I’ve always enjoyed the occasional shopping excursion as much as the next gal but as of summer last year I’ve been forced into having to basically replace a wardrobe. While gone for our trip, somewhere in the mix of things, miscommunication between my mom and I led to ALL of my spring/summer clothes…ALL of them other than the few things I had on the boat…being given away to our church. When my mom told me that my mouth dropped to my feet. Ten years of clothes…gone. What could I do? Be mad…no. They went to a good cause and I hope someone who really needed it is enjoying my all time favorite black dress. We are returning to the States as spring arrives and so Drew and I have both been aware of my need for some new clothes. While I was excited to look around when we got to Australia I wouldn’t exactly say I was looking forward to it. Over the years I’ve seen too many cute dresses in the window only to go in to try it on and it fit everywhere on me but up top. And swimsuits…FORGET ABOUT IT! Much to my surprise though the stores in Australia were unbelievable and shopping there became my best friend for a couple of weeks. The stores were any girls paradise as there were LOTS of them whether they were lining the streets or neatly stacked inside of what on the outside looks like a run down building. There were price ranges for any budget as well as opposed to some places we’ve been where all I could do was laugh at some of the things I found. Not there though… I was in shopping heaven!

Poor Drew…he was such the trooper! I offered many times to go by myself but whether it was fear of me roaming the city alone or fear of me having money in my hands without his supervision, he chose to stick by me and for days on end he was in and out, in and out of store, after store, after store. Going home to run a bed and breakfast I knew I would need some nice stuff and was definitely able to get a good head start with what I was able to find in Australia. I highly recommend it to any gal out there that doesn’t sport a stick figure.

Looking back on it I enjoyed Australia for many reasons other than those most people normally peg it for. The coastal drive was fun and offered us a great view of some of Australia’s beaches but I most enjoyed the shopping, the casino in Sydney which was good to us so that probably put it on my list, and the larger city feel of Sydney & Melbourne was a warm welcome for Drew and myself as well. I know he mentioned in a previous post that we like big cities…the noise, the people watching, the shopping, the FOOD!!! Melbourne probably is at the top of my list as one of my all time favorite cities ever as it was a perfect melting pot!

Well hello! Happy belated new year to everybody. The days have quickly ticked by since our arrival back to New Zealand and in the midst of it all I have failed to post this year! In preparation for our trip across the Tasman my significant other has been up to his elbows in boat projects for two days straight. Most cruising wives/girlfriends can back me up in that more often than not, the best way to help out on days such as these is to just stay out of the way. So here I sit on the couch, legs tucked underneath me, trying to leave as much room as possible for my boat monkey to get his work done. We’ve been given the go ahead by Bob McDavitt, a weather guru god if you will to the sailing community, to set sail for Australia this week. We wait now on our alternator to be returned to us and then there’s nothing else I can think of that would delay the inevitable any longer. It’s passage time, once again.

Thus come mid afternoon tomorrow the galley will be ablaze with sauces, casseroles, boiling chicken breasts, chopped this, and chopped that. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Knocking out any, or possibly all, cooking that would otherwise have to be done at sea is a hands down must for yours truly. If you’ve followed us along our journey through any previous passages then you are probably fully aware of my ridiculous fear of gimbal stoves. At anchor, I’ll cook all day but when there is motion in the ocean, I’d rather eat cardboard.

After more than a year of this incredible lifestyle, the stove and I (at sea) I have thus far failed to establish a good relationship and its in sensitiveness has made more cry on way more than one occasion. You label me any name in the book you want to…punanny, pansy, or even worse a different p word…I could care less. There are many women far braver than I who tackle their own gimbal stove with no fear whatsoever but I, unfortunately, have been unable to do so. It’s a fear I hope to conquer…one day.

