Friis Arne Petersen, Danish Ambassador to USA, Talks at Climate Ride 2009

Today the energy flagged. I thought it was just me, and my lack of biking fitness taking its toll, but almost everyone I’ve spoken to has felt the accumulated weariness of 4 days and 234 miles. Even the pretty Maryland countryside failed to revive flagging spirits, and the rolling hills – some of which rolled just a bit too steeply – taxed our tired legs.

But this evening the energy stepped up again, with presentations by the Danish Ambassador, and Mike Tidwell of Chesapeake Climate Action Network, both of whom had some very interesting and stimulating thoughts on what needs to be done about climate change and what might happen in Copenhagen. Both the speakers participated in the ride today – very impressive.

Some of us are already planning a Climate Ride reunion in Copenhagen. Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out how I can be of most use in the run-up to the conference. My presentation last night seems to have been extremely well received. I’ve been very touched and flattered by the number of people who have come up to me with all kinds of comments and compliments – on the video, the presentation, my speaking style, the substance of my speech, and my perception of what we need to do collectively to take action on climate change.

But seriously – who could have wished for a warmer or more supportive audience?! The true challenge will be how to elicit a similar response from a more conservative audience. With all due humility, I want to do my utmost to help ensure a positive outcome in Copenhagen, and at the moment am thinking of little else.

Tonight we are staying in the beautiful Pearlstone Conference Center. When I walked into my shared room and saw the two huge double beds and the private bathroom, it felt like I’d arrived in heaven. At last I can dry out some of the stuff that has been wet since Day 1 of the ride. I am writing this blog sitting in front of the gas fire in the lobby, enjoying its toasty warmth despite feeling slightly guilty about the fossil fuel it is burning. My green guilt gauge is obviously on high alert after 5 days of hanging around with such keen greens!

Writing this in haste. Early start tomorrow. Bike rally in DC starts at 3.30pm – and we have to cover 68 miles before then!

Other Stuff:

My minor injuries from yesterday were no trouble today. The nurse embarrassed me by applying an enormous dressing over my knee to protect it – way out of all proportion to the actual injury!

Today’s drama was a flat tire. Thanks to Michael Proulx for helping out a fellow Climate Rider in distress! I’ve been seriously impressed by just how NICE all these people are! Are greens the new good Samaritans?!

Watch out for us tomorrow – hopefully there will be coverage of our DC bike rally in the media. I’ve never taken part in a political(ish) rally before – I’m excited!

When worlds collide! Fantastic photo by Kip Pierson. More on the climateride.org Flickr page

Today dawned bright and beautiful over our campsite in a field next to the YMCA in Phoenixville, PA. After yet another hearty breakfast we set out through gorgeous countryside into Amish country. Even though the images are familiar from “Witness” I still got a kick out of seeing men in broad-brimmed hats sitting in tidy little horse-pulled carriages or working in fields behind horse-pulled ploughs. Favorite sighting was a little boy in a scaled-down broad-brimmed hat whizzing along on his human-propelled scooter, his left leg working energetically.

The undulating countryside was beautiful. A gentle breeze sent down showers of autumn leaves from the trees that in places lined our route, and it felt joyful to be alive. I was riding with a new friend called Courtney, who works in the ornithology department at Cornell University. We had a slightly ragged start to the day – she had a slight fall at a junction, and there were a few extra stops before we got into our stride.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last. By early afternoon ominous dark clouds were gathering, and as we were sitting outside a New Strasbourg creamery for a well-earned break, the heavens opened. We retreated inside from the torrents, and indulged in all manner of fudge, ice cream, caramel popcorn and other sweet indulgences. Ah, the benefits of burning off 2000 calories a day on a bicycle!

Feeling rather queasy and sugar-high, we set off once again down the puddle-strewn road. Shortly afterwards I had a mishap. I was riding along with Courtney and another woman. They were in front as we sped down a long downhill to try and gain enough momentum to get up the other side of the valley. At the bottom of the hill was a bridge where the road suddenly turned from pavement into an open metal mesh like a cheese-grater. A car overtook me, and slowed behind my two companions on the bridge. At top speed I suddenly had to brake to avoid running into the back of the car. My bike started to weave…. and splat! My bike and me found ourselves sprawled across the road.

It could have been worse. If I hadn’t been wearing a bike helmet, for example. I felt the impact as my head hit the road and my helmet cracked. My left knee looked quite spectacularly gory. I also had abrasions on my knuckles and left elbow. But nothing hurt, and I was able to ride the remaining 10 miles of the day with no problems. A hot shower washed away most evidence of my inelegant fall. And I was hugely relieved to find that my iPhone, strapped to my arm for convenience, had survived intact.

And it provided good material for my presentation tonight – a joke about how people often ask me if ocean rowing is dangerous, but I’ve suffered more damage today than in nearly a year accumulated time on the ocean. I like to tell people that we don’t have to suffer for a greener future – it is perfectly possible to live a more sustainable lifestyle without any detriment – but today I felt I did more than my fair share of sacrifice for the cause!

As I write this, No Impact Man (who was also riding with us today) is showing his film. I’d love to see it, but I’m very sleepy and it was a straight choice between blogging or watching the film before my eyelids close resolutely for the night. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to see it some other time.

Today’s stats: 64 miles, 1789 calories, 1 minor splat!

Other Stuff:

Please do check out the FANTASTIC photos from the Climate Ride official photographer, Kip Pierson at climateridelive.org. VERY highly recommended!

Please note: the Climate Ride organizers have plenty of spare cycle helmets, so I will have a new one to use tomorrow. Safety first!

Apologies for not including more hyperlinks to the various website – but the internet connection here is horrendously slow (positively Pacific-like) and my pillow is calling me… now past 11pm and breakfast is at 6.30 tomorrow morning! And I’ve got some healing to do…

We take shelter from the afternoon's short sharp storm (photo by Kip Pierson)

I’ve had better starts to a day – although I suppose I’ve had worse ones too. At least today I didn’t find that I was unexpectedly 15 miles further away from my destination, as sometimes happened on the ocean.

The rain had been unrelenting last night, and I woke up this morning to find that my sleeping bag was sopping wet. I thought I had been so clever to put today’s clothes down my sleeping bag so they wouldn’t be chilly this morning, but instead of being nicely warm they were nicely soaked. Wet biking shorts – mmm, hmmm! There’s a sensation to warm the cockles of your heart – not! But I was at least relieved to find out that my muscles weren’t too sore after yesterday’s exertions.

After my spirits had been somewhat restored by an excellent breakfast, we hit the road again. Today’s target was 66 miles. The rain continued throughout the morning as we pedaled through New Hope (gorgeous, artsy town with a steam train, countless galleries, and allegedly the third largest gay community on the East Coast) and Doylestown, where we stopped for our lunchbreak. I’m really enjoying getting to see parts of the East Coast I’ve never seen before, even though I’ve traveled these states extensively by plane, train and automobile. Bike-touring takes you through places at the perfect pace for taking it all in – as well as having less emissions and less environmental impact.

I was taken to lunch by Brandon, a fan of the podcast who I had never met before, but had come to Doylestown specially to meet me. Thanks, Brandon, for lunch – and also for the best compliment that anybody can ever pay me, which is that as a result of my blog/podcast/presentation they have now consciously chosen to live a greener life. This really makes me feel that I must be doing something right!

In the afternoon the rain gradually relented – although it couldn’t resist a final hurrah with a sudden and dramatic downpour late afternoon, just as we’d all taken off our waterproofs – and by the time I rather wearily reached the campsite at the YMCA in Valley Forge the evening sun had broken through. I pitched my tent and hung out my sleeping bag to dry.

Tonight we’re listening to a series of speakers – David Kroodsma who rode from San Francisco to the southern tip of South America, Markus talking about a green Germany, and now Alison – an extreme skier who has campaigned on climate change for the last 20 years. Outdoorsy people might have seen her in Warren Miller’s extreme skiing movies. Her presentation is excellent – full of practical tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint based on her own experiences. She very much walks the talk – she lives in an energy-efficient straw bale house she built herself, has quit heli-skiing because of its high CO2 impact, and uses her bicycle to tour between far-flung speaking engagements.

Someone who does extreme sports for the environment – sound familiar?!

Other Stuff:

Thanks for all the great comments in response to my question about reality vs perception of spreading environmental awareness. I’ve only had time to skim read them (sorry, been busy cycling!) but will take a closer look when I have more time to spend online. I really appreciate all the feedback – all helpful input for my trip to Copenhagen. Thank you!!

Today’s stats: 66 miles, 1965 calories, tons of inspiration!

Roz at the start of the Climate Ride - outside CBS in New York (photo by Dave Koodsma)

Seems to me that the Climate Ride is going to have a lot in common with ocean rowing. It makes me yearn for a massage, and leaves my butt sore. The big difference is that the scenery is a lot more varied, and the company is a lot more stimulating than during my solitary mid-ocean existence.

This morning the 100-plus riders set out early from the zoo in Central Park – but only a couple of hundred yards to CBS Plaza. After waving and cheering and being suitably “peppy” as instructed at the cameras for the Early Show we pedaled down Fifth Avenue at a leisurely pace, made even more leisurely by frequent stops at traffic lights, and then across town to take the Seastreak ferry to New Jersey. Then it was time to get down to some legwork for some serious pedaling en route to Princeton. A few early hills had me worried, but the pace was relaxed, and chatting with people along the way took my mind off the tiredness in my legs.

For a while we passed through endless suburbs, past some huge McMansions on enormous plots, before the landscape became more rural. I was humbled when I found out that my two immediate companions had both (separately) cycled the length of the Americas, clocking up 14,000 and 16,000 miles respectively. Today’s target of 55 miles suddenly paled into insignificance. But the weather was perfect and my borrowed bicycle,  donated by Backroads, cruised along easily.

