Author: kerri

Dear F&F,

It was a rare excitement to have an evening out. I looked through our hanging closet to see if I could find something cute to wear, but sadly it all smelled of mildew. Plus many things no longer fit. The lack of fruits & veggies in our diet has taken its toll. We cannot get an accurate measurement on the scale when the boat is bouncing around in the wind, so I don\’t know how many pounds I\’ve gained. A tape measure would work despite the motion, but I am not ready face facts on what has happened to my waistline. When we get more variety of food in Tahiti, a chance to walk every day & hopefully swim, I intend to reclaim my lifelong slim figure. Vanity aside, I resorted to a pair of clean shorts & tank top. Mascara & a necklace gave me a somewhat dressed up feeling.

We cautiously drove the dinghy through the very shallow short distance from where we are anchored to the Tikehau Pearl Beach Hotel. The resort is built in Polynesian style with thatched roofs, open air lobby, bar & restaurant. All the rooms are bungalows over the water. We enjoyed sipping a Mai Tai with Wilfred as we watched the sunset. He gave us a tour of a standard bungalow & the hotel\’s best suite. They were simple yet elegant. It was all I could do to control myself from crawling into the gleaming porcelain bathtub! \”Beach House\” is nice�for a boat. I have always been and probably always will be, a great lover of nice hotel rooms. And these were very nice. For $600-1000 per night they should be! Despite the economic downturn & \”off season\” Wilfred said the hotel is 75% full. Most of the clients are American or European honeymooners. Many stay just 3 nights as part of a French Polynesian multi-island tour. But he said they also have repeat customers (actors, politicians, other famous or very private people) who hide out here for 2 weeks or longer. There is a beautiful pink sand beach. The feeling as you step onto the property is relaxed & indulged. Wonderful!

After our tour, we had a glass of wine in the bar area & eventually eased our way into dinner. Wilfred would not hear of me wanting to share something with Scott. In fact, he insisted we each order a starter as well as a main course. I spotted the warm chocolate cake with ice cream & would have been content to start & finish with that alone. Wilfred ordered the froi gras for starter then the duck. Scott had the chicken satay & beef tenderloin. I mopped up the remains of Scott\’s satay sauce with my roll. My starter was tuna tartare followed by a vegetable plate. It was a small mound of mashed sweet potato plus a medley of green beans, onion & other chopped veggies. We were more than full by the time the molten cakes arrived – one for each of us. The taste was heavenly decadence. It was an incredibly generous gesture for Wilfred to treat us, which we did not expect. We giggled that the staff must think we are real V.I.P.s for the manager to spend so much time with us.

Wilfred encouraged me to review the \”spa menu\”. Since we have a 24 hour stint of travel ahead of us, it seems somewhat a waste to indulge in these luxuries at this time. It was 9:45 pm when we returned to \”Beach House\”. The dinghy hit bottom briefly in the dark. The wind was not as strong as last night & we had told Wilfred to sign us up for the morning dive, but when we awoke & saw the wind kicked up again, we decided to pass.

Weather permitting, we will bid farewell to this final Tuamotu atoll & make our way to Tahiti early tomorrow. The first of the Society Islands. We are glad we had this extra month in the Tuamotus but are now ready for a stint of dock life. We have a chance to see humpback whale mamas & babies in Tahiti & Moorea. We also have a few friends who live there that we look forward to seeing.

The procedure for renewing our visa is not entirely clear so we decided it is best not to wait until the last minute to check in with Immigration. We also have quite a bit of research & ordering to do before my trip to CA.

I will surely weep with joy when I see rows of vegetables & fruit for the first time since Costa Rica. I am down to my last apple and a few carrots. May you all eat your veggies with gusto & be glad you don\’t live on an atoll. Nice places to visit, but it\’s been a long stretch since decent shopping. Mary of sailboat \”Giselle\” wrote me that the cheese aisle was longer than her boat! Yippee!!!

