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Strange Chronicles

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Hiva Oa in The Marquesas (#8)

23 June Taahuku Bay, Hiva Oa, Marquesas 9 48 S / 139 02 W

We motored the seven miles from Tahuata to Hiva Oa and anchored in Taahuku Bay. We are here to visit the town of Atuona and legally check into French Polynesia. The town has the necessary gendarme and bank so we can get our paperwork in order and pay our fees. (“Yes sir we came straight from the Galapagos.” “Oh no sir, we didn’t stop anywhere else in the Marquesas before coming to your office!”). We are required to deposit a bond to ensure there are sufficient funds to get us out of the country should the officials decide to do so. These islands have had long years of experience with cruisers arriving, losing their boat on a reef or in a cyclone or perhaps a crew member jumping ship, and the governments are tired of paying the expense to fly them home. Requiring a bond is their simple solution. Our funds will be returned when we check out of French Polynesia in a few months. Meanwhile, we lose a bit of interest and are charged on the currency exchanges – dollars converted to PolyFrancs to pay the bond – refunded in PolyFrancs then converted to dollars. We smile and pay the bond.

Friends have reported the town is wonderful complete with groceries and fresh food — if you come on the right day. It’s been a long time since we visited a place with regular air and sea freight service and the differences are staggering. The stores have much more than simple basic supplies. Of course, the prices are outrageous compared to Central and South America. Knowing this in advance, Enchante’s lockers are packed with almost a year’s worth of food. Karen has done a great job and we need little – mainly pasta, fruit and vegetables. Since these are staples with locals everywhere they are always reasonable. Of course, we splurge on ice cream, even buying some for a couple of other cruising kids Rebecca is friends with. At $7 for three cones, it’s made clear what a “rare” treat ice cream is going to be.

The anchorage is small and rolly so everyone puts out a stern anchor to hold their position in the shifting currents. Of course, this means a snarl of lines and twice as many anchors to drag in a blow. Since we’re held in one position despite the direction of the winds, we lose much of our natural ventilation. This may turn out to be a hot and buggy place. It’s a mile walk over a hill to get into town. The delightful locals are good at spotting cruisers walking on the road and frequently stop to give rides.

Rebecca and I were sitting on a bench in front of one of the little stores while we waited for Karen. We were chatting and enjoying people-watching when a nicely dressed man walked up and said, “Boy it’s great to hear English. Can I talk to you?” He was a young Mormon missionary in his second year of a two-year service in the area.

Fresh out of Utah, he spent a few weeks in Tahiti learning French and Marquesan and came to join a small program in Hiva Oh. Here he lives with a local family and is completely immersed in the language and culture. According to him, the locals are losing their native language to French and English. He can have long conversations with older people but the children spend hours watching satellite TV and can only exchange a few words. There are several churches on these tiny islands and he said we would see many on every one we visited. He is enjoying his service but is getting excited about returning home. We had a nice time chatting and learned a couple of new Marquesan words.

30 June

Okay, okay, okay! I just checked the running “From the Log of…” and it has been a while since our last update. Just for your information, we arrived safely in Fatu Hiva and stayed for a few days. The morning winds, that blasted down the mountains, drove us away quicker than we would have liked. Since then we’ve checked in at Atuana, Hiva Oa, and spent a few nights anchored at isolated spots on Hiva Oa and Tahuata. We’re traveling in loose company with a British couple on S/V Hannakin.

The general plan is to be drift diving in the pass of Tuamotu island in a few days.

The locals have been very friendly in the small, outlying villages. The one larger town we visited wasn’t so gracious. Everyone has fruit growing in their front yards and we’ve had no trouble trading for limes, bananas, coconuts, and Pamplemousse. French baguettes are available, hot and fresh, at $.40 per loaf. Sadly, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, onions, and other vegetables are harder to come by. The locals have a few farms up in the valleys but we haven’t stayed in one place long enough to work out a trade.

The man on S/V Hannakin was PADI certified in ’92 and hasn’t been diving since. He asked for a class so we’ll work our way through a quick refresher course and head for blue water.
I have managed my first dive in the South Pacific. A short visit to a pretty reef at 40 feet then an hour of scrubbing the bottom. Our brand new Jotun paint isn’t working well at all. Our paint in black. S/V Hannakin has been in the same conditions with Red Jotun and looks great. Our theory is so much pigment is added to make the paint black that the copper/tin additives end up very diluted.

