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| Kia Ora in Rangiroa |
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From Boden: I went fishing with Dad and we both caught and released fish that looked like trumpet fish with really sharp teeth. I'm tired.
From Colby: I went fishing with Dad and caught and released 3 fish that were all the same - red tail, white in the middle, big eye with yellow and black around it. We made a cake for a nice girl and took it to her island. Took a walk, found clams.
From Lynne: Deciding to bake a cake and decorate it for our Polynesian neighbors on the motu resulted in a happy day that had a rocky start. Besides the cake we printed out the photo we had taken of Deviville and her daughter, Teahuotogia (which is the name of a star), last week and delivered it. We dinghied ashore bearing our gifts and were very very warmly welcomed by Devi and her cousin TiTahi (the girl who was putting the flowers on the great grandmere's grave). They showed us the pass, the swimming lagoon, the white sand beach, their flowers, the men cutting down the trees which had burned. She said it was an accident when her darling started a fire and the wind blew it to the surrounding trees. What she calls "her darling" we would call her husband. They have trouble getting married on the more remote motus - no church, no priest. She also called Vince Noelle's darling. Even though we would say that she lived in a hut or lean-to she proudly said, "This is my home". It was good to see her pride of ownership. Her little hut was tidy and clean. There was a huge area under the coconut trees that she had cleaned of all debris and planted a beautiful garden. We asked if they wanted to visit our boat and TiTahi ran to her hut to ask her parents and they said yes so off we went. However, before leaving Devi went in her home and came out with a plant for our boat. It was obviously a treasure. Also, Colby found a big beautiful cowry in their yard and I told him to put it back because it was obviously part of the garden décor. TiTahi asked if she could give it to him and of course I said yes and was as thrilled as he was. Devi made a big deal out of how the plant should only have shade, no sun, so on the dinghy ride I put my hat over the plant and they thought that was hilarious The two year old hated the dinghy with its noisy motor. On board Sunrise we showed them our galley, bedroom, bathroom etc. We served them apples and peanuts. They asked for water. They said they get water from the coconuts with the water inside and a little cistern next to their roof. Really, I think they drink far more water from the coconuts than from the rain because it almost never rains.
TiTahi said she attends the college (the public school) near Avatoru. It goes to age 15. They were amazed that Colby and Boden had 3 months of summer vacation because they have only one month. TiTahi's family lives in Avatoru and her father is a plumber. Visiting their cousins on the motu was their vacation. It turns out that Devi really knows quite a bit of English once she relaxed and saw how appreciative we were. And I actually could remember a bit of French when I got desperate enough. After our grand visit on Sunrise Barry took them back along with Noelle and Colby and to pick up Vince who didn't fit in the first dinghy load. While he was ashore he took pictures of an octopus catching and killing a crab, pahua, the water pouring over the reefs and the many birds flying overhead. When the others reached shore Vince photographed them prying giant clams out of the reef with a foot-long spike for our dinner, husked or cut the top off drinking coconuts with a small machete and a more extensive showing of the home. He is a fine photographer - wait till you see the photos!
Boden was still suffering from his cough and so was susceptible to being seasick. He just wanted off the boat so we went back to the Kia Ora (google it), rented a "buxter" (looked like a primitive doonbuggy) and ferried everyone back to the Maitai and picked up a portion of the equipment we had offloaded to make room for everyone. I amazed the people at the hotel by being the one to drive the buxter but I was the only one who had their drivers license memorized. Imagine that gramma driving that thing! I had to make 4 round trips of about 5 miles because only one other person could fit in the buxter. I hated it. I was constantly worried that the gendarme would stop me and I all I would have was the virtual drivers licence that was in my head and how was I going to explain that in French. So the 4 Vince Thompsons were safely in their hotel and Barry and I were back in our home on Sunrise. We were happy to be alone - Barry finally got the turista that the rest of us had earlier and I joined him for a second round. Plus we are not in the best anchorage for the current wind conditions so I am a little seasick to boot. That's the good and the bad of it.
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