I guess
since this island has one of the biggest villages around, it has many
supply ships that service it. The Maris Stella III turned out to be
our favorite, because they have a ship's store which sells groceries
direct from Papeete.
After
standing in line with all the villagers to place our order, the crane
operator lowers down our frozen goods from their freezer hold.
The
workers disconnect the load and we get our purchases. Oh boy, frozen
chicken!
The
ship also supplies a substantial amount of diesel barrels.
Mike
gets ready to load the chicken into the dingy to take strait to the
boat and put in seal a meal bags and into our freezer.
The
water is so clear and the wind so light, you can see strait to the
bottom. And that water color!! Yum!
We
noticed on the label that our chicken comes from North Carolina!!
USDA approved for export.
Our
fresh bootie from the Maris Stella! Wine, beer, chicken, fresh
veggies and grapes!!
Mike
has found the best way to open a coconut is with a hammer and
chissel. Less chance of chopping into the deck than using a machete!
Jerry
has us over to his house for a fresh fish feed. He is quite a good
fisherman and supplies fish for many people in his family group.
He
shows us his freezer full of fish and bait.
The
table is set, with two types of sashimi, fried fish, rice &
juice. Delicious!
Jerry
and his best friend.
Jerry
Sr. And Iki, his dad and mom. Iki and I became quite good friends as
we are about the same age and she too speaks English. It was such a
pleasure to get to know this family.
Another
Miramou is scheduled to blow for 3 days, so we decided to tie up to
the dock for wave protection. We moved in early and bought one of
those barrels of fuel to fill up with. The store provided the pump
and delivered it directly to us at the Quay which made easy work of
filling up with fuel.
Looking
back up the quay towards the city hall and post office. And that
water color again!!
We try
to always put fuel in jerry jugs so we can filter it through our Baja
fuel filter before it goes into Avatar's tanks. Note the water is so
clear, you can see the rocks on the bottom. The water depth for us to tie to the dock left about 1.5 feet below the keel!!
By now
the wind has started to blow. It was 25 to 30 knots 24 hours a day
for 4 days! The va'a paddlers were out practicing surfing the swells
beyond the quay.
This is
the coach and a 6 woman va'a team practicing in the shelter of the
quay.
One
brave va'a paddler went on the far side of the quay and surfed in the
waves coming in the pass.
A
second boat full of paddlers is doing laps between the end of the
quay and a buoy the coach put near the ramp at the head of the quay.
They
stop and rest while holding on to our long bow line and listen to the
coach. There will be a big inter-island competition here in December
for all the close atolls, and I think these guys and gals are
planning to win!
No comments:
Post a Comment