Even though Gerard did tons of work during his two weeks here, there was more to do once we got here. Steve worked on getting the fresh water leak fixed by replacing the hose on the starboard(left) fresh water tank. I worked on get the prop generator(Oscar) back on. Oscar generates electricity for us when we’re sailing. I reattached the wires and mounted it back in it’s place. We think we have to adjust tomorrow. Oh well.
After four hours of work we took a break for lunch and Susan bought us poisson cru at a local restaurant. It was very tasty. It’s like ahi tuna ceviche or poke’ but with coconut milk mixed in and veggies like cucumber mixed in. It’s the main dish Tahiti is known for. Today’s was probably the best I’ve had here. It was a lunch in the local style, very leisurely. And just like in France the check only appears after you ask for it.
Lunch over, we were hot and decided to go for a snorkel right here off the boat harbor. Susan wanted to visit her favorite anenome. It has a beautiful bright pink underbelly. Quite astonishing. I will certainly run out of adjectives and superlatives to describe what I see. The anenome is filled with blue dot damsel fish that dart in and out as we snorkel. Also in our half hour swim we saw a big moray eel, and lots of little keiki fish of all sorts. One of our favorites are the pennant bannerfish. They’re a bit shy, but very cool.
Back at the boat we did a bit more work. I put the new belt on one of the other juice generating altenators. This is the big efficient guy that really cranks out electricity when the engine is running. Which it currently is to charge the batteries for then night. We had a good amount of wind today and the wind generator did a good job keeping us charged.
It’s been fairly hot and humid since we got here. During dinner tonight we had a pretty good squall go through dumping a heavy rain. It has cooled down a bit, but cooler air has yet to make it below where I write.
We’re still waiting to hear from the boat yard about the stantions and we may go without them, jury rigging what we have. We’re excited to go, but may well stay here in French Polynesia for a little more time in the water. It’s hard to leave these beautiful fish. But alas there a plenty of fish in the sea. OK, stop groaning.