August 14, 2012

Vince and Noelle brought us all kinds of important things like the weather fax,  boat parts, the French dictionary, freeze dried veggies and berries and chocolate and our mail.  However, they left the 90 tortillas to the last minute so they would be fresh and . . . events overtook plans and they forgot.  Have you ever tried to go for months on end without tortillas?  Have you ever tried to find tortillas in the South Pacific?  Have you ever tried to explain to French people or French Polynesians what a tortilla is?  It's like trying to find a baguette in Tijuana.  However,  I have come up with a simple solution.  We can use Nacho Cheese Doritos instead of tortillas.  French Polynesia has every imaginable kind of American junk food including every kind of chip ever made which means every tiny little magazin has Doritos!  We'll just kind of jumble it all up together instead of a nice neat taco and voila - there you have it.

Speaking of magazins, Magazin Simone by the Maitai was the best.  Yesterday we bought grapes from California - all fresh and juicy and plump.  They had potatoes and apples from New Zealand, limes, eggs,  and cabbages from Tahiti, bok choy, bananas and ginger from the Marquesas.  Ooo, la la!  All this importation is because the Tuamotus have no soil.  Can you imagine?  If you want soil you have to pay for it and have the supply boat bring it.  That's why their plants are in planters and so lovingly tended.  

Magazin Simone

This morning we finally decided to go to Tikehau.  Perfect weather and tide for going through the pass - so pacific that I decided I (L) could drive through myself which I did easily.  We were joined by the usual dolphins and were delighting in beaucoup des boobies, noddies and another large group of mother and baby dolphins when  . . . ! the engine over temp alarm went off and we smelled burning something. Barry thinks it is the raw water pump.  Anyway, we are sailing in 4 knots of light breezed WNW over the top (N) of Tikehau headed nowhere.  We can't get in Tikehau with no engine and Huahine is SW.  Fortunately, the seas are flat calm and there is very little wind today and tomorrow so we are just wafting along smoothly making it easy for Barry to work.  For sure, we will be sailing all night instead of sleeping peacefully in the heavenly little atoll of Tikehau.

Tikehau