Tahiti - first 2 weeks
18 June 2012 | Papette - Off Marina Tania
John
First about the picture; I saw this boat in a Marina a few days ago and thought HMMMM maybe we should get an awning like that for Red Sky but Leanne wasn`t keen!
Full time cruising is pretty demanding on the boat and all its equipment and as such there is a lot of work required to keep everything in good order , especially as we have travelled 5000 nm in about 12 weeks
It is for this reason that so far our time here in Tahiti has been pretty much all about finding parts and people to repair parts which as usual is challenging in a foreign country. This has become almost a ritual when we make landfall in a major port and as a result end up walking up and down every back street in the town and visit most every shop that looks like it has anything to do with boats.
As usual just when I think I am hopelessly lost a glimmer of hope appears,I see someone who looks just like I do ; Hat , sunglasses , sweat stained shirt , big backpack over the shoulder , feet dragging a bit , walking around in circles , mumbling obscenities whilst rotating a tattered bit of paper which is supposed to be directions to the place he needs to go ( the directions are usually provided by another cruiser who sort of thinks this is where he found his stuff but as he was lost most of the time also invariably the turn right after the yellow bus stop sign should have actually said turn left and so on) . Yes you guessed it a fellow cruiser who is on a mission of his own. Doing what? Looking for bits for his boat of course! We say hi , compare maps and discuss what we need and he tells me that he saw what I wanted somewhere over that way and I say I saw what he wanted at the place about 3 streets down there and off we go again !
Whoever said that the definition of cruising is "boat maintenance in exotic locations" sure got it right!
We have had some fun in between and we will fill you in and have some pictures for you the next blog
John & Leanne