared out
my backpack. I'd been shocked when I took it off the boat, safe in its
drybag, to feel how much it weighed. Did I really used to carry this
around on my shoulders all day, every day?! No wonder I'm getting
shorter! I found all kinds of junk that had accumulated in its many
pockets – useful junk, put there "just in case", but now some cases
seemed too unlikely to justify the weight. Simplify, simplify, said
Thoreau. So I did.

Feeling fresh and organized and ready to face the day, I joined up
with TeamRoz and we got going. We headed over to the office of David
Lambourne, the Solicitor General, to use his relatively good internet
connection so Nicole could post the press release and Conrad could
upload his video footage of my arrival for the media. The poor guy had
been up all night editing 6 hours down to 6 minutes.

David, originally from Australia but now a permanent resident of
Tarawa is fast becoming our local angel, as well as being a local
mover and shaker. His wife, Tessie, is the Minister of Foreign Affairs
for Kiribati. Somebody (oops, could it have been me?) made mention of
massage, and he said that one of Tessie's relatives does a great
traditional Tarawan massage. A quick call to his house, and it was
arranged. It was definitely one of the more unusual massages I've ever
had. I was introduced to a multitude of David's wife's relatives,
sitting in a row of small shady thatched cabanas on the lagoon side of
the island, whiling away the hot hours. Two of them tended to me,
while a small audience of aunts, sisters and children watched nearby.
I sat on the palm matting under the thatch while I was rubbed down
with oil and water, and my aching back muscles soothed with long,
gentle strokes. Then I was sponged down with a wad of coconut wrapped
in muslin and dunked in hot water. Coconut milk ran down my skin. A
gentle breeze wafted in from the lagoon. It was all very nice indeed.
I smelled like a pina colada.

My masseuse and I chatted as best we could across the language
barrier. She is the same age as me – 41 – but has 8 children and 3
grandchildren. Her eldest child is 26 and the youngest is 7. Her
husband died of cancer 4 years ago. What different lives.

I spent the rest of the afternoon communing with my journal in the
cabana, covering several pages with thoughtful handwriting while the
relatives around me chatted amongst themselves in the melodious
language of Kiribati, played dice, crocheted, ate and snoozed in the
shade. A litter of new puppies slept in a furry heap underneath the
cabana. A pig lay in its pen, also comatose. Island life.

Towards dark David's wife Tessie came home, and David himself arrived
with Nicole, Hunter and Conrad. We sat in the cabana drinking toddy,
the diluted sap of the palm tree. It's unlike anything else I've ever
tasted, but very delicious. It smells strangely of hot dogs, but
tastes much better – sweet and fresh. David told us they gather it by
climbing to the top of a palm tree and shaving the bark at the site of
a new palm frond to get to the rising sap beneath. As you drive around
the island you can see the jars they attach to palm trees to gather
the juice.

After sunset we sat on the beach under the palm trees, watching the
moon rise over the lagoon as we ate a dinner prepared by the
relatives. This is how their household works – David and Tessie work
to support the relatives, in return for which the 20 or so members of
the extended family provide them with cooking, cleaning, and massage
services. Everybody's happy.

The food was the best I'd had so far on the island. There is nowhere
on a coral atoll to grow vegetables, so they are in scarce supply.
Cabbage is about the only fresh veg available. So we had coleslaw with
local tuna and chicken, and the ubiquitous white rice, washed down
with coke, cold beer or a very nice New Zealand Pinot Noir according
to choice.

Conversation was varied and interesting – including a lot of talk of
climate change, which is very much on the minds of the Kitibati
government. But more of that later. This blog is too long already.
Ciao for now – more tomorrow. We have to go to the airport to collect
Ian, who is arriving from San Francisco to help with the boatworks.

[Note: All travel by members of TeamRoz is balanced by carbon offsets
to maintain our carbon neutral status.]

