We’d been anchored a while, maybe too long. I knew this because I’d been finding more hair on board, feline and human. Usually I can get it to blow off the back of the boat easily but using the stern anchor keeps our side to the wind and bow into the swell it swirls around and stays longer than normal. I really should get out the wind scoop and see if that helps funnel more wind down below than our usually more effective hatches. Barnacles are growing all over the place underwater and our anchor chain looks like a wooly mammoth’s trunk. It’s growing season and while I’m itching to move, Taiohae is growing on me too. The ladies at the fruit stand at the dinghy dock smile and say kaoha, the grocery clerk practices her English with me, and I’ve made a few more connections on shore. Lots of little projects are getting done on the boat, laundry is mostly managed, and it’s nice to have a bit of routine with work, school, and play.
One morning I was sipping my morning coffee in the cockpit delaying the start of the day. We’re anchored near the shore in front of the high school and I was watching the kids walking around the schools grounds when what did my eyes see under the covered area they use as a gym? ERGS! What a nightmare wonderful thing! (Ergs, or ergometers, specifically made by Concept 2, are rowing training devices that rowers and others love to hate suffering through workouts on.) I paddled to the beach between us and the school and went to see if I could find out anything about what they’re doing with them. I explained to a woman who was going to her car outside the schools fence that I’d love to help out with the ergs if I could. Soon enough I met one of the gym teachers whose English was good and she let me come and help the kids do their 1k races! They had the ergs hooked up together so that the rowers could see their race on their monitors. I’m not sure many of them noticed what lane they were in and most went out hard and then barely were able to finish the 3.5-6 minutes it took to complete the thousand meters. They invited me back to help with other classes another day.
Afterwards, when I thanked the principal of the school for letting me participate, she invited me and anyone else to watch the final rehearsal for their big performance in Tahiti. A big group of students were flying there a few days later to perform the 20 minute show they had written. It was amazing to watch and especially fun to watch the principal coach them through it. Apologies for all the videos, I want to remember the diversity of the performance. We found out later that they won multiple awards for the performance
Another day I walked by the paddling clubs while a race was going on and talked to a woman who was braiding her daughter’s hair. The daughter recognized me from the erg classes and I chatted with them about the racing in the 6 person outrigger canoes that day. They were racing in the same boat that day and invited me to come sometime to one of the women’s practices though they were going to be gone for the next week. We’ll see!
We had some fun times with our friends on Pandion and Paradiso. One evening at a beach hangout that also happened to be Marjolene’s birthday we played rock paper scissors on teams… when one person lost they ran towards the other team while the next competitor came towards them too. It’s hard to explain but really fun to play and watch.
Paradiso went with us for a happy hour with some kiwis up at small restaurant that’s part of some lodgings. There, we met some more boaters, an Englishman who’d been around the world a few times and some Kiwis on a racy boat who were having a good time. We enjoyed talking to them and hearing about some of their adventures too and the kids sipped limeade like it was going out of style.
The Paradiso crew was tired of the anchorage and hadn’t been around Nuku Hiva so they took off to go fall in love with Anaho bay. We’ll see them again soon. Pandion came over a few times to share dinner and good times. Henk and Greg like to have what I think of as boys after dinner drinks, a smokey scotch or whiskey. Caroline likes them too so I guess it’s not just boys! I’d rather have a cookie but we all have a great time and it’s nice to spend time with them before we go separate ways.
Lest you readers think that we sit around sipping coffee or cocktails all day, we have been busy with school, work tasks for me, and boat life tasks. Projects during this time were- replacing 3/5 diesel fuel filters and bleeding and priming the system again, Greg going up and down the mast to make sure the wind instrument was really how it’s supposed to be since it hasn’t been giving us good data for a while, attempting to keep the dinghy clean, messing with the water maker (an ongoing project) and cleaning the barnacles growing in it’s intake tube, removing and reinforcing the anchor locker lid that got pretty beat up by the anchor, washing interior settee cushions and replacing interior zippers that had corroded away, oil change on the engine, stanchion base polishing, hull and keel scraping/cleaning, and chasing very small and fast ants that suddenly are all over the boat waiting for some cat hairball to chow down on.
As Flyer got closer and closer we thought of all the fun things we wanted to share with them when they arrived and went to collect some of them. I found a palm frond and wove a basket like we learned to do in Hirifa on Fakarava to fill with goodies and Griffin got out the Neptune costume… next up, Flyers arrival!
