Hello From FSM

That's the Federated States of Micronesia, for those of you who are wondering where abouts I am these days. We are currently on the island of Chuuk, and although the lonely planet warned us of sketchy characters in and around these parts, we had to come here to clear in through customs and wanted to take advantage of the mecca of diveable wrecks (about 60) that are around here. I am planning some diving on Saturday. A few more warm water dives will be wonderful before heading into the northern parts of the Pacific. So far so good though, all the people seem overly friendly...although the cat calls and whistles are less than appreciated, mostly you can ignore them , or at least get used to them and tune them out. Like any place though, the bigger cities always have more problems and when you get to some of the outer islands, the whole group mentalily of a people can change entirely, hopefully we will have a chance to explore at least one of the outer islands before we leave Micronesia.
The passage over her from PNG was great. We turned North on the compass which was momentous in itself. It was slightly longer than expected, but mostly because we were delayed leaving PNG for two days waiting for them to round up enough American cash for us to leave with.... The new group of trainees are fantastic and really excited to be onboard. Our first passage was 6 days. A good length, long enough for them to get sea sick and then get over it. It's better if they can get over it the first time so that the next time we go out and they start to feel sick they know that there is and end to it. A wise skipper once said: "there are three stages to sea sickness, first you feel sick, second, you think you might die, and third you think you might now die!" I was not sick this passage.
King Nepute came to visit this passage as we crossed the Equator...as is his duty to meet everyone who crosses his line and turn them from greenhorn to shellbacks. As I was already aquainted with Neptune I was part of his court this time. King Neptune made a dramatic appearance out of the whisker shrouds, trident first and all the trainees trembled in fear as they bowed to this green and baggy wrinkle bearded "god" The trainees all had to prove their worth to Neptune by passing his challanges ( licking peanut butter off a clear plastic board, blowing raw eggs through a hose, eating raw onions, witholding the most tabasco sauce poured onto their tongues drip by drip, and pushing noodles with their noses through slop filled decks). They were also glamourously made up with a special paste in their armpits by his highnesses wife and concubine Amphitrite and Nautilis. Fun was had by all and the decks warranted a thorough cleaning once he'd left.
I have officially done more night runs this leg than I have in my entire SALTS career (when I say night runs, I mean actually staying up for the full 4 hours of a watch shift and taking the con, so to speak) I really enjoy them mostly, although it takes a bit to figure out when you can catch up on the sleep that you've missed between all the other things that fill your day, like meals, dishes, sail handeling, teaching, reading, etc. The best nights are always when the stars are out. I was on 2000 to 2400 and then 0400 to 0800 this passage and was thrilled to be able to see both the southern cross and the big dipper in the sky at the same time for a period on one of my last nights. The sea at night is beautiful. I love being inside this snowglobe like dome of stars and having them be your light on the water. We haven't had even the moon lately to light our nights, so it's been very dark and peaceful.
Everyone is looking forward to the comforts of Guam and an Americanized port. It's odd really. We come out on the water to try and get away from all that, but the minute that we have a chance to get back to it, we take it. It's really comforting to have the ease of home for a little while, but I'm sure that we will all be glad to move onto China as well.