Other Stuff:

Just so you know… I still have very limited internet access. Tarawa is
progressing fast, but its infrastructure is still a way behind US
levels. David's office has the best data speeds, but it still took
Conrad 7 or 8 hours to upload his 6 minutes of video footage. I'm
still having to post blogs via email, and Tweets via my satphone, and
it's not easy for me to see comments and other responses. So please
forgive me if I seem a bit remote from the online dialogue. A more
normal service will be resumed once I leave Tarawa in a couple of weeks.

Some facts on Tarawa – as gleaned by Nicole from the internet:

Tarawa Overview

Latitude: 1° 25' North, Longitude: 173° 00' East

Tarawa atoll is the capital of Kiribati, previously capital of the
former British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.

Tarawa is not a single town but a group of 24 islets (of which at
least 8 are inhabited) surrounded by a coral atoll. Apart from the
south where causeways link the islets, one needs a boat to
navigate around the main features.

The largest islet (South Tarawa) extends from Bonriki (southeast
corner of the atoll) along the entire south side of the lagoon to
Bairiki. A causeway now connects Bairiki to Betio (Japanese causeway).
The largest town, Bikenibeu, and the only airport on Tarawa, Bonriki
International Airport, are on the southeast corner of Tarawa.

Betio island, the chief commercial center of the country, is a port of
entry. The main hospital is located at Bikenibeu. The central
Government offices, Parliament building, President's Office and
Residence, Central Post Office, Telecommunications Services Kiribati
Limited (TSKL), Library and Archives, and various other official
buildings are all on Bairiki islet.

The population is mainly Micronesian. Tarawa was occupied by the
Japanese (1941-43) and fell to U.S. marines after a bloody battle. In
the early 1990s the southern part of the capital, particularly Betio,
had one of the highest population densities in the world, leading the
government to resettle residents on less crowded islands.

They are 2 hours behind Hawaii Standard Time. (ie when it is noon in
Hawaii, it is 10 am in Tarawa)

Travel

Flights: The only flights into Tarawa (TRW) are Air Pacific flights
from Nandi, Fiji (NAN). They leave twice a week, on Tuesdays and
Thursdays.

From Honolulu (HNL), there are a few more carrier options. Air
Pacific flies from HNL to NAN as does Qantas, American, United,
Hawaiian and Air New Zealand.

Ships: Supply ships occasionally go to Fiji and Tuvalu.

Accommodations

There are a few options for lodging on Tarawa but we are staying at
Hotel Otintaai. It is the main hotel in Kiribati. Fully owned by
Government, the hotel is on South Tarawa with a good view of the
lagoon. It is about a 10 minute taxi ride from the hotel to the
airport. They have a restaurant, running water, clean rooms and
Internet (ish).

Arrival Day + 1: HELLO TARAWA!

I stepped ashore, setting foot on dry land for the first time in 105
days. This was now my third arrival after prolonged periods at sea, so
I wasn't surprised when the ground seemed to lurch beneath my feet. My
brain had adapted to being on a constantly pitching boat, so now it
was over-compensating when I stood on terra firma. I looked up at the
crowd of several hundred people that had come to greet me, and
wondered if my first act on arriving in Tarawa would be to topple over
like a drunkard.

Then two big hunky men in traditional island outfits approached and
knelt in front of me, forming a cradle with their arms. "Thank heavens
for local tradition" I thought, as I sank gratefully onto the
proffered cradle.

I was carried to a plastic chair, and the hunky men were joined by
several more who performed a local dance of traditional welcome. I
felt like visiting royalty as I smiled appreciatively. They presented
me with a coconut, its top lopped off so I could drink the cool,
refreshing, sweet coconut water inside. It was exactly what I needed.
I was feeling a bit woozy after my exertions. It had been an
exhausting 3 days.

As I approached Tarawa from the south on Sept 4th, I hadn't been sure
if I would manage to make landfall under my own steam. Given the
strong easterly winds that had prevailed over the previous few days, I
thought it much more likely that I would get close to the island but
miss it by several miles, and would need a boat to come out to catch
me as I whizzed past.

