24 October Blue Hole

Hi everybody,
We, Michael and Megan (M&M), went to the Blue Hole this morning by dinghy. It is a great trip following the river to the Blue Hole. There was no rain today so we spent quite some time there. In the afternoon we went snorkeling on the outside of  an island next to Oyster Island. That was fun too…just a another day in paradise.
M&M
P.S.  The second crew member, Tom, is on the way from Port Vila. He should arrive sometime tomorrow.

Ahoy, Sharon here.  I made it home safely from Richmond yesterday.  I’m happy to hear the the Larabeck has found crew and is now back to exploring the exciting Vanuatu land/seascape.  It’s a beautiful fall day here in Springfield, a different kind of paradise…  Cheers, Sharon

23 October Larabeck has Crew

Sunday 23 October 2011

Santo Island, Vanuatu

Hi everybody,
I found crew and it looks like a fun tip to Australia is in the works. More details in the next couple days.
Thanks,
Michael

Richmond, Virginia

Ahoy too from Sharon, who is on her way home from the College Music Society conference (Richmond, VA) today.  It was good to visit with colleagues from accross the country.  Also had time to meet with textbook reps and found a few suitable choices for a music theory course she is developing at UIS.  Saturday she took a trip to the Atlantic ocean to see the water.  It wasn’t as blue as the South Pacific, but there were many sailboats out on some of th inland waters that were beautiful to watch.  Also went to the Mariner’s museum near Hampton.  It was too big to see everything, but I did see an interesting exhibit on the recovery of  parts of the Civil War ironclad boat, the USS Monitor, which sunk off Cape Hatteras over 100 years ago…and much more.

Cheers,

Sharon

21 October sewing

Hi,
From Oyster-island, did some sewing today and made some progress on the crew search. We will see how it all will turn out.   Not much sun but a bit of wind. The wind generator was helping to minimize running the genset (generator).
Bis Morgen,
Michael

19 October more in Richmond

Ahoy, Sharon here.  Michael is still at Santo, Vanuatu preparing for the Larabeck’s passage to Bundaberg Australia, and he says “hello.”

I am now in Richmond, Virginia with UIS adjunct music faculty member Brian Pryor, where we had a delightful day.  We walked the historic James River and Kanawha Canal district and experienced a lot of history this morning before the College Music Society conference began.  We met lots of interesting and friendly colleagues at the Music Technology Pre-Conference. The keynote speakers talked about interdisciplinary Music Technology projects and gave us not only new ideas to think about but also something to be proud of in that we are already integrating disciplines with our MUS/SOA 281 “Music, Technology and Culture” course, that Brian and I developed as a team at UIS.

http://www.uis.edu/music/MusicAppreciationatUIS.html

Cheers,

Sharon and Brian

Larabeck Land Contingent (we’re pretty close to the Atlantic here in Richmond so we won’t say we are “landlocked” as is the case when in Springfield, IL)

18 Oct Vanuatu and Richmond

Hi everybody,
It is sure nice to just relax and enjoy a nice place. Today there was light rain in the morning; the rest of the day was dry and sunny .
Have a nice day.
Michael

Ahoy this is Sharon.  I arrived in Richmond, VA this evening without any trouble.  Even managed to take the ONE bus that runs in the afternoon from the airport to downtown.  This was $1.50 ride compared to the $35 taxi ride I would have otherwise had to take.  So I’m off to a good start.  I’m here for the national College Music Society meeting.

Cheers,

Sharon

17 October Larabeck relaxed and rainy

Guten Abend, from the Larabeck.

Today was a mixed day first I relaxed and then when I finally picked up a project the rain started. Other than that I had a nice day.

Gute Nacht,
Michael

16 October Larabeck Landcrew Lola

Hello Folks,

Sharon reporting here.   Michael says “hello” and that I should give a report on the landcrew, as he thought it might be more interesting than hearing about how he sanded and caulked the Larabeck deck all day : )

This weekend I received a visit from Lola, whom we met many years ago in Michigan, who stopped here in Springfield on her way to her winter home in southern Missouri.  She is travelling with her three horses and cat.  She has been accompanying us on many travels accross the country (U.S.), including moving our horses from Michigan to Colorado, and then from Colorado to Illinois.  Most recently she made to “people deliveries” for us when we were moving the Larabeck down the rivers from St. Louis to Mobile, Alabama.  First she picked us up at Kentucky Lake and took us back to our car at our starting point in Kimmswick, Missouri, just south of St. Louis.  Next she drove all the way to Mobile, Alabama, went for a sail in the bay with us, and then drove us back to where we had left the car at Kentucky Lake before making our two-week trip down the river system.

