Author: Pam
On Saturday we woke up and pondered the day ahead of us. We already knew you can accomplish very little business on Saturday in French Polynesia, so we had resolved ourselves to boat chores and exploring. Around midday our friend Tom from Medusa came by the boat to say hello, he had heard from Dan also on Medusa we were here (Dan had come by soon after we had arrived). Tom was aware of our engine problem from Nuku Hiva and he offered to show us where the industrial area of the island was, so on Monday we could hit the ground running. We set out for a hike to the northeast section of the island where all of the boat services reside. We scoped out Sopom, a company that had been recommended by Grasal while we were still on the crossing. All of the stores were already closed for Saturday afternoon, if they had been open at all. As we were leaving the parking lot of Sopom we asked a woman where the yacht club was and were the boats in the small marina next to Sopom part of the yacht club. The answer was no and the yacht club was miles away. We were interested in the possibility of moving the boat to the yacht club that we had read about in the cruising guide. As we started to leave the parking lot, she offered to give us a ride and the next thing we knew we were in her car with her two young children giggling about speaking English with me. We didn’t get much past hello and what is your name. They were very cute. After some confusion of where she was driving us, she finally dropped us and Tom off near the Internet café, Tom needed to check his e-mail. We had already decided we would go for a beer and catch up on Medusa’s and Tournesol’s trip from Nuku Hiva…. We went to Le Retro, located on the waterfront, not far from the boat. We ordered beers and given the option of big that is always Scott’s preference. Well, of course when the bill came we found out the “big” beers cost $9.00. Welcome to Tahiti. What I can’t figure out is why beer that is supposedly Tahitian (Hinano) costs so much, even in Tahiti. It was one thing when it had to be brought by boat to Nuku Hiva, but this remains a mystery to me. We had a great time catching up and getting to know Tom better and our walk was a very helpful orientation to an important part of the Island.
On Sunday we spent most of the day on the boat, there is absolutely nothing open though it is a very touristy area. We did learn the Market is open until 0900 and it is suppose to be the best day to go, so we will check it out one Sunday while we are here. After walking around for a while we came back to find the wind had come up and was pushing Tournesol and several other boats into the quay. We were very concerned about the windvane and with the help of another cruiser we took a mooring line out to a buoy to hold Tournesol more forward. In the meantime, the German boat next to us took a big hit into the quay and unfortunately got a big scrape on the transom. Several cruisers, including Scott boarded their boat to move fenders aft to prevent more damage until they retuned. When they did return needless to say, he was very disappointed to find an ugly white scratch marring their beautiful blue gelcoat.
Monday of course brought the routine of checking in. Fortunately and unlike our experience in Mexico all of the officials are located in the same building. We went to the Gendarmerie first and filled out the necessary forms. Then a copy of that form is taken to Customs and then finally to the Port Captain. It went very smoothly and we met several other cruisers who were behind us during the entire process.
No surprise it was McDonald’s for lunch. I must say it is nice sometimes to have food that you know what it will taste like. I have eaten more McDonald’s on this trip then I have in my entire adult life. We headed off to the industrial Area during the afternoon with high hopes of finding a mechanic to look at the engine and the outboard. Long story short, everywhere we went they sent us somewhere else. Also, it was the strangest customer service experience. We would enter a store and no one would pay any attention to us, it felt as though they did not care if they had our business or not, this combined with when we finally did have or try to have a conversation they sent us somewhere else. We left the industrial area with hand drawn maps to the other places we should try. We were very discouraged and reminded how difficult it is to take care of business and problems in a foreign country.
The fun of seeing cruisers you have met in other ports continued when Gill from Last Call came by to say hello. She lived in Tahiti twenty years ago and speaks a little French. She offered to help in any way she could to find a mechanic to look at the engine. She is really friendly and it was nice to see her again.
As mentioned in Nuku Hiva food served from mobile trucks is very popular in French Polynesia. Well, in Tahiti there is a nightly event made out of the food trucks. Just at the end of the Quay approximately 15 trucks pull in and set up for business, each has a few tables, lights, signs… The primary food served is Chinese, especially Chow Mein. However, there is crepes, pizza, steak and ice cream… We decided to give the trucks a try, we had heard from some people it is the only place they eat. We had the Special Chow Mein, it was good, but a bit too greasy. I am sure we will give the trucks another try, it is a hot spot for the locals so there has to be something to it.
