Author: Scott
Tomorrow we leave Tahiti. It feels like we have been here forever. I know the readers of our journal do not have lots of sympathy for us spending over a month on a lush tropical island, but the sailing bug has bitten hard, and we want to move on and continue to see the world! The past three days have been busy.
Saturday was mostly devoted to preparing for the departure. We started the day by rushing off to the pedicure place that Antoni had told Pam about, she has not had her paws or claws done for quite some time. However, Pam’s pedicure experience shows that you never know where the next cultural twist is lurking. After arriving to the pedicure place, Pam was ushered into a sterile room that looked more like an operating room than a salon. It turns out the man who performed the pedicure was trained in clinical pedicures and only gave therapeutic pedicures, although Pam did manage to coax him into a claw trim in addition to the surgical paw procedure. I scurried off to the store to start our final Tahiti provisioning and to escape the paws and claws office. When Pam met up with me at Champion, our local grocer, she told me of the clinical pedicure where not a single drop of polish was used.
We bought the usual food and trudged back to the boat with a full cart of grub. Back at the boat Pam jumped into the laundry, quite literally she was up to her shoulders in squishy squashy sudsy laundry. I devoted myself to rewiring our three solar panels. When they were installed in Mexico, the vendor who helped install the panels made some splices in the wire that were exposed to the elements, and they were now shorting out, causing the entire system to stop charging. I am usually comfortable imitating any boat work I have witnessed, and had no problem rewiring the panels, I even managed to remove all the external splices so the problem would not repeat itself. Next we pulled the outboard motor on board Tournesol, giving it lots of love in the process, so maybe it will keep functioning to New Zealand. Then we filled up all of our water tanks and topped off the sun and bug showers. Last on our list was mold maintenance, where we hunted down the inevitable mold in all of Tournesol’s nooks and crannies.
With a day of work behind us, we dressed and prepared for a very special occasion. Sunday July 24, is a very important day, MY BIRTHDAY! Since everything shuts down on Sundays on Tahiti, Pam wanted to take me out for a nice dinner.
As we were getting into the dinghy for our quick ride to the quay Joanne on the boat from Japan next to us invited us over for a look see. We have been intrigued since we first met our neighbors to see this very interesting vessel. We quickly agreed and next thing you know we were chatting up a storm in their cockpit. We learned that Joanne’s husband had personally designed the 53’ motor sailor to his specifications. The hull is aluminum with three separate water tight compartments. There is a huge pilot house for sailing in any weather. She is one of the stoutest boats I have ever been on. It felt like this boat could tangle with a tug boat and win. They are on the home stretch of their circumnavigation, it will take them just over a year. Before leaving Joanne gave us two log books, because we were so impressed with the log format they had created. By the time we finished socializing and the tour was complete, we realized it was after 2200. Nothing was open and so my birthday meal was the old standby, Mc Donald’s.
Sunday was July 24th, the international holiday, Scott’s Birthday! My birthday morning was a second attempt at the prior Sunday’s antics. We got up earlier, at 0700, and headed to the market. The market was an amazing mass of urban commerce. There were venders with everything from whole fish and roasted chickens, to coconut milk and pineapples. We had heard the produce was better and less expensive than at the stores or the market on other days, and this proved to be true. We bought lots of yummy veggies; there would be a salad in our future.
We quickly dropped by Tournesol to unload our produce and Pam put them in for a debugging bath. Then it was off like a flash to the Protestant church. We were determined to hear the singing we had heard so much about. The church was simple, airy and very large. The service was give by a number of ministers, and mostly in Tahitian. The only thing we recognized was the lords prayer. The singing did turn out to be lovely, but rather than the entire congregation singing, hymns were sung by pre designated quadrants. What amazed us was that everyone seemed to know when it was their section’s turn to sing and they executed each hymn with perfect harmony. Initially I was very respectful and refrained from taking photos or filming, but I got bolder when I witnessed many people flashing cameras. We later learned the church welcomed visitors to come and take photos or make recordings.
