Hi guys
I am sorry about all these requests, but somebody has to do some work whilst we get fat on baguettes, swiss cheese and salami here in paradise. You wont believe how well stocked this little supermarket is in this tiny town: you name it, they have it , they would put giovannis to shame. Viva Francais!
Andy and I spent the morning hand washing almost every bit of fabric on shimmi: sheets, towels, cushion covers, clothes, teddy's, the works. All under a tap on the dock across from shimmi. Then we created about 200m worth of washing lines criss crossing shimmi's deck, quite a sight!
The antifouling that i did in Panama has been a big disappointment... the hull is full of all sorts of stuff so Andy and i have also been cleaning/scraping the hull. I think if we haul shimmi in Papeete i may have the bottom done properly again with good paint.
Otherwise we are all great, we have made good friends with a cat next door - a couple (Frenchman with a black Californian wife) who have been cruising for 15 years, raised 2 kids (youngest is 15) on the same boat, a 33ft cat with a small outboard in a center pod. He built it himself out of ceder strip. The guy is a jeweler with a little workshop in his cat. Quite inspirational.
Another crazy thing is the fruit. Fruit trees are everywhere and there is way more fruit than what can be eaten. The yachties just walk around the area, picking huge stalks of bananas, bags of mangoes etc etc, the stuff would otherwise just rot. Needless to say you cant buy fruit in the shops. Tomorrow morning Andy is going to go find a lime tree, more mangoes, papaya etc Not sure how his going to get it all back to shimmi...
On the day we arrived they had a type off polynesian dragon boat races in and out of our anchorage, spectacular watching these huge tatoo-ed polynesian bruisers pump their paddles through the water, about 6 of them to an outrigger canoe, the main race was non stop for 2 hrs, its an endurance event, quite festive on the dock with a few boars being cooked etc
Tomorrow is a big day for us with the gendarmes, passports, bond payments etc so wish us luck.
Cheers
Gol
