Author: Pam
Toto, we are not in Kansas. We have been in Koumac for three days so far and I think it probably feels equivalent to jumping into a time machine and ending up somewhere completely different from where you started. We have said to one another several times over the past few days, well there is nothing like jumping back into the cruising life ten fold, we certainly didn't ease back into this amazing and unique lifestyle.
We have spent the last two days plodding along and getting the boat back to a livable and dry condition. We are systematically going through all of the lockers, cleaning and drying the contents that are soggy thanks to the amount of water the wave deposited in Starship. We have more places to go, but you can only handle so much fun in one day. Today we will dry out the V-berth and give the engine room a fresh water bath. The weather has been in the 70's to 80's, sunny and perfect for our task at hand
We woke up this morning to loud festive music to discover today is Environmental Ocean Day, a festival being held here at the marina. We will go up and have a sticky (look) in a little while. Our friends Bruce and Tony in Newcastle connected us with a local here, Nathaniel. Nathaniel is a marine biologist and works for the Fishery. He actually came to the marina on the Saturday before we arrived to meet us, because he was told by the marina manager when he called we were arriving at that moment. He drove an hour to find out it was not us, but another boat from Australia that had made their way to Koumac, because the weather was not in their favor to go to Noumea. He welcomed them and gave them the bottle of wine he had brought for us, which was very sweet. He is working here today at the festival and came by the boat this morning to say hello and to offer to help us connect with the trades people we will need to make repairs on Starship. He is very nice and speaks English, it became clear he will be a Godsend and will help make our experience here even richer and more manageable. We invited him and his wife for dinner this evening, Garfield will have to share some of his lasagna. It will be very nice to get to know them both.
The marina is very small, but has everything you could want, especially all of the means of fresh water. We used the hose to clean off the first layer of salt within two hours of arriving. We started the first of five loads of laundry in the front loading washing machine that you have to use a screwdriver to open the door. We took an exquisite hot shower and that has to be the ultimate luxury after being at sea for twelve days.
We can not communicate at all with the marina manager, she speaks to us in French and we respond in English and somehow we manage to accomplish the task or question at hand. We don't have any idea how much we are paying to stay here, I guess we will find out when we pay our bill.
We have been into town twice. Yesterday we walked, it is about 1.5 miles. It is very reminiscent of our experience in French Polynesia. Besides our lack of ability to speak French, a lot of the businesses do not seem to have signs, which keeps us guessing. We have learned there are four or five stores that sell groceries, but they all also sell other items whether it is liquor, clothing, hardware supplies… So, far the availability of fresh fruit and vegetables has appeared to be very limited. The section for these items is smaller than the average family's veggie drawer in their refrigerator. We are back in the land of fresh bread everywhere. We had a communication breakdown yesterday when we were buying a fresh baguette. First of all you do not put the loaf of bread in any kind of paper bag, you just put it naked in your basket and then lay it on the counter. So, now it has been all of these places unprotected, but the proper etiquette is for you to pick your bread up once it has been seen by the cashier, they don't touch your bread. Also, as it was in French Polynesia you have to bring your own bags to the grocery store.
There is a Post Office with rental mailboxes outside and an ATM. There is a pub, butcher, pharmacy, hospital, hairdresser, internet café, bank, news agency and a total of four restaurants. We had dinner last night at the restaurant here at the marina, it was their second night of being in business. The food was good, but we were more excited to be part of something new and wanted to contribute our small part in helping them to get off to a successful start. One of the owners has two young daughters who followed him around all evening "helping". They were very eager and sweet to watch. I had Thon (tuna) with lime sauce, all so very reminiscent of French Polynesia where Scott was convinced I was going to turn into a tuna and adopted the pet name "Fish Girl". Scott had brochettes (skewers with chicken, duck and pork). I was surprised he ordered a dish with duck, but given there were only three choices duck won over mussels. It was a lovely evening that we ended sitting in the cockpit looking at a sky full of stars. We could not make out the detail, but we could sit in awe of their beauty and the fact that we are in a country where everyone assumes we are from Australia or NZ, because Americans just don't come to Koumac by boat.
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