Author: Scott
Today started our vacation from the boat, and like all vacations nothing goes quite as planned. We made arrangements to be met by the hotel at the quay. They were right on time and Pam departed with the staff from the hotel with our luggage. My job was to take the dinghy to the nearby beach so our dinghy did not have to live at the quay for three days and nights (the length of our stay). I headed off for the beach, and probably about the time Pam was pulling out of the driveway, the dinghy decided to sputter to a halt. I tried for a good fifteen minutes, working all my outboard voodoo and yet there was no starting the little beast. I paddled most of the way back to the quay, and was given a tow the last hundred yards. I tied up the dinghy hoping it was just flooded and would start up later. I then walked quickly all the way around the bay to the designated spot on the beach. Pam had been there for quite some time and was playing with the local dogs. She figured something was amiss when I did not arrive at the beach on time. We walked up to the hotel and started our mini vacation.
All of the rooms at the hotel are independent little bungalows and ours has a coconut palm growing right in front of our front door. If you went around it on the right side you had to duck under to enter the room. Each bungalow is decorated in modern Tiki with woven bamboo walls, only screens and plantation shutters covering the windows, and a great deck with Adirondack chairs for gazing at the bay. Most importantly there is air-conditioning and a refrigerator! The bathroom is large with a huge walk-in shower. All of the fixtures are made of wood and there are a number of sculptures around the room and also carved into the walls. The room is a delight and a nice departure from our palatial 32’ floating home.
We immediately settled in and I headed straight for the shower and took a record long hot and luxurious shower. We then headed to the main building for lunch, and yes I finally got my cheeseburger, and it was pretty darn good too (it should be for $14)! As we were eating overlooking the bay we were approached by a couple who introduced themselves as Gill and Trevor from the boat Last Call. We had briefly met Gill the day before at the food truck by the Catholic Church. They sat down and joined us for a cold drink and we learned that Trevor was the owner of the boat and Gill had been crewing since Panama, and they were both from New Zealand, though Gill lives in Utah. There are also two more crew aboard, Richard and Trevor’s granddaughter Haley. Trevor purchased the boat and started his sail in Boston and will eventually sail to New Zealand, but Gill and Richard are getting off in Tahiti. We ended up chatting for a few hours and during our conversation we told them about the places we had found in Nuku Hiva, and we made loose plans to possibly meet up at Moana Nui for dinner. We spent the remainder of the day trying to switch gears from cruising to lounging, but we had trouble since we had unlimited access to the computer (not the internet though)…
We did decide to eat dinner at Moana Nui and when we walked in we were greeted by the entire crew of Last Call. Pizza is only served in the evening and so most everyone ordered pizza! Pam and I had the Pizza Blanche, which is served with mozzarella, bacon, olives, onions, mushroom and creme freshe. There were a number of pizzas that come with egg on them, and we learned this is a common way of eating pizza in the Caribbean, we decided to pass on the egg pizza. I topped off my Moana Nui feast with my now trademark order of coconut ice-cream and cappuccino. As we were finishing up Gill discretely mentioned to us our waitress was a man, and cross dressing is very common in the islands, which only seemed odd to us because the population is so small and seemingly conservative and family oriented. We really enjoyed the company of Last Call. We exchanged contact information, and made plans to meet again in Tahiti or New Zealand.
Pam and I were given a ride back to the hotel from the owner of the restaurant who spoke about one word of English to compliment our few words of French. It was a quiet ride back to the hotel with lots of smiling. It was then off to bed for us where I proceeded to sleep like the biggest, fattest, laziest dog you ever done seen! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
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