Waiting for parts

Hello from Raiatea! 

I have to start with the rugby. With a certain amount of jiggery pokery on behalf of the skipper (I’m not sure he would have been quite so persistent had it been the Scottish Rhythmic Gymnastics team!), we managed to get a live stream. So happy we did as that game was amazing. Sublime stuff – quite emotional, dare I say it, from this great distance away! Certainly, the shouting coming from Papillion’s saloon at 6.30am on Saturday morning would say so, even if it was a little perplexing to our fellow mariners here at the marina! We will give them forewarning of the Welsh match! 

Supporters' bus?

It turns out that even if the French Polynesians are not particularly interested in rugby they do have a passion for “it’s a knockout” - style challenges. Last week there was a competition over 3 nights between different towns in the Leeward Islands. We looked in on Saturday night (with literally hundreds of others) to see competitors trying to navigate an inflatable obstacle course under a continual spray of soapy water, followed by an ascent of what looked like a ridged wall using only a pole to support their now very slippery body weight. As the unfortunate souls attempted to lurch up from one ridge to the next exhaustion inevitably set in. A ridge missed resulted in a fall back down to ground zero and the foamy mat below – each tumble accompanied by howls of laughter from the audience. Our shouts of the morning in response to Scotland’s efforts paled into insignificance against this!! Who would have thought it? - not at all what we were expecting to see at all on the other side of the world! 

The week was also accompanied by our biggest thunderstorm yet. Sheet and fork lightning lit up the sky for about 4 hours and all the power went down. We were fine with the boat batteries but the next morning I found myself navigating around a clothes shop in the dark helped by the phone torches of a group of teenagers doing a spot of shopping before school as you do. Between us we picked out a couple of slightly less voluminous dresses from the very large selection and the girls shone their torches over the curtain as I tried them on!! Perhaps it was the lighting but I decided they were “perfect” and have now gone all Polynesian style with my new purchases. “Very floral” was the skipper’s comment! I will say no more about the matter save that they are cool and that’s the important thing! 

After the storm

Voluminous!

 

It has been a very musical week this week – lots of spontaneous drumming but also much singing. Since Friday the kids have been off school so maybe the holiday is more widespread and people just have more time for a quick singalong.  This group were singing outside the market on Friday. We never did figure out what their collection bucket was for but enjoyed the enthusiasm.

Uturoa Protestant Church

On Sunday I got more music than I had bargained for when I checked out the local church. Bell ringing welcomed me inside any of the 3 wide open doors.  The pink and green stained glass windows were also ajar allowing the Polynesian trade winds to waft over the congregation. It turned out the service was not conducted in French but in Tahitian (the local language) so sadly I can’t tell you what the very enthusiastic preacher was telling us about. All I can say is that the music moved around the church as the service proceeded, leaving those not engaged in singing free to discuss other matters arising (which they did with great gusto).  At the beginning the singing was all coming from the front so it seemed logical to conclude that this was where the choir was situated. After the 40 minute sermon however,  a lot of comings and goings started in the pews opposite and then a group began singing there. Most of the women wore white outfits with very sparkly hats. The men were in suits and looked hot. They all carried sheet music and sang the most beautiful harmonies. Then there was another prayer followed by yet more comings and goings and I suddenly realised that there were actually quite a lot of women with sparkly hats now sitting IN MY PEW.  I was surrounded by choir number 4 – me in my pink T shirt and flamingo skirt trying to blend in with the angels (where was my Polynesian dress when I needed it most!). Mortifying…but the singing was lovely. I casually swayed with all the other kids and did my best to look like this was just a normal Sunday but I have to confess, after the collection I made a speedy exit. It had been 2 hours already and looked far from over!! 

Our time in Raiatea may also be far from over. Some progress was made last week but we are still waiting on our extra bag to clear customs in Tahiti and without that we can’t fix the toilets or do the myriad of other little jobs that need a socket set and multiple screw drivers. The solar panels are getting there (but not quite there yet), the headsail is being cleaned and stitched up, the watermaker is away for repair and the engines still need to be serviced. On the plus side the fuel tanks are both sound, the dinghy has been returned, the outboard is working, the parts for the engine service have been purchased, and we now have mosquito nets in the saloon…so progress is still being made but its certainly not quick. Luckily we like it here and we have great neighbours – Claudie is a live aboard originally from France, while Paul and Florrie come for 6 months a year and are from Belgium. There are only 3 owner boats. The rest of the space is taken up by enormous catamarans owned by ”Dream Yacht Charters”. 

Catamarans for rent - huge compared to Papillion

On Wednesday Paul and Florrie took us on a hike through the beautiful rain forest at the back of Uturoa up and up to a plateau with the most incredible views over the lagoon and the island of Tahaa beyond. 

Rain forest behind Uturoa

Views back down to our marina

 As this will be our first cruising grounds it was fantastic to get perspective of the area. The coral reef encircling Raiatea and Tahaa is virtually complete with occasional passes through and out to the ocean. A geologist could tell me the reason why but the passes are commonly marked at their entrance by Motos (small islands) which often provide good anchorages on the sand around them. Within the main reef are smaller reefs but in this lagoon they are all very clearly marked. It was incredibly exciting seeing it all laid out before us like that. 

Tahaa	Malcolm and Monsieur Paul
At the top with Paul and Florrie	A Moto at one of the passes

 

We came down to sea level feeling very energised. Since then, we have spent more time on the navigation instruments and weather channels so that when we finally are able to leave the marina we will be ready for our first trip. Keep your fingers crossed that that will be soon but till then we continue to enjoy Raiatea. We’re not stir crazy yet!!