But even the most comfortable bicycle doesn’t always have the most comfortable saddle, and my saddle soreness was exacerbated by the fact that on the ocean my gluteus maximus had become gluteus minimus after 104 days of not walking. So for the last hour or so of the day I was getting quite keen to get out of the saddle and it was a relief when the road started to meander through the picturesque and historic Princeton campus and I knew the end of the road, for today at least, was drawing nigh.

It was about 4pm when I got to the Princeton YMCA where we are camping tonight. After settling into my tent and having a hot shower the aches and pains of the day were already fading. I am writing this as I sit in my tent, between dinner and the evening’s presentations.

Pedal power - Roz en route from NYC to Princeton (photo by Thom Wallace)

It has been a good day. I’ve been really impressed by the level of organization. The organizers have excelled themselves in setting me up with everything I needed for the ride. Without their help I couldn’t have done it, but they provided me with a bicycle, cycling shorts, jerseys, tent, sleeping bag and camping mat. Each day we are given our DAAG (Day At A Glance) that gives the schedule for departures, mealtimes, presentations etc. Our routes are marked by signs at every junction. If we still manage to get lost, comprehensive handouts giving maps, mileages and directions help us get back on track. Meals and snacks are delicious and plentiful. And everything is utterly green – no disposable cups, plates or silverware. Tonight we were given some cool handouts – thermal mugs with fold-down carabiner handles. A lot of swag is not particularly useful, but this is definitely a keeper. Our Climate Ride cycling jerseys are really cool too.

But the best thing about the day has been the people that I’ve met. Many are involved in environmental work of some sort – environmental advisors and impact assessors, campaigners and advocates, volunteers and nonprofit workers. Amidst many topics of conversation, much has been about climate change and Copenhagen. The overall mood seems to be optimistic – but of course this is a self-selecting sample of people who already care about the environment and in the course of their work will generally come across kindred spirits.

I’d love to know what the bigger picture looks like. ARE people becoming more aware? In the UK? In the US? Elsewhere? What do you think? What is your perception? Do you come across examples of the extremes of attitudes, and/or indifference and apathy? I’d love to know! Post your comments and give me your thoughts.

And meanwhile, check out the ClimateRideLive.org website and take a look at the other blogs, photos and Tweets from the day. See you here next year?! Sign up now.

Today’s stats: 55 miles, 4 hours, 896 calories, countless friends!

Margo and me at last year's Ocean Champions reception. Photo courtesy of Doug DeMark.

I can’t believe that it’s still less than 3 weeks since I arrived in Tarawa. Already the 104 days I spent on the ocean seem like a fast-fading dream as I get back up to speed and start looking forward in earnest to Copenhagen.

I was delighted with the way that things worked out in Tarawa. Thanks to Nicole, Ian, Conrad and Hunter, I was able to leave the Brocade clean, shipshape and fully functioning, and safely ensconced in the Marine Training Centre.

Getting to meet the President of Kiribati was a very special occasion. We had a long chat about his hopes and concerns for his country. Kiribati really is on the edge of existence, literally and figuratively. Few countries are more remote, and with no point of land higher than 6 ft above sea level, few countries are more vulnerable. It boggled my mind to think how I would feel if my own country was expected to disappear in the next 40 years – the places where I had been born, gone to school, made friends and created a life, all gone. Yet the President is facing this challenge with courage and pragmatic realism. If only all heads of state were as clear-sighted about the impacts of climate change.

The President and I now find ourselves in the same place yet again, half a world away from our last meeting. He is in New York for the UN General Assembly. We’ve been trying to coordinate another meeting, but his schedule has been packed so far – as, indeed, has mine.

Roz Savage with Rep. Lois Capps. 23rd District, Calif, at Ocean Champions reception

It was a last-minute decision to come to New York for Climate Week, but well worth the mad dash to get here. At the Age of Stupid premiere I was able to do a couple of media interviews and also met Ed Miliband, the UK’s Minister for the Environment. Last night I was in DC for the Ocean Champions reception – a fun chance to catch up with friends and fellow ocean campaigners including Margo Pellegrino of Miami2Maine paddling fame. Thanks to David Wilmot and all the Champs for a great evening, and to Shaw Thacher, tireless activist and kind provider of a couch for the night. Great also to see Doug DeMark there, the photographer who earlier this year took some great pictures of a rather tubbier me by Chesapeake Bay.

I am writing this blog on the train on the way back to New York to meet with my editor at Simon & Schuster as we prepare for my book tour. You might have noticed we have a new section on the website for upcoming events. You’ll see details there of the book tour, as well as my forthcoming presentations – one for the Ocean River Institute at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and for National Geographic in Washington, DC. Both are open to the public, so I hope to see you there!

Tonight I’m having dinner with Naomi, one of Roz’s Regulars. This will be the first time we have met in person. We’ll be eating at Pure Food and Wine, a rawfood restaurant in Irving Place, NYC. Looking forward to it. See you tonight, Naomi!

Tomorrow I’ll be packing for the Climate Ride, a 300-mile bike ride from New York to Washington DC which starts on Saturday. I’m a bit worried about it – I’ve been pounding the exercise bike in the gym this week, trying to rediscover my cycling muscles, but I think I lost them somewhere mid-Pacific! I’ll be blogging and Tweeting from the road, so you can find out how I get on.

With Dave Wilmot of Ocean Champions and Rob Moir of Ocean River Institute

Assuming I survive the ride, the event culminates in a bike rally in front of the Capitol next Wednesday. All are welcome to come and join me and the other 150 riders. Attendees include Bracken Hendricks, senior Fellow at Center for American Progress; an architect of clean-energy portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; founding executive director of the Apollo Alliance, Betsy Taylor, founder and President of the Center for a New American Dream, co-founder and now President of the Board of Directors of the 1Sky Education Fund, and various Members of Congress (TBA).

So life is hectic – but very good. No time to rest on my laurels when we have a planet to save!

Pacific Stage 2 Highlights

The highlights of Stage 2 – 104 days condensed into 1:40 mins. If only the voyage had been this easy!

It’s pretty dynamic, so get ready, brace yourself, pay attention, sit back and enjoy – here we go….!

Roz Savage Pacific Row Stage 2 Highlights

All due credit to Dawn Pasinski – hasn’t she done an amazing job?! Huge thanks also to ScubaDrew and Ray Hollowell for the stunning underwater and aerial shots, and Conrad Wade for the beautiful arrival footage.

The Ocean River Institute Presents:

Roz Savage, Ocean Rower

7 p.m., Saturday October 17, 2009

at the Regatta Bar, the Charles Hotel, Cambridge, MA

During the Head of the Charles Regatta Weekend

~ Please Come and Support Roz Savage and ORI’s

Efforts To Make Our World Greener! ~

Roz Savage is “paddling the Pacific Ocean, rowing towards a greener world, one stroke at a time” to become the first woman to row solo from California to Australia.

This year’s fundraiser will benefit Roz Savage and the work ORI does with small groups and environmental partners. The benefit will be held in the ballroom by the Regattabar – beginning with a multi-media presentation by Roz telling her stories from her Pacific journey. This will be followed by more informal time with Roz in the Regattabar, accompanied with live jazz by Grace Hughes and friends.

Single Tickets – $100/ticket

Couples – $150/ticket

Sponsor Tickets $250/ticket (preferred seating)

Special recognition will be given to people who give $250 or more

Space is limited. To RSVP, or for more information, please see the ORI website, or contact Harper at 617-661-6647 or [email protected] .

An opportunity for rowers and their families to meet Roz will take place in the Regatta Bar at 5 p.m., $10 admission. Rowing the Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean by Roz Savage will be available.

Because I haven’t had enough exercise for one year (?!) I am going to be taking part in the Brita Climate Ride, a “climate conference on wheels”, riding 300 miles from New York City to Washington DC to deliver a message to the Capitol on climate change. I’ll be giving a presentation to the other riders on the 28th. I will, of course, be blogging and tweeting from the road. Follow me here to find out if I manage to rediscover my biking muscles sufficiently to keep up with the crowd!

If you’re in the DC area, you can join in with the final rally, and make your voice heard at the Capitol. Here’s what you need to know…

Join Climate Riders as they arrive at the US Capitol on Wednesday, September 30th!

Pedal with 100+ Climate Riders, several ambassadors from around the world, and supporters from the DC area to bicycle the final three miles of their 300 mile journey from New York City. We’ll pedal up Constitution Ave to the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol for the Climate Ride finale and rally, where we will be calling for action in the Senate and at COP15.

Here is the Climate Ride bike rally information:

WHAT: Climate Ride, a 300-mile benefit bike ride to raise awareness of climate change and clean energy opportunities and COP15, beginning in NYC and ending with a rally at the U.S. Capitol.

WHEN: September 30th, 3:15pm.  Riders will gather at Thompson Boat Center (corner of Rock Creek Parkway and Virginia Ave NW) at 3:15pm for a 3:30 en masse departure to the US Capitol. see map below.
You can also meet us at 3:45 PM on the West Lawn of the Capitol for the rally.

WHERE: Riders will pedal up Constitution Ave. to the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol for a rally.

WHO: Audience: 100+ Climate Riders,  Ambassadors riding bicycles from Denmark, Switzerland,  Liechtenstein, Romania, Azerbaijan, New Zealand, Slovenia, Luxembourg, (and more), non-profit partners and supporters from the DC area.

Speakers include:  Senator Ben Cardin (MD), Congressman Earl Blumenauer (OR), head of the Congressional Bike Caucus, Congressman Dennis Kucinich; Betsy Taylor of 1Sky; Alisa Gravitz, Executive Director Green America; Keith Laughlin, President Rails to Trails Conservancy and more members of Congress (TBA).

WHY: To call for action in the Senate and at COP15 on climate policy.