Speaking of conquering fears, last night I layed awake for a solid hour. My armpits were sweating. I was nervous. Drew was dead to the world. There was no one trying to come aboard Dosia and inflict bodily harm on me. I was merely thinking about the bungee jumps that are waiting to taunt me when we arrive back in New Zealand to travel the South Island. Will I find the gonads to jump? Just how pissed will I be at myself if I return back to the States having not taken the plunge(s)? My dad writes me the other day…”Marge, do me a favor. If you’re going to jump off of anything or out of anything, please wait until after you do so to tell your mother.” Thus he enforces the fact that its all dangerous. I don’t crave the danger. I really don’t. It didn’t thrill me to stand on the edge of that Sky Tower in Auckland and look down over my toes at a distance so great it looked like the building beneath me was inverted. All the while a giant bulls eye was there to guide me “home.” It reminded me later of the skit Ron White did that time where the guy asks him how far the single engine plane they were riding in was going to take them and he replied, “all the way to the scene of the crash.” I cried like a little girl. The fear that consumed me was so intense. Mascara was streaming down my face so bad the guy had to delay my jump so I could wipe it off just to be able to watch as I plunged to the earth. However, as soon as I went, as soon as I was falling, I loved every second of it. I know that I would love sky diving over the incredible Nelson Lakes or bungee jumping in Queenstown. I will hope every night for the courage to take the plunge when the time comes…

Until then I’ll continue to partake in wonderful events that aren’t so life threatening like our buddy, Tom’s from s/v Zen, birthday the other day. Being the dessert lover that he is, I whipped up a cake for him and his lovely wife, Monique, took a small group of us out to lunch to celebrate in Paihia. The day was full of good food, great laughs, awesome music, and incredible company. I am going to miss these people that I’ve formed these bonds with out here so much when this is all said and done. There isn’t a single wave that would have been the same without them, or Drew, by my side.

This past Tuesday, September 1st, for the first time my brother became a daddy, my parents became grandparents, my other two brothers became uncles, and my sister and I aunts for the first time! My oldest brother, Rhett, and his wife, Kellie, welcomed a beautiful, healthy little boy named Reo Wesley Kopp. I will have to vicariously relish in my role as Aunt Marge (even though I’m hoping to come up with something a bit cooler than that) via pics for the next two and a half months. I haven’t even met this little person yet and already my heart is flooded with love for him and I can barely look at pics without crying. As I get older and my siblings begin to have children, for the first time in my life I am able to understand what I’ve heard from so many all these years that there is nothing greater than one’s love for their child. If pictures tug at my heart like those I’ve seen of my nephew, I can only imagine, and greatly look forward to, the amazement, admiration, and love that must come from having one of my own. Drew’s looking at me like…hold up there missy. No worries honey I’m not saying it has to be now!

The first annual Vava’u Regatta is in full force and even the rain hasn’t been able to dampen the spirits of all those involved. The committee who heads this event must be incredibly pleased with the turnout as almost every boat in the harbor is partaking in the festivities. Each boat involved received a “passport” and at the end of the regatta prizes will be awarded to those who have the most stamps. To get them you visit all the local businesses and of course, spending money there will get you a stamp worth more points and then there have been tons of events going on as well. There was the pub crawl, a Fun Day for the kids, the Governor’s Cup Race, a Full Moon Party, pot lucks on several of the outer anchorage beaches, and today….dun, dun, dunnnn….the cornhole tourny! I have to be honest with you. I have never attempted to play cornhole at 10 o’clock in the morning as my past experiences were always at UGA tailgates before football games. Seeing how Drew and I are two of the very few who even know what cornhole is here, a short description might be necessary for some of our readers. Cornhole is nothing more than a slanted piece of plywood with a hole in the middle and the goal of the game is to toss a beanbag through the hole from about twenty or so feet away. A dead ringer will score you the most points and anything other than that is judged based off of closeness. In my mind I know that this game has become nothing short of a phenomenon for fans of teams in the SEC because it another ploy to have an excuse to drink. Even on island time ten in the morning is a little early for beers, at least for me, so this will have to played for nothing more than sheer, heart racing, exhilerating fun. We’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out!