But finally Neptune decided to give me a break. I had already made it
safely past the island of Abemama (where Robert Louis Stevenson lived
for a while). I was making good progress in a northwesterly direction,
but there was a problem. Unless I managed to shift course to north-
northwest, I would run slap into the island of Maiana. I had to choose
whether to go south of it, which would mean I had no chance of getting
to Tarawa under my own steam, or else east of it – which was the way I
wanted to go, but was it possible? Under present wind conditions, no,
it wasn't.

Then, finally, the long-awaited southeasterly wind arrived. Woohoo!
Now I was in fine shape. The wind only lasted a few hours, but I was
able to ride it all the way up the east side of Maiana, which lined me
up nicely for Tarawa.

I rowed late into the night until I was reasonably sure I was clear of
Maiana and its reefs. Then I tried to grab a quick nap, but I kept
opening one eye to squint at the GPS to make sure I wasn't going to
shipwreck. At one point I got up and rowed some more, just to make
doubly sure. It would have been a real shame to get this far only to
end up on a reef within sight of the finish.

So as I approached the final 20 miles into Tarawa, I had had less than
6 hours of sleep in the previous 48 hours, and the heat was brutal.
The wind had dropped away to nothing and the sun was intense. When I
got to 9 miles out, I really wondered if I was going to make it. After
rowing 3000 miles, the last 9 seemed to loom very large. I put some
good rocking music on to help me through.

And finally, mile by mile, I crossed off the final hours of my voyage.
After each mile I posted another Tweet and had a bite of food. A boat
arrived to escort me the last mile or two to land. On board were
Nicole, Hunter (from Archinoetics) and Conrad (our cameraman). Also
Rob, the New Zealand High Commissioner, who put his sea kayak in the
water and paddled alongside me.

But I could feel that I was getting depleted. As I always seem to do,
I get over-excited on my final day and push myself too hard. I arrive
on land dehydrated, sunburned and exhausted.

The last mile was really tough. I wondered if it would ever finish.
Rob told me I was rowing against the incoming tide. I was reduced to
counting tens. Just ten more strokes. Then another ten. Then another
ten. As I crossed my finish line of latitude, I collapsed backwards
off my rowing seat.

But nothing that an ice cold beer wouldn't cure (oops, ignore this
bit, please, Dr Aenor!). Nicole knew what was needed. I heard some
splashing as I lay on the deck with my eyes closed, and then Nicole's
head popped up over the side of the boat. She had jumped off the
escort boat into the water and swum over to Brocade, beer in hand. It
was a bit warm after its time in the water, but tasted pretty darned
good regardless. Now that's what I call a dedicated Program Director!

So now I am on Tarawa, quite possibly one of the most remote places on
the world. I'm dying to tell you all about it, but this blog is long
enough already, and the Solicitor General's wife's aunt is waiting to
give me a much-needed massage. So I'll sign off now, but will tell
more tomorrow. I intend to blog every day until we leave Tarawa,
probably Sept 17th. But internet access here is very limited, so
please forgive me if I miss a day or two.

Photos and videos coming soon. Stay tuned!

Plans for Arrival TODAY!

TeamRoz back in Honolulu relaying the plans for today...

As of 10:30am Hawaii time (which is what is displayed on the
RozTracker), Roz is just 11 miles from the southern tip of Tarawa
where she'll be arriving. Nicole just called in via sat phone to let
us know that the plan is for the film crew and support crew to leave
by boat from Tarawa at around 2pm Hawaii time (12pm Tarawa time) to
rendezvous with Roz.

From there, the boat will guide Roz through the treacherous reefs that
surround the atoll to help her get safely to shore. This will be
tricky, so it'll take all of Roz's efforts to stay on course and safe.
She's been rowing hard all morning... she can almost taste the cold
beer, no doubt!

RozTracker GPS updates are now every 20 minutes, so check back often
to see exactly where Roz is!