Lola is also a retired music educator so she was interested to accompany me to the UIS Homecoming Basketball game where the Pep Band was performing Saturday.  She helped us get the stage for the band set up, and enjoyed the music.  The game was great too–it was very close in the end, but the faculty/alumni team pulled through and won by a few points.  Our new adjunct music faculty member, Abby Walsh’s husband Ben (Business College faculty member) played on the faculty/alumni team and so it was fun to sit with her and cheer him and the rest of the team on. Meanwhile Brian Pryor, also adjunct music faculty, led the Pep Band adding great pizzazz to the event.

After the game was over, we headed out to Heather and Pat’s (Pat, the Larabeck webmaster) for some delicious food (Heather’s a master griller) and and a cheery bonfire.  The weather was just perfect.

So that’s the news from the Larabeck Landcrew,

Best regards,

Sharon and Lola

15 October Oyster Island

Hi,

Today I moved to Oyster Island.  The first 5 miles I motored against the wind then sailed the last 10 miles. This is a very calm and protected anchorage, and I have very slow but free internet connection. The free connection will save some money, as I need the internet to look for my next crew, and it was quite expensive back at Luganville. If you know somebody with some sailing experience and time to sail from Vanuatu to Australia please let me know (10 days open ocean sailing plus some time in Vanuatu and a stop in northern New Caledonia).

Here is my new position 15deg22.2683S & 167deg11.4350E

Thanks
Michael

14 October Cave Details

 

Hallo
Had 2 loads of laundry, went shopping, and am still looking for crew.
Here are some details on the cave. First we (a cruising couple from Australia, a resort guest named Deti from Austria, and Me)  went by van to the Namble Village. From there we hiked with a guide to the Vanaspef Village.  You only can reach this Village by foot (no street). In Vanaspef we had break and a briefing on the rest of the adventure.   A new guide led us then to the cave (1 hour). On the way we stopped to get our face painted .  Also after the face painting we received the light (LED) and a life-jacket. From there onwards, a 2nd guide carried all our bags so they would not get wet during the trip thru the cave. The next part was the cave. There was a stream going thru the cave so we had to walk in the water. Inside the cave were a lot  of swallows including their nests. We spent 30 minutes walking thru the cave. The cave was long and tall the stream is slowly carving is way in to the rock. It was my first time walking thru water inside a cave, and it was lots of fun.  At the exit of the cave we got our bags back and had our lunch break. After lunch the 2nd guide carried our bags back to the Vanaspef Village and we followed the river by hiking/climbing  and swimming for about 75 minutes. This was even more fun and beautiful than the cave.  There are lots of waterfalls feeding in to the river–just unbelievable.  At the end of the trip we climbed up a waterfall and a trail led us back to the Vanasef Village. At the Village we received coffee (instant) and had time to talk about the experience. After all that, we still had to hike back to the first Village where the tour van was waiting for us to get back to front beach resort (that’s were Larabeck is anchored). It was a muddy and wet day but nevertheless we had lots of fun. You have to be somewhat fit to do this. If you ever get to Vanuatu you need to do this trip.
There will be pictures coming soon on the webpage. Most of the pictures were taken by  Deti from Austria with his waterproof camera. Many thanks to Deti ( I am not sure his name is spelled right, I am sorry) for sharing the photos of our adventure.

alles gute,

Michael

13 October crew change

Hi everybody,

There were a lot of things going on today; the details of cave and river trip will come soon, and with pictures, so get ready.

Crew change.  Today we went to Customs and Immigration to take Mari of the crew list. Mari and I have decided that we spent a lot time together and need a change. There are no bad feelings, it’s just time to move on.

Mari is flying back to Fiji and I will sail in north Vanuatu till the end of the month.  Then I’ll sail the Larabeck to Bundaberg, Australia via the north end of New Caledonia. I am looking for crew. If anybody out there would like to join me for the last month on his South Pacific sail please let me or Sharon know.

I want to thank Mari for her help sailing and crewing Larabeck for the last month and I wish her lots of good and safe dives.

Thanks,
Michael

Hei kaikki! (Hi everybody!)

This is the last time I’m writing my bit to the daily mail and just wanted to have a few words before heading to new adventures. It’s been a great trip and I have lots of good memories of it. I learned a little bit about sailing, saw some awesome places that I maybe wouldn’t have visited otherwise and in general had lots of fun. I also want to thank Michael and Sharon for giving me this opportunity to sail and crew Larabeck and I wish Michael good winds on his journey to Australia!

Kiitos! (Thanks!)
Mari