We’re still moving frequently to get to the isolation of the Tuamotus in fairly short order. Still, I’ll make time to sit down and write another installment of “From the Log…”.

Carl Strange Avatar
Carl and his wife Karen set-off on a journey around the world on-board their sailboat S/V Enchante. Along the way, they had a lot of adventures and in Aruba, a new member of their crew was born. Now a family of three with Rebecca’s birth, they sailed the Caribbean and the Pacific experiencing life along the way.

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Fatu Hiva in The Marquesas (#7)

21 June – Fatu Hiva, Marquesas 10° 27S / 138°29W

Yesterday, we awoke to find the dinghy upside down with our small, 2HP motor in the water. The wind gusts coming down from the mountains are not to be believed. Five dinghies were flipped. Lots of flushing of outboards going on yesterday. Happily we noticed ours quickly and didn’t have any damage from saltwater. We didn’t go to shore in the morning because we simply would not have made it against the winds and chop. It was amazing. In the afternoon, the winds slacked enough that we could go to shore to pick up the bread we had ordered.
The “bakery” is a small wooden shack next to a small house. Flour and other ingredients are mixed in long wooden troughs and the lumpy, round loaves are baked in an ancient looking stone oven. Order a day in advance and pick it up the next afternoon. Unfortunately, the lady had forgotten to write down our order the day before so no bread for us.
We did have a nice time wandering around the small town and visiting with the locals. I carried a nice supply of Chiclets gum and had a great time surprising kids with a small gift. These types of treats are not generally available, word spread quickly through the town and I was constantly approached by shy, smiling children. In a few cases the parents also were delighted by the gum.
I had taken photos on our previous visit and gave a few prints to people we especially enjoyed. Several cruisers have digital cameras and color printers these days and you see prints proudly displayed on walls in houses.
Woodcarvings and tapa cloth prints are much higher priced than in years passed. Cruisers, and tourists in Tahiti, have bid up the prices over the years. We passed on the $150 carved tikis and the $180 manta rays since they looked like something you could buy at Pier One Imports. However we did get hooked on tapa art. Tapa is made by stripping tender young pieces of bark from trees – banyan and mulberry are popular. The pieces are laid on stone and pounded with a wooden mallet to form a thin, fabric looking rectangle. A black ink, made from a local plant, is used to draw very intricate art. Only a small number of ladies create this laborious art these days and now only on a couple of the Marquesan islands. We asked ladies on the street, chased rumors, approached several houses with our best Marquesan “kaoha” and finally found a lady with nice art and very reasonable prices. We bought a couple of her pieces and are delighted with our finds.

22 June – Tahuata, Marquesas 9° 55 S / 139°06 W

The winds died overnight and we were anxious to escape the windy anchorage so we sailed the few miles to Tahuata. It as tempting to anchor in Resolution Bay, named after Captain James Cook’s second ship, but our guide book showed a more protected bay a few miles further north. We joined a few other boats at Hana Moe Noa (Long Sleep).
Our two day stay was spent harvesting coconuts and limes from an abandoned grove, an evening fire on the pristine sand beach and diving on the boat bottom to scrape a few goose barnacles picked up crossing the Pacific.

Breadfruit

Pamelo also known as pamplemousse

Our new culinary treats are breadfruit and pamplemousse. Breadfruit is supposed to be treated like a potato. We made thin, salted fried chips from ours. It was interesting but I would hate to live off the stuff. Pamplemousse on the other hand is wonderful. This is a very large, sweet grapefruit growing all over the Marquesas. Delightful!

A few Recipes from the Enchanté Galley

Breadfruit Omelet

  • 1 c ground meat, ham, or sausage 1/2 c green onion, chopped
  • 2 c breadfruit, cooked and cubed 1 tomato, chopped
  • 2 eggs salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed

Saute the garlic, onions and tomato in oil. Add breadfruit and meat. Cook until meat and breadfruit are done.
Beat eggs well and add to the breadfruit mixture. Pour into pan. When one side is cooked, turn and cook the other side until done. serve hot.

