Chapter 13

Rich again.

We need to get out of town.

<You need to get out of town.>

I just said that. Running below, I seated myself at the Nav Station. I switched to channel 16.

“Port Captain, Port Captain, Port Captain.”

“Go ahead channel 16.”

“SV Sailbait requesting permission to leave Apra Harbor.”

“Permission granted SV Sailbait. Where you headed?”

“Hagåtña, 96910, Guam. The Boat Basin,” I responded.

“Cleared SV Sailbait Port out.”

“SV Sailbait switching to channel 9.” Channel 9 is the boat calling channel. It’s supposed to be ON all the time and loud enough for the watch-stander to hear over the wind or waves. The Coast Guard uses channel 9 to request inspection.

The Boat Basin is what passes for a Marina on Guam. The fishing boats dock there to hawk their catches and the stray voyager can find a dock there. We were a stray voyager.

Fans on, two minutes, fire up the diesel ... check over the side for water from the exhaust ... no water? Shut down and find out why. We had water. Motor up to the ball, drop the mooring ball ... was that mooring just for us?...

We’d been cleared by Medical, so... “Malcolm? Drop the Q flag ... hoist the Guam courtesy flag.”

“And we’re outta here.”

Leaving Apra we made a starboard turn and headed for Hagåtña and the boat basin. The entry is straight forward unless there’s a north wind ... then it’s tricky. The wind was westerly and we were motoring. Starboard turn past the jetty and motor past the Statue of Liberty. We anchored outside the basin and took the dinghy to shore.

First things first ... we eat. Barbecue! Smoky charred outside, succulent pink goodness inside ... a BBQ to please a Texan! Standard sides ... and it was ALL good.

When you have been eating your own cooking for weeks ... really good restaurant fare is greatly appreciated ... and somebody else does the dishes!

The girls went to the airport to clear Customs and Immigration, Malcolm and I had a whirlwind field-day on the boat ... including a hull scrape. The hull was foul ... really foul.

I knew clearing Guam was going to take all day so Malcolm and I did what we could to make the girls happy...

If momma ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy.

We were checking Out of Guam ... we weren’t checking out of the Northern Mariana Islands ... Saipan, Rota and Tinian. The northern, largely uninhabited islands are Farallon de Medinilla, Anatahan, Sariguan, Gudgeon, Alamagan, Pagan, Agrihan, Asuncion, Maug Islands, and Farallon de Pajaro. The key word here is largely. Any island with fresh potable water has a population ... it might be a husband, wife and kids ... but that’s a population.

Zoe

Customs and Immigration weren’t used to Recreational Boaters/Cruisers. This is not the Bahamas ... this is the United States of America. Guam was the Main Office for The Northern Mariana Islands (Minus Guam). They were the main office for Guam too. Completely different staff.

We had checked in for Guam ... we checked out ... moved two windows down and presented our paperwork.