Category: Voyages

Dear F&F,

July 6, 2010

Aitutaki – Hunt & Gather

Scott finds out via cell call that Rarotonga Customs is holding our package
for 1 day. No, there is no fee, nor any reason they just are because they
can. They understand we are a yacht in transit. But nonetheless, it will not
be on a plane to Aitutaki until tomorrow. He becomes sick. He complains he
is hung over from the lousy fruit wine (which I avoided). I give him aspirin
with his tea & yogurt. He uploads email & weather as usual. I fry our eggs
and assemble my shopping bags. I have an opportunity this morning to hunt &
gather from every market on the island. Sadly, one crane of the cargo ship
is broken so offloading is taking extra time & the stores do not yet have
all their goods on the shelves. I have to make do with what they have. The
car must go back at noon.

At the nearest market we see they have just started to stock their goods, I
can return later. It is even close enough to walk.

Bonnie\’s fuel station mini mart produced a carton of unrefrigerated 2% box
milk upon my request. I also bought a couple mystery wines from Australia &
NZ to try.

Next stop is the Free Range eggs lady. Her sign is not out on the street,
but we pullover & give her a yoo-hoo anyway. Her screen door opens quickly &
she presents one dozen. I ask for 3. She hesitates, but when I explain we
are on a yacht & I cannot store the refrigerated ones they sell in the
store, she comes forth with the requested amount. We gush about her grown
daughter’s restaurant Koru & have a pleasant exchange. I hope she does not
feel I have had my \”share\” because I\’d love to score another 3 dozen before
we leave here, likely next weekend.

We zoom over the hill to Neeibah’s Market. The name we think is a kind of
pidgeon English for neighbor. I get vacuum packed white rice (no brown to be
found), canned beets, and several bottles of experimental wine. Scott cannot
bear to look at the wine, so it is up to me & I forgot my reading glasses,
so can\’t read the descriptions on the back. Oh well. Nothing is over $15 US,
so worth the gamble.

We stop at a warehouse that advertises frozen fish & meat. I score nice
fresh onions plus about 6 beef rump steaks.

Another store gets produce via airplanes. I scooped up 6 precious oranges, 5
kiwis, feta cheese & sliced salami.

Swing by the first market a 2nd time to see if anything new has appeared on
the shelf: they don\’t have their wine stocked yet, but one worker convinces
me that the frozen sausages are good. I also pick up what is labeled bacon,
but looks more ham shaped. She convinces me it IS sliced bacon but in more
bulk package. I spring for it, knowing I have freezer space. What the heck?

We load the dinghy with our booty, I refrigerate & freeze the appropriate
items.

I almost got there without getting lost. I had one mini glitch, knew I was
very near but didn\’t want to lose time guessing, so stopped at Koru
restaurant to have the egg ladies daughter steer me in the right direction.

I had paid the extra $10 to get a ride back, but when I handed the keys to
the local lady at the desk she told me she was too busy & huffed off. But I
heard her report my presence to the nice mechanic (we think proprietor) who
had rented the car to us yesterday. A door to another building slammed, I
patiently waited 10 more minutes & he appeared freshly showered & dressed to
drive me back. I made small talk & he stopped at a take away to order his
lunch on his way back. Happily the car did not smell of diesel, voila! A
successful outing. It is really important for me to go out without Scott
sometimes, whether by dingy or car or foot, to keep my independence & not
become a helpless Ninny. He was very happy to have some rest.

I saw an ambulance at the dinghy dock & noticed several people staring at a
sailboat with attendant small fishing boat coming into the pass. I zoomed to
“Beach House” to rouse Scott that \”something\” was going on. Turns out it was
our solo French friend Bernard, from the last island. Scott & I see he is
anchored to one side of the pass. Out of the path of the barge & other
vessels & blessedly not further crowding our cozy 3-some near the wharf. We
give him a hearty welcome, and learn that during his 3 day passage from
Mopelia he lost his footing with a big wave & hit his ribcage on a hard
edged surface. Youch! Both Scott & I have suffered a broken rib in the past
& there is nothing but time to heal it. It\’s been 2 days for him…only 5
1/2 weeks to go. We gave him a ride to shore & learned that HE was the
reason the ambulance was there. His French-accented English requesting help
to winch up his keel for the shallow pass due to a sore rib, resulted in an
ambulance. Neither the police nor medical services have a boat of any kind.
They just radio anyone in the area to please render aid. A small fishing
boat helped him & he was safely anchored by the time we showed up on the
scene. The Customs & Immigration guy is out sick today, so Bernard hailed us
to fetch him from shore & I ferried him back out to his boat for a much
needed rest. He can clear customs tomorrow.

