Island Life

Happy Bastille Day!

Life has been feeling a bit more normal- even though it’d been raining on and off all night and into the morning I opened the galley hatch to get some fresh air while making some sourdough discard pancakes the other morning. They are almost as good as our favorite sourdough waffles that we make at home. Have some of those or some baguette french toast and add a few fried island bananas and a bit of maple syrup and we’re all happy sailors, land lubbers, or boat fixers. The last 2 weeks have been busy with all those things- it took a week to feel like we weren’t at sea anymore, credit to our very wavy anchorage. We spent time ashore, wandering in bewilderment of this place in the middle of the ocean that GPS helped us find so easily. Lastly, we’ve gotten everything that broke on passage at least to a point where we can go out sailing again. This is a pretty amazing place with many amenities but still very different than life at home. When the supply ship comes biweekly but you order a pizza the night before its arrival, that red sauce could end up being ketchup instead of tomato sauce. Batteries, hoses, pumps, and other boat parts you’d like just don’t exist here unless you have them shipped in. This is not a place where many material desires are met quickly or easily but it doesn’t seem to matter a bit to the people here.

Since we’ve been anchored and living on the hook here we’ve gotten to meet some other kid boats and that has been fantastic. It goes like this: “I’m sure my kid would rather hang out with your kid than us, shall we all just get together?” Would maybe the parents also like other people to talk and gossip with? Celebrate and reflect with? Commiserate and solve problems with? You Bet, Big Time. (I love how A.A. Milne sometimes has Pooh speak in all capitalized words for a little more umph and a little less yelling than all caps.) There are two other boats in the bay with English speaking kids on them- one Canadian 13 year old boy and 2 Swedish girls, 10 and 12. They’ve been swimming, playing in the water, we went on a hike, spent time in town, and shared some meals on all the boats. The kids and adults are fantastic, what fun.

Griffin loves the idea of exploring the island more so it’s good that we’re not leaving Nuku Hiva soon, just this bay. He’s had a great time hanging out where the sharks congregate to eat the scraps thrown in when the fishing people clean their fish. The kids gather at any random time and try to get the sharks going by throwing other things in the water and then maybe catching a smaller fish to play with. He also learned from the locals about a smaller tidal pool where baby sharks hang out. There are 2 types, silky and another that he forgot the name of. He’s back into driving the dinghy around as much as he can and in between all that he’s even done some school work. He has also been a great swimming buddy for me and we’ve managed to keep the water line of the boat algae free despite the rocking and rolling encouraging growth way above where the bottom paint ends.

We’ve been here long enough to recognize everyone who works in the local groceries, the marine chandlery, the cafe right by the dinghy docks, and the some of the people who ride their horses around on the beach. Ryan and Gavin left a few days ago after much exploring and some new tatoos. Leo left the island this morning right in the middle of the Bastille Day celebrations that we’ve hung out here to see as recommended. We’ve been celebrating the last 3 days really, the party tents, music, and decorations have been going non-stop. The parade this morning was the most fun and it seemed like everyone came out to watch despite the downpour that left us all dripping wet. As I wrap up this post the boat is rolling to the pumping beat of the last of the parties on shore.