Log042609

Daily Ramblings - April 26, 2009

April 26, 2009 - Wednesday we motored from the mouth of the Sepik to Madang. Seeing a school of fish we stopped and caught a beautiful big eyed tuna and feasted on sashimi.

Thursday, April 23rd, we were cleared into Madang and easily made connections with an agent to coordinate the shipping of our Sepik artifacts. Tracy Ryan took photos of each item, recorded all of the information on the art, tribe, village and date crafted and carefully packaged them. Now the agent must go to the National Museum to confirm we are not exporting any national treasures they would want for their museum. We anticipate the container will ship in about two weeks.

It was grand to re-unite with Busy Bee, Wesley and our other friends at the Madang Resort we had visited in December. Of course we loaded up on provisions at the open market.

That evening the entire crew threw a good bye feast for Cam and Kate, they are both leaving the boat to pursue longer term career interests. They’ve been with us almost a full year and are, as you can image, dear friends. There are so many adventures and experiences we have shared together. We will be friends for life.

The crew also celebrated the departure of Captain Walter Rowan. He has not been off the boat for almost a year. Finally he is taking 2 1/2 weeks to be with his wife Susan and daughter Kate in Florida and the Bahamas. A temporary captain from Australia will fill in.

And I also am relieving the crew for 2 1/2 weeks. Departing Madang on May 24th I arrived home at Peace Ranch last night...just in time to meet our one day old black and white filly! But most importantly to be reunited with the love my life, Molly B!

Our next couple weeks will be filled both in Okoboji and Aspen working on getting our Two Old Hippies web site and Aspen retail store ready for June openings, and all of the warehouse and back office infrastructure in place. Molly and the 2OH Team have been crazy hard at it and accomplished so much while I was in the Sepik. I have a lot to catch up on and even more to be grateful for.

Meanwhile Major Wager will cut across easterly through the rest of Papua New Guinea and settle in at Port Vila, Vanuatu. We will be re-joining the boat the week of May 11th, making preparations for Steve and Kathy Zumbach and Mitch and Lori Knotts being on board the following week.

I cannot thank the crew enough for the extraordinary and terrific experiences in Indonesia and PNG. Truly experiences of a lifetime.

And it is nice to be home!

In a few days we will be posting Marc Paris’s photos of Major Wager in the “Our Ship” section. He did an amazing job. And Master Chef Dean’s meals will also be updated.

We will be back with Daily Ramblings May 14th.