agility @ sea

Jer:
We have been in Papeete for nearly 3 weeks and I haven’t written a single blog post. For those of you imagining Tim and I lounging on the beach or poolside sipping coconut water, hiking, swimming or exploring, it hasn’t been exactly like that. It hasn’t been like that for any of the cruisers I see in Papeete. All of the cruisers who have gotten here have traveled a lot of miles without the opportunity to get spare parts, help, supplies, etc so we are surrounded by people working hard getting their boats back to shipshape. Tim and I have spent most of our time that’s not on the boat in the industrial shipping area at the two Ace Hardware stores, the two marine stores, and I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time at the grocery store. I even fell asleep for awhile today at one of the Ace hardware stores. The good news is, we are leaving tomorrow for 12 days and will get to spend time in some gorgeous anchorages and more remote, quiet spots. Perfect remote, quiet spots that still offer a little infrastructure and have restaurants! We have had a few escapes from the drudgery (okay, maybe drudgery is too strong of term, but it hasn’t been a particularly inspiring time). Tim mentioned the Tahiti-Moorea sailing rendezvous which was a lot of fun and introduced us to a bunch more people that we’ll be seeing around. It was a well organized event with much effort being put into the Tahitian and Moorea locals interacting with all of the cruisers. There were dance performances, sarong tying lessons, music, outrigger canoe competitions, rock lifting competitions, etc, etc. That kept us busy for 48 hours last weekend. We also went for a nice dive yesterday just off the marina along a coral wall, I’ve been to the local markets and pearl museum with a friend, Tim and I attempted to go to Gauguin museum (closed for renovations), and I had a day at the Intercontinental that included a spa treatment, lunch, and access to the pool. That spa day felt incredibly luxurious. I was in heaven.
Now I have one more trip to Carrefour tomorrow morning, some exterior boat clean up and hopefully we’ll be off!
One last thing, with our unusual rig, we spend a lot of time ignoring people that want to chat. Right now there are two couples outside the boat that have been staring at it the entire time I’ve been writing. I will have to do some evasive maneuver out of the salon into the galley to avoid a conversation.

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