Yes - it's been back to catching up on "The List" for the past 4 or 5 days. You know - the list of boat things to be fixed that never ends. But the good news is we have made some head way - hurray!! We are hunkered down in Baie de Taiohae on Nuku Hiva - have been here since Wednesday. We did an over-nighter from Omoa to get here - it was a beautiful starry night with a nice breeze pushing us along most of the way here, about 140 miles. Nuku Hiva feels quite different. Quite a few more cars/trucks (with only a slightly larger island to drive them on!), some actual restaurants or eateries to have a meal at, and an actual 'Yacht Services' on shore. It's nice, but just not quite as 'quaint' a feeling as the last 2 islands we have visited. Probably because they are somewhat inundated with yachties (this is a port of entry), and we are a dime a dozen around here. But there is no shortage of bananas and pamplemouse here - thank goodness! So the list... As we reported earlier, our freezer had been toast since mid-way during the crossing. Here in Nuku Hiva we did some asking around and found a retired refrigeration fellow, Phillip, that was more than happy to take a look at our freezer. So we brought him over to the boat on Saturday morning, and to make a long story short, our freezer was freezing by early afternoon! And John is now nearly an expert on freezology! When John had tried to fix it during the crossing, he assumed it just needed more R134, and added way too much in the end. But, as it turned out, it appears he should have actually released some gas to get it up and freezing again - there was no leak in the system. Anyway - it's just nice to have the freezer back up and working again. We also attended to a repair job on the genoa over the last couple of days. The eisenglass (the clear plastic little window part of the sail that you can never see through) was getting a bunch of rather large holes in it - now allowing us to see quite clearly through the sail. So we ripped the entire piece of non-clear plastic out and replaced it with a rectangular piece of sail cloth. This took us the better part of 2 days over the weekend to repair (in betweeen rain showers). It is quite a job maneuvering a 100+ pound sail in and around a sewing machine, in a limited space, and on a boat that's constantly swaying! The dingy motor is still sucking in gas and spitting it out the other end - as if it's cheap wine! So John is still fighting that battle - he is so persistent! Even when everything he tries still doesn't work, he never gives up! He is amazing - I would not be here and having this wonderful experience with out him. I am one lucky lady! So we plan on staying here a few more days. We have some parts on order from Papeete for the dingy motor - they should arrive here on Wednesday or Thursday. He is going to try and replace the entire fuel line/system from top to bottom - keep your fingers crossed! Saturday we went to the Saturday morning market. I say again - SATURDAY MORNING! The saturday morning market starts at 5AM!! If you arrive at 6 you are TOO LATE!! That is madness!! Everything is gone by 6am. The fish, the few rare vegetables (lettuce and tomatoes) that you can't get during the week - all gone by 6am. What the heck??? It's like being back in the rat race! Lord help me... Sunday we attended church on the island. The music was terrific - everyone sings with gusto! And the pastor was an older frenchman that delivered most of the service in Marquesan, with a bit of french tossed in here and there. It was very nice. I have a question for Linda regarding Rage. How do you have a collision with a whale and still come out in one piece? How did the blubber get on board without causing a huge amount of damage? Amazing! And very glad to hear there was no harm done to Rage or the crew.

Commodore Lisa