can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

American Spirit II - Day 80; Bank; Air Tahiti; Hair Cuts; Provisioning; and Bottom Job; Monday, March 24, 2014



Up at 5:30 AM. Cool outside. Needed to put a shirt on. Put together a provision list for boat.

Freeze dried for breakfast. Still no eggs.

At 8:30 AM boarded shuttle organized by Rally for ride into town. Went to bank to exchange dollars for francs. Exchange rate 80 to 1. Mike went to Air Tahiti and booked flight from Nuku Hiva to Tahiti for April 3rd, the first day that flights are available from the Marquesas to Tahiti. Still on 'wait list' for flight from Hiva Oa to Tahiti this week. If doesn't get on flight, then will have to change Friday flight from Tahiti to USA and reschedule for the week of April 3. Behind the Air Tahiti person dealing with Mike was a picture on the wall of two Polynesian females. Their clothing was limited above the waist. Something like that would be a big EEOC problem in the US. Similar type of drawing in the restaurant we ate in for lunch.

Found a barber, 'Vero Coiffure.' Barber was Vero, a late 30's French lady. The cost of the haircut was 2,500 francs. $31.25. Included a shampoo. Not because any of us asked for a shampoo, but because we figured she only wanted to cut clean hair. Not that ours was dirty. She probably gave everyone a shampoo that wanted a haircut.

At 12 noon almost every store and market in the island shut down for siesta. An exception was a yellow building with open shutters that was a restaurant. Maybe the only one open in the town. We ordered hamburgers and fries, and Mike and Joel had Hinano Beer. On the bottle was a picture of a Polynesia girl in a white and red floral dress called a wraparound pareu, with a red flower in her left ear and white flowers, shaped like a crown, on her head. The hair was black and long, down to her waist. Besides the Hinano name on the car, was the phrase, in French of course, 'La Biere de Tahiti."

Where one wears a flower is significant. A Tiare Tahiti flower, worn behind the right ear, means 'I am available and looking.' A flower behind the left ear means 'I am taken.' A flower behind both ears means 'I am taken but available.' Some people actually wear these flowers religiously. An interesting concept.

At 1:30 PM Joel and Mike headed back to the boat to clear the algae and growth off the hull. The cab ride back to the boat, about 3 miles, was 300 francs apiece, or $3.75 each. Not a lot, but most taxi's in the US would only charge a little extra for the extra passenger. I stayed in town waiting for the markets to open, so I could shop and provision the boat.

At 2:30 PM the largest market I could find opened and I filled two shopping carts with groceries, beer, soda and fruit. The bill came to $490.00 dollars. Because the bill was over $100.00, the market gave me a ride back to the boat. It was now 4:00 PM. Shopping took an hour, but waiting for the ride was another 30 minutes. Island time. The market had no eggs. Matter of fact, I was told that there were no more eggs on the island. That's a problem, as our breakfast consists of 6 eggs every day.

Once back at the dingy dock the crew of Sweet Pearl also said they couldn't find any eggs. However, 15 minutes later their dingy came alongside our boat and they gave me 2 dozen eggs. They had 'found' them at the gas station 100 yards from the dingy dock. Once we find eggs we'll give them their 2 dozen back. Thank you Sweet Pearl!

At 4:45 PM we went to the Pearl Hotel with the family from the catamaran Folie a Deux for dinner, returning to the boat at around 8:00 PM. Once back at the dingy dock, Mike and I took showers at the facilities there, which were outdoors but private. A concrete wall that was five feet high surrounded the shower head, which was a lead pipe spewing water out of it. Not very sophisticated. Just functional.

We then watched another episode of The Soprano's. Lights out was 10:00 PM.

Before bed I read a little from one of my Jack Reacher books, and came upon a passage that is relevant for sailors. It said 'In my experience tiredness causes more foul-ups than carelessness or stupidity. Probably because tiredness itself creates carelessness and stupidity.' Being tired on a sailboat under sail is a frequent occurrence. That's one of the reasons when anyone ever talks about a sail change, we'll wait a while to do so so we don't do so prematurely and get exhausted or hurt doing something we shouldn't have done then anyway. Tired people DO make mistakes. When I read this passage to Mike, he said 'Rest is a weapon.' Those of you out there who know Mike will know what he means by that.

Brian Fox





Previous | Next