N 01° 48.150
E 173° 01.616

Yesterday we finally went ashore.

First we stopped at our new neighbor boat, the Dutch SV “Long John Silver” of Stef and Manon. They are sailing since years and – only seen from our tender – they have a very sturdy aluminum boat. We could have talked with them for days but wanted to see something of the island. They recommend to leave the tender just at anchor and approach the shore on the right side of the house of the Swiss-Kiribati couple we saw 500 m away at the shore.

We approached it that way with the outboard motor in normal position for about 200 m. Then I had to tilt it because the water got pretty shallow but still deep enough. The seabed was just sand. No coral heads, no rocks, not even big stones. We continued for another about 200 m like that.

At about 0200 (direction seen from the tender) we saw a lady a walking in about knee deep water collecting something from the sandy sea bottom. I was not afraid to run aground because of the sandy seabed.

And then we did at very slow speed. It was still 100 m away from the dry sandy beach. As we were already past low tide, it was my plan to pull the dinghy towards the shore as long as it was floating. We stepped out into the water, which was less than knee deep. With about 150 kg less weight, MaRe’s tender floated and we walked on the very fine sand the tender between us, towards the beach for another about a bit more than 60 m than it ran aground again. That’s the closest we could get the tender to the shore.

To anchor the tender, I extended the bow line by another 10 m line, which I attached to my sandy-beach-anchore. This very long anchor line made a very shallow angle to keep the anchor in the sand even if we get a strong offshore wind.

Then we walked the last part to the beach and arrived about 10 m to the right of the Swiss-Kiribati couple’s house who must have seen us coming. The Swiss gentleman came already towards us to the beach and welcome Tobi and me. Short introduction to each other and Nick brought us on the large veranda at the sea side of their house, 3 m above the beach. Nick, made the introduction of us and his wife Lisa, who speaks pretty good German and was born on Abaiang.

They met in Switzerland where Lisa lived for 23 years. If I’m not wrong, they moved 8 years ago into this house, which they got built on a ground which was cleared up for building on it.

The kitchen and some other things they got shipped from Europe. They created their place in paradise!

We got delicious a cold milk coffee and talked about all the things people talk about when they meet the first time in such paradise place.

Life in this paradise is not easy. One can’t just go into a shop and buy what is needed or wanted. All must be planned and organized. Some things can be bought in Tarawa others need to shipped from abroad. Deliveries can take month without firm dates. However, the life here doesn’t require so many things, people need or think they need while they live in places like Europe or Japan. Nick and Lisa grow a some vegetables and papaya trees. The air is so clean that they can drink the rainwater collected in a big tank behind the house. They also have a well, whose water they use for showers and toilets.

Their life with their well educated dog Yoda, a puppy and a kitten is very relaxed and driven only by the daily needs of food and drinks. Entertainment comes from sailors, who are always welcome at their place, friends and family members who visit them, and guests staying in the two small lodges in the part of the property on the other side of the sandy road with almost zero traffic. I’m sure they also have a social life with locals on the island, because Lisa comes from here.

They have a Starlink connection, which gives the access to the internet and so a good connection with family and friends around the world. I also saw a big TV screen but it was covered, which indicates they don’t use it often.

After an hour to two Nick mentioned that we better get the tender now closer to the beach because the tide rose already by about half a meter. (The tidal difference is due to the full moon 1.6 m.) The tide dominates life at the beach and I pulled the tender closer to the remaining dry beach and dropped the anchor higher up the beach. Later I needed to shorten the anchor line that the tender did not bump at the concrete columns of the veranda.

After Manon and Stef of SV Long John Silver arrived, the communication between is four men turned quickly to the repairs Stef did for Lisa and Nick, and continued for a while. Stef did completed also a repair he started before. Stef has a pretty good technical understanding. Tobi and I will continue with some things, which still need to be done.

The evening ended with a long delicious dinner and lots of talks and laughters. Finally “commander tide” as Lisa calls the tide, told us to go back to our boats or encounter that the tenders lay dry on the sandy beach.

What a wonderful day!