Cream of Taro or Breadfruit Soup

  • 1T margarine 3/4 c cream
  • 1 T flour 1/2 t salt
  • 1/2 t onion, minced 1/16 t pepper
  • 3/4 c taro, cooked and mashed 11/2 c water
  • 1/2 c celery, chopped fine

Saute onion in butter. Blend in flour and add water while stirring constantly. Cook over medium heat until thick. Add taro and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes. Pour cream into the mixture and season. Serve hot. Can substitute breadfruit for taro.

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Landfall – The Marquesas, Paradise at Last (#6)

16 June 2002 –  10° 30S / 128° 32W Land Ho! Marquesas

Rebecca spots land, 19-days out of the Galapagos
Rebecca spots land, 19-days out of the Galapagos
[An excerpt from Carl’s Log] We spotted Fatu Hiva, Marquesas at 0930 local time. Islands first appear as an indistinct gray smudge on the horizon. Finally, your eyes recognize structure and you realize it’s not a cloud or wave. It is always exciting. Land means seeing colors other than blue, resting at anchor, and taking a walk. A major island means meeting other cruisers, eating fresh fruit and vegetables, going to a small restaurant, and sitting at a table without having to hold onto your plate with one hand! Land also brings the danger of hitting something and the worry of finding a secure anchorage. We are all three on deck for most of the morning and we are almost always looking towards the island.

As we close with Fatu Hiva colors and civilization start to appear – green, a microwave antenna high on a mountain, a lone white cross on a hill. Finally, there are huts, houses, and tended fields. The smell of land is intoxicating – dirt and vegetation, flowers, smoke. The island is gorgeous. By afternoon we’ll be anchored in the Bay of Virgins. The old name for the bay, before European churches arrived, described the phallic rock spires the stuck up around the area.

It took 19 days to get here from Galapagos. It was a wonderful passage and faster than average. Slower boats have required 30-45 days for the trip.

Dinner will be the remains of the 4-foot Mahi Mahi we caught yesterday afternoon. Plenty will be left over to make pate’ and Karen is thinking about trying a pickling recipe someone gave us.

Tonight we’ll sleep together for the first time in a month. Both of us will wake up at our two-hour watch intervals. There will be a sudden panic with the realization that no one is one watch. It takes a couple of nights to adjust to the lack of sailing noise and motion and to relearn how to sleep for several uninterrupted hours. We will jump at the sound of a dog bark or a motor.

18 June 2002 – Fatu Hiva, Marquesas 10°27S / 138°29W

“The Bay of Vergins” Fatu Hiva

The anchorage here is beautiful but the holding isn’t too good. People anchor in a horseshoe because the big area in the middle is rocky and boats tend to drag in the 30+ knot gusts that come screaming down from the mountains. It’s not rolly so we are grateful, but we pop up every 5 minutes or so with each gust to make sure all is well in the anchorage. Makes one nervous about leaving the boat unattended.

Yesterday, we went ashore with the crews of two other boats. The French officials say we aren’t allowed to stop here without first visiting an official Port of Entry far downwind from Fatu Hiva. The Marquesans have always been sailors and the locals know we are not going to beat several miles to windward after passing their island. The Mayor of Fatu Hiva welcomes cruisers and invites them to stay for a few days before continuing on to talk to the French. The welcome is passed over the long-range radio nets used by cruisers. There is no airport on the island, no normal tourists, and all supplies arrive on a small freighter. We are an important source of trade and we buy crafts that would normally be sold at a discount to a dealer in Tahiti.

A breakwater is being built in the harbor. We were stunned to see heavy equipment moving concrete blocks and dirt and the noise is incredible after days at sea. The equipment and material came on a barge and will be taken away when the job is completed. It’s a scramble to come into the landing and climb up through the mess to shore. But we’ve been to worse landings and it is a delight to be ashore.

Immediately on shore, a lady greeted us and asked, in a mixture of French and English, if we wanted fruit and had anything to trade. As we were to learn hot items are perfume, lipstick, nail polish, ballpoint pens, t-shirts and jewelry. We didn’t want to haul fruit around during our walk so we declined and carried on.

