Hawaii to Guam- Third Time's A Charm

Guam.  Again.  I like it more, this time.  Eating lunch right now at a place called the "Mermaid..." of course... and heading around to the windward side of the island, soon, which is in a rare leeward condition today, to snorkel in a protected bay at a places called "Jeff's Pirate Cove" which began its life as a canoe club.  Proas are just southern Uluas, right?  Um... no, but whatever.

Cargo Ops, yo.

Thunderstorms rolling in beneath thick, unbroken stratus clouds.  And my ship.

I'm here, ashore, for groceries, stainless steel thimbles for my bellropes, phone calls... all the things to get me through China and the looooong transit back to the US.  And an end to this incarceration.

The Chamorro People of the Marianas Islands look intimidatingly large, scowl a lot, and they're heavily tattooed with what 90's yuppies called "tribal art," but their rough looks belie their good humor- one lasher, in particular, makes me smile when I merely look at him.  He has an infectious laugh, a quick wit, and a devastatingly dry delivery that catches the unaware flat-footed... like it did me on my first trip through.

Long after you (read: I) begin to stammer and get confrontational with him, however- he hits you with high-pitched, almost girlish laughter, and all is instantly good.  I wouldn't tell him his laugh was girlish, though.  Not even- but I can only imagine how much fun it would be to roast a pig on the beach with some of these guys- or Samoans and Hawaiians, who I like equally.

Now, on my third trip through, he greeted me like an old friend when the lashers came aboard.

Minutes before crossing the dateline and leaping forward through time (there
is a pun there, if you're wondering- hint: degrees, hours...).

Spanish Ring Hitch, or "hogsbacking," for my newest bellrope.

New bellrope- layout.  This one is larger than the last, and I have built-up
the core since this was taken to give it a more pleasing shape.

Google Photos randomly filtered this photo of Hawaii falling away astern as we
left for Guam- and I like it.  

I photoed this oddity while talking with mom, and then Laura, on the phone in Hawaii.

Also photoed while on the phone with mom, and then Laura- the conversations
were "enhanced" by a bajillion little birds screeching in the foliage all about me.

Pacific Man-O-War, thankfully dead on the beaches of Hawaii.

See... this is my kind of crazy.  Kudos to her builder.  A sailing ama to his
starboard, a rowing ama as a "safety ama" to his port... and an A-symetrical,
S-shaped set of iokos.  I would LOVE to see what kind of rig he carries! 

Close up of a rowing ama.  A sailing ama would be "wave-piercing," lacking
the "banana-shaped" rocker you see here.

$15.00 brand-new at an ABC Store in Hono.
Sounds like shit, won't hold a tune, but it is
entertaining parts of my brain, nevertheless.

And that's all I gots for you.  I am paper thin and ready to be off this ship... ready to be home with Laura and my kitteh, and ready to reconstitute those parts of life that shrivel and mummify out here in the arid hardscape of floating steel amongst the social misfits that make up the unlicensed deck department.  Here playing with all the failures on the Island of Misfit Toys.  I have all the foodstuffs to incubate inside my quarters and hide from the other inmates.  I have movies, books, video games, projects, and audio books.  And I am crossing off the days with a red marker.