Ha’Apai Group, Tonga 20 Oct 2010 19.8449S 174.4162W

Why am I writing so much less? A scattered combination of reasons probably. Sometimes I feel my creative well has dried up, and I’ve nothing more to say that hasn’t been said better by others. Sometimes it’s that the culture mixes intra-cruiser, intra-local, and the interactions between the two groups are so complex, that it’s difficult to pick one aspect to describe well, and any examples of these interactions can get personal fast. Sometimes it’s the busy moments of chores, school and socializing that make up all of our lives, which then generates a tremendous lethargy when there is a free moment. A lot about life now is very present and personal, and a confessions blog is not the ship’s blog I’d envisioned (well that’s not exactly true, as I did not really have anything envisioned when I started this).

If you could have joined us for dinner last night, you would have heard other’s voices on the variety of topics that rattle around in my brain on my own dog watch. The kids were all on one boat, and the adults all on our boat, so we had lots of room for conversation. While we ate Frank’s delicious meal of beef coconut curry (with freshly scraped and squeezed coconut milk), the conversation floated across the realm of ideas. We discussed recent trials and tragedies other boats have endured, from encounters with reefs to rescues at sea. We talked about weather, and the general sense that it’s looking like Cyclone* season will arrive early this La Nina year. We shared fresh snorkeling and fish tales, sea snakes are appearing more frequently here, is that related to the weather? We traded fix-it advice for a variety of boat systems. We shared homeschooling tips and war stories.

Over the delicious cucumber and goat cheese salad an American couple brought, we chatted about the impact of missionaries, and westerners on these islands, on the whole is it good or bad? People here are very poor and don’t have a lot of political power, and we discussed possible reasons why they seem so unmotivated to improve their general conditions, and asked ourselves why do many in Tonga no longer have the basic skills necessary for island survival (swimming, fishing, canoe building etc.). Tongans wonder why we are here, and not in our cities bustling with economic energy and possibilities, where they dream of going. We struggled at fundamental cultural questions, are missionaries creating a culture of beggars, preaching the evils of a material life, and causing locals to avoid entrepreneurial efforts as dirty and low? Yet the people are poor, theirs appears to be an economic crisis, hampered by a monarchy that limits ownership, little local industry, and a musty, very traditional educational system. Government jobs tend to go to friends of the king, many of the wealthier government officials we met were not from the islands we’ve visited. The American couple met a Peace Corps volunteer here, who was trying to decide if she should recommend that they maintain a Tonga presence, there’s obvious poverty and need, but were their efforts having any impact, or just contributing to their notion that “God will provide” (in the form of westerners coming with aid). Is there a healthier path to religion and capitalism, a healthier balance or approach???

Over a tasty apple clafouti the French couple brought, we talked about the conundrum of enjoying meeting other boats, yet all of us are seeking quieter anchorages with fewer boats. And we talked about all the crazy, wild and frustrating choices other boaters make (the most frustrating being the choices they make when they impact your own boat and crew’s safety and comfort). And we did some Monday morning quarterbacking on our own bad choices, or just bad luck. As I drifted off to sleep I thought a lot about the role of politeness out here. It can get you in trouble, in a big way, sometimes a very brusk straightforward opinion may seem rude, but can save the day – and sometimes stepping back and staying silent is the better path, even if you know the other needs help, and assisting would be the polite thing to do, by jumping in to help you can accelerate the growth of the “incident pit” (where one bad event leads to another, and pretty soon you don’t have one boat in trouble but many).

Each topic we discussed is deserving of multiple blog entries or even entire books, and many of these same topics are the base of my own daily ruminations. I wish you could join us to continue the discussion, maybe Friday night? But even if there were a direct flight from anywhere in the US to the Ha’apai Group, we may not be here till the weekend. The latest weather report is painting a rosy picture for a New Zealand crossing – It’s really early and we barely just arrived, but when will the next rosy picture be? And if indeed we have the potential for an early Cyclone season (I think Nov. 6 was the earliest storm last year – an El Nino year) – maybe this is our weather window. Maybe it’s time for a change in scenery, time to exchange all these coconut trees for deciduous trees, and exchange all these pigs for sheep. Maybe an 8-10 day crossing will give me time to wax eloquent on some of these topics. Maybe.

xoxomo

I have a correction from one of my last messages where I referred to “Hurricane season,” actually here in the Pacific they call them Cyclones which are defined as Tropical Storms with Hurricane force winds (sustained winds over 64 knots and a storm forming an eye, yes Cyclone shares with Cyclops the common greek Kuklos = Circle). We’d like to avoid Cyclops in our Odyssey – there are no olive branches nearby to poke him in the eye.