Media will be there–this is a great awareness-raising event, so don’t miss it! We will have a photo opportunity at the Capitol with an Associated Press (AP) photographer and other professional photographers.

If you believe that the time is now to take bold action on climate change and renewable energy, join us and make your voice heard!
CONTACT: Caeli Quinn, Climate Ride Co-Founder, at [email protected]

Tonight I will be appearing at the New York premiere of the important sustainability movie, The Age of Stupid. In fact, I will be arriving in a rowboat with the film’s dynamic director, Franny Armstrong. If you are watching the premiere in your own local cinema, hopefully you will get to see me in the pre-film action screened live from New York.

I was at the UK premiere of the film back in March, and can highly recommend it. Shot on a super-low budget of £450,000 (about $700,000) it delivers huge bang for the buck – and for your time. You may never think about our current era – or current errors – in quite the same way again.

Book your ticket now!

Available in your local bookstore now! Also on Amazon.com.

In the fourth retrospective on Stage 2 of the Pacific, I’m considering two of my favorite subjects – food and books. Both played a significant role in my voyage – mostly as bribes to myself to get through the next rowing shift. We all need our treats!

Favorite foods:

1.    Wilderness Family Naturals products – a new sponsor – turned out to be a real winner. Loved the fact that the nuts were all sprouted and then dehydrated at low temperatures – super healthy. The chocolate syrup was a sweet treat, and the Coconut Powder was a fantastic addition to freeze-dried curries.
2.    Also a huge fan of the Living Nutz donations – Bodacious Banana Bread walnuts, Passionate Pesto walnuts, Zesty Almond Bliss, and Absolute Chi Teriyaki Almonds.
3.    The rawfood crackers made for me with love and pride by Marlene Depierre were fantastic. My favourites were the mock turkey (minced cashew nuts and cranberries), walnut pumpkin crackers (Mexican flavor), and “cookies” made with mango, banana, goji berries, dates, sunflower and pumpkin seeds – and the latest superfood, chia.
4.    A few special treats bought for me in Hawaii by Lorrin Lee – Kopali Organics Dried Mango, Go Raw Spirulina Superchips, carob energy nuggets, and Sun Power Natural Chocolate Chip Cookies. All utterly delicious.
5.    Plus, of course, my faithful Larabars. New favorite flavor is Peanut Butter Cookie, with Pecan Pie, Cinnamon Roll and Banana Bread following very close behind. With strategic rations of Jocalat Chocolate Coffee bars to get me through late evening rowing shifts.

Favorite books:

I listened to a total of 73 books on this voyage, thanks to Audible.com and Audible.co.uk – and Leo Laporte, who gave me his iPod with his own selection of books. Worthy of particular mention – in no particular order:

NON-FICTION

1.    Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela
Inspiring autobiography of a legend.

2.    Lost on Planet China, by J Maarten Troost
Informative and amusing, a very personal view of contemporary China as it appears to the outsider.

3.    Around Ireland with a Fridge, by Tony Hawks
An entertaining tale of eccentric British adventure.

4.    Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortensen
An uplifting story of a man with a mission. If you liked Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracey Kidder, you’ll love this too.

5.    Vet in Harness, by James Herriott
The entertaining adventures of a vet in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1930s. Provoked a strong yearning to live in a simpler time.

6.    Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts
Epic – lasted me for days. Sometimes teeters on the brink of an ego trip, but generally a great story full of colourful characters and some interesting philosophical asides.

7.    Hemingway Adventure, by Michael Palin
I listened to all of Michael Palin’s books, but this was my favorite for its insights into the fascinating character of Hemingway, coupled with Palin’s usual excellent travel writing.

8.    Predictable Irrationality, by Dan Ariely
A fascinating insight into human psychology.

FICTION

9.    The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
Life-changing, and something new to discover every time I read it.

10.    The Risk Pool, by Richard Russo
I love to lose myself in the small town dramas of Richard Russo’s books. Great characterisations.

11.    The Time Traveller’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
A page-turner of a story, with thought-provoking themes of free will versus fate.

12.    Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
An offbeat story of an underground London peopled by weird and wonderful characters. I will never again be able to stand on Earls Court station without thinking of the Earl and his court.

13.    Siddartha, by Herman Hesse
A beautiful story of a quest for enlightenment. If you’ve read and enjoyed The Alchemist, try this one too.

Other Stuff:

And speaking of books, today a momentous occasion. I held a copy of a book in my hands, gazing at the cover. It read, Rowing The Atlantic, by Roz Savage. My baby. Very exciting. Book tour starts October 6, the official publication date.

Lots of travel at the moment. Thank heavens for those carbon offsets. Just arrived in Hawaii this morning on the red-eye from Fiji. I had planned to spend a week here, but there is just too much cool stuff happening in New York for Climate Week – the premiere of The Age Of Stupid, the Climate Ride from New York to DC, and the president of Kiribati there on an official visit. So I’m going. I just can’t stay away with so much eco-action going on. So tomorrow night I fly to San Francisco to exchange my warm weather clothes for autumn clothes, then straight on to New York. It’s all a bit crazy, but with Copenhagen just around the corner, there is no time to lose!

In the third of my reviews of Stage 2 of the Pacific row, I look at the dramas, frustrations and triumphs of life on the ocean wave. Some you win, some you lose, but at least it stops life being boring….

Dramas:

Fortunately no major dramas this time around – no doubt to Texino’s disappointment. No broken oars, no capsizes, no airlifts, no Hunks on the Junk, and alas no Johnny Depp. The ongoing Tuvalu-Tarawa dilemma was probably the major stress-inducer of the voyage. But there were a few other heart-stopping moments, such as:

-       On my first full day, trying to run the watermaker, and nothing happened. Wondered if this was going to be the shortest ocean row ever. After calming down and analysing the problem, I discovered that the intake hose had not been connected. Easily fixed.

-       Watermaker stopped working altogether as I approached the 3-month mark. But fortunately I had enough water reserves to see me through.

-       Discovery that the coordinates I had for Tuvalu were incorrect – so the chances of making it there were remote. Tarawa suddenly promoted to destination of choice.

Little frustrations:

-       Satphone data connection working worse and worse, and then not at all for the last week

-       Lazarus the Stereo being rather temperamental, sometimes with pauses of up to 15 minutes while he turned himself off and on repeatedly

-       Boobies, boobies, boobies. And all their noxious emissions – both vocal and, errr, well, from the other end. But the trip would not have been the same without them, and it was brought home to me when they deserted me that I had become strangely fond of my smelly boatmates.

Little triumphs:

-       For once, I managed not to lose my sea anchor. No hassles at all, in fact. The new cam cleats we fitted for the tripline worked a treat. Definitely a keeper.

-       Sarong used as a side extension to the bimini – reduced the temperature of my rowing position by several degrees, protected me from sunburn, and stopped the bimini from flapping in high winds. And on the rare occasions when conditions were calm enough for the deck to stay dry, the resulting shady haven on the deck was a perfect spot for a mid-afternoon siesta, with a delicious cooling breeze wafting over my bare skin. Heaven!

Continuing my retrospective on Stage 2 of the Pacific, there are a few special moments that will live on in my memory long after my calluses have peeled off and my suntan/burn has faded. Share these with me as we bask in the afterglow of my voyage…

1. Spectacular departure from Hawaii, escorted out of the Ala Wai Harbor at sunset by a flotilla of outrigger canoes, sailboats, motor launches, and a solitary stand-up paddler. A moment to treasure forever. With a special mention to the crew of the Blue Lady who came out after dark for a final farewell. They would be the last human beings I would see for the next 104 days.

2. Crossing the Equator, featuring a countdown on Twitter, paying homage to King Neptune (or at least his very capable deputy, Squishy the Dolphin), and opening up my goodie bag to discover a mini bottle of bubbly. Then getting slightly tiddly and rambling on at length to my video camera about how great life is – until the battery went flat and saved me from embarrassing myself further.

3. Realizing that I was going to be able to make it to Tarawa under my own steam, when a long-awaited southeasterly wind arrived at precisely the right moment to help me past Maiana and into the home strait.

4. Nicole jumping overboard from the boat carrying my welcoming committee, and swimming over to Brocade to deliver my long-awaited cold beer. Now that’s what I call dedication!

5. The amazing warmth of the reception in Tarawa. Three hundred or so people on the dock, all smiling, and the dancers performing a traditional dance of welcome. Especially after so long of being alone, the emotion was almost overwhelming.

6. The little magical moments in the ocean wilderness that made every day special, the entertainments that Mother Nature provides to entertain the solitary seafarer – sunrises, sunsets, the light of the moon, and the always awe-inspiring spectacle of a canopy of stars and the Milky Way.

And deserving of a special section all on its own, my favorite Rozling moments, of which there are really too many to mention. What a great bunch of people you are! The impression I got from the ocean was that a disparate assortment of individuals evolved over the summer into a thriving community. It was fantastic to witness. You know that feeling you get when you introduce two friends who both know you but don’t know each other – and they really hit it off and you can just sit back and enjoy their newfound friendship? Well, that’s how I felt, but on a bigger scale. It was like a whole party-ful of people, arriving as strangers but soon finding common ground and the conversation flowing. The whole became greater than the sum of the parts. I hesitate to pick out individuals, but If I had to select a couple of laugh-out-loud moments from Roz’s Regulars…

- Richard in Austin, TX, for the alternative lyrics to the Village People classic YMCA – entitled ITCZ

- UncaDoug and his Bimini Bobbity Boobity Moon!

I hesitate even more to try and list the names of the stalwarts of the Rozling community, in case I miss somebody out and offend them for evermore. I apologize unreservedly in advance if I don’t name you here, but I think we’d all agree that special mentions should go to: UncaDoug, Richard in Austin, Karen Morss, Laurey Masterson, Sindy Davis, Joan in Atlanta, Naomi in NY, Greg from Conway Kayaking Company, John Kay… and, of course, the inimitable Texino.

