Christmas in Moorea
20 December 2010
At the fish counter in Carrefour.
We sailed away from Huahine on Thursday afternoon in light winds and a gentle swell and arrived in Tahiti at noon on Friday in blasting winds which created many waves with white caps.
Moorea and Tahiti are close neighbours and the winds funnel through between them. This gave us the blasting winds between 30 and 40 mph for the last 3 hours of our sail.
We had spent 5 weeks in Tahiti in late summer and really hadn't planned to come back, but two reason brought us here: provisioning and Moorea.
Provisioning: Huahine has a huge grocery store but the selection is limited and in Tahiti there is a store called 'Carrefour'.
Moorea: We missed the island of Moorea last time we left here and having heard so many wonderful things about it, we thought we'd spend Christmas there.
So, we went provisioning on Saturday morning.
Here is Michael's account of the outing:
It was a 5hr, $700 shop at Carrefour, a French monster store on the scale of a Walmart, with just about everything you could need. We got all of our loot into 2 large buggies which they allow you to wheel to the marina dock about 1 km away.
About half way Zoe noticed that our toothpaste box had opened up and the 2 tubes inside had slipped out of the buggy. I retraced my steps to find both tubes, one of which was run over by the buggy with a slight ooze, but still salvageable. I then rejoined the convoy to find out that, in my absence, the heaviest buggy had tipped onto a busy 4 lane road. Fortunately no one was hurt and the only damage was one of our new mugs was smashed. This wouldn't have happened if the carts didn't have casters on all 4 wheels instead of only 2.
Oh well, we did get a turkey and its now in our freezer.
_____________________
Picture us navigating two big grocery buggies on a fairly rough sidewalk along the side of a busy 4 lane street. Michael and Zoe had one buggy and were left in the dust as my two trusty navigators-steerers and I swiftly pulled ahead. I was the engine pushing the buggy along and they were at the front corners steering around pot holes and rough patches and helping lift it up and down over curbs.
We were almost back to the entrance of the marina that we are anchored in front of, when I heard Michael call out. I turned to look back and took a few steps to see what was wrong and in that time, less than 30 seconds, the buggy that Liam was hanging onto, began its decent off the sidewalk toward the busy road. I heard him call out and just as I turned, I saw him straining with all his might to master the buggy, but to no avail. The wheels rolled over the edge of the curb and the buggy tipped over and spilled onto the road.
One of our new mugs was in pieces and was just inches away from the wheel of a car that had stopped, probably fearing that it was about to crush our goodies. The driver rolled her window down asking if everything was OK and if we needed help. I told we had it under control - which really we didn't at that moment, but soon got it under control - as the three of us hurriedly started placing our spewed items back onto the sidewalk. We lifted the half full buggy off the road just as Michael arrived to see the carnage; food items placed willy-nilly on the curb and a mug in pieces.
It does seem funny now, although, at the time, Liam was beside himself, as he was the one holding the buggy when it got away. I reassured him many times that it was OK - poor guy.
Today, Monday, Michael and Liam are taking the dingy into town. Zoe, Maia and I are going to check out a clothing store nearby. The kids have worn out and out grown a lot of their clothes and this was the other part of the reason for coming to Tahiti.
We'll be here a few more days and then off to Moorea.