The foul weather sidelined Dosia for the Governor’s Cup Race this past Saturday so Cole from s/v Zen hopped on board with us and we motored along next to the race and pulled three dinghies for other racing boats. Ironic that we don’t even OWN a dinghy right now but we had three with us that day. Zen came in third for the catamaran category and it was fun listening to Drew and ten year old Cole’s commentary and play by plays. That night the race was followed up by the Full Moon Party and they really out did themselves. I expected nothing more than a bonfire on a beach and was surprised to find a bbq, dinghy VALET, music videos on a large projection screen run by generators, a DJ, and lots and lots of dancing. The moon finally poked through the clouds a little after ten and the glow lit the dance floor. We heard rumors that the last people standing were there until 4:30 in the morning. More power to ‘em! Tomorrow wraps up the regatta and tomorrow night is Aaron from s/v Wayward Wind’s 40th birthday. His girlfriend, Lauren, has arranged a pig roast so yummy eats will be in order for sure. It’s been full steam ahead, birthdays galore, non stop socializing since we arrived a little over two weeks ago. My parents have always told me that I need to learn to just say no sometimes but out here, the time you have with a lot of these people is all you’ve got. Chances of seeing most of them again are going to be slim to none. So while we can we’ll enjoy, partake, and continue to make memories with our cruising “family,” and then come Wednesday we’ll be able to get back to the outer anchorages, have some down time, and really do some exploring in the waters of this great island nation.

Charts showing several more days of foul weather in Beveridge Reef were enough to convince us that our departure from there should come sooner than we had planned. We’d definitely recommend a stop there to any other cruisers headed in that direction but unfortunately our own experience of the reef was limited because of the weather, temperatures, and the loss of our beloved dinghy. Patrick and Rebecca, s/v Brickhouse, were fantastic in carting us to and from the boat to the reef so Drew could do some spear fishing but I don’t even have a wet suit so I spent most of my time on the boat. It was time to go. We took with us the memory of our first whale sighting of this year, a freezer full of fresh grouper, and a lifelong lesson in that when going to other people’s boats, always tie off your own dinghy. One can never assume that your dinghy rope is the same as the next boater. An honest mistake but, nonetheless, a lesson learned the hard way.

Dosia did her best to cheer us up in absolutely kicking butt on the overnight sail from the reef to Niue. At anywhere from 6 1/2 to 8 knots, we completed the 130 miles in about 20 hours. Now I am not the kind of boater who has that intoxicating need for speed like most. If anything, when we start flying over waves at too great a speed I get a little anxious and uneasy. This trip, however, brought speeds we hadn’t seen in a while and of course they came at a time when we didn’t need them as we’d arrive in Niue before daylight. Drew and I quickly decided that we’d hook a mooring by early morning moonlight if we had to because there was no way we were giving up the chance to really, really feel the wind. So we rode it out, enjoyed every second of it, and were on a mooring ball in Niue by sunrise, enjoying our morning coffee.

Niue has been an incredible breath of fresh air thus far. The water is still a bit chilly, there is a definite nip in the air, but who thinks about those things when you’ve got 15 to 20 humpbacks swimming, literally, FEET from your boat!? July to October they take over the waters off the coast of this island to breed and we are lucky enough to be here during those months. The waters most certainly belong to them, we are their guests, and respect must be paid. They could sink Dosia in a heartbeat if we pissed them off somehow. Some boats throughout the harbor have been able to hear them talking/communicating at night through the walls of their vessels. Unfortunately (at least in this particular instance) Drew insulated the walls a little too well so we can only hear them when they rise to the surface to breathe. To be in their presence, this close, is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Each sighting is another reminder to me how grand and massive this ocean is that Drew and I are living our lives on right now.

If you are looking for sandy beaches and palm trees then don’t head for Niue. Jagged shorelines, caves, and deeper anchorages make up this island-the smallest island nation in the world. We spent most of yesterday with s/v Honeymoon and s/v Follow You, Follow Me in a rented van exploring all the eastern coast had to offer. Five of us donned our best hiking shoes, Drew…his flip flops due to blisters from spear fishing excursions on the reef, to tackle three different chasms, or caves. The land here is brimming with dated, aged coral that is probably hundreds upon hundreds of years old. Although in appearance it is rather sharp and uninviting, we wasted no time in tackling shorelines, climbing in and out of caves, getting chased by bone crushing waves, rope climbing down into a sloping cave to the freshwater pools below, and capping the day off with well earned beers at the local, and only, resort on the island, the Matavai Resort. Drew and I could barely keep or eyes open past 8 p.m. last night. Tonight, dinner aboard Follow You, Follow Me. As I write, Drew is preparing some of our fresh grouper to take as bite size appetizers, as most cruisers haven’t had any luck in catching fresh fish in the the Pacific waters this year. Pictures of the cave excursions and the whales will be up A.S.A.P.!

