Tahiti

Hard to believe we have been here a week already!
We arrived last Thursday morning and after several failed attempts to find the place we wanted to go we anchored with little fuss southwest of Papeete.  Sure could have used a map app on the ipod to help us find the marina we wanted to anchor by!!  But all's well that ends well, we had lots of daylight and no pressing engagements, so it didn't matter that we were a little lost. 
We are in a nice anchorage, close to the marina.  The marina has dinghy docks, bars/restaurants, fuel and is within walking distance of the grocery store.  What more could a cruiser ask for?  (okay cheap beer would be nice, but this is Tahiti, nothing is cheap!)
Friday we met with our agent to deal with paperwork, then took the bus into Papeete.  We strolled around town and the market, then hit the grocery store on the way back to the boat.  What a beautiful store!  Almost all the comforts of home.  It is good to know we will be able to provision well for the second half of our trip.

Saturday we had plans to return downtown in the morning, which we did after Dennis worked on the generator again....... Was a fried fuse holder this time.  Kind of scary for awhile, not knowing what was wrong, but all better now.  We were able to pick up fuse holders at the chandlery in the marina which was convenient.  we finally made it to the market downtown.  It is pretty amazing- lots of pearl and mother of pearl jewlry, pareos, wood carvings, crafts, and flowers galore.  So colorful.  On Sundays they have a vegetable market from 0500-0800 (yes in the morning).  The buses don't run on Sunday, but we decided it would be an okay dinghy ride.......I don't quite understand the whole buttcrack of dawn vegetable market thing, but it is pretty much the rule here in FP.  A painful rule I might add.  Sunday we were in the dinghy by 0630.  The vegetable market was impressive though, just about everything you could possibly want.

Monday we met our agent Cindy to go to the High Commisioners office to complete our extended stay visa. Pretty much a typical bureaucratic visit.  Is somewhat of a cultural shock to see government workers in flipflops, but hey even the construction workers wear them!!!  Spent the rest of the day walking to the marine store and the hardware store.  We hit the grocery store on the way home, and then had an awesome dinner on Moondance. 

Josh had been (and still is) a real trooper hanging out with the adults.  The kid boats left Fakarava several days after us, so he had to trail around after us for 4 days.  The kid boats arrived in Tahiti on Tuesday, so he is back to having kids his own age to hang with.

Tuesday was laundry day.  Funny we can only do as much laundry as we have lines to hang it on, so was a 2 day deal this time.  The good news being that there are machines at the marina, so we were able to do sheets and towels and cotton things.  Was/is nice to get all those things really clean.  Met a girl we initially met in Hiva Oa on the dock, and she cut my hair.  She is from Holland and a hairdresser by trade.  She did Josh's hair in Hiva Oa and did a great job on mine.  Feels really good to have the nasty dry ends gone. Tuesday night we had dinner with 4 other boats at a restaurant here at the marina - 18 people total.  Was good fun.  Good pizza too.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I finished up the laundry.  Was an all day affair pretty much as we had to wait for washers.  Got back to the boat in time to make my calorie difficient men some lunch, clean up, have a rest then make dinner.  After dinner we dinghy'd over to the Intercontinental hotel to see a Polynesian dance troupe.  It was Marquessan style dancing and very good.  It is hard to describe the style, almost Native American style.  The men especially made it look very savage and it wasn't a stretch to imagine them prepping you for their dinner!!!!

Today so far has been pretty lazy.  It really is the first day without a morning appointment off the boat.  We are expecting the watermaker guy this morning sometime.  The watermaker is working, but even with new filters the parts/million is 600.  Which is safe, but higher than you would expect.  So we are having it looked at.  This afternoon will be another provisioning run.  We will leave on Saturday for Moorea with the Puddle jumpers, will be at Moorea for about a week, then return here to restock the pantry prior to heading out to the rest of the Society Islands.  It is 1000 and we are still waiting........

more later......