After church we headed straight for the store for even more provisioning. Each trip was limited by what we could carry, so we loaded up with provisions and a few things for dinner and our visit from the neighboring boat.
Back at Tournesol it was back to the boat projects. Laundry girl struck again while I went to work installing dinghy wheels onto our dinghy. We struggled through Mexico with no wheels for our dinghy to assist in dragging the beast out of the surf, and I was now getting around to installing the wheels we bought from another cruiser just before we left Mexico. My task was tedious with meticulous measuring and lots of drilling and screwing. My drill ran out of juice just as I was finishing the first wheel and so the second would have to wait until Monday.
As the day moved into twilight we focused our efforts on preparing for our guests from the neighboring boat. After our gracious tour from the prior day, we wanted to show off Tournesol at her best. We whipped up some baguette with flavored cheeses. Joanne and her husband (not sure of the spelling of his name) arrived and we had a lovely Tahitian evening in the cockpit sharing stories. They brought me a birthday gift, a baseball cap with their boat name in Japanese. After their visit we ate our salad made from the veggie haul at the market and headed to bed early.
Monday, our last full day on Tahiti was bustling. We woke early to start boat chores and to be ready if our friends from the association turned up for the possible picnic we discussed on Friday. Can you believe it, Pam was back at the laundry with a vengeance. Now before anyone thinks that I don’t help with the laundry, let me just clear this matter up now. Yes, I help but I do not have the zest and lustful enthusiasm that Pam has for laundry onboard.
Roland and Jacqueline did show up early and suggested that instead of a picnic they would like to take us out to lunch. They also generously offered the use of their driver and van for any final errands. We were thrilled to get to spend more time with them and the clients of the association, and we were excited to have the use of a vehicle, to clear our To Do list in style. We agreed to meet at 1100 and they left us to finish up our chores. I did manage to get the second dinghy wheel installed and I made Pam giggle when I walked back and forth along the quay totting the dinghy behind me.
The association’s van picked us up and we were off and running. All of the clients from Friday’s meeting were onboard. First stop was to fill our propane at Tahiti Gaz. In the blink of an eye we had freshly filled tanks, an errand that would have taken us hours to complete. Our next stop was lunch at the Royal Tahitian, on the beach. On our way in Roland and Jacqueline’s daughter Natalie arrived to have lunch with us. Natalie had spent a few years in the states attending high school and spoke very good English. The restaurant was a beautiful thatched roofed building looking over the crystal clear water behind the barrier reef. Lunch was elegant and delicious. We dined on everything from soup to nuts. I had French onion soup, and the puffed pastry filled with chicken and local spinach, and Pam had Poisson Cru (marinated fish and veggies) served in a coconut shell, and french fries. I topped off my meal with a parfait made from three ice creams, and a cappuccino, while Pam had the chocolate raspberry mousse. We spent our leisurely lunch getting to know more about blind people living in French Polynesia and getting better acquainted with our new friends.
After lunch we said goodbye to Roland and Jacqueline and we were turned over to the driver to continue our errands. We were then taken to Carre Four, one of the largest grocery stores on Tahiti where Natalie worked. Natalie gave us the lay of the land and we flew through the store scooping up all the heavy provisions we could lay our hands on. What a treat to have our provisions driven to the boat! Our ride in the van was a fun and very silly time as we joked, sang, and discussed music with the association’s clients. Back at the boat we all piled out of the van and continued our visit sitting on the quay. Just then Antoni and Frank from Starship showed up at the same time. Antoni stopped by to say hello, and let us know we may see him on Moorea over the weekend. Frank showed up to give us a piece of spare Spectra line for our wind vane. Pam and I did our best to introduce everyone. It was great having so many visitors simultaneously, we really felt like we had made many friends in Tahiti.
When the dust cleared and our friends departed, we still had to make one final trip to the store to pick up a few fresh items and some odds and ends. As we were walking home from the store we had to pass by the great Italian restaurant where Pam found her mussel pizza and we were saddened because we thought they were closed on Monday’s, but as we approached we were pleasantly shocked to find them open. Dinner out was a great way to top off a wonderful frantic last day on Tahiti!
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