In Nuku Hiva we decided I would make a trip back to the US when we got to Tahiti. The Dr. in Mexico said I should get a check up within a few months and we wanted to try to get the engine parts we need. Tahiti seemed like the best option, since waiting until New Zealand would be too long. I bought a ticket on line, but unfortunately the only “reasonable” deal I could get was a paper ticket. Who gets paper tickets anymore? Well, tickets bought on-line that involve multiple carriers are paper. So, it meant the ticket was sent to my credit card billing address, which is currently my friend Dwayne’s address which of course is in the states. He had to send the ticket via DHL to Tahiti to be held at the DHL office. He did a great job working out the details, it was not easy to make happen. So, on Tuesday the day was all about figuring out where the DHL office was and retrieving my ticket. We hunted down the bus stop for Le Truck, the public transportation system and hopped on a “bus” that was going by the airport. It costs 130 cfp (approx. $1.30 per person) during the day and 200 cpf at night (apparently it is more expensive due to less people riding at night). The Le Trucks seem to be a husband and wife team, the husband driving and the wife hanging out of the window answering questions and taking the fare. They sit in the front cab and the passenger section has a low ceiling and benches to sit on. I think they are all a bit different from each other, but the one we rode to and from the airport had three benches. Once we arrived at the airport after difficult communication with the information desk we finally found out the DHL office was actually back out on the main road. We found the office and retrieved my ticket, much to our relief, I am leaving on Thursday.
We have not been able to plug the boat in, because though our boat is wired for 220 volts the outlet for the plug is of course different. We walked along the Quay to investigate how other boats were plugged in and while inspecting Red Sky’s plug ended up in a conversation with Charles. He told us he cut the end off his 30 amp cord and wired the plug he bought in the industrial area to the cord. We decided since we were desperate for power this sounded like the best solution. They don’t sell the 16 amp cords here unfortunately. So, off to the industrial area again in search of the plug. It turned out Red Sky had bought the last plug with rubber housing, so we settled for the one with plastic. When we retuned to the boat Charles came over and helped Scott perform surgery on our cord. Crossing our fingers we plugged in the cord and prayed for power. Nothing happened. We had the boat wired for 220 volts right before we left, but we had no way of testing it until we reached a foreign port. We called the Harbor Master to make sure our power was turned on and they sent a maintenance guy right over. He discovered Charles and Scott had one wire backwards and after he made that change, reset the breaker we had POWER for the first time in 46 days (other than what the sun produced).
As promised we dropped off the tinned (as they say in England) corned beef and some books to Novia. While visiting they invited us to dinner the following evening.
Wednesday we spent the day preparing for my trip to the US. We had to tear almost every inch of the boat apart so I could pack from the cockpit lazarette to the V-Berth. We found unfortunately the V-Berth had gotten wet on the passage from Nuku Hiva, not a big surprise since we took thousands of gallons of water over the bow. By the end of the day the boat was a disaster and we could hardly move. We did manage to get my suitcase packed finally and we were both exhausted and a bit testy by the end of the day. I think we were both thinking a short break after 24/7 on a small boat would be good for us. We finished the task at hand in time to get ready to go over to Novia for dinner. We have no access to a public shower here and bug showering in the cockpit is not an option with all of the foot traffic, car traffic and closeness of the other boats. Hmmm. We do have access to a tap and have a hose strung to the boat. I decided the best idea was to sit on the bow and shave my legs and wash my hair. Well, all of this happened in the daylight and during Splash Tango’s cocktail hour. I couldn’t see them, but I could hear they were out in their cockpit, I just went quickly about my business and figured I might be the cocktail hour entertainment. It was the best hair washing method outside of a conventional shower, I will miss the hose when we get back underway. It was a welcome break to head over to Novia for dinner. We had a very nice evening with Ann and James comparing stories of our crossings and plans for the upcoming future. They are surely going to be fun cruising friends throughout the South Pacific. We left their boat with the trade bag for the corned beef, canned chicken, tuna, crab and pate and some books. Works for us! We did keep five or six cans of corned beef to barter with in Tonga, we’ll see what happens there.
Gill stopped by that evening to say hello and wanted to know how I was getting to the airport. We wanted to take Le Truck, but we had been unsuccessful finding out how early it runs. She offered to hail a taxi and ask the driver to come at 0530 the next morning. This sounded like a good plan, especially since we know there are taxis, but they are so non-descript we have not actually seen one on the road that we know of. So, she set out to hail a taxi. One came by she thought, but it turned out to be the police. Well, since they had pulled over in response to her hail, she had to tell them why she had hailed them. Their response was to say they would go back down the street to the taxi stand and request a taxi for the morning and off they went. A few minutes later they came back to confirm they had made the request and we should expect a taxi at 5:30. I went to sleep feeling pretty confident that if the police put in the request a taxi surely would come and probably on time.
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