Happy Birthday to both Drew’s Dad and his Nanny who celebrated her 91st birthday on Monday : ) We love y’all!

We’ve been in Raro 6 days now and during that time the sun has showed itself for a total of 2 hours. It’s not been raining, just completely overcast and breezy. At night it’s in the 60′s and we go out wearing jeans, long sleeves, and Margie even sports a fleece jacket. I don’t know whether this is normal or not. One local said it’s common to have weather like this till September. Another said this is extremely unusual. Thankfully the sun is finally gracing us with its presence today. This morning it’s beautiful and clear but still cool. I hope to see the temperature creep up into the mid 80′s today!

Despite the dreary weather we’ve been having a great time here in Raro. There’s about 10 boats on the quai (pronounced “key”) right now but it seems everyday one or two leave and more come in. I find it unbelievable we’re the only ones with a scooter parked behind our boat. For $14NZ (less than $10US) per day it seems almost ridiculous not to have one. Even if you don’t have anywhere to go, the pure entertainment value of scooting around the island is worth it! The other night we were cruising along at 50 kilometers and “crack!” Part of the scooter’s plastic frame fell right off in the middle of the road. No worries, just pick it up and cram it into the storage compartment under the seat. Oh well! The only thing that could add to the fun would be a stereo system installed on “Junior” so we could rock out to the cool radio station here. One minute you’ll be jammin to the newest rap song from Ludacris or Akon and then they fade into “Cruisin” by Smokey Robinson or “River of Love” from George Straight. 101.1 FM – Raro’s Hottest Hits “If they won’t let you listen to us at work, piss in the coffee pot and quit.”

Last night we had Linda and Andy from Coromandel Quest over to the boat for dinner. I actually owed them a hot meal from a year ago when I was without cooking gas and they fed me in Ecuador. It’s still crazy to me you can run into someone you met a year and 4000+ miles ago on a tropical island in the South Pacific with no contact or planning. I looked up one day and there they come into the harbor. It just goes to show how small the community of international cruisers really is. So since I owed them a dinner I put Margie to work whipping up some of her soon-to-be-famous salmon cakes and a green bean casserole while I hosted Linda, Andy, and Jake who, along with his wife Neely, are down from Canada on their honeymoon. We met them over at a resort on Friday and it looks like we’ll be dining with them tonight. He stopped by to say hello and got sucked into a couple of beers. I guess that means tomorrow night is now Taco night and I’ll be cooking!

It looks like a small low pressure system is forming fast and rolling through here on Wednesday. I’ve been watching it on the forecasts for the last 4 days. That won’t be fun in this harbor since it’s completely exposed to the north and they’re is calling for stiff north-north easterlies tomorrow which will turn the seas right at us. When a Low forms rapidly it can create violent little squalls. This is called a “meteorological bomb” and it’s exactly the type of thing we want to avoid at sea. The latest weekly weathergram from weather guru Bob McDavitt on Sunday confirmed my suspicions but thankfully he puts the potential “bomb” 500 miles to our south. “That Low should be taken by a jetstream quickly southeastwards and may well bomb on Wednesday near 30S 160E as its trough crosses Southern Cooks. Standby for some squalls from this passing trough.” I’ve begun studying the crossing from Fiji to New Zealand even though we’re months away. It has the potential to be downright scary if I don’t time it perfectly between the Lows shooting off Australia. Since this is now acknowledged as an El Nino year, I need to figure out it’s affect on those Lows. My worry is that it’ll put them closer together making it more difficult for us to sneak through between the gales. I guess all I can do is keep on studying and watch for those patterns!