The afternoon was quiet: Scott resting & me writing. Near 5:00 p.m & we
noticed the wind direction had changed & placed our stern uncomfortably
close to the bow of the Swiss monohull. Anchoring maneuvers again, with rain
this time! I managed the dinghy tugboat, Scott the big boat. Soon we hear
Jerome ashore hollering for Natalie. Once he drops her & Leo off, he comes
to our aid. Jerome takes over tugboat duty with his dinghy. Scott takes the
stern anchor in our dinghy to reset it & I control “Beach House\’s” direction
front, back & spin with the twin engines. Let out bow chain, while Scott
moves into position to set the stern. We are not sure if the stern anchor
really dragged, or it is just that we had more chain out than the Swiss boat
& with the change in wind direction it put us too close. We were grateful
that they were not aboard during these shenanigans. Scott is still swearing
at them for anchoring too close, but life is too short to hold grudges.
Surely they noticed the change of our position upon their return, but said
nothing. There was a rainbow during anchor maneuvers & now a gorgeous golden
sunset. I DID enjoy happy hour – so life is good.

I am amazed at how much I write sometimes. I hope it is not too boring.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,

July 5, 2010

Aitutaki – Fuel & Friends

When we returned the scooter we wanted to rent a car in order to schlep
diesel in our 5 gallon jugs, since the station is not at the water front.
That company did not have any cars available. We called the 2nd company on
the island, yes, he had one. So we kept the scooter long enough to zoom up
there, about 15 minutes, by the airstrip. Scott dropped me off while I paid
& showed him my license. It was a very tiny, convertible Nissan, not really
sporty. It really looked like a toy & was pretty well worn. But the roof
up/down feature worked, so I enjoyed the fresh air. It wasn\’t that weird to
be sitting in the \”wrong\” seat, since I had to drive on the \”wrong\” side of
the road. This was my first time driving a car on the left, so to make sure
I didn\’t space out & mess up I just kept repeating: Stay on the left. Stay
on the Left. STAY ON THE LEFT!

After returning the scooter, Scott walked to the Air Rarotonga open air
office & paid the worker the transit fee which is estimated at $20 NZ.
Pitonga knows ALL about us & our precious package en route via DHL as we
have made many stops by her office asking questions to learn how things work
around here. She seems to have a friendly working relation with Willie who
is at the Raratonga office & will be receiving the package from DHL &
putting it on one of the many planes from Rarotonga to Aitutaki.

It was afternoon & we saw a freshly re-opened restaurant that looked worth a
try. Outside plastic tables & chairs set on a base of old coral. Quaint
idea, but very rickety for sitting, scooting in or out, leaning elbows on
the table & even walking required caution. There were garden cloth shades
strung between trees to provide a bit of shade. We chatted with a family of
NZ tourists & as we were finishing the burger & fries we split, up walks
Dale & Jo from the monohull anchored outside the reef (x 6 weeks). They are
getting ready to move on, hopefully tomorrow, after a part is drilled out by
someone they met with the equipment to do the job. We got their contact
info. They grow a fruit wine in NZ. Their farm is on the North Island,
halfway between Whangerei & Auckland. They are not savvy sailors, but
self-taught, learning on the job & seem to be enjoying themselves immensely..
I am always in awe of these happy-go-lucky innocents.