The lady mayor is also the school teacher. It was break time so we went into the schoolyard to say hello and ask permission to stay. Children came running from everywhere. They were anxious to try out their English skills the whole of which consisted of, “What is your name? How old are you?” Each child came up and asked that in turn. We must have answered the questions a hundred times and were delighted to do so. The children were amazed to hear our ages and went to great pains to translate carefully for ones who didn’t catch our English numbers.

The mayor spoke English well and grabbed her purse and took us to see the town. A cluster of children joined our parade and people came out to say hello to us or speak to the major. Our little group of eight cruisers turned into a small mob of thirty or so. We were taken to the houses of the lady who bakes bread, a local wood carver who happens to be married to the mayor’s sister, and a lady who makes tapa – art on a cloth made from the bark of trees. Children were assigned as tour guides to lead us around.

At one point we pulled out a guide book of the Marquesas Islands. We had carried it ashore because it had a map of the small village and we thought it might help us get around. We had no idea that a local child would always attach themselves to act as our guide in the village and would help us find everything including the trash landfill. The children were delighted with the book especially when we showed them the chapter on Fatu Hiva. Published pictures of their bay and a couple of sites around the area fascinated them. Despite the fact that it was written in English, they loved it because they recognized their town. They really wanted to trade for it – one small girl offered the plum she had in her pocket. We needed the book as we continued through the Marquesas and kept it, much to their disappointment. It’s not at all that they are uneducated or backward but Fatu Hiva is a tiny dot even on a map of the Pacific and to see a publication with a whole chapter dedicated to their bay delighted them.

The town was a great introduction to the South Pacific and Rebecca even got to see some ladies with flowers in their hair. She’s been looking forward to that for a while. No grass skirts, much to her disappointment, but maybe on another island because they are practicing for the big dance festival that happens next month.

Carl Strange Avatar
Carl and his wife Karen set-off on a journey around the world on-board their sailboat S/V Enchante. Along the way, they had a lot of adventures and in Aruba, a new member of their crew was born. Now a family of three with Rebecca’s birth, they sailed the Caribbean and the Pacific experiencing life along the way.

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Underway, the South Pacific Bekons and a Dream of a Lifetime begins (#4)

29 May  – Underway to the Marquesas 02 22S / 092 37 W

A large swell started curving into the anchorage off the tiny town of Puerto Villamil, Galapagos. The small anchorage, inside the broken rim of a small volcano top, was fairly crowded. The fringing volcanic rock broke the swell when exposed, but at high tide, the waves came right over the rocks and we rolled worse than at sea. Of course, high tide came in the middle of the night and we slept fitfully, spread eagle and hanging onto our pillows to keep from rolling out of bed. We tolerated these conditions, waiting for the weekly supply ship to bring fresh vegetables. Thankfully the ship arrived on schedule, and Monday was spent shopping and storing. Noon Tuesday we escaped the anchorage for the relatively calm of the open ocean.

Clearing an island. The surrounding reefs and rocks keep all of us on deck. The helm area is cluttered with a chart, dividers, triangles, and a hand-bearing compass. We carefully plot our course and shoot bearings on obvious landmarks. GPS is accurate to a handful of meters these days but the charts haven’t all been corrected yet – especially the old, out-of-date charts most cruisers carry. It does little good to know exactly where you are if the island is a mile from where it’s charted. The winds were light and the sea calm so we had great conditions for spotting sea life around the Galapagos. Over a period of a couple of hours, we saw numerous turtles and a couple of sharks including a small hammerhead. Near the current line, we spied the usual collection of plastic bottles, sticks, and a large black plastic tarp. We noticed a few more tarps as we motored and worried about wrapping one around the prop. As we neared a group of three, one raised a wing revealing a white underbody. Just as we realized these were huge Manta Rays the wing slapped on the water splashing the boat and us. It was wonderful watching the rays swim as we passed.

It’s now Wednesday morning. S/V Enchante’ is moving along nicely in perfect sailing conditions – a cool breeze of 12-15 knots, clear skies, broad reaching in a long gentle swell with a knot of a favorable current, making 7 – 7.5 knots over the ground. Our favorite lure is trolling behind us but no fish yet. Thank goodness since the ice box and freezer are full of prepared meals for the first few days.

We meet twice daily on an SSB radio net with boats in the area. Several of them departed days ahead of us, one on the same day and more to follow. The spread of boats will share weather information, lie about the fish they’ve caught, and offer help should someone have a problem. It’s also nice to know others are sitting in their cockpits at 4 AM going through the same struggle to stay awake.

