| FANNING ISLAND TABUAERAN SEPTEMBER 2007 Line Islands, Kiribati return to home page return to long voyage home click photos to enlarge |
After 14 days and 1334 miles of sailing, with a VMG of 878 miles, we finally arrived in Fanning Island from Canton.
Our provisions were very low and the fuel tanks close to empty. On the passage over we had no choice but to
keep the engine on most of the time to get the extra push against the current to keep us on track. We seriously
doubted we would be able to lay the island had we not used the motor to fight the west setting current. But we
pevailed and dropped anchor early morning of Sept. 24.
Unlike we usually did when we arrived at a place after a long passage, we did not go right to bed for a much
needed sleep. Instead we went right to work getting the dinghy in the water and into shore to check in with
authorities and find out what we could about aquiring money, provisions, fuel and propane. We knew they had no
banks on the island but thought we might be able to get some kind of radio money transfer from the bank at
Christmas island. When we discovered that was not going to happen, we talked to the customs officer about
selling some items off our boat to people on the island so we could get some money to purchase some fuel that we
found out that they did have for sale there. She looked at us rather sternly and said, absolutely no selling of
goods off your boat. When we implored her and told her of our perdicament of no cash and no fuel or provisions
for our last passage to Hawaii, she showed no concern for our problem and dismissed us.
We walked out of her office, went straight back to the boat filled our packs full of dvd's, a hand held gps, various
hand tools and other supplies off the boat then picked a different route around her office so as not to be seen and
headed into the village. The first stop we made was the managers house of the Norwegian Cruise Lines camp
they have set up there. He was a very nice man in his thirties named Bob. Bob was half Kiribati and half Scottish
and spoke perfect english. He was very helpful, he turned us onto 2 guys who, as he put it, " if there's anything on
this island that you need, these 2 guys will either have it, or know where you can get it." After giving us a huge
bunch of bananas that we struggled back to the boat with, he pointed us in the right direction to find Bruno, a
Frenchman who settled in Fanning many years before and married a local woman and started a family. We walked
down the main road towards the village and the first person we saw we said to them "Bruno??" and they walked us
down the road a bit then pointed right at his gate.
Our provisions were very low and the fuel tanks close to empty. On the passage over we had no choice but to
keep the engine on most of the time to get the extra push against the current to keep us on track. We seriously
doubted we would be able to lay the island had we not used the motor to fight the west setting current. But we
pevailed and dropped anchor early morning of Sept. 24.
Unlike we usually did when we arrived at a place after a long passage, we did not go right to bed for a much
needed sleep. Instead we went right to work getting the dinghy in the water and into shore to check in with
authorities and find out what we could about aquiring money, provisions, fuel and propane. We knew they had no
banks on the island but thought we might be able to get some kind of radio money transfer from the bank at
Christmas island. When we discovered that was not going to happen, we talked to the customs officer about
selling some items off our boat to people on the island so we could get some money to purchase some fuel that we
found out that they did have for sale there. She looked at us rather sternly and said, absolutely no selling of
goods off your boat. When we implored her and told her of our perdicament of no cash and no fuel or provisions
for our last passage to Hawaii, she showed no concern for our problem and dismissed us.
We walked out of her office, went straight back to the boat filled our packs full of dvd's, a hand held gps, various
hand tools and other supplies off the boat then picked a different route around her office so as not to be seen and
headed into the village. The first stop we made was the managers house of the Norwegian Cruise Lines camp
they have set up there. He was a very nice man in his thirties named Bob. Bob was half Kiribati and half Scottish
and spoke perfect english. He was very helpful, he turned us onto 2 guys who, as he put it, " if there's anything on
this island that you need, these 2 guys will either have it, or know where you can get it." After giving us a huge
bunch of bananas that we struggled back to the boat with, he pointed us in the right direction to find Bruno, a
Frenchman who settled in Fanning many years before and married a local woman and started a family. We walked
down the main road towards the village and the first person we saw we said to them "Bruno??" and they walked us
down the road a bit then pointed right at his gate.
At Bruno's beautiful coral paradise
we also met his good friend and the
other man that made it possible for
us to get everything we needed and
more, Tyrone. We ended up selling
Bruno our spare outboard engine for
his little fishing boat, and trading a
handheld GPS for a tank of propane,
some flour and papayas. Tyrone
bought our spare hand held VHF
radio and a lot of DVD's for his
collection. They also told us of
another guy who would buy DVD's for
his family. So we were able to buy
some boxes of cookies and crackers
and some canned goods at their very
limited store plus get some diesel
from the local fuel man. I had plenty
of flour to bake some bread as well.
