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| The basketball court and soccer field just up from the pier where we landed our dinghy daily. |
Finally making some time to post a few more of my many pictures from our trip to Fanning Island (part of the chain of the Line Islands, and part of the nation of Kiribati - pronounced 'kiribas'). On our first day there, they had several classes of canoe races - we were amazed at how fast these things sped across the lagoon. All the while the men sailing them were bailing out the water filling in from the cracks...
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| Outrigger canoe sailing race -- ready to start! |
Several times we went exploring across the lagoon in our dinghy -- being careful to avoid the super shallow sand flats. The whole lagoon is nearly 9 miles across at the furthest - so we'd make a day of it. But we still didn't get to some corners of the lagoon!
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| Picturesque spit on the far side of the lagoon. |
Many days were spent at the surf break on the ocean side of the island. When the surf was up, I became surf photographer, in between playing with the kids that would join me to hang out and watch Timmy surf.
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| the *beach* on the ocean side was really just piled up coral & rocks -- getting in & out of the surf was tricky - beware of staph infections if you get cut! |
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| The folks who lived in the house at the surf break - the boy, Mata, would bring us coconuts :-) |
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| Playing catch & learning to juggle |
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| Jungle girl |
this was one of our favorite girls - she was a tough cookie! |
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We could see the surf break from where we anchored for the second half of our stay on Fanning. We were across the cut, in a protected bay.
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| Surf's up! |
We could also see the cruise ship when it anchored outside the cut one day. Nearly a thousand visitors descended on the island - where there were no facilities for them to use, just trinkets to purchase and sightseeing tours by truck around the island.
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| Holland America's *Westerdam* ship -- it was BIG! |
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| Midnight Blue at anchor in the second spot across the channel. |
We made some good friends - here's bruno showing off his new *cottage* - also known locally as a kiakia. These are the typical houses the locals use for sleeping in, then there is usually an open area for eating and cooking and hanging out.
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| the unfinished version of the new kiakia |
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| the finished version - super cute! |
Below is the kia kia (one of Bruno's several guest houses that he rents) we stayed in the night we spent on land was called 'fare Nancy' - I think my sister would have loved it.
Finally, have to put a few more pictures of the friends we made there - they made us feel so welcome, and were so generous with us.
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| Maria and her daughter enjoy fresh baked cookies! |
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| Paulo (age 5) was always up for playing - we had lots of fun! |
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| Tyrone, Bruno, Paulo and Tim get ready to enjoy Tim's birthday pizza! |
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| Tabeta, with her new baby Agnes. This is Bruno's wife/Paulo's mom. We visited them nearly every day... |
Well, that's enough for today. Next i'll try to fill you in on the latest on us here in Hawaii!
