The Search For Amelia Earhart: E-Mails From the Edge

The Search
-NOMAD Sonar Search
-Winch Failure/Recovery

Life on Board
-Watch Standing
-Leisure Activities
-Classifieds
-Food
-Sea Stories
-Meet the Crew

Getting There
-Transit From Hawaii
-Tarawa

Press
-Lights, Camera, Action!
-Press Relase

Tarawa

14 April

We have been discussing refueling and making plans, and now is the time. So, we are planning to complete Line 8N, then head west to Tarawa! The bad part is it will cost us 5 or 6 days, eating up our 5-day contingency. The good news is that we will get a little break, and a few spare parts (like extra belts for the diesel). Fortunately, everything else has gone so well, that we're ahead of plan for coverage, and still expect a successful outcome in the two weeks of searching we'll have remaining.

Remnants of the Japanese occupation of the island during the Second World War. Tarawa is located in the Republic of Kiribati, an island group in the Western Pacific Ocean, consisting of an archipelago of some 30 low-lying coral atolls surrounded by extensive reefs with a total land area of 800 square kilometers. Kiribati gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1979, and has an elected President and a legislative assembly. The capital of Kiribati is Tarawa. Kiribati includes three administrative units, sixteen atolls of the former Gilbert Islands, eight atolls of the former Line Islands (including Christmas Island and Fanning Island), and eight atolls of the former Phoenix Islands. Kiribati has few natural resources, and its economy is very small. The islands are not self-sufficient in food. Tourist facilities are not widely available.

Typical Houses on Tarawa. 17, 18 April

We found ourselves in a truly third-world setting. The main street was packed dirt (with some evidence of long-ago attempts to pave it), densely lined with one story cinder block or open-air thatched buildings which served as hardware stores, fabric stores, food shops, brothels, bars, and general good stores. It is hard to describe what we saw; I have looked at pictures we took and I see lush tropical foliage and quaint-looking colorful huts with hand-painted signs. But the photos didn't show the garbage, litter, and squalor, nor did they record the smells and oppressive heat. On the other hand, the people were very friendly, could all speak some English, and waved and smiled to us as we walked.

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