Today happened to be the French Mother's Day, and we celebrated it in traditional style at the house of some of the locals here in Makemo.

The locals gave Pascale a flower necklace (like a Hawaiian Lei) to wear for the day.



Many of the local women wore intricately woven crowns of flowers as well.

We went to local villager Victor's house, where he and his wife put on a feast which was huge and never ending, with barbequed meat, chicken, fish, and many side dishes. Here Victor cooks on his backyard grill.



The lunch, which started at noon and lasted all afternoon, was lubricated with their homemade "beer" - fermented pineapple juice.


Victor and a friend enjoy the grilled fish.

Besides us, the crews of Charade and Callipyge were there, plus with Victor's wife and children, there must have been 20 of us. We were delighted by their hospitality to us. They told us this was the first time they had invited over visiting sailors.

On the way back to the boat, it seemed all the island's kids had turned out on the wharf to try to push, throw, or drag each other into the warm water. It was quite a festive and happy scene.