To these and to each and every person who has visited my blog this year, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am honoured to count you as my friends!

[photo: Luxuriating in the feel of an ice cold bottle of water just after I arrived on land.]

I always enjoy, at the end of a chapter of my life, to look back and reflect. What were the highlights? What were the moments of drama? What went well? What could have gone better? And so, as I draw the line under Stage 2 of the Pacific row, here is the ocean-rowing equivalent of my Oscars speech…

Special thanks to:

1. The animals – for making this such a memorable voyage. I will forever remember the Hawaii-Tarawa voyage for the incredible number of wildlife encounters – and how close the wildlife came to my boat, as if they were making a personal visit to say hi and welcome me to their domain. I saw more pelagic critters on this leg than I have seen on both my previous major rows – combined and multiplied by ten. The final tally was something like this:

- whale shark (1)

- other sharks (dozens – thankfully not too close, apart from one that swam right under my boat)

- whales (a dozen or so, species unknown)

- dolphins (dozens)

- turtles (3)

- squid (3, on deck, very messy)

- remoras (any remoras is too many)

- pilot fish (regularly hanging out in the shade of Brocade)

- brown noddies

- booby birds (how could I ever forget? They came, they saw, they pooped)

2. The Rozling community – for being such active participants in my adventure. On this voyage, more than ever, it felt like we had a real dialogue going, rather than me being permanently in “transmit” mode. I could really feel the love, support and positive energies pouring through the slender umbilical of my satphone/data modem. Thank you so much for making the last three and a half months so special. I love you all!

3. TeamRoz – how could I have done it without them? I might have managed the rowing bit alone, but there is so much more to an ocean rowing voyage than just rowing. Nicole, of course, gets special mention, for putting in an amazingly productive and effective summer’s work. She always gives 110%, and I cannot find the words to express how much I appreciate her support in all shapes and forms – logistical, administrative, and emotional. And a good therapeutic laugh from time to time as needed. Enormous gratitude also to Mum, Rick Shema, Ricardo Diniz, Hunter and Traci Downs, Evan Rapoport, Ian Tuller, Conrad Wade, Daisy Hampton, Dawn Pasinski, Leo Laporte, Laureen Hudson and Sinead Martin for their energy, time and support over the summer.

Over the course of the next few blogs I’ll be posting more retrospectives on Stage 2 of the Pacific row – favorite memories, favorite Rozling moments, dramas, triumphs, frustrations, favorite foods, favorite books and lessons learned. I hope you’ll join me as I look back over this summer’s success!

Other Stuff:

TeamRoz left Tarawa on Tuesday. Just before we left I had a meeting with the President of Kiribati (of which Tarawa is the administrative center), who told me about the impact that climate change is having on his people, and what he intends to do about it. I’ll be blogging about this in due course. Stay tuned. It was a fascinating opportunity to find out at first hand how climate change is a very real and immediate threat to these fragile islands on the edge of the world.

Apologies for the lack of blogs and Tweets recently. Trying to get online in Tarawa was problematic, to put it mildly. I was still having to Tweet from my satphone, just as I did on the boat, and blogging would have challenged the patience of a saint.

We are now in Fiji for a few days – an unavoidable stopover while we wait for Friday’s flight to Hawaii. I was in culture shock last night when we arrived. After the extreme simplicity (and poverty) of life in Tarawa, Fiji is a big step back towards a US standard of living. In some ways it is a relief to be back within reach of a decent internet connection and decent fresh produce, but I wouldn’t have missed my Tarawa experience for the world.

I will tell more when I blog about my meeting with the President, but for now I would just like to express my huge gratitude to all the wonderful people that we met in Tarawa, who gave me such a warm welcome and made our time in their country so memorable. Thank you for the memories.

APOLOGY: I am profoundly embarrassed. I have been unavoidably offline for the last week, so had no idea of the row brewing over something I wrote in my last blog. I was not at all familiar with the US connotations of “Aunt Jemima”, and am horrified that some people interpreted this as a racial slur. Nothing could have been further from my intentions. During my all-too-brief time in Tarawa I developed the greatest respect and love for the people there.  Apologies for any offence caused.

Remembering the huge problems we had trying to find a suitable place in Hawaii for Brocade to hibernate last winter between Stages 1 and 2 of my Pacific row, it is nothing short of miraculous that Nicole has been able to find an ideal spot here on the tiny, densely populated island of Tarawa. Brocade’s new home is at the Marine Training Centre, and we will be forever indebted to Captain Superintendent Boro Lucic, the smiling Montenegran who runs the Centre.

To give you some idea of just how miraculous this is, here were our criteria for Brocade’s temporary home:

-       facilities for lifting a 1200lb boat out of the water

-       under cover storage for boat

-       something on which to store Brocade (her trailer is still in Hawaii)

-       separate storage for boat’s contents

-       security

The MTC has been able to supply all this – and more.

I spent all day there yesterday with Ian and Hunter. Conrad filmed us while we worked hard to empty the boat of every last food ration, waterbag and marine flare.  There was an astonishingly large pile of stuff on the ground next to Brocade by the time we had finished. Then everything had to be sorted – stuff to store, to go back to the US, to be discarded. Many things had to be cleaned and/or dried. In the baking sun water evaporated quickly – from our bodies too, and we had to beware of heatstroke. Finally Boro loaned us some new recruits to help carry everything to the cool store room where it will spend the next few months, safe from rats, ants and the intense heat. Apparently Jason Lewis’s supplies were largely destroyed by rats. They don’t kill them here because they are supposedly the spirits of ancestors, but I am keen to avoid having my oatmeal eaten by somebody’s Great Aunt Betty.

It was a long, hot, sweaty day, but now Ian has clear space so he can work on the things that need to be repaired or enhanced before Stage 3. Today he is trying to fix the watermaker. No luck so far. Other things on our To Do list include:

-       connect cable to external satphone antenna

-       improve storage of sea anchor line (needs to be more secure, as Stage 3 will likely be rougher than Stage 2, with higher risk of capsize)

-       add struts to bimini so it doesn’t flap in high winds

-       replace stereo (Lazarus was working more consistently towards the end, but is clearly not in perfect health)

-       plus, of course, get the boat shipshape and Bristol fashion, all lockers cleaned and bleached, decks scrubbed, and hull de-slimed.

So Brocade’s physique is on the way to recovery – but how is mine? I’ve regained 4lb in 4 days, which is no bad thing. My perception was that I’d eaten more and lost less weight this time around. So you could have knocked me over with a feather (possibly literally) when I stepped on the scales to find that I was 107lb  – exactly the same weight as when I arrived in Hawaii last year, and representing a total loss of exactly 30lb in 104 days.

My skin is still rough and sunburned. I suffered from heat rashes and spots the whole way across, but they are diminishing gradually. I also have some nasty areas of sunburn on my face, which are peeling pinkly now. Hmmm, attractive. I am going to be one wrinkly old lady. Anybody know a good dermatologist? I’m not joking!

My hands, though, are the area of my body still showing the clearest evidence of my recent endeavours. I can’t fully extend my fingers nor clench them into fists – the skin is too tough, tight and callused to allow full movement. But they will recover in time. The calluses are already peeling off now that they are no longer needed.

Someone made a comment that I don’t look like someone who has just rowed 3,000 miles, but I’m not sure what such a person should look like. Maybe he expected me to have shoulders like a Russian shotputter’s. But unless I was taking muscle-enhancing steroids all the way across that wasn’t going to happen. I just don’t have enough testosterone in my body to get that kind of muscle growth. I’m sunburned, scarred and skinny – and hopefully a little bit wiser. And that will have to be evidence enough of my latest ocean adventure.

Note: I still have very limited internet access. The technical infrastructure here on Tarawa is not up to US standards, nor is it ever likely to be. We were told that many of the Pacific islands are going to benefit from new cables being laid across the ocean floor to deliver high data speeds and communications links. But Tarawa is truly in the middle of nowhere… and on the way to nowhere. So for the foreseeable future they will have to rely on satellite connections.

For me personally, this means I have not been able to download my emails, and accessing websites or webmail is slow or sometimes impossible. I still haven’t had the opportunity to have a proper look around my own website, which went live while I was out on the ocean. So please bear with me. Thank you!

A HUGE THANK YOU: From what I hear from Mum and others, there has been an amazing outpouring of congratulations in the Rozling community. I just wish I had the connectivity to be able to play a more active part in the celebrations. I feel a bit like the corpse at the funeral – a great party being held in my honour, and I can’t be there! But hopefully I will clamber out of my internet coffin shortly and get back to full online life – and we’ll just have to celebrate all over again then!

DOWNLOAD PDF | DOWNLOAD DOC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Nicole Bilodeau
[email protected]
For photography, b-roll and interview requests, please contact Nicole Bilodeau, Program Director for Roz Savage.

OCEAN ROWER AND ENVIRONMENTAL CAMPAIGNER, ROZ SAVAGE, COMPLETES SECOND STAGE OF HER SOLO ROW ACROSS THE PACIFIC OCEAN; MAKES LANDFALL IN THE REPUBLIC OF KIRIBATI

Second Stage of Three-Part Voyage Inspires Action on Climate Change

TARAWA, REPUBLIC OF KIRIBATI—September 6, 2009—Roz Savage, ocean rower and environmental campaigner, made landfall today on Tarawa, a small atoll in the Republic of Kiribati, successfully completing stage 2 of her epic bid to become the first woman in history to row solo row across the Pacific Ocean. She launched this stage of her voyage on May 24, from Honolulu, Hawaii. She spent 104 days at sea, bringing the total number of days alone at sea for her Pacific crossing to 203 days. Savage uses her ocean rowing adventures to help inspire action on environmental issues.

