Three Months in Majuro, Marshall Islands

Latitude: 07°06.19'N  Longitude: 171°22.44'E

The last three months were so full of experiences, that I hardly found time to write.  One of the reasons was the arrival of our friends Kaspar & Steffi aboard their Catana 43 catamaran CÉLUANN.  We spent almost every day together and when the time came for us to sail our separate ways, we had more than the usual lump in our throat.  Aurora Ulani especially missed Steffi and talked for days and weeks about her. 

Just after they had got here, we all went to visit the Taiwan-Farm in Laura at the other end of the atoll.  Apart from growing all kinds of vegetables - a difficult job on an atoll - they also raise fish, chickens and pigs, partly because of the fertilizer.  We spent an interesting day & when we were finally completely overloaded with new impressions, we all went back to Majuro together to go to the big Taiwan barbecue-party celebrating Chinese Lantern Festival. 

 

Unfortunately rain was pouring down like you wouldn't believe, but that didn't dampen the mood one little bit.  Ambassador Bruce J.D. Linghu introduced us to a lot of people, most of whom came from Taiwan originally.  However, he also introduced us to Tony, which was extremely fortunate.  Tony is the American captain of a purse seiner owned by a Taiwanese company.  When Kaspar talked to him during the party, he got us all invited for a visit on the AMERICAN EAGLE the next day. 

 

We showed up with two dinghies (after I stupidly went a long way to find out that I had gone to the wrong ship :-) and as the fetch just a few hundred meters offshore is quite considerable, we didn't really know how in hell we would be able to scramble up the side of the ship, especially with a freaked-out four year old to take care of.  Although Aurora Ulani is used to dinghy rides as other children are used to trips by car, she was definitely *not* used to the very bumpy ride out in the middle of the lagoon. 

 

We needn't have worried.  Instead of us having to scramble up precariously, they simply lowered a boat by crane.  We climbed into the boat and the whole shebang was winched up electrically.  I tell you, I am becoming very partial to electric winches, especially after I found out, that Kaspar can do almost everything on his boat with just one big electrical winch.  Also, if he has no power, he can still operate it by hand, just like I work with my winches. 

 

Anyway, here we were.  AMERICAN EAGLE was docked alongside a Korean cooling ship with gigantic black fenders between the two ships.  Cargo nets filled with many tons of frozen skipjack-tuna were going continuously from the hold of the purse seiner into that one of the cooling ship.  Although this was going very fast - time after all being money - Tony told us that it would take several days to unload his ship.  The fish is kept frozen in a brine of salt, ice and water and ends up in fish factories in Thailand. 

 

Captain Tony took many hours of his precious time to show us around and answer our myriad questions with detailed explanations.  He is the only American on board and apart from a couple of Taiwanese and one Filipino all the other crew members are from China.  Altogether there were 43 people on board, but sometimes there are as many as 50.  We were quite surprised to hear that the highest paid person on board was not the captain, but the guy who is in charge of finding the fish.  More on that later.  And since we already knew that a captain on a purse seiner makes around US$ 300 000 a year, we naturally wondered how much those guys must be making.  We were told that it takes only one to three years to amortize the vessel including helicopter, electronics, nets and all the rest.  If, that is, the vessel is registered under the Taiwan flag or something similar.  Flying the American flag it would be more like ten years.  Still not a bad deal, I reckon.  Not a bad deal at all.  Oh, yeah, and the guy finding the fish makes about 40 million Taiwan Dollar (ca. US$ 1.3 million) during his three-year contract.  I guess he still has a few pennies left over even though the dollar continues to fall (mark my words ;-). 

 

Understandably no expense is spared when it gets to finding and catching the fish.  The array of electronics on the bridge looks almost more impressive than that on a modern warship.  I am not just saying that.  We visited three warships and had a very close look at them while they were here in Majuro.  On the big 12/16 miles radar you can even see birds diving to the surface to catch bait-fish.  Tony calmed Kaspar and my fears that we would ever get overrun by one of these ships.  There is simply no way that this could happen, as it is of absolutely prime importance for these guys that they see what is happening in the seas around them.  Otherwise no fish.  And no money.  Every important piece of equipment has a backup - and another backup just to be safe.  ("The Ramans do everything in threes" I thought, remembering the late Arthur C. Clarke)

 