Well thanks to our engine, and Drew’s willingness to motor instead of sitting still like a duck in water, we were able to arrive in Rarotonga in a little over a day. There were absolutely NO WINDS to aide in our journey here but of course southerly winds hit us head on early Tuesday morning. So instead of only having four more hours left to the trip we had barely 4 knots pushing us along and another two hours or so tacked onto the trip. Funny, as quickly as we can change our plans and add another island onto our list, the weather can change just as fast. You can follow all the weather charts you want but sometimes, oftentimes, out here you get some stuff you’re not expecting, and all you can do is adjust and push on. We did just that and pulled into Rarotonga, a.k.a. Raro, around 3:30 Tuesday afternoon.

What did prove dead on was the anchorage here in Raro. Exactly as we had expected, we came in, dropped anchor, and then butt wedged Dosia into a spot. We are tied up to a concrete wharf and could literally reach out and high five our neighbors. Needless to say, there are fenders and lines EVERYWHERE! Two other boats have come in after us so right now there are ten, one of which is a 60+ foot massive catamaran. There isn’t much room left for any more boats and we’ve all got our fingers crossed that no northerly winds or swells come ripping through here or this harbor is likely to turn into a big mess of bumper boats. On a positive note, no outboard dinghy engines are necessary as you can just pull yourself back and forth from your boat to the wharf by all the lines from the boats.

Instantly once you pull in, your nose is tantalized by the gourmet burger joint across the street and the fish-n-chips hole in the wall off to the right of the harbor. We got Dosia settled, made sure she wasn’t going to be doing the two step with any of our neighbors, and set off to follow our noses to get something to eat. Within half a mile from the boat there are more restaurants than we could possibly eat at in the week we plan to be here, along with several grocery stores, and plenty of shopping. For Tuesday night we chose Trader Jacks, which appears to be a very popular bar and grill here on the island, large enough to possibly entertain the entire population of Aitutaki! Grilled wahoo, seafood pasta, calamari….scrumptious!

First thing yesterday we rented Junior, our new scooter, and were off to tackle the 32 km that makes up the coastal road around Raro. The largest island, and capital, of the Cooks, Raro is home to more than half the population that makes up this group of islands. Driving here will prove to be a bit more of a test with a lot more traffic than in Aitutaki so we’ll let Drew do most of it. The wharf offers a hot water shower to cruisers (for $10NZ w/a $20NZ deposit) so yesterday I was able to take a LONG shower and didn’t have to worry about turning the water off! So nice. We’ll be able to provision our fridge while here and restock the freezer with fresh chicken and beef and the best part…there is a small movie theater here so tomorrow night we’ll be able to check out the new Transformers movie! Heck yeah!

We haven’t sat still much since our arrival here in the Cooks and don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. We have officially met and checked in with customs, agriculture, and health inspectors and are “free to roam about the island”…even though we already had been : )

I hit my two month mark on the trip back in June and shortly after became a little homesick which is fairly routine for me. I was an unexplainable, emotional wreck and Drew could barely talk to me without me crying. Such a girl. As crappy as I feel for saying this, French Poly had begun to feel a little routine and I was aching for something new, as was Drew. While I could have certainly done without the harshness of the passage, what was waiting for us, in the Cooks, has been an incredible mood lifter and Drew and I have done a complete 180 since our arrival. Neither of us can begin to explain how wonderful it is to be amongst English speaking people again as it knocks down the language barrier we’ve had up against us for both our trip this year and last year. It’s my fault, I should have studied and learned French but I didn’t, and so I am glad to have that part of the trip behind me.

Then there is the financial aspect of being in a new place and for us things are reasonable again which means that we are really able to appreciate and enjoy the culture without as many limitations and it is making a world of difference. The scooter rental has made getting around the island not only easy but FUN! Some afternoons we just go out and ride around with no intentions of doing anything but sight seeing and feeling the wind in our face. And the food, oh the wonderful food! There are so many restaurants here so it’s been fantastic to get off Dosia and be served instead of having to cook all the time. There is a wonderful restaurant on the oppo side of the island from us called the Boatshed Bar & Grill, right on the lagoon, where we had an amazing lunch of local fish & chips and a thai beef salad. Highly recommend this to future visitors of the island but TAKE BUG SPRAY! Mosquitos are present all over the island but everywhere on the eastern side.

