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American Spirit II - Day 110; Agent Visits, Electricity at Dock Problem, Folie a Deux Visits for Dinner, and First East German Contact; Wednesday, April 23, 2014



Woke up at 2:30 AM. Indigestion. Ate too much for dinner the night before. Took computer to cockpit and typed up logs for last 2 days. Went back to bed at 5:00 AM.



Up at 7:50 AM when our agent, Laurent, arrived at boat. We gave him the stainless steel anchor roller, which needed a weld and a backing plate made for it. He said he'd have it back to us in a day or two. Joel then went to the nearby Mobil station and dropped off our propane tank to get filled with propane. We had to switch to our alternate propane tank, which was filled with butane instead of propane, because that's all we could fill it with in Nuku Hiva. You can fill a propane tank with butane because butane has a lower psi. But you can not fill a butane tank with propane, as its not safe to do so. Butane burns less intensely than propane, so it may take longer to boil water for coffee and cook food in the future.



We couldn't plug our electric cords into the dock box by our boat because the adaptors were European, not American. 220 instead of 110. A chandlery by the marina had picked up a transformer for us, and they were making an electric cord with adaptor for us to plug into the European electric boxes. We ordered a necessary adaptor from West Marine in Lombard, Illinois; and David Fox will pick it up Thursday and bring it with him when he comes to Tahiti on Saturday. From now until Cape Town, South Africa, all marina boxes will be European like the ones in French Polynesia.



During the morning hours Joel finished up hooking up the refrigerator and freezer with cables directly to the battery bank. This should allow them to run longer before shutting down due to a low voltage alarm.



For lunch we had blackened hamburgers and pringles. The hamburgers were cooked on the propane grill at the back of the boat.



After lunch I went to a store that was the equivalent of a USA Wal-mart. There I purchased 2 fishing hand lines, a case and a half of diet coke, paper towels and toilet paper, extra silverware so we can entertain guests for dinner, a mixing bowl, aluminum bread tins, strawberry's, apples and some personal items like tooth paste and shaving cream. I filled these products into a grocery cart that I 'purchased' for 100 French francs, or $1.11. Once I left the store, it was permissible for me to take the cart all the way to the marina, where pushed it back into a line of grocery carts already there, which enabled me to get my 100 francs back. Cool.



Around 4:00 PM Chika-lu came charging in to take the slip just to our stern. He came in 'hot' and as he turned into his slip one of his fishing rods banged into my wind turbine and then one of my two fishing rods. Crew on the German boat kept us from colliding and causing damage. I found out later that one of the reasons for the way fast entry was that their bow thrusters weren't working, so to execute the sharp turn into the slip without the aid of their bow thrusters, a greater speed was required.



At 6:30 AM Tim, Tracy, Brian and Lucy from Folie a Deux came over for dinner. We had blackened mahi mahi, garlic mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, strawberry's with whipped cream and sugar, white and red wine and beer. The strawberry's for dessert was a home run as that may have been Lucy's favorite dessert. The dinner party continued until 9:30 PM, when we adjourned to the local restaurant/bar located only 50 yards from American Spirit II.



During dinner, because of our unique position, many people stopped by to talk to us when walking by.



At the bar I met my first East German, Ralph, on the rally boat Kathea. He signed up to be on the boat for 4 weeks, but has now been on board for 6 months. He was happy to meet me so he could practice his English. It was fascinating talking with him about life in East Germany before and after the Berlin wall fell in November of 1989. Also at our table was the owner of Chika-lu, another German boat registered from Berlin; and two crew members of the same boat. The owner of Chika-lu, Hubert, was 72 and his boat was 61 feet (?) long.



Brian Fox


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