15 April 2010
It was not even 8am and we had not had breakfast when we had a visit from Jean Paul and Jacob. They came alongside it their outrigger canoes. Not the traditional home made ones fashioned out of hollowed out tree trunk but the modern day equivalent, fancy fibreglass. They had come to sell us some pearls! I had not intended to buy any having bought a pair of earrings on our last visit here. Black pearls for which the Tuamotous are renowned are not always black. They come in the most wonderful variety of colours. Purple, yellow, green blue and steely grey. Their iridescence in the morning sun shone through. How could I resist! The prices certainly did seem very reasonable but you can never tell. They parted with a choker necklace with earrings to match and David parted with his cash. Both parties were happy.
Ciao arrived mid morning. We had last seen them in the anchorage on Ua Huka. They always arrive as we prepare to move on, which is a shame and a little embarrassing. However we did share a quick beer together. The rally boats are very spread out at the moment. The majority have left the Marquesas. Several are still cruising the Tuamotous, with the remainder already in Papeete. We are in no great hurry to get there. This is the most wonderful place to swim, snorkel, scuba dive and recharge our batteries. Reef sharks abound and we have had several sightings of the white tipped variety but the locals say that they have never known of an attack on humans. With such calm weather our leaky problem has stabilised. Not that we were ever in any danger of capsize. Voyageur has two water tight bulkheads which means we can completely seal off the bow and stern sections of the boat, the most vulnerable parts of a yacht, should they become flooded. This facility has to be high at the top of our list for having an Amel. But we are seriously thinking about being lifted out in Tahiti.
Stephen of Skylark has received a quote of which includes haul out antifoul and polishing. We have originally intended to wait until Fiji, so impressed were we with the yard there and the prices of course very cheap. But with each day that passes Voyageur's growth worsens. She has a green fringe all around the waterline and we the think the prop is also foul. It has been a year now and the waters are so warm, more than we remember from the last time. In other words, a perfect medium for growth and crustaceans. As a consequence of all this our speed is much slowed. The El Nino effect has been markedly obvious to us.
Susan Mackay