Of course we’re tag teaming it with Zen and will probably end up sharing many meals and adventures with them throughout our time here. They are an absolutely wonderful family to be around and the mom, Monique, has become my “girlfriend” of the trip. It’s great to see a family experiencing this together and there is such a respect level between Tom & Monique and their children, Cammi & Cole. You feel it within minutes of being around them and I just love it as it can be rare to find that these days. Thursday we ate dinner with them at Cafe Tupuna’s which sits up in the hills of Arutanga. Drew & I split a bowl of seafood chowder that would have made my dad cry (he LOVES chowders) and then both licked our plates clean of the fantastic tuna and wahoo dishes we ordered as our meals. Lemon and passion fruit cheesecake for dessert, stick a fork in me I was done! Last night we attended our first buffet and dance show at the Pacific Resort. For about $45 a person there was an amazing buffet of sushi, sashimi, clams, mussels, lobster salads, pork, ribs, fresh salad, a pumpkin au gratin that was to die for, and tropical dessert plates. It was perfect and after Drew, Monique, Cammi, Tom, and I all participated in the dance show, we were all full, spent, and ready for bed.

Being in another country makes it difficult to celebrate our nation’s birthday so it’s going to be a low key 4th of July for us. Tomorrow is Miss Cammi’s birthday and I am being given the pleasure of making her a birthday cake so we’ll be joining them in the b-day festivities and on Monday we are going on an island lagoon tour which will take us to four of the remote atolls and we’ll be able to snorkel. So we are going to have PLENTY to keep us busy and lots of food to keep our bellies full! So if you’ll excuse me I need to go on a walk now to try and work off these desserts I’ve been eating lately. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYBODY!!!

Island life in Aitutaki thus far is fantastic! Our family of buds on s/v Zen got two scooters of their own so we’ve formed our own little “Hells Angels” and we’re cruising the roads in style! Long gone are the mountainous landscapes and cascading hills of Moorea, Tahiti, Bora Bora, and heaven forbid that one in Huahine (which I never hope to encounter again). Those islands were gorgeous, no doubt, but Aitutaki has provided us with it’s own beauty in a much different setting. The roads of this island are mostly flat with a few rolling hills nestled in. Mango, papaya, starfruit, breadfruit, pamplemousse, and mandarin trees are in abundance and instead of dogs (like in the Society Islands), the streets are lined with goats and roosters. In fact, there are no dogs anywhere on this island because they were blamed many years ago for a leprosy outbreak.

I’ve mentioned to Drew several times throughout this trip that in living on Dosia, in a confined space, I have learned just how little I can live without. I am all for microwaves, hot water showers, being able to blow dry and straighten my hair, air conditioning, and yes, the occasional gossip magazine. And honestly, call me shallow, prior to September of last year I would have laughed if someone told me that not only was I capable of functioning minus those luxuries, but that I could do it and I would enjoy it. It’s only when I think I am living “without” that we arrive on an island like Aitutaki and it kicks my butt right back into place and reminds me what really living “without” could mean.

Imagine, back in the States, wanting a hot dog. Easy enough, right? You get in your car, you go to the store (sometimes reluctantly because the couch was oh so comfy), not only do you buy your hot dog but you have your choice of beef, chicken, bratwurst, turkey, sausage, and cheese filled. You go home, you make your dog, and you enjoy. Well imagine wanting a hot dog but having to wait four or five weeks for it because the ship that delivers your groceries wasn’t able to get to your island that month!!! Thus was the case some time ago in Aitutaki. A ship delivers goods and groceries to this island once a month and upon our arrival it had come the week prior. So what we saw in the stores was what we were going to get and while the stores here are nice, they are no Carrefour. Thank heavens we have frozen chicken breasts and bacon in the freezer because we’ve yet to come across any here on the island. I can only imagine that when the shelves are freshly stocked that there is a mad rush, similar to the newest video game release back home, for the locals to grab what they can of the stuff that is really, really valuable to them before it is all gotten and gone, like fresh meats and cheeses.