Fed & watered, we parked the car, dinghied the short distance to “Beach
House”, loaded our empty 8 x 5 gallon jugs, ferried them to the wharf,
loaded them into the car. First we had carefully covered the upholstery in
plastic tarp to prevent any drips from causing an odor. It worked great. The
trunk was too tiny to fit even 1 can vertically. It is a zippitty-do-dah
drive to the fuel station, where we have become friendly with Bonnie. Her
mini-mart has good prices on box milk & wine plus rare finds of lettuce &
apples. I drove & Scott walked the short but circuitous route. The area
where they dock & use the big cranes to maneuver containers off the barge is
roped Off Limits. Bonnie was very helpful & patient as we filled each
container with 22 liters, loaded the car & returned to the boat. Scott did
the heavy lifting, but I put on rubber gloves to help with the air vent caps
& setting up the spouts. Our digital starboard tank gauge is still not
reading correctly due to algae and water in the tank. Anyway, when diesel
started spilling out the top, we knew it was full! We filtered all we took &
went back for another load in order to have full tanks onboard. We paid $7
to 8$ per gallon which is a record all time high. We have to run one engine
or the other 1-2x/day, depending on how much solar we get. When overcast, we
get less solar power so need to run the engines longer to charge the
batteries. Can’t wait to get the generator fixed.

Once showered & rested a bit from the fuel schlep chore, I began to cook.
Natalie had invited us over, and we MUST go to their boat to socialize
because our boat is not childproof. But I told her I would bring the main
meal. We set a time of 6:30 pm. Jerome had his 3rd day of kite boarding
lessons off a motu in waist deep, sandy water. We talked to him after lesson
#1 which was all beach practice with a small kite & we were eager to hear
how he was progressing. We shuttled 3 pots & 1 bottle of wine. Hot white
rice, green beans & chicken madiera with mushrooms was my choice of menu.
Scott was my hero & did all the dishes.

Even though we arrived fashionably 20 minutes late, it was apparent they
were behind schedule. The twins were not yet fed and sitting in the cockpit
in booster seats like hungry birds in a nest. She handed them each a whole
tomato & I have to say it was interesting to watch them both devour it with
enthusiasm. I don\’t think you would see many American 4 year olds go for a
plain full size tomato. Their 2nd course was popcorn. As it neared 8 p.m.
Scott & Jerome both dig into the treat with gusto. Natalee brings out
pistachios as an additional adult appetizer. They had been given a bottle of
Dale & Jo\’s sparkling fruit wine. I have never heard of this fruit & cannot
remember the name. She said it was something similar to guava. I didn\’t care
for it & patiently waited until the other 3 polished it off & Jerome opened
the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc I had brought. My food had got cold & my
wine warm but eventually I kicked Scott hard under the table to stop talking
story so Natalee could focus on the situation: she needed to remove the
twins from the dinner table so we adults could proceed with our meal. Ten
year old Leo gave each Scott & I the classic cheek-cheek French greeting &
asked for some of my chicken & rice. It got high praise from the 10 year
old. He is shy about speaking English to us, but with his mother\’s prompting
he managed: I like it.

She disappeared for 10 minutes & we ate the lukewarm food & wine without
complaint (Does she even own a microwave…? Possibly not!) As the wine
flowed, so did the stories. Jerome recounted with full French flourish his
battle with the wind & kite, getting dragged under water, having to find his
board over & over yet the thrill of the moment he was flying. Very sore in
the forearms, he thought he might take the next day off. My \”time to go
home\” watch alarm sounded only 20 minutes after we started eating. I
squelched it & we stayed another hour. We confessed that we think Natalee is
a saint for not drowning the twins, and she admitted that Leo is more
challenging for her. Jerome says she was born with a \”valium drip\” which
gave us a big laugh. We are unlikely friends, with only the same boat home
in common, but enjoy hours of stimulating & enjoyable conversation. I had a
warm feeling toward the twins when she told me they call us Scott & \”Wendy\”
(from Peter Pan). I have to ask if this is just a pronunciation challenge,
or because of watching me ride the manta ray on DVD.

Scott falls asleep almost immediately. I stay up reading Julia Child\’s Life
in France for an hour, lovely.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,

July 3, 2010

Aitutaki – Adventures in Anchoring & Scooter Tour

It was our coldest night since we left northern Baja in Jan 2007: 70 degrees
F! I wore a long sleeved shirt to read in bed & we dug out a blanket. No
rain but the wind persisted from the southeast which pushes us sideways into
the harbor. It is winter here & we seem to be hibernating a bit. Scott was
asleep by 9 p.m. I read until 10:30 & we didn\’t rouse until 7:30! With the
sky overcast & cooler air we don\’t have the strong bright sun & rising heat
ejecting us from bed at the crack of dawn

Scott\’s mornings always begin with uploading email, including requests for
weather charts. He received the sad news that Mike Lonnes\’ father passed
away. He was not that old, but had heart disease for many years, so not
entirely a shock. Our hearts are with Mike & Beth. Instead of a happy 4th of
July weekend in Catalina on their boat they are flying back east to grieve
with his mother & family there.

