Papillon in the Pacific

  Ia Orana! Its midwinter in French Polynesia.   Darkness comes by 6pm and dawn not for another 12 hours; the Southern Cross is high   in the sky at dusk and the nights are cooler.      Papillon for sale   Giant clam at the reef I had forgotten just how cold.   In fact, I’m sure it wasn’t this cold last year.   Skipper tells me it’s all about solar angles and reminds me that our solar capacity has dropped by more than a third since February.   As proof of this he checks the solar angles, and we are both surprised to learn that the Society Islands had an equivalent angle to Reykjavik yesterday!   Approximately 50 o in both places! Hard to believe I know but the numbers don’t lie.     In early February the angle was 90 o  so solar heat is certainly a factor but perhaps not the whole story.   The typical pattern of easterly Tradewinds that normally bed in around midwinter has been replace...

  Ia Orana! I am writing this long-hand today!   After weeks of dry weather, the heavens finally opened last night and with rain continuing to fall this morning and no chance of solar energy in sight skipper has announced a moratorium on using the inverter.   There will be no laptop charging today and I will have to use my batteries prudently!     Sunset at the mooring   Sunset at Apua Bay East Wet days on Papillon can be challenging but today a laziness has settled onboard that is long overdue.   The last 10 days have been hot, dusty and frantic.   The advert finally went live on Monday with the video uploaded on Tuesday.   It was exhausting just getting to this point.   We’d hoped for Friday, but it wasn’t to be and then to make things more stressful we had noticed an issue with the newly repaired dinghy over the weekend while having a so called leisurely swim!    After only a couple of trips into t...