As soon as we have any photos, videos, and updates, we will be sure to
post them to the RozTracker. In the meantime, spread the word in
whatever way you can so people can follow these last few exciting
miles!

GO ROZ GO!

GO ROZ GO!

GO ROZ GO!

[Photo: Children of Tarawa welcome TeamRoz to the airport. Can't wait
to see Roz's reception!]

Day 104 - See you in the morning, Roz!

From Nicole:

Okay Rozlings, this is it. Tomorrow is the big day, the one we've all
been waiting for. I apologize for the radio silence from me…the lack
of a decent Internet connection has been maddening, especially in such
a critical time. I tried uploading Tweets and Facebook updates
yesterday to keep you looped in on all the great developments, but to
no avail.

So, here's the scoop:

Yesterday was a hugely successful day at the office. My top priority
since we arrived was finding a reliable boat that would be willing and
able to go a good distance out to sea (just in case) and help escort
Roz safely in to Tarawa. As I mentioned in my last blog, things move
slowly here and I was never discouraged, but knew we were running
short on time.

Following a lead, Conrad and I headed over to the Tarawa Sports
Complex and pretty much hit the jackpot. The US Navy was wrapping up a
2-week humanitarian project (called the Pacific Partnership 2009) with
a closing ceremony. We'd met several of the American, Australian and
Canadian soldiers since we arrived – after their work was done each
day, some of them would head over to our hotel for dinner and a beer
before heading back to their ship. They were all really wonderful
guys, and the Navy doctor is the one who gave Hunter the eye drops he
desperately needed for his conjunctivitis. In any case, we went to
their closing ceremony and the President of Kiribati was there! We
could hardly believe our good luck. After the ceremony was over, the
Australian High Commissioner introduced me to the President and I was
able to tell him that Roz would be arriving in the next few days. I
told him about her mission – raising awareness for climate change –
and he was so pleased, as this is an issue that is of the utmost
importance to him. He was warm and welcoming, and delighted that Roz
is coming to Tarawa.

After the ceremony, we were invited to drinks at the Australian High
Commissioner's residence. We had heard through the grapevine that the
High Commissioner of New Zealand is a world-class champion rower and
that he had a boat that might work for us, and we were eagerly trying
to connect with him throughout the day. Lo and behold, he was at the
party, so we were able to chat with him and he graciously offered up
his boat to help escort Roz in safely. We were then introduced to a
lovely guy named Emil who also has a large boat, and he offered up his
time and assistance as well. Both gentlemen gave me their phone
numbers and said all we'd need to do is call. Hooray! Mission
accomplished. Uh, well…not quite. We still need Roz.

Today at 10 am, Roz phoned in to give me her update. She was really
struggling with the currents. They were whisking her hard and fast to
the west, making it increasingly difficult for her to head north to
Tarawa. Not good. I gave her the excellent and
just-in-the-nick-of-time news about the escort boats, and she was both
delighted and relieved. She said the winds were due to change to south
easterlies and wanted to carry on trying for Tarawa, but thought that
most likely, she wouldn't be able to get north of Maiana, which is
just 20 miles to the south of Tarawa. Roz thought the most prudent
thing to do was to schedule a rendezvous point on the south west side
of Maiana, and asked if we could arrange that for 9 am tomorrow. Still
hoping those south easterlies would kick in, Roz and I agreed to speak
again at 4:30 pm to course correct if necessary.

At 4:30 Roz called and gave the final confirmation. Yes, let's
rendezvous at 9 am tomorrow in Maiana. It's a bit surreal. Roz has
been at sea for 104 days now, and as she hung up she said, "thanks so
much for everything Nicole – I'll see you in the morning." Wow. It's
rather funny to hear her say that after so long!

I called Emil and Rob – the gentlemen who have offered up their boats
– and they conferred and decided Emil's boat would be the best option,
all things considered. We will all meet tomorrow at 7 am at Bairiki
Harbour and set out to rendezvous with Roz. She and I will speak again
at 7 am to get her latest coordinates (we have GPS on the boat, too)
and we expect it will take about an hour and a half to reach her.