So for those who are born and raised on this island, what they’ve never had, they can’t miss and the way they receive their goods is the only way they know so to them, it’s normal. For me, it’s a learning experience and one from which I can only hope teaches me and helps me grow as a person. One day, when Drew and I are back into our norm, and that trip to the grocery store seems more like a chore and hassle than a luxury, hopefully the memory of Aitutaki and these people will flash into my mind. Instead of being bothered, I’ll just be glad it’s there and in the present, and for that, incredibly appreciative…

Yesterday Drew and I drug up Dosia’s anchor from the depths of the Yacht Club and relocated her over to Bloody Mary’s. We’d heard rumors that in exchange for a little business in the restaurant that we could fill our water tanks at their docks. Well I had promised a great friend back home a hat from there, and we knew they had Hinano on tap, so case was closed. We were there!

Today after waking up and turning six “almost gone” bananas into two loaves of yummy banana nut bread, we headed to Bloody’s for lunch. Shocked to see a reuben on the menu, Drew’s mind was instantly made and I decided on a fresh tuna salad sandwich. We were pleasantly surprised by how good our meals were and highly recommend their lunch menu if you are in the area. Their lunch items range from 900 to 1500 CFP (some of the cheapest we’ve seen for lunch other than roadside roulottes) and it was good, quality food. I got completely schmoozed by a beautiful cat who has obviously made itself a staple at the restaurant. She so casually wandered up and gave me that “I’m so hungry” look so I shared my tuna. She’d no more cleaned her paws when she saw lunch delivered to another table and before I knew it I was face to face with her backside. Worked. Oh well…

Full bellies, a hat, key to the water dock, and we were on our way, eager to get over to the east side of the island. Drew had dinghy explored the other day and said it looks absolutely gorgeous. Oh, btw, for any fellow cruisers who are in the area or will be here at some point and plan to stay at the Yacht Club…they offer laundry services. They have three washers, a dryer, and it is 700 CFP a wash, same for a dry. At 1400 a load, it too, is some of the cheapest we’ve come across. And we hang dry on the boat so 700 a wash seemed like a complete steal to us. Just wanted to pass the info along!

This afternoon we dinghied over to say hello/farewell to our buddies, the rays and the black tips. Like clockwork we pulled up and they surrounded us ready to feast but their interest in us lasted all of five minutes when they realized we weren’t equipped with rotting oyster meat like the last time we’d visited. We splashed around with them for a while, made a stop by the Moorea Intercontinental because they had French Mother’s Day festivities going on, and headed back to Dosia to prep.

Another short lived weekend in Moorea and we’re to set sail at dusk to head for Huahine. My first overnighter of the trip. I’ve whipped up a tuna casserole for an early supper to eliminate any need of cooking once underway. The whole concept of cooking on a stove that moves with the motion of the waves and makes a pot of boiling water look like it’s flying at my head is not one I’ve made friends with just yet. Being one that is prone to accidents on the boat, I eradicate all possibilities of a potentially harmful situation when given the opportunity. I’ve taken some pretty bad spills in the past week or so (hence the pic below). The swelling in my leg has just now subsided from a not too graceful fall I took in the cockpit trying to give Dosia her last fresh water bath back in Papeete. Oh my gosh did that crap hurt…

BUT I’m taking my bumps and bruises and an optimistic attitude and heading west. It shouldn’t take us more than ten hours or so to get there so we’ll probably pull into anchor late tomorrow morning. Since it’s a short trip, Drew and I will both sleep in the cockpit and he usually assumes most of the watch duties. On longer trips we do rotations, starting at 8 p.m., three hour shifts, you both get two shifts in a night, and it all ends at eight in the morning. It’s a system that works out well for us although each cruising vessel has their own way to get them through the nights. So with full bellies we’re ready to get underway. See you in Huahine!