MONDAY 24th MAY 2010 ( Presently in Rarotonga, The Cook Islands, South Pacific.)
07.00 Cloudy Morning with lots of Cocks crowing in the background. We took some photo's of the damaged toe rail and paintwork on the starboard side caused by the French men in Raiatae as they left the dock on their way to the start of the practice race. Laurent needs the photo's for the Insurance co. so we emailed them to him.
Laurent, our yacht agent in Tahiti, was terrific, he really looked after us and the boat and seemed available at all times ,
nights, weekends, holidays, etc,, excellent! On the other hand, Arnaud in NautiSport was the exact opposite, He actually went on his annual leave for the couple of weeks that the World ARC fleet were in town. Now for a man in the boat buisness to go on holidays when the biggest biannual show comes to town says something about his interest in buisness, The World ARC fleet specifically, and the overseas impression of Tahiti as a place to do boat buisness.
None the less, We really enjoyed the French Polyneesian Islands, from the Marquisses to the Tuamotu 's to the Society Islands. All wonderfull places, despite the few hiccups here and there. - but thats boats and sailing.
09.00hrs We went to the harbour office and did all the paperwork . $30 NZ for A Lady per day to stay in the harbour. ( $2 NZ = 1 Euro ) Shortly after, we had a visit from the Depts of Agriculture, Customs, and Imigration, we filled in all the necessary documents and used the Skippers " R.I.A.I. membership stamp" to stamp the documents,, They loved that, for them, it really looked official and very important.
When we were finished with the Beaurocrats, we had a full cooked breakfast in a local cafe for the equivalent of 5 euros,
great value, and no smells in the Galley...... QED
12.00hrs, We all (the 3 musketeers) motored to the Police Station to get our annual driving licences for the scooters ( $10 NZ each ) these licence's were real jazzy little plastic cards , and included our mug shots..except we should have gone to the flippin hairdressor first,
When we had our bits of plastic, we all went in different directions, The skipper returned to the boat to catch up with the blog and do some other bits and pieces,
12,30 hrs Rory Quirke called to A Lady and He and Skipper toddled off to " Trader Jack's " for lunch , A Sashsumi, and it was great. We arranged a plan to take the Quirke's, The Tierney's , and whoever else , out for a sail on " A Lady" next wed, lunch time.
Later on in the afternoon, as the skipper was trying to negotiate a deal for a Helicopter ride around the Island, he noticed " Snorre" walking towards the harbour, and looked like a goast, " Hey Snorrie, What happened to you, you look terrible, did you get a shock " Ohhhhhhh no, It turned out that Snorrie had gone off with Fats on the Scooter to find the Waterfall. As they were driving down a hill, the surface of the road got very loose and gravelly, the Scooter skidded, and " fats " went headlong over the handle bars, followed by " Snorrie" who actually had a soft landing.......... yeah on top of Fats. The whole thing was witnessed by a doctor , who immidiatly called an ambulance , and the two crocks were bundled off to the Hospital.
Snorrie explained that they holding onto Fats for a while for observations and he was dispatched, and then walked all the way back to the harbour from the Hospital ( with a bandaged leg) A distance of about 5 miles... good God , That wasent a great deal. it is no wonder he looks shagged.
OH MY GOD ! Better get up to the Hospital and check out the scene... Poor old Fats. So Skipper reved up the scooter and took off in the direction of the Hospital, which was located half way up the side of a mountain.
On arrival, Skipper was immidiately shown into the operating Theatre to find " Fats " lying on the operating table looking as if he had been through a mangle grinder.After recovering from the shock of seeing poor old Fats in such a state, he enquired from the Doctor, " whats the storey Doc. " Ohhhh , says the Doctor, " the bad news is, he will be ok, " so ..., whats the good news," He will still be well able for his all night solo orchestrial performances, but he will need some stitches in his head and we have to remove a half ton of gravel from his flesh " so, " So wil will keep him overnight for observation "
Now " Fats" was in great humour, laughing and joking with the doctor , myself and the nurses, even though he looked a complete mess, So skipper decided to go back to the boat and collect some clean clothes and knickers for the patient, and of course , the camera. We couldent miss an oppertunity like this go by without a record..
Back at the harbour, Snorre, seem to be recovering and his appetite had definatly returned, as he was wolfing down a large bagatte. No sign of John around, so skipper collected some Tee shirts, knickers, shorts, towels, and toothbrush's
and returned to the Hospital.By this time , they had put a coller on poor old Fats, and bandages all around his head, and had moved him into a ward. He chatting to his neighbours, and then introduce them all to the skipper. Well well, there's obviously no damage to his waffling skills.
17.30 hrs Skipper returned to the harbour, where " Mike's" birthday party was in full swing on board " Jeannius". After an explicit description of " Fat's" condition, we all tucked into a few glasses of fine wine, and drank a toast to our dear old " Fat;s"
Later we went to an Indian restaurant for dinner, it was good food and good fun.
We all returned to " A Lady" for a night cap,watch some clips of our travels , before going to the scratchers,
zzzzzzzzzz
Thats all for today, God what a day!
Signed :- Stephen Hyde, ( skipper )