Its a warm sunny day with lots of blue sky in Tahiti. Its lovely but as we work on the boat we wish at times it were a bit less warm and a bit less sunny.
We went to Carrefour, the giant Hypermarket part of a french chain, yesterday and loaded up on water, packaged and bottled food. We were able to get the store to deliver the stuff to the Marina and the driver, Michael, was very helpful and a big kidder.
The bottles of water (close to 700 lbs of it) where the hardest item to transport and store. We found places all over the boat to place the water and food and after a few hours of hard work all of it was in its place. Caroline and Donna are marvels of dedication and creativity.
Last night we were tired (we were so focused we forgot to have lunch) and we decided to join a German couple from a boat next to ours for drinks at the local Italian restaurant where they were playing live jazz music. Johann and Jutta are in their sixties and own a big 54 foot ketch which they have been sailing for three years in the US, Caribbean and here. We had a good time and were back at the boat by 9 30 pm.
Today we have been deflating and stowing the dinghy, fixing various items, providing maintenance to the head, and we plan on fueling the boat as soon as Donna is back from getting four diesel fuel cans so that we may have a total of ten for our trip.
Our communications arrangements seem in order. Last night an SSB radio check with Kaneohe was successful. We also tested the INMARSAT phone and it worked well when I called Rick Shema the Weather Guy and when I called Maria Lucia.
Kathy and Bill arrive on Saturday night. On Sunday Caroline and Donna are arranging a tour to some salient Tahiti attractions which they are very keen to see; they are renting a car for the purpose so that as many of the crew can go that want to participate. On Monday morning we have a refrigeration technician coming by to look at the fridge as it was acting up this morning but later went back to normal. (We suspect the battery voltage was too low to keep the fridge going and it was cycling on and off, as soon as the sun came up it was ok; nonetheless I called a techie so that he can give it a once over for the trip - he said he could not come today but would be here Monday at 0800). Also on Monday afternoon we get back our propane gas tank (dropped off wednesday, takes five days) and we meet with the shipping agent to process our passports and paperwork for formal departure from French Polynesia.
So all seems to be falling in line for a Tuesday departure. Even the weather looks good according to Rick Shema, the Weather Guy who will be providing us weather serviced during this trip.
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