Christmas Island

Well, it is Christmas. Arrived last night in the dark - about 2200. Thanks to Doug and Carla for leaving the lights on for us. Not even a motel 6 would have looked so good! Managed to miss all the obstacles and set the anchor on the first try. Yay! was good to sleep in a still bed.

So, we slept in today. Got some intel from another cruising boat in the anchorage, so we moved closer to the pass. Little less swell and a shorter dinghy ride in to town. We made the ride in to town this afternoon. Seems we had a 1730 appt with customs that we didn't know about, but thanks to Doug and Carla, the immigration lady met us and got that piece of the check in over with. Overtime was pricey- luckily we got to share the bill between the two boats. So did I mention their Independence day is next Friday? Well, they get the whole bloody week off. So, getting checked in will continue to be an interesting process. The immigration lady is setting up our customs appt for tomorrow morning at 1000. Wonder how much that overtime is going to cost us??? Getting fuel may be an issue too. I keep you updated on that. There are 3 cruising boats that need fuel, so it may be worth their while to sell to us this week - definitely Island time.

We did a good bit of walking around this afternoon. Doug and Carla were our scouts, so they had found the beach bar. Pretty cool. Help yourself to beer from the fridge (cozy provided), write your name on the white board and keep track of how much you drink, pay at the end. Finding someone to pay was not straightforward, but we managed. Then we checked out all the little stores. Pretty much the same one to the next, but hey at least they a) had stores and b) the stores had things on their shelves. Vast improvement over Fanning. Oh and hey they have cars!! Driving on the wrong side of the road, but all the same- cars. In my ongoing saga re: eggs - they have them here, refrigerated, $1 dollar each, yep that is $12 per dozen. Ouch! Did find a tin of butter - $8.50. Found it a little cheaper down the street, but the damage was already done. The boys got ice cream, and Doug and Carla braved the roadside food stand for pork stew. I tried it, tasted good and lots of it for $3.

Did find several internet places, no place to buy wifi, will probably have to wait until Monday. In the meantime, we will get to see how the people of Christmas celebrate their Independence day. Beauty pageant on Wednesday, volley ball, soccer, music. People here are more open and actually speak more English than in Fanning. I think it is because it is a busy port. There are two container ships, three fishing boats and an oil tanker in the anchorage as well as the 4 cruising boats. Busy by Island standards. We saw some of the fishing boat crew in town, they were from Peru and El Salvador. Hey a foreign language I could understand!! Don't think Gilbertese is going to be an addition to my language repertoire. So,more to see and do here - sort of.

On a side note, I hope Heart Strings and Delphinia are doing well.

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