My next report will likely be from Tahiti.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,

September 4, 2009
Rangiroa

We are so affected by the weather. We are just waiting for this to subside so we can move on. The prediction is for the wind to be less by Sunday morning but the seas may stay lumpy. We anticipate an 8 hour run to Tikehau. We had a lull just before lunch to zoom into the dive center with the dinghy & retrieve our gear since we are not going to dive in these crappy conditions, even though they are taking other tourists out. The dive masters admit the visibility & sea state are not good. Scott fortunately is a safety freak. I may be tempted to go despite the 6 foot pounding waves above our heads (outside the pass) just to get away from the incessant rocking of the boat & flapping wind noises. But after having a marginal experience Thurs a.m. Scott was done diving here. We paid our bill for the 3 dives we did. $70 each dive for each of us, that includes a $10 discount for using our own gear. Everything is so expensive here.

I finished the book \”The Invisible Wall\” & began reading another book. This one loaned me by friend Lori \”Bookseller of Kabul\”. I\’m sure not that uplifting, but I like reading about how different people live even if it is somewhat distressing. It helps me feel more grateful for what I have. I am very glad I can read without feeling seasick in these conditions.

Scott just got an email from Skye that his cousin Steve died at age 57, heart problem. They were not particularly close, but family nonetheless. He was a son of Suzanne\’s brother. On a happier note, this weekend is Aunt Barbara\’s granddaughter Lisa\’s wedding. Skye will fly up with Barbara to attend the redwood grove ceremony, followed by reception at cousin Janice\’s house. Aunt Barbara is twice a great-Grandma & very much enjoying her expanded family.

It will be fun to see Wilfred in Tikehau, assistant manager of the Pearl Beach Hotel there. We met him when we went diving with Marc in Manihi.

Each passing day brings us closer to Tahiti which means closer to me flying to California. I am soooo ready for some off boat time. It has been too long.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,

September 2, 2009
Rangiroa, Tuamotu Atolls

The wind was less strong overnight and John & the other 6 boats in the anchorage secure, so we felt comfortable to go diving with Six Passengers Dive Center. A freckled red-haired Frenchman, Fred, was our dive master with just one other gal along. We dove outside the atoll on the reef. We saw 1 manta ray very deep & far from us, but quite a few grey sharks & a nice school of barracuda. We wonder why barracuda have a reputation as being nasty since we\’ve only seen them swimming calmly. They shine silvery with dark grey stripes & beautiful to behold. The shallower part of the reef was not that fun. There was a lot of surge causing us to fly back & forth. Difficult conditions for Scott to film in because that kind of motion is not interesting to watch. There were plenty of fish, but the coral looked a bit weather beaten & the water was murky due to the recent rain & strong winds stirring things up.

We were eager to do the pass dive on the incoming tide so went again with the group at 3:00 pm. The call was for 2:15 pm so we were suited up, sweating in the sun. Waiting, waiting. We saw 2 of the company\’s boats go out but they didn\’t come to pick us up despite our waving to them. We hailed them on the radio & they said, \”Yes we are coming\”. We jumped in the water off the back of our boat to cool off a bit. Sinbad, a Polynesian, was our dive master this time, with a nice couple from Rome. He is Italian, she is from Toronto. The owner of the company also dove with us, taking video footage of us divers & the wildlife. The high point of this 2nd dive was DOLPHINS! A mother & young one zooming very near us. Always a joy to see dolphins & we have not had many close encounters underwater. We saw some grey reef sharks too and the schooling barracuda again. Other than that the dive was unremarkable. Visibility not great, not much coral. Just drifted in above sandy rocky bottom without much to see. You just never know what you\’re going to see.

Between dives John, who Scott helped yesterday, came by to thank us profusely. He said he had a knowledgeable guy with him from the time he left Los Angeles until 3 weeks ago. John is a New Zealander who lived a lot in Australia, and has a non-sailing lady friend there who he is trying to work his way back to. We gave him our email & also instructions on how to re-hoist his genoa. Poor guy is truly clueless. We hope he makes it safely the 800 miles from here to Rarotonga, where he knows people & plans to keep the boat for the cyclone season.

Scott had casually checked in to the Ham radio Pacific Seafarer\’s Net & became an active relay person. We are positioned such that many boaters hear Scott but not the Net Controller. He is madly writing people\’s info then reporting it. Latitude, longitude, destination, speed, direction, weather, any questions, any contacts, etc. I know it is fun for him, although he looks a bit harried as this responsibility was unexpected. I just refilled his wine glass so he should be fine. My Hero, once again taking up the baton for the good of the sailors of the world!

Cindy & Scott