It was oatmeal and yogurt making day for me, so I was busy in the galley. No
news about my eldest Aunt Edith (96 yrs old) who had a stroke yesterday. By
the time we pondered what to do with our day it was close to 10 a.m.

But before we can do anything or go anywhere we need to reset the stern
anchor. The south wind has pushed us sideways too much into the harbor
channel

I hopped in the dinghy & proceed with my tugboat routine: pushing “Beach
House” sideways as Scott manages both engines and bow & stern anchors, which
he can control remotely from the helm station. Upping the stern anchor goes
as planned. Resetting the stern anchor we have a glitch. The stern roller,
we are required to use to keep the chain from scraping either hull, sticks.
The stern anchor won\’t drop. We are only in 8 feet of water & the wind is
pushing the boat sideways to the left while I am resisting by pushing the
boat sideways to the right via the dinghy acting as tugboat. We struggle
unsuccessfully before regrouping with another approach. I get on “Beach
House” to take over helm & bow anchor duty. Scott hops in the dinghy taking
the stern anchor & chain with him.

He has to use the dinghy engine plus body mechanics & muscles to maneuver
Beach House sideways (while he is gripping the stern chain) against 8-10
knots of beam wind, to get us into the desired position. He then deploys the
stern anchor from the dinghy, while I take up the chain slack on both bow &
stern anchors until we set just right. I feel a bit battered & stressed
afterwards. Scott vows to have a better functioning stern roller fabricated
in NZ (added to our ever growing \”Do In NZ\” list). We have 2nd breakfast &
proceed with our day.

The rental company did not have any cars available today. Only (the dreaded)
scooter, albeit a better one,(so they claimed) than the one I ix-nayed a
couple days ago. Better take it quick because it was his last one. Hmmmm.
Tomorrow is Sunday & the entire island goes to church or stays home. No
shops, diving or tours. I tell Scott to take the scooter & I pop a codeine
for courage (and butt relief – I’m not a good sitter). I don long pants &
walking shoes, so feel a bit more protected than the first test ride when I
was in shorts & sandals. To think I used to zoom around on the back of a
Honda 750 barefoot in a bikini….ahhhh youth!!! I am pleased to say that I
was able to relax enough after a while to actually enjoy the scenery.
Worrying about imminent road rash (or worse) moved to the back burner of my
brain. Helmets off to my buddy Karen, who with some trepidation is a
wonderfully brave Harley Wife!

It was a beautiful day, not too hot, not too gray, didn\’t rain, just lovely..
We toured about 50% of the paved roads of the island. We saw the clam &
coral farm at the Marine Sanctuary which is funded by an Australian nature
foundation & likely somewhat of a sham, but a token gesture of preservation
perhaps. Seems to be more of an aquarium stocking business. Not that there
is anything wrong with that, but at least tell folks what you really do. Fun
to see the colorful & beautiful clams from teeny tiny to medium sized
growing in tanks of circulating ocean water. We heard that part of the golf
course plays across the airport runway! There are numerous hotels, huts,
bungalows & we got the feeling that this might have been a \”happening\” place
at some point, but not now. Maybe it is just too early in the season. Maybe
tourists learned that much is still thrashed from the last hurricane. Hard
to know.

