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American Spirit II - Day 89; Rain Squall, Mike' Hotel, Rendezvous Party & Stephen Kirk Joins Crew; Wednesday, April 2, 2014



Awakened at 2:39 AM by first of three rain showers. Mike got up and closed all the boat hatches. Thank you Mike.

Crawled out of bed at 7:30 AM. Overcast. Light rain. Today is Mike's last day on the boat.

At 8:20 AM a Frigate bird swooped down and grabbed a 3 inch fish from the water's surface 100 feet behind our boat. As it flew upwards, 3 other exotic looking birds (who remain unidentified for now) flew after the Frigate bird trying to take the fish out of the bird's beak. What is ironic is that the Frigate bird is noted for doing the same thing to other birds, and that is the reason its also called the Man o' War bird. Because it steals fish from other birds.

Around 10:30 AM things got really wild in the anchorage. The light rain turned into a violent squall, with winds easily in excess of 30 knots, probably over 40 knots. The anchorage, which is crowded with all the Rally and other cruising sailboats, got 'more crowded' because as the violent winds blew and and swirled, all the boats at anchor had their anchors stretched to the maximum, so we were all much closer to each other than before. Collisions were possible. Since all the boats use chain exclusively, when anchored your anchor chain usually lays on the bottom. It rarely stretches out. A boat behind us, Firefly, was only 15 feet from our stern. Because they had anchored after we did, they weighed anchor and sought a different location. We considered weighing anchor ourselves, then decided against it. Didn't seem like we were dragging anchor, though the rocks behind us seemed much closer than we were comfortable with. During the heavy rain our main front hatch leaked again, but after the blow ended, we looked at the gasket on the hatch and could see that it had split. Some tape should temporarily fix the problem. However, a new gasket will have to be ordered, or a new hatch. We'll see.

Around 12:45 PM we walked with Mike to his hotel in town. Same building as the Pizza restaurant. A 15 minutes walk. The room was pretty nice. Very 'rustic,' but it had AC, a ceiling fan, a TV and hot water in the shower. Plus a balcony overlooking the anchorage and bay. After that we headed back to the Snack Bar and had lunch.

We bought some groceries for the trip to Tahiti. The groceries cost 22,907 francs, or $286. For 4 grocery bags. Expensive. We carry our own bags when we shop, so at least we had strong bags with handles on them. For that amount of money we bought a case of Hinano beer; soft drinks; bread; flour, yeast, salt, sugar and brown sugar (to make bread and sliced apples); coffee; cold cuts; cheese; plus some junk food - pringles, Lays potato chips, etc.

At 4:00 PM Joel and Mike headed to the Rally reception, which consisted of Polynesian music and an extraordinary fruit display on tables that must have been a hundred feet long. All sorts of native fruits were available for us to eat. And each attendee was given a lei to wear around their neck. I got there a little later as I was two 'log days' behind and finished typing and sending them. After the 'fruit' reception we all walked across the street to a large public banquet hall, where we sat in tables forming a large U around the room. A while later native Polynesian dancers arrived and entertained us for an hour. There were males and females. The dances they performed were the Warrior Dance, the Bird Dance and some sort of Mating Dance. Plus others. The performance was very good. And the performers were really into their dancing. After the dancing the entertainers left the building thru a back door, and we all clapped and clapped, hoping they would return. But apparently, encores are not customary in French Polynesia. Too bad.

At around 9:00 PM we headed back to the boat with a new crew member, Stephen Kirk. Stephen is from Bend, Oregon; and was on another boat before joining us. Stephen will be with us as we cruise thru the Tuomotos to Morea and then Papeete, Tahiti. Stephen is the same age as Joel and I. Before going to bed we watched another episode on The Sopranos. Still on disk 3, first season.

Brian Fox



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