Of course there were various means of communication (mostly via satellite), again with backups in place.  Four times a day they get a phone call via Inmarsat from the head office in Taiwan, as they need the most up-to-date information possible to make the right decision in this very competitive game.  Reminds me of the professional traders who pay Reuters and similar agencies zillions of dollars to get the information a few fractions of a second earlier then the competition.   In this case there are radio-buoys and their expensive brothers, the GPS radio-buoys (those cost around 2 000 bucks a piece) which are floating all over the place near schools of fish and fish attracting devices.  These buoys are transmitting on frequencies kept secret and are found again with very sensitive radio direction finders (RDF).  If a ship comes across one of these buoys by accident, they usually "steal" them and put their own buoys in their place instead.  Usually these buoys get traded back and forth amongst competing vessels.  Later we heard from a fishing inspector, that things can get a lot worse than that.  The escalation ladder begins with the destruction of equipment like nets, continues with attacks on "enemy" crew members with machetes (Cutlasses?  I thought those times were past!) and even shootings.  It really is one of the last frontiers out there. 

 

Next, Tony showed us the server room.  I kid you not; it rivals the one of a medium sized Internet Service Provider (ISP).  I should know, because I spent months working in one of them, being greeted almost every morning by a pleasant female voice with a Californian accent which said, "Attention!  Attention!  The Sun Netra Internet Server is going to reconfigure itself ... System resources are now available."  But back to the boat...

 

The ship stays out for three years in a row and then goes back to Taiwan for three months.  It gets refurbished in its own shipyard and then has to rendezvous about 35 miles offshore to take on new crew which are not allowed to go ashore in Taiwan.  I guess illegal immigration is becoming more and more of a problem.  The next three years most of the supplies and food are being brought over by dedicated supply-ships.  This way the crew get the food that they are accustomed to and of course it is also way cheaper than buying produce locally.  As Tony isn't very keen on eating *only* Chinese food (what's wrong with him, anyway ;-), he has arranged his own supply, catering to his more American tastes. 

 

Tony surprised us by saying that he thinks the best thing would be to have a world-wide three-months moratorium on tuna fishing every year, so that the schools of tuna have time enough to replenish themselves.  While he doesn't think that purse seining will cause the extinction of the skipjack tuna, he certainly thinks that it is severely over-fished and will probably cause his profession to become financially non-viable sooner or later.  And that is one thing he would very much like to avoid as he loves fishing just like his father and grandfather did.  That reminds me very much of what Redmond O'Hanlon wrote in his book "Trawler" (after "In Trouble Again" my favorite book of this extraordinary author; recommended to me by my professor Lon Otto at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival in 1998).  I can't recommend Redmond O'Hanlon highly enough. 

 

Another surprise is the way in which you become captain on a ship like AMERICAN EAGLE.  Very different to the German cargo-ship MS EIDER I sailed to Leningrad on in 1979.  Those days, I was a decks-hand, the lowest of the low.  And the way up consisted of going to school, learning all there is about ships and shipping, working on a ship again to gain experience, go back to school and then work all the way up through the licenses, always alternating school and job.  After a few years as first mate, one might then end up as a captain.  Not so on a purse seiner.  All of the training is done onboard and every officer once started at the very bottom.  Obviously, not everybody ends up at the very top.  

 

After looking at the crew-mess, where we noticed some bedding on the floor, we were shown the helicopter, mostly used for scouting for schools of fish and the power-block, nets and so on.  Once a school of tuna have been located, several "small" boats with strong diesel engines drag the boat all the way around the fish.  It is very important that the net stays in the right shape (I envision something like a sphere), so that the fish can continue to swim around in ever tighter circles to stay alive as long as possible.  If they panic and subsequently die, they immediately sink to the bottom, where they act as an undesirable weight, pulling the net out of shape and ruin the "set".  Incidentally, that is also the reason, why the fishermen don't want any dolphins or porpoises (more common in cold waters and mostly near land) around.  If they happen to get into the net, they panic and die (although they could easily jump over the top of the net), thus spooking the tuna who in turn panic and die.  However, dolphins usually are found above the schools of tuna.  Fortunately they seem to have learned that fishing vessels are very bad news indeed and usually take off when they hear one approaching.  Tony is absolutely convinced that they are able to communicate this knowledge to other dolphins and thus warn them away. 

 

Although it takes less than half an hour to deploy the net, the whole "set" takes three to four hours, where the utmost care is taken to keep the net in perfect shape.  And one "set" typically nets 300 to 400 tons of Skipjack.  A Korean captain told us on the slip in Suva, that sometimes they manage to haul 1 000 tons of fish in a single operation.  Amazing!  Am I glad that I am not a tuna.

