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American Spirit II - Day 79; 40th Wedding Anniversary; Half a Time Zone; Breadfruit; and an Island Tour; Sunday, March 23, 2014



My 40th Wedding Anniversary was today. For me, the toughest part of this adventure is being away from my mate. Thanks for your support Janet!

Woke up before the alarm at 6:30 AM. We had an island tour scheduled for 8:00 AM. Got to the dingy dock at 7:50 AM, and instead of leaving the dingy in the water all day to get abused by other dingy's and bumping into the concrete dock structure all day, we kept the outboard motor on our boat and just lifted the dingy out of the water and set it next to the dingy dock. At 8:00 AM no tour vehicle; at 8:15 AM no tour vehicle. So I contacted Rally Control and realized during the conversation that we were not only 30 minutes early for our tour, our watches were all off 30 minutes. When we crossed the 135 West longitude we assumed it was a full hour change. It wasn't. The Marquesas Islands actually only use a half time zone. So we should have set our watches back 1/2 hour and not 1 hour. I had no idea that you could have half a time zone. So right now, for example, it is 10:35 Pm local time; but it is 4:05 AM in Tampa.

Our tour started at around 8:30 AM and consisted of 2 vehicles. The first vehicle held the crew from Ko-Ko; and we followed in our vehicle. Our driver was Ralph, and he spoke not one word of English. The driver of the other vehicle spoke English, and he would lecture us along the tour when the vehicles stopped to visit somewhere. Both of these vehicles were pick up type vehicles, 4 wheel drive, with 2 seats up front, a second row of seats behind that, and then a pick up bed after that. The tour itself was very expensive, as are many things in French Polynesia. The cost was per vehicle, not based on the number of people in the vehicle. The tour was 25,000 French francs, or $312.50. The exchange rage is 80 to 1, franc to dollar.

The tour itself was 50% on concrete roads, and 50% on non-paved roads. The roads were very, very steep, with the mountains we were driving thru very vertical. The foliage was extensive, and the trees very tall, many over 100 feet. The clouds covered many of the mountain tops, even though they we no higher than 3,000 feet. And the ride was very bumpy, like riding a bronco. Much rougher than our boat ride. Physically, it was very challenging. And the steep roads, no guard rails, anywhere, on the island. If the driver makes a mistake, this log doesn't get written.

There was almost no other vehicle traffic; not one stop light on the island; and all along the roads we saw horses, some very fit and attractive, tied to a rope and eating along the edge of the roads. We also saw many cats, goats along the road and up the cliff faces, and a smattering of dogs, most of whom were very protective of their domains. And roosters and chickens, everywhere. There are not natural predators for any of these animals, so they're everywhere. I think we actually drove thru the only roundabout on the island, also.

Whenever we drove by people along the rode or sitting at picnic tables or in their yards, they all smiled and waved. A very friendly people. And their dress, for the most past, was like us. Pants or shorts and a casual shirt. Some of the females were more ornately dressed. Being Sunday and election day, most stores and markets were closed.

Breadfruit, the food item made popular by Mutiny on the Bounty, grew in trees, was green in color and the size of a large grapefruit. These breadfruit trees were everywhere.

For lunch we ate family style. The food consisted of: Ceviche, chopped goat, chopped beef, breadfruit, plantain's, white rice, and a few other items I don't know the names of but which were very tasty. For drink we had star fruit in a pitcher. The breadfruit was cut up like French fries, and tasted like French fries. The only thing missing was the ketchup.

We got back to the boat at 4:00 PM; and picked up our laundry at 6:00 PM. The cost of the laundry was stupendous! $75.00!!! In Panama our laundry cost $15.00; in Galapagos it was $20.00. In Panama and Galapagos what you pay for laundry is based on the number of kilograms it weighs. You actually put your clothing bags on a large scale, and that determines the price. I intend to find out tomorrow why it was so expensive. Clothing wise we didn't have that many items that needed cleaning. Most of the bulk in our laundry were sheets, one queen sized mattress pad, and towels.

At 7:30 PM we started watching two more episodes of The Sopranos. With popcorn, of course. Lights out 11:00 PM.

Brian Fox




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