Our sleep periods will soon adjust to the two-hour watch schedules and even I will fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. The daily routine continues and Rebecca still has school five days a week. This is a long, 20-25-day voyage that we’ve dreamed about for years. Making this trip is a dream come true!

31 May

[In a conversation with Carl about his current sail, he had some words of advice for some mutual friends planning on joining the cruising life in the next year as well as for Ann and me] You could fly to the Society Islands (think Bora Bora) and charter a boat for a week or so. It would give all of you a taste of the South Pacific and motivate you to not fool around too long in the US, Bahamas, or Caribbean. I know this sounds odd coming from us [remember Carl spent 3 years in the Bonaire and Venezuela region of the Caribbean]. Thank goodness we’re finally here!
Sailing conditions couldn’t be better – broad reaching with 12-15 knots and a gentle swell. We’re hundreds of miles from any significant land mass and the winds have really settled into a consistent pattern undisturbed by thermals, mountains, and so forth.

Three days out and on schedule for a 20-day passage – 25 is more likely when it’s all over with.

Carl Strange Avatar
Carl and his wife Karen set-off on a journey around the world on-board their sailboat S/V Enchante. Along the way, they had a lot of adventures and in Aruba, a new member of their crew was born. Now a family of three with Rebecca’s birth, they sailed the Caribbean and the Pacific experiencing life along the way.

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Galapagos Islands – Our First Stop in the Pacific (#2)

8 May 2002 Wednesday 02 20 N / 082 45 W

Underway towards the Galapagos It’s been a long, slow day of rain, rain, rain, and the winds have come from every direction. Thankfully, there hasn’t been too much wind so the seas are relatively calm. We continue to work our way south hoping to find the SE trade winds. It’s a frustrating business since we’re not really certain what weather system we’ll find. One thing is for sure, our best bet is to push south and get out of the doldrums as soon as possible.

Another boat in our little flotilla announced on the evening SSB radio net that they had given up on making the Galapagos and were heading to the town of Manta in Ecuador. They had a smaller boat with little freeboard and were spending more time plowing through the waves rather than riding over them. They also have a more limited fuel range and couldn’t afford to continue motoring looking for favorable winds. They’ll fuel up, rest, and be underway again in a few days.

We were entertained by another large pod of dolphins this afternoon. These are different than the ones we’re familiar with in the Caribbean. They had much darker bodies with red or pink bellies. Like their Caribbean cousins, the smaller ones delighted in jumping to impress us.

It’s early evening and the clouds have completely obscured the stars so it will be a long night. After a few days, the magic of phosphorescence glittering on the wave tops, sparkling in our wake, and swirling down the head when it’s flushed becomes routine. Perhaps a flying fish will smack into the cockpit and spook me like one did last night!
Time to go stare into the darkness for a couple of hours before waking Karen.

10 May 2002

Our radio connections from Panama were really bad and transmissions were slow even for text messages. We did shoot a bunch of pictures of the canal transit but haven’t done anything about narrowing down the selection or editing. All we’ve been doing is napping, reading, and standing our two-hour watches. The transit did go well since we hooked up with a Kiwi and Oz boat, scheduled ourselves to go through as a raft and repeatedly refused to schedule changes. It didn’t hurt that the guy at the scheduling office was originally from New Zealand. The lady who served as our contact for the three boats constantly schmoozed him on the telephone. The canal constantly rescheduled yachts at the last minute to fit us around large boats. We suspect several of the boats that were shuffled during the last few days before our transit were bumped so we could stick to our scheduled date. Of course, we dummied up about it all around the Panama Yacht Club.

I worked on a realistic view of the city of Colon. But honestly, it was so depressing and negative that I didn’t want to post it. The place burned down at one point during the build of the canal. Historical reports say it made a big improvement in the health and lifestyle of the area. From our point of view, it’s time for another razing. One doesn’t dare leave the fenced compound of the yacht club without being in a cab. We knew of several muggings during the time we were there. Happily, our regular cab drivers had grown up in the city and took good care of us. After we got to know one of them well enough to invite him and his wife to join us for dinner, we asked if he was safe walking around the main parts of the city at night.