Savage posted Twitter updates from her satellite phone for each the last 10 miles as she neared the finish line, providing fans around the world with a thrilling conclusion to a very exciting adventure. She wrote, “Into the last 10 miles. Quick chat with mum on satphone. She’s excited!” Two hours later, she tweeted, “7 miles has never seemed so far… sun is scorching hot now.” Upon arrival she wrote, “ARRIVED!!! Exhausted but very, very happy. Crack open the bubbly and toast the health of the planet.”

Savage was welcomed by hundreds of people at Betio Wharf on South Tarawa, where children greeted her with flower leis and local performers honored Savage with traditional songs and dances. Community elders of thanked Savage for bringing awareness to the issue of climate change, particularly on behalf of especially vulnerable low-lying islands and atolls, such as Tarawa.

“What a spectacular welcome – I’m so delighted to be here in Kiribati and to meet the wonderful people of Tarawa. Being here is especially poignant for me, knowing that this land and the people who live here are some of the earliest and most seriously impacted by the devastating effects of climate change. I promise to carry their story with me and hope that by sharing this adventure, people around the world will feel compelled to take actions in their own lives to reduce harmful carbon emissions.”

Savage’s voyage consists of three stages, each with its own environmental message. In Summer 2008, she became the first woman ever to row solo from California to Hawaii. Her 2,700-mile, 99-day journey took her through the outskirts of the North Pacific Garbage Patch. During the first stage of the row, she encouraged people to cut back on their use of disposable plastic bottles, cups and bags, thereby reducing the amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean.

Savage’s journey this year from Hawaii to Tarawa targeted climate change. She is a United Nations Climate Hero, and this December Savage will travel to Copenhagen where delegates from around the world will gather to negotiate a new global agreement on climate change. Savage hopes to share video testimonials from the people she meets in Tarawa with world leaders at the Copenhagen summit, highlighting the critical importance of immediate and aggressive action on reducing global carbon emissions.

The third, and final, stage of Roz’s solo row across the Pacific will take place in 2010, and will take her all the way to Australia.

AN UNLIKELY ADVENTURER
Roz is a British ocean rower, author, motivational speaker and environmental campaigner, who uses her trans-oceanic rowing voyages to inspire a movement towards sustainable living at both grassroots and global levels.

Roz first gained international attention in 2005, when after 11 years as a management consultant, she embarked upon a new life of adventure by rowing solo across the Atlantic. Her unlikely transformation from office worker to ocean rower, described with humor and soul-baring honesty in her blogs, captivated and inspired a worldwide audience, transcending barriers of language, culture, color and creed. Encouraged by this positive response, Roz continues to use her seafaring adventures to motivate others to take action on environmental issues and to face their own life challenges.

THIS YEAR’S MISSION: PULL TOGETHER
Pull Together is the theme for stage two of Roz’s row across the Pacific Ocean. This year her environmental mission is to take action on CO2 levels by inspiring people to walk more and drive less.

“The climate change crisis we face requires immediate action from every level of our global society, but the problem is so grave that many people are overwhelmed and simply don’t know what they can do to help,” says Roz. “That’s why I aim to inspire people to choose simple solutions that cost nothing and are easy to work into the busy routines of their daily lives. You might feel like one little choice doesn’t make a big difference, that it’s just a drop in the ocean. But those little choices and actions add up quickly – and they do make a world of difference.”

In consultation with distinguished environmentalists, government leaders and outreach specialists, Roz conceived an initiative to tackle the issue at both grassroots and international levels. Calling upon her supporters around the world to Pull Together, Roz issued a challenge: match her 10,000 oar strokes a day with 10,000 steps a day. An easy way for people to track their steps is to use a pedometer. The idea is to substitute walking for driving, thereby reducing the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere.

A HIGH TECH ADVENTURE
Roz is an avid technology enthusiast and enjoys sharing her adventures through a variety of social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. She regularly blogs and records podcasts, delighting her audience and allowing them to vicariously share and experience her thrilling adventures. The RozTracker is an interactive map that supporters use to track Roz’s progress across the Pacific and see exactly where she was when she posted blog updates, photos, videos and podcasts.

PARTNERSHIPS
Several key partners have recently joined Roz in her mission to take action on climate change. They include:

• United Nations Environment Programme: provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. Roz was recently named a UNEP Climate Hero.
• The Climate Project: founded by Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. TCP aims to increase awareness of the climate crisis at a grassroots level worldwide, and supports advocacy and activism to combat the climate crisis.
• Blue Planet Foundation: a Hawaii-based organization that seeks to change the world’s energy culture, to raise global awareness in order to develop and adopt practical programs to implement clean, efficient, and renewable energy and to create a global response to the increasingly urgent climate crisis.
• 350.org: an international campaign dedicated to creating an equitable global climate treat that lowers CO2 below 350 parts per million, the number that scientists say is the safe number we need to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change.

###

There is a lot to do while I’m here in Tarawa, but – lazy cow that I am (?!) I grabbed the opportunity for a day off yesterday. By a “day off”, I mean an opportunity to stop, think, and clarify before hurtling on regardless. I suppose you’d think I’d had all the time in the world to think while I was rowing – and I did – but I always do my very best thinking when I have my pen in hand, blank page of my journal in front of me. And ocean thoughts don’t always make so much sense on dry land. It was time to get real.

But first let me tell you a bit about the sheer pleasure of being back on dry land. One of the best things about spending long periods of time out at sea is that it makes me appreciate the simple things of land life so much more. To wake up in a comfortable, clean, soft bed… to feel the warmth of the shower jets on my skin… to open a fridge and take out a bottle of refreshing cold water…

So it was with an immense feeling of wellbeing that I woke up in my hotel room yesterday morning. I lay on the floor to do my morning stretch-and-breathe routine, trying to remember how it goes. I went to sit out on the balcony overlooking the lagoon, which is actually very polluted, but from a distance it’s a gorgeous light blue, so different from the deep blue of the open ocean.

I flipped through my trusty spiral-bound notebook while I ate a breakfast of granola bars. I am a great maker of lists and notes, and it was half-full of the lists I’d made in the month or so before my departure from Hawaii. I felt the need for a fresh start, so I tore out the used pages, neatly trimming away the perforated edges before archiving them. Now I had a book of blank pages, ready for the next chapter of my life.

Continuing my theme of simplicity and fresh starts, I next cleared out my backpack. I’d been shocked when I took it off the boat, safe in its drybag, to feel how much it weighed. Did I really used to carry this around on my shoulders all day, every day?! No wonder I’m getting shorter! I found all kinds of junk that had accumulated in its many pockets – useful junk, put there “just in case”, but now some cases seemed too unlikely to justify the weight. Simplify, simplify, said Thoreau. So I did.

Feeling fresh and organized and ready to face the day, I joined up with TeamRoz and we got going. We headed over to the office of David Lambourne, the Solicitor General, to use his relatively good internet connection so Nicole could post the press release and Conrad could upload his video footage of my arrival for the media. The poor guy had been up all night editing 6 hours down to 6 minutes.

David, originally from Australia but now a permanent resident of Tarawa is fast becoming our local angel, as well as being a local mover and shaker. His wife, Tessie, is the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Kiribati. Somebody (oops, could it have been me?) made mention of massage, and he said that one of Tessie’s relatives does a great traditional Tarawan massage. A quick call to his house, and it was arranged. It was definitely one of the more unusual massages I’ve ever had. I was introduced to a multitude of David’s wife’s relatives, sitting in a row of small shady thatched cabanas on the lagoon side of the island, whiling away the hot hours. Two of them tended to me, while a small audience of aunts, sisters and children watched nearby. I sat on the palm matting under the thatch while I was rubbed down with oil and water, and my aching back muscles soothed with long, gentle strokes. Then I was sponged down with a wad of coconut wrapped in muslin and dunked in hot water. Coconut milk ran down my skin. A gentle breeze wafted in from the lagoon. It was all very nice indeed. I smelled like a pina colada.

My masseuse and I chatted as best we could across the language barrier. She is the same age as me – 41 – but has 8 children and 3 grandchildren. Her eldest child is 26 and the youngest is 7. Her husband died of cancer 4 years ago. What different lives.

I spent the rest of the afternoon communing with my journal in the cabana, covering several pages with thoughtful handwriting while the relatives around me chatted amongst themselves in the melodious language of Kiribati, played dice, crocheted, ate and snoozed in the shade. A litter of new puppies slept in a furry heap underneath the cabana. A pig lay in its pen, also comatose. Island life.

Towards dark David’s wife Tessie came home, and David himself arrived with Nicole, Hunter and Conrad. We sat in the cabana drinking toddy, the diluted sap of the palm tree. It’s unlike anything else I’ve ever tasted, but very delicious. It smells strangely of hot dogs, but tastes much better – sweet and fresh. David told us they gather it by climbing to the top of a palm tree and shaving the bark at the site of a new palm frond to get to the rising sap beneath. As you drive around the island you can see the jars they attach to palm trees to gather the juice.

After sunset we sat on the beach under the palm trees, watching the moon rise over the lagoon as we ate a dinner prepared by the relatives. This is how their household works – David and Tessie work to support the relatives, in return for which the 20 or so members of the extended family provide them with cooking, cleaning, and massage services. Everybody’s happy.

The food was the best I’d had so far on the island. There is nowhere on a coral atoll to grow vegetables, so they are in scarce supply. Cabbage is about the only fresh veg available. So we had coleslaw with local tuna and chicken, and the ubiquitous white rice, washed down with coke, cold beer or a very nice New Zealand Pinot Noir according to choice.