I just spoke with Ricardo, Roz's weatherman in Portugal—the south
easterlies that Roz needs have kicked in over the past hour, so he
seems to think that she'll be able to row all the way in to Tarawa
under her own steam. I know that's what she'll want, and if she can,
super. We'll be there, right alongside, just in case. If she needs a
tow, we can do that too. All our bases are well and truly covered.

Tomorrow is a very big day indeed. It's very late here, but I've still
got quite a lot more work to do, so I'll sign off for now and just say
a massively huge and very heartfelt thank you to all of Roz's
supporters for following along and encouraging her the past 104 days.
Please know that your positivity and enthusiasm means the world to her
and helps keep her going through the rough times.

I also want to thank those of you who have also been so supportive of
me, especially the past couple of weeks. This has been a wonderful
project to be a part of for the past 2 years – and the moral support
I've received from family and friends (and even some of the Rozlings!)
has been amazing and oh-so-necessary. An extra special thank you to my
Granny, my brother Brian, the Yellin Family, my favorite aunties Aenor
and Melinda, Ian Tuller, Hunter and Traci Downs, Nancy Glenn, Ellen
Petry Leanse and Evan Rapoport.

Good night everyone! We'll put up photos, videos and other updates of
Roz's arrival just as quickly as we can.

Nicole

Day 104 Down to Davy Jones’ Locker.

September 4, 2009

The trickiest bits of any ocean row are the beginning and the end. Of course it is not all that easy in the middle either, but at least there is no land to bump into there, so that's one less thing to worry about. My main concern right now is trying to make a safe landfall. At the moment I am only twelve miles from land, but unfortunately that is not the land I want to go to.

It is  (?)  island. I don't know what's there, but probably not very much. Certainly no airport, and definitely no members of my team. They are on Tarawa which is 90 nautical miles away from me, at an increasingly challenging angle. I need to be about 50 miles further north ideally, but I'm being whisked rapidly west by the winds and current. It looks as if I might run out of west before I make enough northern progress.

We do have a back-up plan: we'd already intended to have a pilot vessel to guide me through the reef . It is apparently very difficult to navigate even for those who know it well. So it would be very hazardous for said rowboat and rower better adapted to the mid-ocean. So if needs be, the pilot boat can come out a bit further and lasso me as I whizz past to the south of the island. The only problem being that we don't yet have a pilot boat. But Nicole is working on it and I can only hope that she succeeds before I disappear past Tarawa into the great blue yonder.

So I am doing everything I can to hang onto those precious westerly miles. For every mile west I want to be making a mile north and I'm using the sea anchor to try and hold ground while I sleep. Last night this resulted in a very sad loss. It was about 10pm and I was just putting out the sea anchor for the night. As I untied the main line from a D-ring on the boat, there was a small clink and a gentle splosh. I looked in disbelief at my wrist. My watch was gone – my lovely, trusty, beloved G-shock Pathfinder watch. Solar powered, given to me by Casio a few years ago. It and I have been through so much together It had survived the airlift of 2007  and my row from San Francisco to Hawaii . I once thought I had killed when I went caving with my sister . Some grit and mud got into its buttons but it rallied even from that, only to be lost at sea just days before the end of this passage.

I still don't know quite how it came to vanish . It had a metal wristband of the sort that should still remain around your wrist even though the clasp might come undone. So when I hooked it on the D-ring the strap actually parted company from the watch . It was like that horrible feeling that you get when the front door slams behind you and you realize that you have left your keys on the inside. Just too late to do anything about it. I would have given anything to rewind and replay the last three seconds.  There are not many possessions that I am attached to: my laptop, my iphone and my watch are the three that come to mind. I loved the watch for the fact that it was solar-powered and never needed a new battery. It just lived on my wrist, telling me time, date, the day of the week,  should I need it, the altitude, not that relevant at the moment living mostly at sea level,  compass bearing,  and barometric pressure. No fuss, no bother, just dependable. I even wear it quite  conspicuously in the photo on the front cover of my book. But now it is no more, well it is, but by now probably 2 miles away under the sea. I hope that it doesn't get eaten by a shark or a sea creature  it wouldn't do them much good at all. Having survived all that it has, I wonder whether it will ever turn up on a fish-monger's slab somewhere, still working.