 

Of course we also had to have a look at the little helicopter.  I would not like to go up in one of those.  When I imagine the hair raising landing maneuvers even in normal weather and fishing operations I feel my toes curl.  And of course the weather isn't always benign.  Never mind that the helicopter pilot has to play the "game" with the radio-buoys as well.  I certainly prefer to have the solid ground of DHARMA BUM III  under my feet, that's for sure. 

 

Kaspar climbed up all the way to the top of the tower.  At least that was his intention, but he couldn't find the door to get to the last part and had to come down again to ask.  Tony readily explained, but Kaspar still wasn't successful.  On the fourth ascent (a bundle of energy, our Kaschperli :-) he finally ascertained that the door was in the back and was most definitely locked.  Tony didn't have the key and Kaspar wondered for the rest of the day, whether he was the object of a practical joke or not. 

 

While Kaspar was doing his acrobatic exercises, Steffi, Liping & I listened to Tony relate an incident where he had fished three I-Kiribati out of the ocean.  They had been drifting for quite a few months (!!!) already.  The oldest guys was "a bit shaky on his legs", while the two younger ones were described as "top-fit".  They had fishing equipment in their dinghy and a few drinking nuts, just like most I-Kiribati do.  That was all.  And since we had heard numerous stories like this in Tarawa and even met a few of the participants, we were quite sure that this was not sailors yarn, but pure and brutal fact.  Some of those guys had drifted all the way to Panama!  Utterly astonishing how these Micronesians can manage when they are in their environment.  Your average city-dweller would last only a few days in a situation like that.  He might have cleaned the fuel filter and motored home, though. 

 

Finally we were presented with a huge Mahi Mahi (Dorado, Dolphinfish or Coryphaena hippuris) and a just-as-big Wahoo (Tazzard, belongs to the family of marlins and swordfish, Acanthocybium solandri).  As well as steamed bread Chinese style, like Mantou, Baozi and similar delicacies.  Together with the 120 fresh farm eggs we were given the day before, we really did not have to worry about food for a while.  Quite the contrary, as our fridge is comparatively small.  But what a day!  There is just no way in hell that ordinary land-based life can be as interesting as this.  So while we often think of chucking the whole thing, we find ourselves continuing and even contemplating to spend another whole year in this area. 