Conversation was varied and interesting – including a lot of talk of climate change, which is very much on the minds of the Kitibati government. But more of that later. This blog is too long already. Ciao for now – more tomorrow. We have to go to the airport to collect Ian, who is arriving from San Francisco to help with the boatworks.

[Note: All travel by members of TeamRoz is balanced by carbon offsets to maintain our carbon neutral status.]

Other Stuff:

Just so you know… I still have very limited internet access. Tarawa is progressing fast, but its infrastructure is still a way behind US levels. David’s office has the best data speeds, but it still took Conrad 7 or 8 hours to upload his 6 minutes of video footage. I’m still having to post blogs via email, and Tweets via my satphone, and it’s not easy for me to see comments and other responses. So please forgive me if I seem a bit remote from the online dialogue. A more normal service will be resumed once I leave Tarawa in a couple of weeks.

Some facts on Tarawa – as gleaned by Nicole from the internet:

Tarawa Overview

Latitude: 1° 25′ North, Longitude: 173° 00′ East

Tarawa atoll is the capital of Kiribati, previously capital of the
former British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.

Tarawa is not a single town but a group of 24 islets (of which at
least 8 are inhabited) surrounded by a coral atoll. Apart from the
south where causeways link the islets, one needs a boat to
navigate around the main features.

The largest islet (South Tarawa) extends from Bonriki (southeast
corner of the atoll) along the entire south side of the lagoon to
Bairiki. A causeway now connects Bairiki to Betio (Japanese causeway).
The largest town, Bikenibeu, and the only airport on Tarawa, Bonriki
International Airport, are on the southeast corner of Tarawa.

Betio island, the chief commercial center of the country, is a port of
entry. The main hospital is located at Bikenibeu. The central
Government offices, Parliament building, President’s Office and
Residence, Central Post Office, Telecommunications Services Kiribati
Limited (TSKL), Library and Archives, and various other official
buildings are all on Bairiki islet.

The population is mainly Micronesian.  Tarawa was occupied by the
Japanese (1941-43) and fell to U.S. marines after a bloody battle. In
the early 1990s the southern part of the capital, particularly Betio,
had one of the highest population densities in the world, leading the
government to resettle residents on less crowded islands.

They are 2 hours behind Hawaii Standard Time. (ie when it is noon in
Hawaii, it is 10 am in Tarawa)

Travel

Flights: The only flights into Tarawa (TRW) are Air Pacific flights
from Nandi, Fiji (NAN). They leave twice a week, on Tuesdays and
Thursdays.

From Honolulu (HNL), there are a few more carrier options. Air
Pacific flies from HNL to NAN as does Qantas, American, United,
Hawaiian and Air New Zealand.

Ships: Supply ships occasionally go to Fiji and Tuvalu.

Accommodations

There are a few options for lodging on Tarawa but we are staying at Hotel Otintaai. It is the main hotel in Kiribati. Fully  owned by Government, the hotel is on South Tarawa with a good view of the lagoon. It is about a 10 minute taxi ride from the hotel to the airport. They have a restaurant, running water, clean rooms and
Internet (ish).

Check out the first video of Roz arriving in Tarawa!

Here is the first set of photos from Roz’s arrival in Tarawa!!! Many more to come soon…

Read Roz’s blog

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I stepped ashore, setting foot on dry land for the first time in 105 
days. This was now my third arrival after prolonged periods at sea, so 
I wasn’t surprised when the ground seemed to lurch beneath my feet. My 
brain had adapted to being on a constantly pitching boat, so now it 
was over-compensating when I stood on terra firma. I looked up at the 
crowd of several hundred people that had come to greet me, and 
wondered if my first act on arriving in Tarawa would be to topple over 
like a drunkard.

Then two big hunky men in traditional island outfits approached and 
knelt in front of me, forming a cradle with their arms. “Thank heavens 
for local tradition” I thought, as I sank gratefully onto the 
proffered cradle.

I was carried to a plastic chair, and the hunky men were joined by 
several more who performed a local dance of traditional welcome. I 
felt like visiting royalty as I smiled appreciatively. They presented 
me with a coconut, its top lopped off so I could drink the cool, 
refreshing, sweet coconut water inside. It was exactly what I needed. 
I was feeling a bit woozy after my exertions. It had been an 
exhausting 3 days.

As I approached Tarawa from the south on Sept 4th, I hadn’t been sure 
if I would manage to make landfall under my own steam. Given the 
strong easterly winds that had prevailed over the previous few days, I 
thought it much more likely that I would get close to the island but 
miss it by several miles, and would need a boat to come out to catch 
me as I whizzed past.

But finally Neptune decided to give me a break. I had already made it 
safely past the island of Abemama (where Robert Louis Stevenson lived 
for a while). I was making good progress in a northwesterly direction, 
but there was a problem. Unless I managed to shift course to north- 
northwest, I would run slap into the island of Maiana. I had to choose 
whether to go south of it, which would mean I had no chance of getting 
to Tarawa under my own steam, or else east of it – which was the way I 
wanted to go, but was it possible? Under present wind conditions, no, 
it wasn’t.

Then, finally, the long-awaited southeasterly wind arrived. Woohoo! 
Now I was in fine shape. The wind only lasted a few hours, but I was 
able to ride it all the way up the east side of Maiana, which lined me 
up nicely for Tarawa.

I rowed late into the night until I was reasonably sure I was clear of 
Maiana and its reefs. Then I tried to grab a quick nap, but I kept 
opening one eye to squint at the GPS to make sure I wasn’t going to 
shipwreck. At one point I got up and rowed some more, just to make 
doubly sure. It would have been a real shame to get this far only to 
end up on a reef within sight of the finish.

So as I approached the final 20 miles into Tarawa, I had had less than 
6 hours of sleep in the previous 48 hours, and the heat was brutal. 
The wind had dropped away to nothing and the sun was intense. When I 
got to 9 miles out, I really wondered if I was going to make it. After 
rowing 3000 miles, the last 9 seemed to loom very large. I put some 
good rocking music on to help me through.

And finally, mile by mile, I crossed off the final hours of my voyage. 
After each mile I posted another Tweet and had a bite of food. A boat 
arrived to escort me the last mile or two to land. On board were 
Nicole, Hunter (from Archinoetics) and Conrad (our cameraman). Also 
Rob, the New Zealand High Commissioner, who put his sea kayak in the 
water and paddled alongside me.

But I could feel that I was getting depleted. As I always seem to do, 
I get over-excited on my final day and push myself too hard. I arrive 
on land dehydrated, sunburned and exhausted.

The last mile was really tough. I wondered if it would ever finish. 
Rob told me I was rowing against the incoming tide. I was reduced to 
counting tens. Just ten more strokes. Then another ten. Then another 
ten. As I crossed my finish line of latitude, I collapsed backwards 
off my rowing seat.

But nothing that an ice cold beer wouldn’t cure (oops, ignore this 
bit, please, Dr Aenor!). Nicole knew what was needed. I heard some 
splashing as I lay on the deck with my eyes closed, and then Nicole’s 
head popped up over the side of the boat. She had jumped off the 
escort boat into the water and swum over to Brocade, beer in hand. It 
was a bit warm after its time in the water, but tasted pretty darned 
good regardless. Now that’s what I call a dedicated Program Director!

So now I am on Tarawa, quite possibly one of the most remote places on 
the world. I’m dying to tell you all about it, but this blog is long 
enough already, and the Solicitor General’s wife’s aunt is waiting to 
give me a much-needed massage. So I’ll sign off now, but will tell 
more tomorrow. I intend to blog every day until we leave Tarawa, 
probably Sept 17th. But internet access here is very limited, so 
please forgive me if I miss a day or two.

Photos and videos coming soon. Stay tuned!

Photos of Roz Arriving in Tarawa!

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UPDATE: Roz has ARRIVED in Tarawa!!! – 2pm Tarawa time / 4pm Hawaii time.

TeamRoz back in Honolulu relaying the plans for today…

As of 10:30am Hawaii time (which is what is displayed on the RozTracker), Roz is just 11 miles from the southern tip of Tarawa where she’ll be arriving. Nicole just called in via sat phone to let us know that the plan is for the film crew and support crew to leave by boat from Tarawa at around 2pm Hawaii time (12pm Tarawa time) to rendezvous with Roz.

From there, the boat will guide Roz through the treacherous reefs that surround the atoll to help her get safely to shore. This will be tricky, so it’ll take all of Roz’s efforts to stay on course and safe. She’s been rowing hard all morning… she can almost taste the cold beer, no doubt!

RozTracker GPS updates are now every 20 minutes, so check back often to see exactly where Roz is!

As soon as we have any photos, videos, and updates, we will be sure to post them to the RozTracker. In the meantime, spread the word in whatever way you can so people can follow these last few exciting miles!

GO ROZ GO!

GO ROZ GO!

GO ROZ GO!

[Photo: Children of Tarawa welcome TeamRoz to the airport. Can't wait to see Roz's reception!]

From Nicole:

Okay Rozlings, this is it. Tomorrow is the big day, the one we’ve all been waiting for. I apologize for the radio silence from me…the lack of a decent Internet connection has been maddening, especially in such a critical time. I tried uploading Tweets and Facebook updates yesterday to keep you looped in on all the great developments, but to no avail.

So, here’s the scoop:

Yesterday was a hugely successful day at the office. My top priority since we arrived was finding a reliable boat that would be willing and able to go a good distance out to sea (just in case) and help escort Roz safely in to Tarawa. As I mentioned in my last blog, things move slowly here and I was never discouraged, but knew we were running short on time.