Oh well, watches can be replaced. It was only a thing, I keep reminding myself. Only a thing.

(Editor's note: I could not make out the name of the island when listening to the voice recording. It sounded like Bite Island, but searching Google failed to find the information. Rita.)

Day 102 - The Pieces are Locking into Place

(Update from Nicole)

It's been a very busy day here in Tarawa, and I'm going to keep this
short because I'm absolutely beat and I know that it will probably
take at least 10 minutes just to upload this blog. The Internet
connection here has been…well…let's just say a challenge. Everywhere
we go on the island, we whip out the laptops hoping to snag a signal,
even for just a few moments, but with the exception of a couple of
hours this afternoon, we've largely been unsuccessful. Believe me, the
irony isn't lost on us that Roz is at sea and has marginally better
connectivity than we do on dry land!

In short, we have accomplished a lot, but there remains much to be
done. Tarawa is a place where you have to know people to get anything
accomplished…and we're getting there. Here's how it works: we meet one
person, who will introduce us to someone else who works for the person
that is exactly the person we need to know to accomplish X. This all
happens on Tarawa time, which FYI is even slower than what we've all
come to know as "island time." The good news is that we've been
getting really lucky. We're meeting exactly the right people that can
make miracles happen, and our new friends are bending over backwards
to help us – we are so fortunate.

Today we had lunch with a wonderful Australian gent named David. He is
the Attorney General of Kiribati and has been tremendously helpful.
His wife is the Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, and she
essentially made it possible for all of us to enter the country and
has also fast-tracked the necessary approvals for Roz's arrival. She
reports directly to the President, so now we know that we're legal!
David also invited us to sit in his air-conditioned office and avail
ourselves of the very best Internet connection on the atoll, so for a
few sweet hours this afternoon, we were able to get much-needed work
done online.

Another big thank you to our Kiwi friend, John who gave up an entire
day guiding us around the island and making important introductions.
He helped us secure the assistance of the merchant marines – they have
generously agreed to help us extract Roz's boat from the water and
provide safe storage for us during the months between Stage 2 and 3.
Roz's boat weights about 1200 pounds and has a custom-built trailer,
which we couldn't transport to Tarawa. We'll have to put something
together here before we can take it out of the water, and the merchant
marines are helping us assemble a crew to custom build a "cradle" for
Roz's boat – something that will be absolutely necessary for storing
it safely.

The other very important piece of this puzzle is a safe landing area.
We've consulted a number of on-island experts about the exact approach
Roz needs to make to arrive here safely. It won't be easy – there are
tricky currents and shallow waters with boat-busting reefs that she'll
need to navigate, so my top priority remains lining up an escort boat
in the next couple of days that can safely guide her in. The boat
needs to be able to go at least 20 miles out to sea (just in case) and
finding an able vessel on Tarawa is proving to be a challenge. I have
a good feeling that today this piece of the puzzle will lock into
place. Cross your fingers for us!

There seems to have been quite a bit of hubbub the past few days about
the timing of things on Tarawa so I feel it's necessary to make
something absolutely clear: asking Roz to slow down was MISSION
CRITICAL. It is not for party planning or PR purposes. When Roz made
the call the call that Tarawa was the destination, we had less than 24
hours to move. We are in a third world country right now, and while
the people here are incredibly warm, generous and accommodating,
making the necessary preparations for Roz takes time. She can't just
show up. If she did, she'd be putting herself and her boat in very
real danger. Roz has plenty of food and water, and is not at all in
harm's way by slowing down a bit to allow us time to make the
absolutely necessary arrangements. I should also point out that since
she's changed course for Tarawa, she's logging record mileage, so
she's not actually slowing down at all. Please know that this Team has
nothing but Roz's safety and best interests at heart. I would hope
you'd also have some faith in your heroine – over the past few months,
you've gotten to know her through her soul-bearing blogs. Do you
really think she'd do something doesn't want to do? There are a lot of
moving pieces here, so I just ask that you be respectful of the
process and the people that are working hard to make this happen.