When we were ready for lunch we sniffed at several options. Scott (like
Vincent) has a nose for eating establishments. If they only serve fish that
is not a good option for him. We were pleased with Koru Cafe. It closes at
3:00 pm but was still bustling at 2:00, which we thought was a good sign.
Kiwi owner Trina runs a great place. She was informative, kept a good pace
of service & very friendly. Scott whole heartedly enjoyed his burger &
fries, while I chowed down on fish & chips (fresh caught wahoo – delish!) We
each indulged in milkshakes: chocolate for me & vanilla for Scott. I
hesitated to take a doggie bag, but had so much leftover, and Trina
encouraged me. So I got to enjoy the same meal again for dinner! Minus the
milkshake. Even Scott had to admit the battered fish was really tasty

We stopped at a tiny market uphill & scored a 5 gallon empty oil container.
It had been used for soy oil, but it will serve dandy for engine oil. Scott
could hold it on the runners between his feet on the scooter. We have to
bring our own containers to a store that sells oil out of a large drum. I
picked up a couple more apples & liters of boxed milk at the closest store
to \”home\”. Since the scooter rental company is closed on Sundays, we are
paying for 2 days, which is fine: we didn\’t feel pressured to \”see it all\”
today. It is parked safely ashore in sight of “Beach House”.

Jerome got back from his kite surfing lesson about sunset & plans to go
again tomorrow. We may try to dinghy out to where they teach to take some
photos.

On the evening amateur radio Net, Scott got one of his ham buddies to look
up our DHL tracking number: it cleared customs in NZ today! That means it
could be in Rarotonga tomorrow or Monday – happy news. We are now thinking
we will NOT fly to Rarotonga, but have Air Rarotonga put it on one of the
frequent inter-island planes to us

We confirmed that Onu does not take divers out on Sunday, which is fine
since we have the scooter & more sightseeing to do tomorrow. We asked him to
check in with us Monday, although that is supposedly cargo ship day & we
want to closely watch the barge as it zooms by “Beach House” many trips..
Plus I want to dash to the market as soon as good are stocked on the shelves
because we understand it is a first come, first serve buying spree. Besides
hoarding food for the next 2 islands, which will sell little or nothing, we
need to fill up our 8 x 5 gallon jugs of diesel. We want to get in a couple
more days diving, but the operator knows that we are spoiled & only
interested in going when the weather conditions are such that he can take us
to the better sites. We may also go on a Lagoon Tour with another company.
They take you to prime snorkeling sites and beautiful islets. Aitutaki is
actually an interesting place. The wind & temperature strongly influence our
perception of a place & what we feel like doing. We are trying to make the
most of our time here & very glad that it sounds like we won\’t be dragging
out our stay waiting for the generator parts. The critical question is: Will
the awaited parts actually repair the problem? Stay tuned…

Scott has steered our 2 sets of friends sailing monohulls away from this as
a stop because anchoring outside the reef is not pleasant with the southerly
winds we are having & which are predicted to continue for a while. Sadly
this will delay our reunion with either of them, but this would not be a
comfortable stop for them anchored outside the reef. We are so glad we got
inside when we did. Ah the advantages of a catamaran! Departing the pass
will be another story on another day, perhaps a week or so from now.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,

July 1, 2010

Aitutaki – Day #6

It is overcast & has drizzled off & on. We left dive master Onu a message at
7:30 a.m. (he didn\’t pick up either cell or biz line) that we were not
interested in diving in the rain or at similar/same mediocre sites. He
called us back at 8 a.m. very understanding. He had four other customers, so
it would have been a bit crowded on the boat anyway. The Americans onboard
gave me the thumbs down sign when they returned. Poor Onu got stung by a
small jellyfish in the eye (he has a habit of flooding & clearing his mask
underwater – it must fog up). Hopefully he will be fine. But between that &
the poor visibility with the gray sky, they scrapped the 2nd dive so we
didn\’t miss out on anything.

Unlike sometimes, I was quite pleased to have a \”home day\”. The fridge is
acting up. Scott got an email reply from a tech support guy on what
tests/troubleshooting we need to do. It\’s a different problem than we had
before & overall it IS functioning, but seems to think it has low voltage,
even when we\’ve just charged the batteries, so that is a mystery we need to
research.

First job though was changing the water maker filters. We are so shallow,
anchored only about 5-6 feet deep in the lagoon, that we suck up a lot of
sand & yuck in the intake. So instead of needing to clean the filters every
2 weeks, we need to do it every 2-3 days to keep the water quality good. No
big deal, about an hour job, pink/blue teamwork.