Following a lead, Conrad and I headed over to the Tarawa Sports Complex and pretty much hit the jackpot. The US Navy was wrapping up a 2-week humanitarian project (called the Pacific Partnership 2009) with a closing ceremony. We’d met several of the American, Australian and Canadian soldiers since we arrived – after their work was done each day, some of them would head over to our hotel for dinner and a beer before heading back to their ship. They were all really wonderful guys, and the Navy doctor is the one who gave Hunter the eye drops he desperately needed for his conjunctivitis. In any case, we went to their closing ceremony and the President of Kiribati was there! We could hardly believe our good luck. After the ceremony was over, the Australian High Commissioner introduced me to the President and I was able to tell him that Roz would be arriving in the next few days. I told him about her mission – raising awareness for climate change – and he was so pleased, as this is an issue that is of the utmost importance to him. He was warm and welcoming, and delighted that Roz is coming to Tarawa.

After the ceremony, we were invited to drinks at the Australian High Commissioner’s residence. We had heard through the grapevine that the High Commissioner of New Zealand is a world-class champion rower and that he had a boat that might work for us, and we were eagerly trying to connect with him throughout the day. Lo and behold, he was at the party, so we were able to chat with him and he graciously offered up his boat to help escort Roz in safely. We were then introduced to a lovely guy named Emil who also has a large boat, and he offered up his time and assistance as well. Both gentlemen gave me their phone numbers and said all we’d need to do is call. Hooray! Mission accomplished. Uh, well…not quite. We still need Roz.

Today at 10 am, Roz phoned in to give me her update. She was really struggling with the currents. They were whisking her hard and fast to the west, making it increasingly difficult for her to head north to Tarawa. Not good. I gave her the excellent and just-in-the-nick-of-time news about the escort boats, and she was both delighted and relieved. She said the winds were due to change to south easterlies and wanted to carry on trying for Tarawa, but thought that most likely, she wouldn’t be able to get north of Maiana, which is just 20 miles to the south of Tarawa. Roz thought the most prudent thing to do was to schedule a rendezvous point on the south west side of Maiana, and asked if we could arrange that for 9 am tomorrow. Still hoping those south easterlies would kick in, Roz and I agreed to speak again at 4:30 pm to course correct if necessary.

At 4:30 Roz called and gave the final confirmation. Yes, let’s rendezvous at 9 am tomorrow in Maiana. It’s a bit surreal. Roz has been at sea for 104 days now, and as she hung up she said, “thanks so much for everything Nicole – I’ll see you in the morning.” Wow. It’s rather funny to hear her say that after so long!

I called Emil and Rob – the gentlemen who have offered up their boats – and they conferred and decided Emil’s boat would be the best option, all things considered. We will all meet tomorrow at 7 am at Bairiki Harbour and set out to rendezvous with Roz. She and I will speak again at 7 am to get her latest coordinates (we have GPS on the boat, too) and we expect it will take about an hour and a half to reach her.

I just spoke with Ricardo, Roz’s weatherman in Portugal—the south easterlies that Roz needs have kicked in over the past hour, so he seems to think that she’ll be able to row all the way in to Tarawa under her own steam. I know that’s what she’ll want, and if she can, super. We’ll be there, right alongside, just in case. If she needs a tow, we can do that too. All our bases are well and truly covered.

Tomorrow is a very big day indeed. It’s very late here, but I’ve still got quite a lot more work to do, so I’ll sign off for now and just say a massively huge and very heartfelt thank you to all of Roz’s supporters for following along and encouraging her the past 104 days. Please know that your positivity and enthusiasm means the world to her and helps keep her going through the rough times.

I also want to thank those of you who have also been so supportive of me, especially the past couple of weeks. This has been a wonderful project to be a part of for the past 2 years – and the moral support I’ve received from family and friends (and even some of the Rozlings!) has been amazing and oh-so-necessary. An extra special thank you to my Granny, my brother Brian, the Yellin Family, my favorite aunties Aenor and Melinda, Ian Tuller, Hunter and Traci Downs, Nancy Glenn, Ellen Petry Leanse and Evan Rapoport.

Good night everyone! We’ll put up photos, videos and other updates of Roz’s arrival just as quickly as we can.

Nicole

UPDATE (9/7, 1pm HST): Niu Hae Akala seems to be doing a great job of avoiding islands! After nearly slamming into Abemema Atoll a few days ago before taking a last-minute turn to the north to avoid landfall, Maiana Atoll loomed large on the horizon. But yet again, the island pushed the floating drifter to the north and around the small island. Interestingly, it then headed south as if it were trying to do a lap around.

This morning, however, has brought a change. Niu now appears to be returning to its typical northwesterly path. Perhaps the wind that picks up during the day is taking over. Or, to be completely non-scientific and start anthropomorphizing this sensor, perhaps Niu misses Roz and wants to go to Tarawa! Don’t we all?

As you may know, Roz deployed a floating ocean drifter device called “Niu Hae Akala” on the equator a few weeks ago (it was a stow-away on her boat since Honolulu). As one of the centerpieces of Project Niu, it is designed to teach students around the world about marine debris and how it is carried by ocean currents (since it floats just like plastic garbage). Since then, Niu Hae Akala (which has a satellite modem and GPS for remote monitoring) has headed due west for over 350 miles.

If you saw that Roz came within two miles of Abemema Atoll last night, then you’re already familiar with this area just southeast of Tarawa. Well, Niu Hae Akala and is now only 10 miles from landing on Abemema Atoll (as of 2:25pm HST on 9/4/09). Its next position update will be at 2:25AM HST on 9/5. Hopefully by then it will have “steered” north of land. Of course, this personification is inaccurate… it’s a buoy, it cannot steer!

Back here in Hawaii, those on TeamRoz that did not head to Tarawa this week are monitoring this situation closely. We just sent this message to Hunter and Nicole, hoping they’ll get it in time, or that Niu Hae Akala will avoid landfall…

To Hunter and Nicole,

You guys might need to plan another boating trip soon. Niu Hae Akala is headed **DIRECTLY** for that atoll that Roz nearly hit last night. It’s 10 miles away as of a few minutes ago, and is approaching at 1.3 miles per hour “steering” a perfectly straight course of 264 degrees. The drama begins as an expensive computer floats into an atoll…

Check out the Project Niu Tracker
(Niu Hae Akala is the pink path)

The trickiest bits of any ocean row are the beginning and the end. Of course it is not all that easy in the middle either, but at least there is no land to bump into there, so that’s one less thing to worry about. My main concern right now is trying to make a safe landfall. At the moment I am only twelve miles from land, but unfortunately that is not the land I want to go to.

It is Abemema Atoll*. I don’t know what’s there, but probably not very much. Certainly no airport, and definitely no members of my team. They are on Tarawa which is 90 nautical miles away from me, at an increasingly challenging angle. I need to be about 50 miles further north ideally, but I’m being whisked rapidly west by the winds and current. It looks as if I might run out of west before I make enough northern progress.

We do have a back-up plan: we’d already intended to have a pilot vessel to guide me through the reef . It is apparently very difficult to navigate even for those who know it well. So it would be very hazardous for said rowboat and rower better adapted to the mid-ocean. So if needs be, the pilot boat can come out a bit further and lasso me as I whizz past to the south of the island. The only problem being that we don’t yet have a pilot boat. But Nicole is working on it and I can only hope that she succeeds before I disappear past Tarawa into the great blue yonder.

So I am doing everything I can to hang onto those precious westerly miles. For every mile west I want to be making a mile north and I’m using the sea anchor to try and hold ground while I sleep. Last night this resulted in a very sad loss. It was about 10pm and I was just putting out the sea anchor for the night. As I untied the main line from a D-ring on the boat, there was a small clink and a gentle splosh. I looked in disbelief at my wrist. My watch was gone – my lovely, trusty, beloved G-shock Pathfinder watch. Solar powered, given to me by Casio a few years ago. It and I have been through so much together It had survived the airlift of 2007 and my row from San Francisco to Hawaii . I once thought I had killed when I went caving with my sister . Some grit and mud got into its buttons but it rallied even from that, only to be lost at sea just days before the end of this passage.

I still don’t know quite how it came to vanish . It had a metal wristband of the sort that should still remain around your wrist even though the clasp might come undone. So when I hooked it on the D-ring the strap actually parted company from the watch . It was like that horrible feeling that you get when the front door slams behind you and you realize that you have left your keys on the inside. Just too late to do anything about it. I would have given anything to rewind and replay the last three seconds. There are not many possessions that I am attached to: my laptop, my iphone and my watch are the three that come to mind. I loved the watch for the fact that it was solar-powered and never needed a new battery. It just lived on my wrist, telling me time, date, the day of the week, should I need it, the altitude, not that relevant at the moment living mostly at sea level, compass bearing, and barometric pressure. No fuss, no bother, just dependable. I even wear it quite conspicuously in the photo on the front cover of my book. But now it is no more, well it is, but by now probably 2 miles away under the sea. I hope that it doesn’t get eaten by a shark or a sea creature it wouldn’t do them much good at all. Having survived all that it has, I wonder whether it will ever turn up on a fish-monger’s slab somewhere, still working.

Oh well, watches can be replaced. It was only a thing, I keep reminding myself. Only a thing.

*Editor’s note: This was added by TeamRoz. We suspect Roz called it Bike, which is an islet on Abemema.

[photo: Tarawa from the air, taken by Nicole]

Update from Nicole:

It’s been a very busy day here in Tarawa, and I’m going to keep this short because I’m absolutely beat and I know that it will probably take at least 10 minutes just to upload this blog. The Internet connection here has been…well…let’s just say a challenge. Everywhere we go on the island, we whip out the laptops hoping to snag a signal, even for just a few moments, but with the exception of a couple of hours this afternoon, we’ve largely been unsuccessful. Believe me, the irony isn’t lost on us that Roz is at sea and has marginally better connectivity than we do on dry land!

