Jeff's Log ~ Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

We left Ishigaki two days ago at about 11:00AM, because Scott got ants in his pants, and just could not stand to be there any longer. He and Mark went for the weather, and as soon as he saw the tropical depression was abeam of us, he said that was all he needed. Mark looked at the wind field report and wanted to wait until Tuesday morning. Scott over ruled him and we drove out of the marina. When we left, the wind was 18 knots. It soon built to 28 knots, and we anchored at noon after traveling a whopping seven miles. I don’t think I will ever understand that move. Mark and I kind of got hurt feelings because we could have had one more night hanging with all of our new friends, but what can ya do?

We sure did enjoy Café Taniwha. Saturday night, they had a Japanese folk singer there who jammed with anyone who could play an instrument or sing. Lots of people joined in playing the piano, the guitar, bongos and drums. One very talented young lady sang a couple of solos and then a duet with the folk singer. A couple of our friends from previous evenings were there. The singer is the son of the man who manufactures the rice liquor that we were drinking.

Sunday, a female singer by the name of Nanami performed there. We had met her the first night, and were impressed with her talent. She put on a great show and at times reminded me of Gloria Estefan. She was accompanied by a fellow playing the guitar who was just incredible. After her performance, we all hung out and just had a good time. I shot some darts with my favorite English student named Nobu. We had a lot of fun with him and a guy named Iraki on one of the previous nights. Kuri has an English class once a week for some of his patrons. We came in right after class was over, and Kuri announced that we could help them practice English. I announced back to everyone that we could help them talk English good! They all knew enough about sentence structure to get a laugh out of that. Mark and I sat down at a table and were soon surrounded by people. We had a real good time, and Nobu would get excited and start mixing Japanese and English, and we would all say ENGLISH!!! Then he started drawing pictures and writing stuff and we all added to the VIP (very important paper). I have that paper, and will try to keep it forever as a reminder of a really great place full of really great people.

While we were in Ishigaki, people came to see the boat almost every day. The girls that we met in Café Taniwha came the next morning with Kuri. There was Nanami, the singer, Ria a writer, and Junko, who sells beer and other items for Kirin brewery. They brought along a couple from another boat in the marina by the name of Kiko and her husband Masa. They all loved Pipe Dream, and were especially thrilled with drinking water that had been made from the sea. Kuri knew about water makers, but none of the others did. Ria and Junko invited us to dinner that night at a local restaurant. We went and had a great meal with lots of laughs. The food was local fare with a lot of raw fish, tofu, and other things that hardly any Americans eat. I am keeping an open mind about Japanese food and so far I will eat everything that I’ve had again. I am finally learning how to eat with chop sticks too. I even like sea weed!

On Sunday night, the whole crew of the boat went to hear Nanami sing. Kuri has many flags of many countries displayed along the ceiling of Taniwha. Scott took one of our old American flags that was a little frayed at the upper corner and slightly gray from exhaust staining. It had flown from Pipe Dream around the world. He presented it to Kuri, and everyone wanted to get in the pictures taken by everyone. Unfortunately, my little faithful camera is now Kaput, so I will have to see about someone emailing them to me. Hopefully, I’ll get that worked out.

It sure was hard to say goodbye to such a great bunch. There were many hand shakes, bows and hugs all around, and a few teary eyes, especially mine. The best thing about my job, is meeting people from around the world. It is really amazing to me that people open up to me everywhere I go. I feel truly blessed with all of the good friends that I have made during my travels so far, and am very thankful to have this opportunity. If anybody knows George Bush, tell him that he should be paying me big bucks to be an Ambassador!

One thing about Japan is that western electronics will not work here. Kuri got a telephone for me, so at least I can call home. I could not find a pay phone that would make international calls. They also have radio frequencies jammed, and Scott’s Sky mate will not work. Sky mate is in the process of getting permission granted, but until they do, we are out of touch with the rest of the world. We will be at sea for the next day, or so, and hopefully the next port-of-call will be as nice or nicer. Ishigaki will be tough to beat, though.