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American Spirit II - Day 112; Laundry (Again), an All Day Bus Tour of Tahiti, the Electrical 'Bust,' Dinner with Nexus and Getting Ready for Company; Friday, April 25, 2014



Up at 6:00 AM because I have to be at the laundry by 6:15 AM to finish one wash and one dry cycle before out tour starts today. During this process I head back to the boat and cook and eat breakfast. When I put in 8 coins (800 French francs) for the dryer, the machine recognizes 4 coins, not 8. No surprise there.
During this process I head back to the boat and cook and eat breakfast.

We board a bus at 8:30 AM. It is raining, at times heavily. There are 3 busses taking us around the island today. Our tour guide, Jean Baptist, speaks very good English, so we'll understand what he says. Good.

During the tour we learn the following: that there are 300,000 people living in French Polynesia; that 175,000 of them live in Tahiti; that they drive 35,000 cars; that France gives $1.1 Billion in aid to French Polynesia every year; that in the last 44 years there have been only 6 or 7 murders; that the biggest 'crime' in the country is alcohol abuse; that the country sending the most tourists to French Polynesia is the United States, followed by Australia, New Zealand, Japan and then Europe; that French Polynesian's are Christian and very religious; that the number one business is tourism, followed by black pearl farming and selling; that the number one sport is rowing; that the number two sport is surfing; that unemployment is 18%; that the average income is $400 - $600 per month; that you are 'rich' if you make $2,500 per month; that the really nice houses sell for $250,000; that 20% of the population are Chinese; that 70% of the restaurants are owned by Chinese; and that there are 52 varieties of bread fruit; and that a bread fruit 'recipe' kept the bread fruit eatable for 7 years. Who knew!l

We drive by the green house belonging to James Norman Hall, the writer of Mutiny on the Bounty; then to an overlook where the first Europeans, missionaries and the Bounty came ashore; and then to 'Venus Point,' the place of Captain Cooks failed astronomy experiment. The Bounty landed on the island on October 27, 1788. A water fall we stop at has warnings that falling rocks may hit you on the head, but everyone ignores the sign and steps over locked out bridge. The Buffet lunch is at a restaurant on the ocean, where they have pens in front of it where they keep 'fresh' mahi mahi and another fish. I guess that ensures that the fish you order is fresh. After lunch we visit a botanical garden, an archeological site and the Museum of Tahiti.

We're back at the marina by 4:15 PM. Our agent, Laurent, has left the 'fixed' anchor roller in the cockpit. The crack has been welded and a backing plate has been made of aluminum to give support under the fiberglass for the anchor roller. According to Joel, its common for boats to have backing plates. Why we didn't have one is a question that I will Beneteau when I get home. Joel then picked up our filled propane tank from the Mobil gas station. Next we 'watered' the boat because our water tank was empty. I borrowed an extra long hose from Follie a Deux to do so. The tank holds about 55 gallons. I used a charcoal filter to make sure that no impurities were entered into our tank.

The new transformer and 100 foot electrical cord were hooked up to shore power, with negative results. Not good. We'll have to go by the marina chandlery tomorrow morning if they're open and have them check to see that every thing is in working order.

We went to happy hour at 5:30 PM, and had dinner with Russ and Laurie from Nexus in the same bar/restaurant. From 9:00 PM until 1:00 AM we got the boat ready for our guests (David Fox from Chicago and Paul Fox from Phoenix) who are arriving Saturday night at 8:50 PM.

Lights out 1:10 AM.

Brian Fox

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