In short, we have accomplished a lot, but there remains much to be done. Tarawa is a place where you have to know people to get anything accomplished…and we’re getting there. Here’s how it works: we meet one person, who will introduce us to someone else who works for the person that is exactly the person we need to know to accomplish X. This all happens on Tarawa time, which FYI is even slower than what we’ve all come to know as “island time.” The good news is that we’ve been getting really lucky. We’re meeting exactly the right people that can make miracles happen, and our new friends are bending over backwards to help us – we are so fortunate.

Today we had lunch with a wonderful Australian gent named David. He is the Attorney General of Kiribati and has been tremendously helpful. His wife is the Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, and she essentially made it possible for all of us to enter the country and has also fast-tracked the necessary approvals for Roz’s arrival. She reports directly to the President, so now we know that we’re legal! David also invited us to sit in his air-conditioned office and avail ourselves of the very best Internet connection on the atoll, so for a few sweet hours this afternoon, we were able to get much-needed work done online.

Another big thank you to our Kiwi friend, John who gave up an entire day guiding us around the island and making important introductions. He helped us secure the assistance of the merchant marines – they have generously agreed to help us extract Roz’s boat from the water and provide safe storage for us during the months between Stage 2 and 3. Roz’s boat weights about 1200 pounds and has a custom-built trailer, which we couldn’t transport to Tarawa. We’ll have to put something together here before we can take it out of the water, and the merchant marines are helping us assemble a crew to custom build a “cradle” for Roz’s boat – something that will be absolutely necessary for storing it safely.

The other very important piece of this puzzle is a safe landing area. We’ve consulted a number of on-island experts about the exact approach Roz needs to make to arrive here safely. It won’t be easy – there are tricky currents and shallow waters with boat-busting reefs that she’ll need to navigate, so my top priority remains lining up an escort boat in the next couple of days that can safely guide her in. The boat needs to be able to go at least 20 miles out to sea (just in case) and finding an able vessel on Tarawa is proving to be a challenge. I have a good feeling that today this piece of the puzzle will lock into place. Cross your fingers for us!

There seems to have been quite a bit of hubbub the past few days about the timing of things on Tarawa so I feel it’s necessary to make something absolutely clear: asking Roz to slow down was MISSION CRITICAL. It is not for party planning or PR purposes. When Roz made the call the call that Tarawa was the destination, we had less than 24 hours to move. We are in a third world country right now, and while the people here are incredibly warm, generous and accommodating, making the necessary preparations for Roz takes time. She can’t just show up. If she did, she’d be putting herself and her boat in very real danger. Roz has plenty of food and water, and is not at all in harm’s way by slowing down a bit to allow us time to make the absolutely necessary arrangements. I should also point out that since she’s changed course for Tarawa, she’s logging record mileage, so she’s not actually slowing down at all. Please know that this Team has nothing but Roz’s safety and best interests at heart. I would hope you’d also have some faith in your heroine – over the past few months, you’ve gotten to know her through her soul-bearing blogs. Do you really think she’d do something doesn’t want to do? There are a lot of moving pieces here, so I just ask that you be respectful of the process and the people that are working hard to make this happen.

Speaking of the team, many of you have been asking how we’re holding up. We’re okay, but definitely dealing with a few little health issues. Today I woke up feeling lousy with a bad headache, a terribly sore throat and blocked nose. Hunter managed to get conjunctivitis, which is really unpleasant. We managed to track down the US Navy doctor who is here through Saturday on a special project and he gave Hunter the medicated drops he needs to fight this off. I’m hoping my little bug buggers off soon too!

Well, that’s it for now. Roz and I will now be speaking every day at 10 am on our satphones. From now until she arrives, Roz and I will alternate days on the blog, so you can be kept up to date on both the land and sea parts of this grand adventure. Thanks all for your continued support and best wishes!

Nicole

[photo: amazing sunset captured on the lagoon side of Tarawa]

I’m back! Well, sort of.  I’m having technical problems with my email which is how I post my blog. So I’m reading my blog over the satphone and I hope that Mum gets my message asking her to transcribe it for me, and I gather that I am not the only member of Team Roz having technical difficulties. I haven’t heard from Nicole since she arrived on Tarawa so they must be having problems there too (PHOTO: From Nicole, as she was flying into Tarawa).

I spoke to Evan today who is back at base on Hawaii and he says he has just had the one email from her since she left, so they were having some issues. So all in all it has been a challenging day for the Rozters. Right this minute, though, email is far from the biggest of my worries. My much greater concern is trying to hit Tarawa. Such a tiny speck in such a huge ocean and my boat is so difficult to maneuver with any precision so reaching Tarawa was always going to be like trying to land a parachute on a penny from 40,000 feet, Oh and given that I am not due to arrive there until September the 9th to give my team time to assemble. It is like trying to land a parachute on a penny at 3.23 and 35 seconds on a Wednesday.

If the weather was nice and calm as predicted with a gentle 8 knot wind from the east, this might be looking quite do-able, but as I speak at sunset on Wednesday – I’m on Tarawa time now – I am looking out at some of the roughest conditions I’ve seen on this stage so far. The wind is blowing at 20 plus knots and the seas are rough and steep. So life is erm  . . . interesting.

Hopefully soon these communications issues will be resolved and this reminds me of Shackleton and his men when they had to split up the team. Some of them had to set out across the Antarctic to try to raise a rescue mission. The ones left behind had no idea whether the rest of the party had succeeded or perished in the attempt.

Obviously in the early days of the 20th century they had no satellite phones. So suddenly Nicole has been thrust back several decades into a world without internet. Ironically, even though she is now just 150 miles away from me, closer than at any other point in the last three months  its never been more difficult for us to communicate with each other.

I left a message with Evan that I will try to call Nicole at 10am tomorrow so hopefully we can manage to make contact then. Meanwhile there is this wind to worry about . . .

Signing off now, next blog from me in a couple of days. Hopefully Nicole will manage to get on line to post her blog tomorrow. In the Meanwhile, thank you Rozlings for your ongoing support, love and encouragement, and its going to be an interesting final week, that’s for sure.

All the best for now. Roz.

Mauri from Tarawa!

Right now I’m sitting in my room at the Otintaai Hotel, watching the sunrise. It’s a bit surreal being here. I’m about as far away from…well…anywhere, as one could possibly be. I’ve lived all over the world and traveled to about two dozen countries, but for the first time in a long time, I now feel like I’ve really gone somewhere. These days when you travel, you can expect to see more or less the same things that you have at home. Experiencing something truly different these days takes quite a bit of effort. I feel so incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to see Tarawa; low-lying islands and atolls in the Pacific don’t have much time left. Most estimates say that by 2050, places like Tarawa will be uninhabitable…they’ll be under water. Standing on terra firma here now and meeting the wonderful people who call this home, makes that even harder to wrap my head around I’m so looking forward to what the next couple of weeks have in store for us.

Let me back up a bit and fill you in on what transpired yesterday. Hunter, Conrad and I boarded the 737 jet in Nandi, Fiji and were surprised to see that it was packed full – who knew so many others were heading in this direction? The 3 hour flight was smooth and uneventful. I had a window seat and every once in a while, I’d look down at the glittering blue expanse of open ocean. It can be mesmerizing and certainly humbling… The last 30 minutes of our flight provided jaw-dropping views of tiny little islands and atolls scattered like marbles across the sea. I’ve just never seen anything like it.

The moment I stepped outside the plane, it was very clear we were on the equator…it was stiflingly hot and humid. There was a pretty strong breeze, but it didn’t make a lick of difference. As Conrad said, “this is the first time where I’ve felt wind that just doesn’t help.” We were greeted at Bonriki airport by our new friends, John and Linda. John is from New Zealand and has lived here for 14 years with his wife Linda, who is I-Kiribati. They’ve been a tremendous help to Team Roz – they booked our hotel, a rental car, and are helping us secure a filming permit as well. They drove us to the hotel last night and after we dropped off our things, they joined us outdoors for a drink and we plied them with questions. We’ll be meeting up with them again today – we are so grateful for their help! And thank you Maarten Troost for the introduction!

To give you a little more context about Tarawa, the following are a few brief excerpts from Maarten’s book, The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific:

“Located just a notch above the equator and five thousand miles from anywhere, Tarawa is the capital of Kiribati. Kiribati is a country of thirty-three atolls scattered over an ocean area as large as the continental United States.”

“To picture Kiribati, imagine that the continental U.S. were to conveniently disappear leaving only Baltimore and a vast swath of very blue ocean in its place. Now chop up Baltimore into thirty-three pieces, place a neighborhood where Maine used to be, another where California once was, and so on until you have thirty-three pieces of Baltimore dispersed in such a way so as to ensure that 32/33 of Baltimorians will never attend an Orioles game again. Flatten all land into a uniform two feet above sea level. The result is the Republic of Kiribati.”

“The total landmass of Tarawa is twelve square miles. This figure is illusory, however, for it creates the impression of a block of land, and this Tarawa is decidedly not. Its twelve square miles of coral are divided into elongated slivers, narrow islets crowned with the tufts of palm trees, prevented from becoming a unified whole by myriad of channels linking the ocean with the lagoon, and stretched out over a reef extending nearly forty miles. The reef itself is shaped like a tottering inverted L, with the western side open to the ocean.”

“There are, simply, too many people on South Tarawa, particularly on the islet of Betio, which has the world’s highest population density, greater even than Hong Kong. Unlike Hong Kong, a city in the sky, there is not a building above two stories on Betio. Some eighteen thousand people, nearly a quarter of the country’s population, live on Tarawa.”

Roz will be posting the next update, and will continue to do so from now on. In the meantime, Team Roz will be busily preparing for her arrival some time next week. We have to scope out locations for her to come in safely, and meet with a few people we’re told might be able to help us arrange for an escort boat to see that Roz navigates through the reef safe and sound. Today is going to be a big day…we have lots to do. Wish us luck!

[photo: A bird's eye view of one of the many atolls in Kiribati]