About 11 a.m. we heard someone hail us from ashore. It was the couple we saw
yesterday when we walked to the fancy hotel, Sonia & Tom. They were on a
(nice hotel owned) moped, came to bring us a book she finished reading that
both Scott & I are interested in & had heard of. It is called: \”I am Nujood,
Age 10 and Divorced\”. A true story of a girl from Yemen. We dinghied ashore
to pick them up since they were interested in seeing our boat. We talked
story & gave them a tour for about 1 1/2 hr. I was getting hungry for lunch
& knew they wanted to explore the whole island & had a 3:30 p.m. flight out,
so Scott ferried them back as I prepared our lunch. He also took our empty
propane tank to the nearby fuel station. They said they can fill it
\”sometime\”. I have a 2nd one & they last a really long time, no rush.

After lunch we noticed the wind shifted & “Beach House” was lying at an odd
angle to “Na Maka”, our sister ship. We are close to each other, both
anchored bow (front) & stern (back) usually we move in tandem & no problem.
We did not have many feet of chain (much scope) out on our stern anchor,
since the prevailing wind blows from the bow, meaning all the load is on the
front hook. So our stern anchor had dragged when the wind shifted with the
load on the stern. There was no panic, but we did need to react, never
knowing how hard & fast the wind will ramp up. We forgot where we had stowed
the critical gizmo to keep the stern chain centered when we take it up or
down. It took almost half an hour of searching through multiple lockers to
find it. The wind had ramped up by then, so I volunteered for tugboat duty.
Hopped in the dinghy & placed the bow of the dinghy at the turning point of
the big boat to push her into the desired position. We learned this
technique during one crazy weekend at Big Geiger Cove in Catalina & it has
paid off. Scott with long cable remotes, could handle both the bow & stern
anchor chain, taking up one & paying out the other, while I pushed us
sideways. It is a bit stressful, but exciting because I knew I could do the
job required of me & that it is a very important & critical job to do right..
No time to be a Ninny! Maneuvers took about 45 minutes. High fives to each
other, followed by an iced coffee.

My sister asked this question: \”Since the diving doesn\’t seem to be very
good, why don’t you just zip to the next island?\”

A) We hope there ARE better dive sites & we just need to wait until the
weather is such that we can get to them.

B) Our next 2 islands do not have airports. Mike shipped our generator parts
(plus a couple other needed items) via DHL out of L.A. today.

No generator parts = no scuba compressor = can\’t fill tanks = no diving. No
dive operators at next 2 islands, very primitive, undeveloped. Here, we are
lucky that we can dive with 2 different operators, so it doesn\’t cramp our
style to have the generator on the blink. It is NOT as efficient to charge
the batteries with our main engines, but do-able. We are not getting much
solar due to cloudy skies. We absolutely want to be able to dive, so need to
be able to pump our own tanks at the next 2 islands.

We went to shore again later today & I scored locally grown lettuce, as well
as cold stored NZ apples (where were they hiding them before now?), some
onions, 2 dozen more eggs & 2 liters more shelf life milk. I suppose I could
force myself to get used to powdered only, but if I don\’t HAVE to, I really
prefer the taste of the low fat boxed milk, to the whole powdered. It is so
nice to be able to bring trash to shore. We had to stow it for 2 weeks at
the last atoll.

I had thawed out a chunk of several boneless/skinless chicken breasts, found
an eggplant at a market yesterday so got inspired to cook Szechuan eggplant,
this time with Kung Pao chicken (in the past I\’ve always served it with
shrimp), plus pressure cooked brown rice. I didn\’t have fresh ginger, but
bought a jar of \”prepared\” grated ginger that smelled awful to me, but I
used a tiny amount & it was fine. Scott loved it all so much he didn\’t mind
the pile of dishes I created. Best part is 3 more meals leftover! I froze
one & put 2 containers in the fridge. We don\’t mind eating the same thing
for a couple days in a row.

Just when we sat down to eat it poured buckets & we had to scurry to close
all the hatches to keep the inside of the boat from getting drenched. It was
very funny because Scott had just said: \”You are a better cook than my Mom.\”
We had a good laugh that Suzanne was NOT pleased with that comment so caused
it to rain upon our dinner!!! Tropical rain often lasts only 15 minutes.
Sure enough we were able to open up & are now enjoying a nice breeze and 79
degrees.

