Get Lost On Purpose

Category: Food

  • Papeete, Roulottes, and the Quay

    Back in Tahiti now, I spent last night at the Quay (the main dock area in downtown).  I don’t mind being down here all that much.  A lot of other sailors hate it.  It does get hot and you can’t swim but at least stores and repairs facilities are in walking distance.  And the roulottes at night are a big plus.  A roulotte is a mobile food van.  Every evening at dusk, a bunch of these things converge on the main square at the head of the cruise ship docks.   Maybe 15-20 different vans set up open air restaurants with plastic tables and stools and the place gets packed with locals and tourists.  They serve all kinds of different cuisine from pizza to Chinese to salted crepes.  Roulottes are the only places to grab quality food in these islands on a budget.  I’m putting together a little youtube thing about them.  I hope to have it up soon.

    The reason I came down here was to work on the outboard engine for the dinghy in a place with a hose and access to some parts.  Also, the port captains don’t really care about charging you if you’re only staying a night.  I came here believing that the carb on the outboard needed cleaning (which it did). I’ve been cleaning all day and the thing still won’t start. I think I might have water in the gas I got on Raiatea. If it turns out to be that simple, gas quality could also explain why I can’t get my little honda generator running.   One can only hope.   Looks like I
    have to send the Katadyn Powersurvivor Watermaker back to Minnesota or somewhere for repair.   I’m positive the problem will end up being something stupid that I either messed up or missed in all my repair attempts.  I’ll pay a ton in shipping.  No, it’s not the best attitude to have but sometimes, living on a boat, I feel like buying one of these stickers and slapping it right on the transom.
    Honk
    This afternoon, I’m getting out of here regardless of what’s fixed.  It’ll be the weekend and most of the stores close anyways so the appeal of being “in the middle of it all” disappears.   I want to be somewhere I can swim and that certainly isn’t here in the middle of Papeete harbor.  I also think it’d be best to save some cash before Margie gets here.   I’ll head to the westside for the next few days.

  • Greatest logo in the world

    HinanoHinano, the beer of Tahiti must have the greatest logo design in the world.  I love it on signs, tshirts, and even right here on this can I’m drinking.    Google supposedly has the most popular logo in the world but does it inspire tropical fantasies in your head?  No.  From the Hinano logo, you are inundated with South Pacific images.  The polynesian girl with the Ei of flowers on her head, the wind-swept palms on the motu in the background, and the calm waters of a lagoon; all this on your can or bottle.  Hinano Logo hinano4 They have an entire clothing line with their own models and they sponsor sports teams, surfing competitions, and outrigger canoe races.  They seem to have a hand in 80% of advertising that goes on in these islands.  I thought the brand is unheard of where I’m from but according to their clothing line website, it’s sold at a bunch of stores on the North Carolina coast!  I’ll still load up on t-shirts while I’m here though.

    By the way, the ring of flowers on her head is, I believe, called an Ei here in Tahiti and it looks like it is made of Tiare flowers, the national flower of French Polynesia (a form of Gardenia).  For anyone coming to Tahiti, when you get off the plane someone will most likely offer you one of these flowers.  It you are taken, that is to say, if you are in love, you put the flower behind your left ear.  If you are single, your right ear.  It’s hilarious how many women I see running around here with their husbands in tow and a Tiare behind their right ear.  The locals probably ignore it by now but I figured I’d point it out anyways.

  • The Romantic Island

    So what do you think of the site? I put it together using free software called WordPress and an $80 theme called Thesis. This is my first attempt at setting up my own website so it’s pretty basic…I know. At least I don’t have to wait on anyone to fix anything. If I want to make a change I do the research and change it. Not a bad deal for $80.

    I’m still moored here at the Yacht Club. I’ve spent a lot of time on the internet wrapping up my stateside life for a while. I bought an unlimited access account from Iaoranet and I get a pretty good connection all the way out here at the second to last mooring. I figure it’s best to get all this done now before Margie gets here and we’re out filming or having fun somewhere. It’s good to have this transition time back into the cruising life as the two couldn’t be on farther extremes of lifestyle spectrum. It’s a bit depressing to be on “the romantic island,” surrounded by honeymooning couples, by myself but I get along ok. There’s always some entertainment to be had at the club. Last night they brought in a band and I had the best night I’ve had since my return. In the words of Anthony Bourdain, “there is nothing finer in this world than a good pub” and the BBYC on a Friday night is about as close as I’ve found to a good pub in this area of French Polynesia. You would think that some French sailor would settle down on one of the islands around here and open up a dive bar on the water. Cans of Hinano for 350 cfp and a 400lb polynesian guy sweating into the fryer out back would be great. Instead, a visit to a bar usually involves drinking a beer next to young Australian newlyweds dining on foie gras or a delicate duck confit. I’ve seen older photos of the inside of this yacht club covered in yacht burgees, t-shirts, and stickers but those days are no more. It’s a bonified restaurant nowadays that also happens to have a bar that’s a great time on Friday nights. Highly recommended to anyone visiting this area.

