July 22

Ambitious plans to perform magical deeds upon several small boat projects (this is a triumph of hope over experience as virtually every one of these minor efforts morph, like transformers, into a monster) came a cropper when early bike ride into town with bud on Nordic 40, 'Wonderland' lasted until Miller time. Full day's productivity, not counting shooting manure with friends on Pearson 434, 'Whoosh' at Uturoa marina or, of course, the exercise thing, consisted in buying smooth peanut butter (suspect French Polynesians have a religious stigma attached to crunchy), apricot jam and a spark plug for the 15 horse Johnson.

May move to surprisingly inexpensive dock tomorrow to access water for washing deck and hardware, untouched by boat soap since Colon, Panama about four months ago. Rain has mostly removed salt from horizontal surfaces, but furler bearings and other moving parts won't rescind the fatwa until receiving a good flushing.

Land tour of Tahaa, smaller island inside this reef system, and multi-anchorage circumnavigation of same are in the offing for next week. Have faith that additional opportunities for amusement, currently shrouded in mist, will reveal in the fullness of time.

Jack