 

~~~~~

 

The next highlight (if I wanted to describe all the interesting things that are happening here, I would have to turn this into a full-time job :-) was the visit of the Taiwan Navy.  At the beginning, things didn't look too good, as their arrival had to be postponed twice.  Later we found out the reason for this.  And when the three gray warships finally arrived, it was so early that we hadn't even finished our breakfast (I admit, our family is more of the brunch-variety).  CÉLUANN had already left for Tarawa, but Walter and Gisela on ATLANTIS had just come back from the outer islands.  So we called them on the VHF and went together to have a look at the ships.  

 

First we had a look at the big supply ship, where a Captain's Dinner was planned for the evening.  It was going to be held on the helipad in back of the ship.  Originally planned for the President of the Marshall Islands, Litokwa Tomein, Foreign Minister Tony deBrum and other high officials as well as the leading members of the Taiwan community here, we had received an invitation from Ambassador Bruce J.D. Linghu.  Rear Admiral Chen and Ambassador Bruce J.D. Linghu were going to co-host the dinner and we were really looking forward to it.  Next in line was a frigate of the Chenggong class (Made in the USA and modified in Kaohsiung), which was alongside the supply ship and a destroyer of the Lafayette class (Made in France), which was docked behind. 

 

There had been quite a scandal about the purchase of the destroyers of the Lafayette class in Taiwan.  Some absolutely astonishing amounts of money went missing and were never found again.  Also, I gather that China was furious with the French for selling these ships to Taiwan in the first place.  Well, here was one of them now. 

 

These ships move through the sea with a top speed of about 25 knots, but as one of the ships had developed a bit of a problem with one of the engines, the whole convoy had to slow down which explained the late arrival.  The weather may have played a role there as well.  For us sailors who reckon a day making good 100 nautical miles is not bad, that is a pretty fast.  And a modern nuclear submarine is capable of sustaining 50 knots for long periods of time.  Or so I gather when considering how fast the damn things can cross an ocean. 

 

The most impressive part was the Phalanx anti missile system and the similar one on the destroyer.  Completely automatic and guided by target radar, it can shoot up to 4500 rounds per minute to destroy incoming missiles.  The missiles themselves were also pretty scary, both the SAM variety as well as their big brothers which are aimed at enemy warships.  Even those big guys can be sent away with the speed of six missiles per minute.  They remind me very much of cruise missiles and I guess they share the same ancestry.  Don't have a clue about all this stuff, really. 

 

What I found remarkable was the fact that the destroyer was powered by four engines.  It has two feathering screws, making a bow-thruster unnecessary and it is possible to do maintenance on two engines, while the ship goes on with the other two engines.  At full speed ahead all four engines are running.  In the back there is a housing for a huge attack helicopter, which gets in and out via a system of tracks.  And last, but most certainly not least, the Lafayette is constructed in such a way, that it only gives a very small radar echo, looking like a very small craft on the screen. 

 

When Walter asked one of the officers what would happen in a real firefight as they all had similar weapons systems, the officer replied:  "Whoever shoots first, has the best chances."  Gives one pause, doesn't it? 

 

Aurora Ulani had about enough of all this military stuff and so we took off to let her take a rest on board.  Later Patrick Wang, a former member of the Taiwan parliament, called and drove us as well as Walter and Gisela to the Captain's Dinner.  (A German told my father it was *impossible* for us to be invited to a Captain's Dinner aboard a real warship ;-)  As the President was there, it was quite formal in the beginning, but loosened up considerably later on.  The President even danced with one of the female Navy officers, people mingled and Taiwan beer flowed in quantity.  Kaoliang (extremely strong alcohol distilled from a sorghum plant in Taiwan) was provided, as well as wine and all that may have helped a bit.  Ambassador Bruce J.D. Linghu introduced me to Rear Admiral Chen, but most of the time I talked with Ching-Ming Chan, the commanding officer of the Lafayette destroyer PFG-1203.  He looked to be about my age (although I am notoriously bad at guessing ages, especially of Chinese people) and I wondered how he could have attained such a high position at such a young age.  Only later it dawned on me that I am no spring chicken anymore and that it is quite normal for people in his position to be my age ("Time is running out, Holg!  If you want to achieve anything at all, you'd better start the afterburners..." an evil voice whispered in my mind at that moment).

 

As it turned out, he was absolutely fascinated by our lifestyle and kept complimenting me.   Then again, he might have anticipated my feelings and tried his very best to put me at ease.  ;-)  Unfortunately that interesting evening came to an end leaving me and Liping to talk until very late at night in our cockpit.  We almost always do that.  Relating experiences, thoughts, trying to understand more and in doing so coming ever closer to each other.  Sometimes these discussions can become quite heated, but always they are interesting. 

 

There were many more interesting days and evenings.  Steffi had offered to teach our Taiwan friends Italian style cooking.  She had studied at a Hotelfachschule in Germany and later visited famous chefs all over Europe to learn some more.  Then she switched careers and worked as an air stewardess for Lufthansa.  In any case, her cooking was fabulous. 

 

Men were banned from the kitchen and the whole cooking event, but as there was plenty of food at the end of it, we were then invited to partake in it, together with Bruce and various other husbands.  Later the women from Taiwan reciprocated by teaching Steffi Chinese style cuisine and Bruce invited us all to his home for the sampling.  That, too, was wonderful.  And when I say that, I am not only talking of the food.  The conversation was always very lively and interesting.  So, of course, we invited Bruce, Albert (runs the fish farm) & his wife and chief cook Debbie to DHARMA BUM III for dinner one evening.  Again, an unqualified success. 

 