    Sandwiches are my life right now. I have no cooking gas and no expectations to have any till later this week in Tahiti. See, trying to devise the safest propane install possible, I neglected to learn that horizontally mounted propane tanks come with a new-fangled fill valve that is basically impossible to get filled overseas. So now I have my tank safely mounted on the transom where any possible leak will drift or blow overboard and I have no gas to leak. I’m in contact with some guys in Tahiti that should be able to help me out even if I have to completely replace the valve with some European style. Ham, turkey, and cheese have become my best friends followed closely by the premade Chicken ceasar salads they have in the grocery store (which oddly come with italian dressing) and the occasional cold can of beef stew or even meatballs from Ecuador.

    Tomorrow…maybe…I’ll depart for the Tahiti/Moorea area where I’ll stay for the next few weeks till Margie gets here. That’s right, I’m moving from “the romantic island” to “the island of love.” There’s supposed to be a cool sandbar on the southside of Tahiti a buddy recommends.  Maybe I’ll check that out.  Hehe…

  • Bloody Mary’s to the Bora Bora Yacht Club

    I’m over in Bora Bora now. I’ve been here for 2 nights. I spent the first night over at the moorings in front of Bloody Mary’s Restaurant. It’s considered somewhat of an institution down here. Margie and I hung out there last year when we took the cruise on the Tahitian Princess. Dosia’s motor was being overhauled in Tahiti and it was cheaper to take a cruise than to get a room and stay there. Anyways, I figured I’d visit again and have a few beers. It’s an interesting place with a sand floor, a shoe check at the door, and the bathrooms resemble some sort of water-garden orgy. The only thing I’ve actually eaten at Bloodys was last year when Margie and I put in for an order of wings at $18 and got four, yes four whole chicken wings. Our friends Matt and Alicja ordered the kabobs at the same price and got a good laugh when one little kabob arrived on the plate. They lay out a huge spread of fresh seafood near the door and the patrons are brought up from the tables to order their cuts right off the ice. A lot of guests eat there as part of the package tour, some come from a cruise ship visiting the lagoon, others just show up. Regardless of how they find it, the reviews of the food at Bloody Marys are usually less than stellar so I’ll let those with the “vacation dollars” in hand partake in the eating and I’ll partake in the relatively cheap beer.

    The next morning I moved over to the moorings in front of the Bora Bora Yacht Club and got a bunch of odd jobs done. Every project takes forever cause I’m suffering from CRAFTs disease (Can’t Remember a Flipping Thing). I don’t know what I was thinking when I last reorganized the boat but I must have been intoxicated. I put tools and parts in places I can’t fathom so I spend twenty minutes looking for things just to start a particular job. Last year, the problems that left us sailing 1500 miles without an engine eventually spawned a major overhaul including the purchase of a new bottom end. If you don’t know what that is, visualize a motor as a big cardboard box, cut off the bottom two-thirds of it, and replace it. It was no small job but Harvé and Pascal at Ocean Carenage did quick change out with a used Perkins 4-108 they happened to have laying around. So now I have a Perkins 4-108 bottom-end with a Westerbeke W40 (essentially a Perkins 4-107) top-end. It’s an interesting mix but it seems to work and that’s what matters in this part of the world. Without an engine, the reef passes are scary especially when they are in the lee of a mountainous island like the situation we ran into in Ua Pou. Just ask Margie about the bag she packed to jump overboard with as we “sailed into” that harbor last year. So anyways, I had a little work to do on the engine to calibrate the new parts with my existing gauges and it took most of the first day here.

    Last night I headed over to the Yacht Club to check it out and have a few beers. As far as real estate goes, this place blows Bloody Mary’s out of the water…literally. The thatched roof, the deck that stretches out over the reef, the attached over-water bungalows, it’s the quinessential South Pacific scene. Once again, I wasn’t there to eat but I can tell you the kitchen smells spectacular. The new owner, Teiva is a well-trained chef who worked at some famous restaurant in California. He and his wife Jessica live in one of the attached bungalows with their kid. They are working to turn the bad reputation of the BBYC into a shiny new future and it looks like it’s working. I wish them the best of luck.