For all of Bruno's help I treated him to
a lunch on board the boat consisting
of the last of my spaghetti sauted in
olive oil and garliic and we shared my
last bottle of wine. He was one happy
Frenchman.
we also met his good friend and the
other man that made it possible for
us to get everything we needed and
more, Tyrone. We ended up selling
Bruno our spare outboard engine for
his little fishing boat, and trading a
handheld GPS for a tank of propane,
some flour and papayas. Tyrone
bought our spare hand held VHF
radio and a lot of DVD's for his
collection. They also told us of
another guy who would buy DVD's for
his family. So we were able to buy
some boxes of cookies and crackers
and some canned goods at their very
limited store plus get some diesel
from the local fuel man. I had plenty
of flour to bake some bread as well.
For all of Bruno's help I treated him to
a lunch on board the boat consisting
of the last of my spaghetti sauted in
olive oil and garliic and we shared my
last bottle of wine. He was one happy
Frenchman.
| ENTRANCE TO BRUNO'S PARADISE |
| SMALL FALE'S ON BRUNO'S PROPERTY |
| BRUNO IN HIS SHOP |
| KELLY COLLECTS LIMES FROM LOCAL KIDS |
| BRUNO PUTS FINISHING TOUCHES ON TYRONES DINING TABLE AS KELLY AND TYRONE LOOK ON. |
| A LOT OF WORK WENT INTO THIS CORAL HOUSE OF BRUNO'S |
| BRUNO'S WIFE, TABETA AND NEIGHBORS ENJOYING THE DAY. |
On several occassions while visiting with Bruno and Tyrone, we met Byornar from Norway. He was stationed at
Fanning by the Norwegian Cruise Lines. I don't know what his official job was but he did pretty much everything
around there. The cruise line hadn't had a ship come into Fanning for 5 months because of changes in their
schedules but they still had all the fuel and food supplies in their freezers for a regular bi-monthly visit of ships full
of thousands of tourists. The day before we were planning on leaving, Richard was gathering all our plastic fuel
cans for the last trip to fill them with diesel. Byornar stopped him and asked, "you still need fuel?" Rich says, "yea
this is my last trip." Then Byornar said bring your cans and meet me over at the NCL dock. He gave us 60 gallons
of free diesel and said go take those back to your boat and meet me back here, I want to show you something. So
Richard put the cans on the boat and went back to meet him. Byornar led him to a huge walk in freezer room that
NCL had on their property and loaded him up with 2 big packages of frozen smoked salmon, a huge bag of frozen
cut french fries, 16 frozen chicken breasts, and an entire side of fresh salmon. We were blown away by his
generosity and will always remember him for that.
When we arrived in Fanning Island we were penniless, with very little fuel, food or propane, and within 6 days had
aquired hundreds of American dollars in cash, had full fuel tanks, 12 full 5 gallon spare cans on deck ,and a
freezer full of food. On top of all that, we made some wonderful friends that we hope to go back and visit some day.
We helped them, they helped us and in the end everyone benifitted... except perhaps the customs lady we met
the first day we arrived. On the seventh day we left for Hawaii and said goodbye to all our new friends.
Fanning by the Norwegian Cruise Lines. I don't know what his official job was but he did pretty much everything
around there. The cruise line hadn't had a ship come into Fanning for 5 months because of changes in their
schedules but they still had all the fuel and food supplies in their freezers for a regular bi-monthly visit of ships full
of thousands of tourists. The day before we were planning on leaving, Richard was gathering all our plastic fuel
cans for the last trip to fill them with diesel. Byornar stopped him and asked, "you still need fuel?" Rich says, "yea
this is my last trip." Then Byornar said bring your cans and meet me over at the NCL dock. He gave us 60 gallons
of free diesel and said go take those back to your boat and meet me back here, I want to show you something. So
Richard put the cans on the boat and went back to meet him. Byornar led him to a huge walk in freezer room that
NCL had on their property and loaded him up with 2 big packages of frozen smoked salmon, a huge bag of frozen
cut french fries, 16 frozen chicken breasts, and an entire side of fresh salmon. We were blown away by his
generosity and will always remember him for that.
When we arrived in Fanning Island we were penniless, with very little fuel, food or propane, and within 6 days had
aquired hundreds of American dollars in cash, had full fuel tanks, 12 full 5 gallon spare cans on deck ,and a
freezer full of food. On top of all that, we made some wonderful friends that we hope to go back and visit some day.
We helped them, they helped us and in the end everyone benifitted... except perhaps the customs lady we met
the first day we arrived. On the seventh day we left for Hawaii and said goodbye to all our new friends.
| BYORNAR IN HIS LITTLE RUN-ABOUT |