Speaking of the team, many of you have been asking how we're holding
up. We're okay, but definitely dealing with a few little health
issues. Today I woke up feeling lousy with a bad headache, a terribly
sore throat and blocked nose. Hunter managed to get conjunctivitis,
which is really unpleasant. We managed to track down the US Navy
doctor who is here through Saturday on a special project and he gave
Hunter the medicated drops he needs to fight this off. I'm hoping my
little bug buggers off soon too!

Well, that's it for now. Roz and I will now be speaking every day at
10 am on our satphones. From now until she arrives, Roz and I will
alternate days on the blog, so you can be kept up to date on both the
land and sea parts of this grand adventure. Thanks all for your
continued support and best wishes!

Nicole

[photo: amazing sunset captured on the lagoon side of Tarawa]

Day 100 - Mauri from Tarawa

TeamRoz Note: This blog by Nicole was for September 1st, but couldn't be uploaded at the time due to lack of Internet access.

Mauri from Tarawa!

Right now I'm sitting in my room at the Otintaai Hotel, watching the
sunrise. It's a bit surreal being here. I'm about as far away
from…well…anywhere, as one could possibly be. I've lived all over the
world and traveled to about two dozen countries, but for the first
time in a long time, I now feel like I've really gone somewhere. These
days when you travel, you can expect to see more or less the same
things that you have at home. Experiencing something truly different
these days takes quite a bit of effort. I feel so incredibly fortunate
to have the opportunity to see Tarawa; low-lying islands and atolls in
the Pacific don't have much time left. Most estimates say that by
2050, places like Tarawa will be uninhabitable…they'll be under water.
Standing on terra firma here now and meeting the wonderful people who
call this home, makes that even harder to wrap my head around I'm so
looking forward to what the next couple of weeks have in store for us.

Let me back up a bit and fill you in on what transpired yesterday.
Hunter, Conrad and I boarded the 737 jet in Nandi, Fiji and were
surprised to see that it was packed full – who knew so many others
were heading in this direction? The 3 hour flight was smooth and
uneventful. I had a window seat and every once in a while, I'd look
down at the glittering blue expanse of open ocean. It can be
mesmerizing and certainly humbling… The last 30 minutes of our flight
provided jaw-dropping views of tiny little islands and atolls
scattered like marbles across the sea. I've just never seen anything
like it.

The moment I stepped outside the plane, it was very clear we were on
the equator…it was stiflingly hot and humid. There was a pretty strong
breeze, but it didn't make a lick of difference. As Conrad said, "this
is the first time where I've felt wind that just doesn't help." We
were greeted at Bonriki airport by our new friends, John and Linda.
John is from New Zealand and has lived here for 14 years with his wife
Linda, who is I-Kiribati. They've been a tremendous help to Team Roz –
they booked our hotel, a rental car, and are helping us secure a
filming permit as well. They drove us to the hotel last night and
after we dropped off our things, they joined us outdoors for a drink
and we plied them with questions. We'll be meeting up with them again
today – we are so grateful for their help! And thank you Maarten
Troost for the introduction!

To give you a little more context about Tarawa, the following are a
few brief excerpts from Maarten's book, The Sex Lives of Cannibals:
Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific:

"Located just a notch above the equator and five thousand miles from
anywhere, Tarawa is the capital of Kiribati. Kiribati is a country of
thirty-three atolls scattered over an ocean area as large as the
continental United States."