Then, one day, I got introduced to a circle of friends from Nauru, Kosrae (Federated States of Micronesia, FSM) and the Marshall Islands.  They meet in Johnny's garden for a Saturday evening barbecue or a bowl of really fresh and magically tasting Sashimi made from skipjack tuna.  Did you know that the taste will change within 30 minutes?  You can't buy that stuff anywhere in the world.  If you don't eat it within that timeframe, you simply don't know what *real* good Sashimi tastes like.  Johnny came out to the boat and tested the first batch of extraordinary dark homebrew. 

 

CÉLUANN and ATLANTIS are still in Kiribati and in less than two weeks we will have to leave here too.  But this time not for good.  We like it here so much, that we intend to check out the outer islands in Kirbati and then come back here.  And if all goes well ("Houston.  We have a problem..." ;-), we'll spend some time in the outer islands of the Marshalls as well.  Beginning of November we might set sail for the Philippines, but that is still so far away that all kinds of things might happen until then. 

 

Aurora Ulani is going through two lessons of Calvert School every day.  Seven days a week.  And when class-time is over, she usually asks when she can continue to learn.  Unless things change drastically for us, we will continue with the Calvert-system for another three to six years.  That would mean all the way to the end of elementary school for her.  If she loses a year or two then to have to get used to "normal" school in a different language, it doesn't really bother us.  She will have a rock-solid foundation by then, she will have seen so many different places and experienced a multitude of cultures, that we think she will be much the better for it.  And what did Captain Fatty Goodlander of WILDCARD (his son is a third generation boat brat) say again, when we told him of our fear that she may grow up different?  "What's wrong with being a weirdo?"  We are beginning to suspect that he might have a point. 

 

Anyway, the sun is shining, a new boat just came in and I want to go out and see my friends.  It is Sunday after all! 

 

Monday, 7 April 2008

 

My friends prepared a stupendous barbecue yesterday.  If every person from Nauru (Naoero) or the Marshall Islands eats like this, then I may have to settle down in one of these places.  Anton had caught loads of fish, from Wahoo and squid over surgeonfish to various species I didn't recognize.  Some Marshallese had brought two live chickens over to Johnny and somebody else had brought along spare ribs as well.  A huge pot of chicken soup was slowly bubbling over the fire, there was plenty of rice, somebody had provided homemade potato chips and we felt kind of ashamed for only bringing along a few liters of homebrew (albeit excellent) and a gigantic bowl of homemade popcorn flavored with salt and cheese, as well as vodka-tonics and soft drinks. 

 

Naturally a squall came our way as we were in the middle of barbecuing all the fish above the stainless steel drum of a washing machine, which was covered by a stainless steel grille fitted exactly onto the top.  The rain wasn't a problem, as we simply put a big piece of plywood over the barbecue and retired to Johnny's porch.  All but Jeff, that is, as he had been swimming in the lagoon and took the chance for a prolonged shower with abundant fresh water. 

 

The children were playing in the neighbors yard, but Aurora Ulani didn't really want to join as the games were pretty wild and rough.  She didn't understand anything either, as they were speaking Nauruan or Marshallese.  But in the house behind Johnny Willis lives Monica from China, who owns a restaurant across the street.  Sure enough my two favorite women left to visit with Monica and her husband for a little while. 

 

The reason for the party was the imminent arrival of Warwick, another Nauruan, who had just been on a trip to Bangkok, Thailand.  Everybody was waiting for his plane to land and when he finally showed up, he was accompanied by Lucas.  You guessed it, he is from Nauru as well and by the way he was treated by the others, I gather that he holds a position of considerable importance somewhere. 

 

I was quite touched that my friends had made Poisson Cry especially for me.  This is raw fish Polynesian-style, marinated in coconut cream, finely chopped onions and a few assorted spices.  In this case it was made from Wahoo and it was delicious.  For some strange reason I prefer fish raw (it must be absolutely fresh, though) to fish cooked, broiled, steamed, fried, deep-fried, barbecued or whatever.  By a factor of about one hundred.  Or more.  The exception is the local squid, caught inside the lagoon, which tastes really wonderful barbecued.  Naturally Liping & Johnny were soon deep into a discussion about the fine art of cooking, each giving the other numerous tips and ideas. 

 

When the evening was nearing its end and Jeff, Johnny, Anton and I had retired to Johnny's porch once more, they suddenly told me that they were very glad that they had got to know me.  They thoroughly approved that I had brought my family along and claimed that they had never met another sailor quite like me.  They called me "genuine" and paid me a lot of other compliments and when I protested that I wasn't that special at all, they cut me short and said that they chose their friends with great care, finally telling me:  "You are one of us!"

 

I was quite moved by this obviously heartfelt declaration.  Especially so, as I had received an eMail just a few days earlier, where somebody had read my blog and didn't like what he found there.  I gather that he really thinks of me as an arrogant impostor, who compounds his sins by being "filthy rich".  Apart from that, there is another reason why I was so touched. 

 

Ever since I moved to Taiwan in 1982, I really wanted to fit in and integrate completely.  But over the years I realized that this cultural gap is just too big to overcome.  People only assume that they have finally made it.  It can't really be done, unless you actually grow up within the two different cultures (at least cultures as different as those in Taiwan and Germany).  So I am very glad indeed that my friends from Nauru and the Marshall Islands at least notice that I am trying. 

 

Back home Liping & I talked way past midnight again.  We were very tired, but it was simply too interesting, so we just couldn't make ourselves go to bed earlier.  It is almost every day like that, too.  :-)