The weather will probably not be dive friendly again tomorrow. We are quite
content to use our time here to catch up on repairs, maintenance, writing,
reading, etc. We still want to rent a car & explore the entire island. We
may also go on a Lagoon Excursion. Jerome & family dinghied on their own
yesterday to a little motu (Honeymoon Island) & had a lovely day. The island
is 6 x 1 miles. The lagoon (inside of the fringing coral reef) is about 10
miles x 8 miles. So compared to the last few places we\’ve been, this is
larger, so more sightseeing can be done. It is amazing how much vegetation
has sprung back since the February hurricane. There are flowers blooming &
green vegetation amidst the collapsed buildings. Nature can both destroy &
rebuild.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,

June 30, 2010

Aitutaki – Day #5

This morning it was grey & threatening rain. We told our dive guy that we
will skip the 1st dive & see if the sun comes out in the next hour or so. It
is pretty pricey to go with a company, about $65 US/tank, which is only
$10/tank less than Bora Bora. We are hoping the weather cooperates so they
will take us to the potentially more interesting southern sites.

We hung out, waiting to hear the \”half-time\” report. One couple on the dive
boat is only doing one tank, so he has to bring them back. We will have a
chance to hear from the other couple how it was & decide if we\’re going to
go, or sit out today. I am ok either way. Plenty of emails to catch up on &
other chores.

The harbor is small so not very industrial. Yesterday a super stinky fishing
boat was tied up to the wharf upwind of us – yuck! Rumor has it that a cargo
ship will arrive Saturday, but they take a barge outside the pass to offload
goods & bring it in that way. There is enough space for it to maneuver &
offloading the barge will probably be done in 1 day. We see some activity of
them stacking empty fuel containers, etc to put on the ship. Everything is
closed on Sunday. There are many churches, including SDA. Grocery shopping
should be a bit better, we hope, once they\’ve stocked their shelves a couple
days later.

We considered renting a moped. Rental cars are less plentiful. Almost all
the locals get around on mopeds. I am a real ninny sometimes. I was in
sandals & shorts (too hot to wear real shoes & long pants). It was a rickety
thing with only 1 rear view mirror. They did not offer helmets. Scott took
it for a test spin & just observing him he looked a bit jerky. I got on &
immediately ix-nayed the idea. With my lame right hand I felt insecure and
was not willing to risk either of us getting injured. I\’m kind of a mother
hen even when we are walking. Scott\’s view is so far above the ground & from
my perspective he does not always carefully look where he puts his feet. He
unexpectedly steps off curbs, into potholes & nearly twists his ankle
frequently. Makes me kinda crazy. If he gets lame, I am really up a creek.
The truth is we’ve been very blessed to neither have any terrible injuries
or illness.

The internet place here is about a 40 minute walk & $8 US/hr. They say Skype
quality is hit & miss. The entire islands infrastructure is still being
rebuilt. 80 homes were destroyed & additional 200 damaged from Hurricane Pat
in February. The devastation is quite visible. We walked down to the
fanciest hotel where we ran into a couple we\’d met briefly en route to a
dive (they went with the competing company). They invited us to their
bungalow terrace for a glass of wine & some fruit. Nice to chat with them.
Sonia is German/Italian & Tom is Swiss. They now live in Sydney, Australia.
It was nice to socialize a bit.

My finger got pretty sore from walking several hours in the heat. You know
how your hands can feel a bit swollen with walking or hiking anyway? My 2
owie fingers really protested & I feel like I\’ve taken a step back in
function, which is frustrating. Scott is good about doing the dishes when I
ask him to (preferable to hearing me yelp from the galley). There are so
many \”blue\” jobs that I can\’t (or won\’t) do that I hate to put any \”pink\”
jobs on him. But when it comes down to it he knows this whole lifestyle is
more appealing to him than me. My motivation is really connected to good
diving. This island has not shown its potential yet. It is a comfortable
anchorage, easy access to shore & we have lots more exploring to do.

Two other sets of boat friends may catch up with us soon: the couple with
grown son we met in Easter Island (boat name: Visions of Johanna) & the
Canadian couple who went skiing in British Columbia while we were sweating
it out in Papeete (boat: Quick Star). Meanwhile the French family of 5, “Na
Maka” is right next to us, though we are each doing our own thing. There is
another French catamaran here so they have gotten together with them some.

Cindy & Scott