“Absolutely not!”, was his firm reply. He said the security guards posted at the entrance of every shop make it relatively safe for locals during the day. When the stores close and the guards go home he heads for the safety of his neighborhood.

We’ll be in Galapagos for a week or so.

11 May 2002 (Saturday) 00 00 N / 087 25 W

Rebecca Crossing the Equator


We crossed the equator today at 1815 GMT (1315 local). Rebecca, our five-year-old representative of Neptune, was mistress of ceremonies. She wore her official robe, shell necklaces, and crown and carried her trident. As we crossed the equator she supervised the popping of a cork on a bottle of champagne. Three glasses were poured – one for each parent and one for Rebecca to pour into the sea as an offering to King Neptune. After pouring his drink, she offered him several pieces of bread (a bit stale perhaps) for a meal. The stale bread may have put him off a bit since S/V Enchante’ rocked and spilled the two remaining glasses of champagne! We refilled our glasses, toasted the South Pacific, and finished the rest of the bottle. Little Neptune joined the toasts with a glass of her favorite beverage – apple juice.

Rebecca’s command for calm seas was almost immediately granted and a few minutes after entering the South Pacific we’re motoring in order to make it to the Galapagos before sunset Sunday. Be careful what you wish for!

14 May 2002

We anchored in the Galapagos this afternoon, right behind friends on S/V Aureo with the lady suffering from nausea after diving. We’d been in SSB contact but I didn’t want to discuss her problem over a radio net. They led us through the check-in procedure, showed us the laundry, and shared lunch with us (Goodness the bottles of beer are large here. And I was trying to keep up with a Kiwi!)

They are departing tomorrow for the Marquesas so we invited them over for sundowners and a chat. She read your reply and we discussed it. As a PADI kind of gal, she hadn’t really thought much about breathing patterns. We discussed the “meditation, yoga” pattern and the fact that her “low air consumption” might be a sign of poor breathing practices. It sunk in that, since she always had air remaining after diving with a group, she might as well burn it during the dive.
She also said her regulator is fairly old and hasn’t been serviced in ages. She wasn’t particularly conscious of misting or saltwater inhalation. Then again, cruisers taste salt all day long and wouldn’t think it out of the ordinary.

All of her air has come from proper dive shops and she didn’t bring a cylinder on their “around the world in 14 months” cruise. A “once around quickly” might be something for others to consider. Much less of a complete lifestyle change than selling everything, shutting down the shop and cruising for fifteen to twenty years.
A report on the Galapagos will follow – we’re just getting adjusted to the sounds and smells of land and long, uninterrupted periods of sleep.

A Quick Recipe from the galley of S/V Enchante’

Caponata

Here’s something to impress your party guests – should you actually be willing to share it!

  • 1/3 + 1/3 C olive oil
  • 1   large eggplant, cut into 1/2″ cubes
  • 2   onions, diced
  • 1 C celery, diced
  • 1 lb canned tomatoes
  • 1/3 C wine vinegar
  • 1 T sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • 1 can green olives, chopped
  • 2 T   capers
  • 1 T   caper juice
  • 1     lemon/lime juice

Sauté eggplant in 1/3 C olive oil for 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Sauté onions in 1/3 C olive oil until Transparent. Add celery and canned tomatoes. Cook for 15 minutes until sauce is reduced. Add eggplant, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and cayenne. Cook covered for 5 minutes. Add green olives, capers, and caper juice. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Add lemon/lime juice. Allow to cool. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving.

[Note from Eric: in 1997, one of our instructors, Carl Strange and his wife set off to sail the world.  Everyone wanted to know what was happening with Carl, Karen and later with the addition of their new crew member, Rebecca.  So, we started to publish “The Strange Chronicles” so everyone could travel with them.  I was looking through some old files and found the Chronicles.  I started rereading them and decided it would be fun to republish some excerpts from them. They are an insight to the cruising lifestyle.]


 

Carl Strange Avatar
Carl and his wife Karen set-off on a journey around the world on-board their sailboat S/V Enchante. Along the way, they had a lot of adventures and in Aruba, a new member of their crew was born. Now a family of three with Rebecca’s birth, they sailed the Caribbean and the Pacific experiencing life along the way.