"To picture Kiribati, imagine that the continental U.S. were to
conveniently disappear leaving only Baltimore and a vast swath of very
blue ocean in its place. Now chop up Baltimore into thirty-three
pieces, place a neighborhood where Maine used to be, another where
California once was, and so on until you have thirty-three pieces of
Baltimore dispersed in such a way so as to ensure that 32/33 of
Baltimorians will never attend an Orioles game again. Flatten all land
into a uniform two feet above sea level. The result is the Republic of
Kiribati."

"The total landmass of Tarawa is twelve square miles. This figure is
illusory, however, for it creates the impression of a block of land,
and this Tarawa is decidedly not. Its twelve square miles of coral are
divided into elongated slivers, narrow islets crowned with the tufts
of palm trees, prevented from becoming a unified whole by myriad of
channels linking the ocean with the lagoon, and stretched out over a
reef extending nearly forty miles. The reef itself is shaped like a
tottering inverted L, with the western side open to the ocean."

"There are, simply, too many people on South Tarawa, particularly on
the islet of Betio, which has the world's highest population density,
greater even than Hong Kong. Unlike Hong Kong, a city in the sky,
there is not a building above two stories on Betio. Some eighteen
thousand people, nearly a quarter of the country's population, live on
Tarawa."

Roz will be posting the next update, and will continue to do so from
now on. In the meantime, Team Roz will be busily preparing for her
arrival some time next week. We have to scope out locations for her to
come in safely, and meet with a few people we're told might be able to
help us arrange for an escort boat to see that Roz navigates through
the reef safe and sound. Today is going to be a big day…we have lots
to do. Wish us luck!

[photo: A bird's eye view of one of the many atolls in Kiribati]

Day 101 - Landing a Parachute on a Penny

I'm back! Well, sort of. I'm having technical problems with my email
which is how I post my blog. So I'm reading my blog over the satphone
and I hope that Mum gets my message asking her to transcribe it for
me, and I gather that I am not the only member of Team Roz having
technical difficulties. I haven't heard from Nicole since she arrived
on Tarawa so they must be having problems there too.

I spoke to Evan today who is back at base on Hawaii and he says he has
just had the one email from her since she left, so they were having
some issues. So all in all it has been a challenging day for the
Rozters. Right this minute, though, email is far from the biggest of
my worries. My much greater concern is trying to hit Tarawa. Such a
tiny speck in such a huge ocean and my boat is so difficult to
maneuver with any precision so reaching Tarawa was always going to be
like trying to land a parachute on a penny from 40,000 feet, Oh and
given that I am not due to arrive there until September the 9th to
give my team time to assemble. It is like trying to land a parachute
on a penny at 3.23 and 35 seconds on a Wednesday.

If the weather was nice and calm as predicted with a gentle 8 knot
wind from the east, this might be looking quite do-able, but as I
speak at sunset on Wednesday – I'm on Tarawa time now - I am looking
out at some of the roughest conditions I've seen on this stage so far.
The wind is blowing at 20 plus knots and the seas are rough and steep.
So life is erm . . . interesting.

Hopefully soon these communications issues will be resolved and this
reminds me of Shackleton and his men when they had to split up the
team. Some of them had to set out across the Antarctic to try to raise
a rescue mission. The ones left behind had no idea whether the rest of
the party had succeeded or perished in the attempt.

Obviously in the early days of the 20th century they had no satellite
phones. So suddenly Nicole has been thrust back several decades into a
world without internet. Ironically, even though she is now just 150
miles away from me, closer than at any other point in the last three
months its never been more difficult for us to communicate with each
other.

I left a message with Evan that I will try to call Nicole at 10am
tomorrow so hopefully we can manage to make contact then. Meanwhile
there is this wind to worry about . . .

Signing off now, next blog from me in a couple of days. Hopefully
Nicole will manage to get on line to post her blog tomorrow. In the
Meanwhile, thank you Rozlings for your ongoing support, love and
encouragement, and its going to be an interesting final week, that's
for sure.

All the best for now. Roz.